Internship Feedback

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Bc. Stanislav Valtera, UCT Prague,

ročník 4

About the country

Location of the place

My place was located in the center of the capital city Tehran and it was just 3 km from my accommodation, dormitory. I always traveled there by taxi, sharing car or sharing motorbike, it was super fun and fu*king cheep. Depends on traffic, it takes from 5 to 15 min. Laboratory was in a nice new building, where you can open the door by your fingerprint.

City

Tehran is a small city with about 20 million habitants. You can find there everything you want and always for very low prices. Traffic in the city center is awful but you can use subway during the day, but during the night I will recommend Snapp (Iranian UBER). The city is full of new cafes or you can find the tradition one at every corner.

Surroundings (possible trips, ...)

Iran is super big, so if you want to go to another city, you should prepare for more than 4 hours in the bus (you can go by VIP bus, still it is super cheap). So I will recommend taking an airplane for the long journey. On the other hand, Tehran is full of nice parks, mosques, museums and there is the nice mountain in the north of Tehran. If you want to leave the city you can go to the north of Iran and swill in Caspian see or go to central Iran to see historical cities for example Persepolis.

Employer

I worked at the University of Tehran. It was fun, nothing hard. I was there dooring holidays so it was quite empty so I went there around 11, ordered lunch, had lunch, had a nap, work for 1 hour and went back to dorms ... :D But people there were so nice so we drunk tea and discussed Iran and my country very lot.

Work description

I prepared conductive polymers and optimized the process to better respond for ammonia vapors.

Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)

My salary was 6 mil rials per month. It is nothing special but still, it is 25% of average salary there. So you can live with this amount very easily.

Language requirements

It is hard to find someone who speaks English in Iran, but in my workplace, everyone was able to speak even basics so it was no problem. So you don't need the excellent level of English, just be able to communicate.

Accommodation (price, who provided it)

The accommodation was provided by IAESTE at a university dormitory. Price was depended on your salary so when you get less than 5 mil rials it was free for you. When you get more you pay like 1mil, which is still nothing :D
I had my own room but there were always two boys in one room. It wasn't 5 stars hotel but you always go there just for sleep so who cares about cockroach or cats shits in shower :D today I miss the place it was so nice and friendly

Social life

Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)

They picked-up me at the airport and showed me dormitory and my workplace. They organized a couple of trips for us and if we need something they tried to help us.
It is true that some students have a problem with their reference number for a visa so time to time it looks like that they are quite unorganized.

Meeting other foreign students

I lived at boys dorm with another foreign student, so we meet every day and become good friends. We travel a lot around the country and make some small private parties.

Sport and culture

I went one time for swimming and it was ... crazy. no place for swimming, it was more just about chill in water or sauna. But there are a lot of gyms in the city.

Food, local specialties

Kebab, kebab and ... kebab. It was everywhere, a lot of types but for me, all tasted the same. But for sure you can have something else, but forgot for pork. My favorite was Cale Patche - sheep head - eyes, tong, and brain. It was very delicious but you have to wake up at 4 AM to have a good one.

Other information

Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic

It is a modern country with a good internet connection, so you can use Skype, WhatsApp or Instagram. Facebook is banned but you just need VPN and then everything is possible.

Recommendations for students who will go to the same place

Enjoy the time there and don't waste it with sleeping.

What not to forget with you

Money in cash, because of sanction it isn't possible to transfer money from EU. So you need all the money in cash from your home. EUR or US dollar, there is no different.

Benefits of the internship

Meeting new culture, a lot of new experiences and friend all around the world. Of course, I learned something new in the laboratory but it is nothing in compares to the experiences I have!

Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country

They were almost nice and helped me in their crazy country. They organized trips for us and some meeting so we could feel the culture.

Overall experience with IAESTE

Very good

Student's website

Employer's webiste

Other comments

I didn't meet any terrorist at Iran and I was so sad about it ... joke
It was awesome experiences in one of the safest countries in the world. Just go there and don't worry about anything.