"I am always happy when there are mountains, cows and horses," she said, as she surveyed her surroundings in rural North Otago.
Miss Schwenk (24), who will complete the final year of her degree at the University of Bern next year, described herself as a "vet tourist".
She has been staying with Neil and Rose Sanderson, of the Fossil Creek Angus stud, which was "perfect".
Not only was she able to see their Angus operation - her family has an Angus stud in Switzerland - but she was also able to further her knowledge, working alongside Mr Sanderson who is a specialist embryo transplant veterinarian.
She has been accompanying him on work trips, which was also an opportunity to see some countryside, and she kept her camera handy.
While small by New Zealand farming standards, Miss Schwenk's 50ha family farm was a very productive property.
About 20 years ago her parents established the Neualp Angus stud, which includes 40 breeding cows, and with bloodlines from the UK, North America, Germany and Australia.
Their cattle, which were housed indoors during winter, had to be healthy, fertile and long-living. Angus was becoming an increasingly popular breed in Switzerland.
Their cull cattle were fattened and the meat sold direct from the farm and to restaurants. People enjoyed buying their meat and being able to trace it from the plate back to the paddock, she said.
Her mother, who kept her own bees, has a shop in renovated stables on the farm where she sells a range of produce - everything from creams and balms, to herbs and vegetables, marinades and marmalade.
The family was virtually self-sufficient, producing their own meat, vegetables, eggs and even trout from their own dam. They also have miniature Shetland ponies.
Pursuing a career in veterinary science was a good way to combine two of Miss Schwenk's interests - science and agriculture - and her particular interest was in large animals and horses.
For her final year, which she expected to be the most interesting of the five years, she was looking forward to lots of practical work and putting into practice everything she had learned. Her family's vet had been very encouraging and had taught her a lot about large animals.
She likened being a vet to "being a bit like Sherlock Holmes", with animals unable to express how they were feeling and that made the job so interesting.
Before arriving in New Zealand, Miss Schwenk, who is here for five weeks, did not know much about the country, apart from the fact that agriculture was very important.
She was amazed to see cows lining up to be milked on a large dairy farm - "it was like a main road for cows" - as a 50-cow dairy farm was respectable by Swiss standards.