Paulus Awala

My Swiss host family

I met my host mom first in Namibia and surprisingly everything happened like we already knew each other. I felt at home already the night I arrived in Eschlikon, the fact that my host dad was already cracking jokes on our way from the airport. I was so amazed by the way their kids were so interactive with me already on the first day, they really welcomed me as their sibling. I enjoyed the conversations we always had when having dinner and excitingly all the meals felt very special to me.

The Brunner family had a lot for me to learn from, Peter and Susanna were very educative, with them we had conversation about generally everything, from politics, school systems, career professions and history. Susanna made me live a very smooth life, she always prepares my lunchbox and always planned for my weekend trips. Susanna made it possible for Peter and me to go on a plane tour around Switzerland. It was something that I only used to dream about and it was a totally different adventure for me. I was happy to celebrate my Swiss birthday on that day, with a very beautiful cake made of colours both Namibian and Swiss flags, #NamSwiss_boy.

Highlights and challenges in Switzerland

Lakes, mountains, valleys, forests, waterfalls and bridges where the most blissful things for me. I could stay on a 6 hours’ train that passes through the mountains and I was excited to always see different views of Switzerland. The good public transport system of Switzerland made me live my hobby of travelling to the fullest, I enjoyed travelling all around the country and we took a lot of pictures with my colleagues.

It was very challenging for me during my first month in Switzerland because I never got a day to rest. After work I used to do a little bit of school work till late and on top of that I was so curious to know/see a lot about the country so I used to travel all day, all weekend. Off course the language differences was a barrier to communicate with a lot of Swiss people, so forcefully I had to use google translate most of the times. Poor time management made me ruin my daily plans during my first month of stay.

My future plans

My focus is to first finish my degree and find a job. With a job I will then register for my second degree in a suitable management course. After my second degree I will have enough working experience and that will allow me to do my masters in Mechanical engineering and register myself with the Engineering Council of Namibia (ECN). After all my studies I will focus on my job while coaching and giving advices to young professionals and simultaneously finding out ways on how to establish my own consulting engineering company.

Personal message

I would like to thank the brilliant B360 team, Mr Nicolaas Smit, Buchi AG and the Brunners family for making it possible for me to undertake this life changing opportunity. I always wanted to go somewhere so I come back as different person. Staying in Switzerland really changed my life.

Three months of living in Switzerland where the shortest months I have ever lived in my life, many thanks.