1. Tell us a bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.
People know me as Mubashir Zaidi but only a few know that my name on official documents is Syed
Mubashir Rehman which is why many times I have been through awkward situations and you can
imagine that, especially when it comes to certificates and stuff. By the way, I’m doing my bachelors in
Industrial and manufacturing engineering from NUST-PNEC. I have completed my two years and two are
left. I did my intermediate from Govt. Degree College Gulshan-e-Iqbal and I did my schooling from Al-
Murtaza School. Though I was good in studies since my school but I have always been active in
extracurricular activities, I still remember my excitement when my painting which I painted with Fazal
Abbas, a very good friend of mine; was published in AKU-EB Calendar 2010.
When I got admission in PNEC I was assigned to organize NUST Business Plan Competition 2012
and for that purpose I was made the President of the Organizing team. I have also served as the deputy
director events in Media & communications society (MACS) and I also organized NUST-PNEC Olympiad
2013 as an executive member of the organizing body which is a mega event in the history of PNEC.
Considering my management skills and abilities I was made the member of The Student Representatives
Council (SRC) by the Admin PNEC, I worked as a student officer there with three of my other student
colleagues. This summer I went for an internship to Vietnam through IAESTE which was totally a
different experience and I feel lucky that I got this chance.
Well coming to my hobbies and interests, in my spare time I watch a lot of movies and TV shows
because I just love watching them. I read books especially on History, Philosophy and theological studies
due to my interest in political studies I often read biographies and autobiographies of different political
personalities. Poetry is something I just love because you can express anything in just two couplets. My
favorite poets are Ghalib of course, Mir, Anees and Dabeer. To be honest I have very little interest in
outdoor games, even I watch cricket when it is Pakistan versus India.
When did you first learn about IAESTE and who guided you throughout?
I always wanted to do something, which benefits me both; professionally, like enhancing my engineering
skills and abilities and which could also provide me with a chance to go abroad, interact with new
people, see how they work, their culture and their way of living so after asking some of my seniors about
such a program I got to know about IAESTE. Further Cdr. Rajab Ali, who is also the faculty member of
IAESTE local committee at PNEC; guided me more about IAESTE and how the procedures work for which
I am very thankful to him.
Even when I was selected for an internship abroad I faced a lot of difficulties regarding some of
the procedures but Mr. Ali khan An IAESTE alumni and a former student of PNEC; helped and guided me
a lot he told me that The whole process is filled with uncertainties but it’s worth it at the end also Mr.
Waseem Akhtar, President IAESTE PNEC; was always there whenever I had queries to ask, I also wish
him best of luck as he is currently on his internship to Thailand through IAESTE similarly my seniors Ms.
Yusra Shah and Mr. Salman Tahir were always a source of guidance and support. I am very much
thankful to each one of them.
Were you a member of a Local Committee or National Committee?
Yes, I was a member of the local committee and still I am working with other members of the local
committee to aware more students about IAESTE and we are doing our best to produce more internship
offers so that we can exchange them in the General Conference of IAESTE with the other member

2. countries which will provide us with more internship offers and which will finally increase the
opportunities for more students resulting better results next year InshaAllah.
Where and when did you go?
I went to Vietnam for the internship this summer in the month of July.
Who did you work for?
Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) which is located in Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam.
What did you work on and for how long?
I worked there with Mechanical students who were working on their final project. Their task was to
make a more efficient and cheaper machine which could straighten and cut steel rods into desired
lengths than the existing machine in the market. In this project my part was to make the 3 Dimensional
models of the machine using computer aided designing with the help of Solid Edge. Basically my
internship was about two months but due to Visa policies of my host country I was only issued Visa for
one month.
What was the experience like?
It was totally a different experience for me! There were all together eleven students living with me and
in my neighbors from different nationalities so you can imagine the diversity in every aspect of life and
work. The Indian and Spanish students worked upon Solid Works, I used to work upon Solid Edge and
Vietnamese students used to work upon Catia. I was allocated my separate office and the office timings
were from 9 to 5.
My Vietnamese partners were very passionate so when I asked them to take me to some work
field area they took me to some markets and work places where I saw the existing mesh machine and I
got an idea how to make a similar machine with some innovations. I read a lot about electric motors, the
frame and the cutting tool some of the basic parts of the machine. Finally after a lot of hard work I
presented my work some days before the end of my internship.
During my internship I got many chances to interact with my Indian colleagues also one of
them was my roommate so we used to talk a lot about the cultural homogeneity, language similarity
and the way of living of the people of the Indo-Pak. I shared my room with two Indian and one Polish
Student. In my neighbors One Spanish, One Indian and One student from Switzerland shared a room. On
the other hand one room was shared by a polish student and a student from Slovakia. Also two girls
were from Hungary and Poland. Almost every evening we used to go out and visit different cafes and
shops.
The cuisine was way too different. The Vietnamese could eat almost everything even dog,
snake, rat, Shark everything! I only ate bread, butter and some vegetables in the first week because I
didn’t know what to eat and what not to eat. Another thing was that women used to work in the
markets and shopping centers, they used to ride motorbikes and you could see women everywhere
playing their part in the prosperity and growth of Vietnam. I got many chances to interact with the local
people and I used to ask a lot about almost everything. I also found it very interesting that there was no
concept of arranged marriage as we have I mean literally there was no such concept, a boy or a girl had
to find its soul mate all by him or herself.

3. I never thought that during my internship in Vietnam I will get a chance to attend a Vietnamese
Wedding! The couple invited me and some of the other interns to their wedding. I knew them before
coming to Vietnam through Facebook luckily I got a chance to attend their wedding. The wedding was
awesome I mean I really enjoyed a lot; I spent a weekend at their place! It was a kind of international
wedding the kindness and "Mehman-Nawazi" I received was amazing! You know, when they serve food
and as soon as your plate is empty they bring you more! So if you don't want to eat more, leave some
food, another thing, in Pakistan we have photos of bride and groom after the wedding but in Vietnam
they do it before and the photos are perfect.
Altogether it was a great experience meeting different people from different parts of the
world, making new friends, learning a little bit of some languages, using different methods to eat like
using chopsticks, exploring natural beauties and much more.
Tell me how your time there changed your perceptions of Vietnam?
When I was traveling to Vietnam, many of my family members and friends were like “why Vietnam?”
because everyone knew only one thing about Vietnam which was The American-Vietnamese War even I
didn’t know much about the present situations there but when I went there I found it a very peaceful,
developed and beautiful country; clean roads and infrastructure, only new and good conditioned cars
and if you can’t afford one you could buy an automatic motor bike for only 200 USD, also after every
three or four shops there was a shop which gave motorbikes on rent on extremely low rates, cheap and
only air-conditioned busses were there and I should mention that I saw a lot of headquarters of giant
companies like Samsung and Mitsubishi on acres of land. On the other hand, the people are love
seriously! they are so kind and polite that you can’t imagine.
So Vietnam is no more a country with war even the war ended almost 40 years ago. Now it is
developing with a breath taking speed because of the peaceful conditions and foreign investment it is
growing rapidly. Furthermore there is a huge part of tourism in their economy which made me realize
that if the conditions in my country become more peaceful we can also support our economy through
tourism because Pakistan is also a country which has some of the most beautiful places on earth
especially the northern areas.
In your time off, what did you do? Did you get time for sightseeing?
As Vietnam is a tourist country it is filled with many natural wonders and some of the most beautiful
places on earth so you will see a crowd of Americans, Europeans and other foreigners everywhere. I
knew it that I was only there for a month in which I also had to do my internship work so I decided the
first day that I will not miss a single chance and I will avail every possibility to explore Vietnam the best I
could so on every weekend I used to go out with my other fellow colleagues to places which were very
far from my host city. We went to some of the most beautiful places on earth, which are also the part of
UNESCO world heritage sites like Ha long Bay, some of the other places were Ninh Binh, Ba Be and Hanoi
the Capital city. I wanted to travel to Saigon but I didn’t have much time left.
Other then weekends I used to go out in the evening to the places which were in my host city
with my colleagues. IAESTE Vietnam planned a trip to Ninh Binh a town which was filled with natural
beauties we went there by a bus. There were a lot of Huge Pagodas the Buddhist Temples and Churches
which portrayed the ancient art of Chinese culture I also went to the biggest Pagoda in Asia located in
the same town it had a lot of Buddhist sculptures and statues some of which were very big. We also
went for boat rides which were much more than boat rides because the ride contained so many caves
big and small, temples and so many tourist spots. I also climbed to the highest peak there and the view

4. from there was like heaven.
I have seen almost every place in the northern Vietnam but I couldn’t see the southern part
which also has the famous city, Saigon. I find Vietnam such a peaceful, free and beautiful country that
someday I will go again to Vietnam to meet my friends there especially my German friend who was like a
big brother he was living there since six months and still he didn’t want to go back he also told me that
he will never leave Vietnam to go back to his country. Well, I miss Vietnam.
How did your time with IAESTE impact on your life/career?
The more you meet new people and the more you interact with them it broadens your mind, your ability
to think out of the box. I think this internship has made a great impact on my life now I know a lot of
things about this world which I didn’t know before. It has broadened my vision. Obviously when people
from different parts of the world sit together for some time they don’t just go out and have party, of
course they discuss some serious stuff. Other than enhancing general and political knowledge you get to
know about more opportunities you can avail and the better ways to improve your living standards.
What are the benefits of IAESTE that other international societies could not provide?
I know about other International societies but to be frank IAESTE is the only organization of its kind
because the amount of opportunities it provides, there is no organization which can compete. First the
ball is in your court, you have to produce such internship offers and you have to send the best
representatives you can in the General conference, who can exchange as many offers they can resulting
more opportunities for more students.
Coming to the individuals, once you become a member for sure a time will come that you will
get a chance to apply for an internship if you got selected than it will be a start of a great journey
because even after your internship you will get a lot of opportunities to go abroad on conferences and
events where you can make contacts and professional relations for future jobs based on you capabilities
and how talented you are. For more details you visit their website:
http://www.iaeste.org/students/go-on-a-traineeship/benefits/