Work

I worked as a R&D Intern within the Gas Circuit Breakers (GCBs) Team at Hitachi Energy located in Baden, Switzerland. Basically, my job consisted on performing validations of an in-house tool for calculation of contact erosion using MATLAB which included post-processing and analysis of the test results of the High-Voltage Circuit Breakers. During the last two months of the internship, I also worked doing some CAD design using CREO and 3D field calculations of contact geometries in COMSOL. Additionally, I also had the opportunity to work in the labs by supporting my supervisor in building up high-voltage experiments. I had never worked in such challenging environment, besides that, it was my first time in another country, all the people I worked with were scientists with many years of experience in the field, which in principle (I am not going not lie) scared me a lot, because I was only a bachelor. However, their guidance and support in every task I had to perform was a fundamental pillar for my development.

Experience

It is said that finding a room in Switzerland is kind of hard and time-consuming because of availability and high prices. Nonetheless, I was surprised and lucky when during my interview I was offer a studio to live in (a bit expensive yet but I least I did not stress myself looking for a room). The company offers interns studios in of the its building, very close to the workplace so I went/came by bus, it took me around 10 minutes to arrive. Even though the company had a canteen, I always made and carried my lunch to work (I had time and I enjoyed cooking) buying food every day was really expensive, but spending money in chocolate was NOT, Switzerland has the best chocolate on earth!!!. I worked from Monday to Friday, and sometimes I even could do home-office. Despite that, I generally preferred not to hang out far away from the town I lived during workdays, on Thursdays, I joined the IAESTE weekly meeting in Zurich whereabouts, where I spent good time with friends while having fun or simply sharing some beers or snacks. Then, on Saturdays and Sundays the real adventure started very early in the morning, I used to go hiking, with IAESTE friends or with people from the company (other interns, supervisors) or even random people I met during previous hiking.

Discover

Living and working in another country is probably one of the toughest decision I made, little did I know about how my life was going to change during and after the internship. I could not have chosen a better country, place and company to pursue my first international internship experience than Switzerland. It was hard in the beginning, but in the end it paid off. Working with high-skilled engineers from different backgrounds, made me realize that there are still many things to learn, I knew nothing about Gas Circuit Breakers and I was not sure about what I really liked about my career, or in which field I should continue with my masters, but know I have it clear. Regarding you, Switzerland, there are no words to describe your BEAUTY, you are even more beautiful than in photos. Last but not least, I want to express my gratefulness to IAESTE organization, employer and friends for providing me with a truly life-changing experience. I look forward the day I can come back to Switzerland again. Vielen Dank!