Arrival

Hey people,

For those of you that don't know, I have been lucky enough to get a summer internship position at the ETH (pronounced ay-tay-haa) university in Zurich for 8 weeks. I arrived in Zurich on the 1st of June (almost two weeks ago) and have been contemplating this blog ever since, only to give into constant pressure now!

My flight landed in Frankfurt and the onslaught of unintelligible languages and freakishly costly commodities began immediately. Navigating through the airport to the inbuilt international railway station (so convenient) was not too bad, but digesting 2 euros for 1/2 L water was hard. The railway system is pretty good (fast and easy to find trains, good seats with great views!). So much so that the half of me wishing to miss my train and end up lost somewhere in eastern Europe with nothing but my backpack (packed with namkeen and laddo from home of course) was really let down.



I took a train from the Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof (translation: train station) to somewhere in Germany and then a connecting train to Zurich. You could really see the difference when the train crossed the Swiss border and the scenery turned from flat (boring) farms of Germany to the rolling hillside of the Swiss alps. The Swiss countryside was amazing and I could not close my eyes for the two or so hours even though I'd had only about 4 hours of sleep in the past 2 days.

Tugging and occasionally falling with my luggage I finally arrived in Zurich. To my dismay, Google maps had failed me for the first time. My handwritten directions (and a hastily sketched map) was a useless piece of paper (plus I could not keep my eyes off all the Swiss women around me!) So I loitered around what looked like a ticketing machine and tried to read map/directions. But German gleaned from WWII movies (Schnell!) is not helpful in such situations. So I decided to ask a pair of beautiful ladies (and immediately thought of second checking the directions they will give with a sensible looking local guy.) They turned out to be Americans only visiting Zurich, but after going in a few circles, they were able to show me where to go.

**The public transportation system in Zurich is amazing. The whole city is wired up with cables that run overhead and that trams and buses 'connect' to for power. Trams and buses usually have right of way. Apart from these, there are commuter trains that connect suburbs/far off places in zurich, to the main city. First place I have seen where public transport is given preference over cars. The only drawback, despite the infamous nightlife of zurich, is the lack of convenient night public transport. But zurich is a rich city and if you can afford to party late in zurich, you can afford the cab ride home!**

Exhausted from two days of travel, I manage to drudge my bags half a kilometer the wrong way, then the half a kilometer back, and then half a kilometer in the right direction to arrive at the International Student House where I will be spending the rest of my summer. There was no one at the office, but I manage to acquire my room, heat some of mummy's great paranthas, take a shower and find the bed. Sleeping at 9pm (while it was full day outside) had never felt better!



(The student house)