Blogging from opposite sides of the Pacific

So, I finally arrived in Zurich a little over two weeks ago. Life has been very busy since then. In addition to ramping up at work, there is always some new piece of administrivia to attend to, or some new errand to run. However, last Saturday the weather was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to wander around the city a bit. Much like when I visited back in March, my wandering was broad but shallow. There are lots of things I’d like to return to to explore more in depth. For example, this Saturday (today), I had wanted to take the train up to Uetliberg for it’s awesome view of the city, but the weather was overcast, so I will wait until another day. At the moment it is also a bit difficult to experience Zurich because I don’t get paid for the first time for another week =)

Moving to a new country is a bit bewildering. I often explained to people that moving from Pittsburgh to Berkeley was almost like moving to a different country, and now I am sure that the comparison was accurate, though the culture shock here has been a bit more jarring, and there is a different language to contend with. You arrive with a suitcase full of clothes and a laptop, and you have to rebuild your life from scratch. In any case, my thoughts about Zurich and Switzerland are still a bit scattered, so I’ll make a list.

• Swiss/Zurich German is a mystery not only to me, but also to the Germans I’ve met. Everyday words can be entirely different from High German, and even when verbs are the same, they are often abbreviated according to seemingly arbitrary rules. Luckily, the necessary utility phrases are pretty easy to learn. (Grüezi, Danke/Merci vielmals, etc.)
• Prices in the grocery store are roughly the same as in the US with the exception of meat. Food in restaurants is 2-4x more expensive, even in little hole-in-the wall type places. Chocolate and cheese cost about half what they do in the US =)
  
• Zurich has amazing public transportation (see pictures). For getting around the city Zurich, I have determined that the best option is a yearly pass, which is a little under 700chf. For getting around the rest of Switzerland, I’ll be able to use the free half-fare card that I get through ETH.
• You have to buy special trashbags at the post office. 2chf for a 35 liter bag bought in rolls of 10.
• I opened a post office bank account. The process of logging in to their online banking website has 4 steps, and requires several different numbers one of which is acquired from a smartcard reader that came in the mail. I guess I won’t be able to add the account to mint.
  
• Muesli is a suitable replacement for oatmeal.

Well, anyway, that’s about all I’ve got off the top of my head. Until next time.

I have had a good visit to Zurich. I feel that my interview with the ETH folks went really well, and I will hopefully be getting an offer from them within the next couple of weeks. I have only been able to get a close look at the center of the city, and the area around ETH, but even from that limited information, in addition to conversations with people here, I think I can safely conclude that Zurich is a really nice place. Restaurants and housing are even more expensive than in the Bay Area, but the public transportation is amazing (Apparently, visitors to ETH from MSR Cambridge have called it, "Tram City," which is perfectly apt), and otherwise I feel like one would get a lot of value out of the expense of living here.

Today, I had free since I'm not returning to California until tomorrow, and I did a little sightseeing. I was thwarted at first since it snowed a few inches between about 7:30 and 12:30. Luckily, snowplows came around and cleared the sidewalks(!!), and I was able to walk to the nearest tram stop without my feet getting wet. I took Tram 9 from my hotel down to where the river runs out of the lake, which is where the famous Sterne Grill is. There, I got myself a delicious servalat. I backtracked a tram stop and decided to spend the snowy afternoon at the Zurich Kunsthaus. It was a pretty nice museum. They had a big-ish collection of the impressionist stuff that I like, and a medium sized collection of the standard, jesus-y, European, renaissance stuff, which I quickly browsed through. They also had some paintings by a Swiss dude named Felix Vallotton that I rather liked.

By the time I finished at the museum it was already late in the afternoon. I took the tram another two stops to Paradeplatz, and  tried to get some hot chocolate at Sprungli, which was recommended to me by the ETH folks. But at roughly the same time it started snowing really hard again, and everyone else in Switzerland apparently had the same idea, and the place was utterly packed. Therefore, I hopped back on the tram, and went about halfway up Bahnhofstrasse. I still had a bit of hankering for hot chocolate, but couldn't find a cafe I was happy with, and eventually wandered into Merkur (a chocolate shop.) In the back was a dude making truffles. He gave me one to try for free, and I ended up buying a box to take back to folks in Berkeley.

Anyhow to make a long story short, the snow kept me from going up to Uetliberg, but I had a good afternoon running around Zurich.

A few weeks ago, I was in Japan with Christina, and we visited Kyoto for the weekend. I am finally getting around to posting my pictures. It was snowy and cold on Saturday, but the weather cleared up on Sunday, and we had a good time, aside from a misadventure or two. (I am now the proud owner of two Nikon camera battery chargers.)

Now, I am preparing for my trip to Zurich next week. Mostly, this involves working on the presentation about my dissertation research that I'll give there on Thursday. Yesterday, I had to do some painful cutting to get it down to 45 slides, but that is probably still too many. I will have to do a few practice runs this weekend to see how long it is. I am nervous and excited about the trip. I want it to go well, and for ETH and Zurich to be as awesome as they sounded over the phone.