Tapela Lungu

At work

My workmates, supervisors and mentors were equally nice. They were always there to help and ensure that I never lacked in any technical and professional skills. I am grateful that I had great mentors like Andreas Meyer and Rinzin Faul who always made sure I always had something to do almost every time. They taught me to be efficient, focused, disciplined in all my professional endeavours. They also taught me how to communicate effectively and efficiently and why it was important for me to always ask questions whenever I was not sure of my tasks. This comprehensively aided me to improve efficiently, especially with my professional skills as I am not typically effective when it comes to communication. Well, I am now!

The digital marketing world in Switzerland and at Mediaschneider has graced and groomed me with a lot of knowledge about Search Engine Advertising, Optimization, cost and production, media research, understanding the media landscape of each geographical location before taping into the market, digital marketing strategies and how digital media campaigns could effectively change the business world.

It was however challenging to execute tasks on time, but I saw myself gradually improving all the time. These are professional endowments I will forever be grateful for as it will help me transform as an individual as well as contribute to the young growing marketing industry of my country.

My Swiss host family

At first, I was bit worried about my host family because I was a stranger in their home and thousand miles away from home across many seas and landscapes. I was worried about the meals, how to use the dish washer and washing machine. My table etiquette and role I could play when it came to be helping with the house chores. It however turned out to be different. My host family Martin Feller and Jeannette Bucher were so good to me. They were very supportive and caring in both my professional and private life. Their gestures of appreciation and how they would say thank you for even the simplest things amazed me, which was dissimilar to my culture. They also ensured I was equipped with the technical and professional knowledge about living, travelling and working in Switzerland. It was bit awkward on how they asked questions sometimes, but I understood that they were interested to know more about me. They were literally my parents away from home.

Highlights and challenges in Switzerland

In my travelogue experiences I visited some of the country’s splendid sites and landscapes with a vivid picture of my General Abonnement (GA) train ticket across many places it took me. I went to the Uetliberg towers with its summit at 871 meters above sea level. From there I enjoyed the magnificent panoramic view over the city of Zurich, City of Lugano in the Canton of Ticino Southern of Switzerland and an Italian-speaking region gave me a Swiss-Mediterranean mix of culture closely related to that of Italy’s northern Lombardy region. This mix is reflected in its architecture and cuisine and the city stands on the northern shore of glacial Lake Lugano, surrounded by mountains. Bern, the capital city of Switzerland was one of my favorites. The City is built around a crook in the Aare River.

Nevertheless, it would be unfair for me to forget to express how much I enjoyed the Swiss cuisines as well as understand how much they mean to the people of Switzerland. They attach a special history to it, contextually and culturally. It was also quite amazing to see how they would describe it and explain their significance. Totally interesting for me.

However, I was not happy with how expensive things are in Switzerland. From clothes, food, electronics and other logistics. I always had to convert the prices to that of my own country which is eleven times more for every Swiss Franc incurred. I also had quite a few challenges getting used to the transportation system because sometimes there were moments I would get lost or sometimes not know what they said in the announcements they made in the trains or buses. Sometimes I also felt out of place whenever the local people used their own language in my presence. Because I did not know whether they talked about me or rather about something else.

My future plans

Everything I have learnt in Switzerland is quite a milestone and a privilege in its outermost reflections. From both the professional and private aspect. It has just rubbed a genie to my career and I could imagine my professional self in the next 5-15 years. It is just overwhelming. My future plans are to work in any leading advertising firm in the country and God willing any place in the world.  I would also like to continue my writing skills and empower my society with the necessary skills and professional elements I learnt over the past three months especially when it came to being time efficient and organized.

On an entrepreneurial point of view, I would like to help my family grow our family poultry business that has also supported my education throughout, so that my younger ones could also benefit from it as well.

Personal message

I would like to say we grow up in life mostly receiving as it is a part of our very upbringing. We take sustenance from our mothers, we take knowledge from our teachers and companionship from our friends. But the love, support, help and care that B360 Education Partnership Organization, Mediaschneider, my host family, and the department of Media Communication Studies at the University of Zambia showed me before and during the internship is something I would forever be grateful for.

I cannot manage to write down individual names, but they are all part of this endeavor that I have achieved. I will never feel superior for being given this opportunity or even feel inferior for having been supported from the beginning to the end of it. I am just delightfully thankful! And it would be so encouraging to see this programme continue for the next 50 plus years. It is so empowering culturally, professionally and personally.