Next summer, Ann Marie Smetona, Junior POSC major, will be an intern for ten weeks at the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, which services both the countries of Switzerland and Lichtenstein.  Although she will be given a general overview of the embassy’s functions, most of her time will be spent in the consular department.  In order to protect and promote the interests of U.S. citizens abroad, the consular department works out the best way to handle crisis situations that would involve evacuation of U.S. citizens and seeks to inform U.S. travelers about the State Department’s traveler programs so that they can be readily informed about security issues.  Additionally, this department processes visa and passport applications and is where you would go if you lost your passport while traveling. Even though Bern is in the German-speaking portion of Switzerland, the embassy encourages familiarity with French and Italian since Switzerland is a multi-lingual country.