Lower Saxony in northern Germany

Lüneburg is small town that used to be famous for salt mining, so thanks to medieval wealth it has amazing architecture in gothic style. City has everything you need, there are a lot of students so they need to keep up. Even the spoiled city people can find here their hipster cafes and farmers markets.

The nearest bigger city is Hamburg, so from there is easy to travel practically anywhere. If you wish for more European trips it is really easy to travel to surronding countries or just visiting close cities as Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel etc. City is also not too far from river Elbe or Lüneburger Heide Nature Park famous for its Calluna vulgaris.

My official employer was The Leuphana University of Lüneburg, but I was mostly working with docs and postdocs in ecology department. So the environment was really friendly and very international.

I was working in ecology department so it was sometimes a little annoying work that has to be done e.g.: sorting beetles, washing roots, DNA isolations, preparing field experiments... . However, I was rotating between different groups, so it was not stereotype and everyone was really excited to talk about their field of study and future prospects of given tasks. Also we were doing few field studies in Lüneburger Heide, where I would not be able to spent that much time.

Salary was sufficient, I had even enough for my avocados and evening beers. Also German Iaste would give you back up to 100 EUR if you provide with bills etc. that you have been traveling in the surrounding area.

English was sufficient, I needed German only when I was trying to figure out daily meals in Mensa.

I was living with family, price was around 300 EUR. I was a little bit skeptical about that in the beginning, but I had a really nice time there. It was the couple with grown up kids so they filled the empty room with international students. They were organizing brunches and dinner for us, doing our laundry and even took us for the weekend to their apartment at the sea side. However, accommodation differ for every intern, so you do not live with host family.

IAESTE Luneburg has a really few members and at the end it was just one guy that was taking care of us. However, they picked me up at the train station and they took care of everything I needed. We did not do many events in Luneburg, just a few gatherings, but we got offered to join many trips from larger IAESTE groups in surrounding area.

There were just a few IAESTE interns and only from India and Ghana at that time. So I was mostly hang out with ERASMUS, USAC and other international people that I have met through my roommates. Since I came at the end of semester it was a bit difficult to get into the inner circle, because most of the people were in the middle of finals, so I was really grateful for my roommates.

Surrounding area is really narrow, so If you are mountain person as I am you are gonna suffer. But it is suitable for many outdoor activities like running ( I have never had more kilometers in my Endomondo), cycling (if you do not have a bike, you can never fit in, but locals IAESTE can fix you one) and if you are coming during semester, you can join courses at uni or there is a gym at campus with student prices.
In a city there are plenty cultural events almost every weekend, I was there during World cup, so it was fun. However, Hamburg is only 30min by train, where all your culture needs can come true.

Since I am really not into local specialties I did not try anything (and also it is almost the same as our cuisine). However, as a annoying vegetarian and aspiring vegan at some moments, Germany was dream come true. You can have all the hipster groceries that you can imagine with all those organic and bio labels that germans are obsessed with. You can get vegan option even in university Mensa. University Mensa was also amazing, for the really low price (1,5-3 EUR) you can have a decent meal and there are always vegetarian options.

My mother was sometimes complaining that I am not calling enough.

Do not bring your in-lines, there are no proper routes, do not make the same mistakes. Also I would recommend this kind of internship more for bachelor students. I really liked it, but I would not mind to do something more challenging.

Do not forget your positive attitude, otherwise you can get everything you need at a place (even a toothbrush).

I obtained deeper focus into ecology of surrounding area and working in different environment. Of course I met many beautiful people and had really nice summer.

Everything was sufficient and well organized, very german.