Home sweet (nerdy) home.

I think that making a home in a foreign country is a long series of little steps. Sometimes you notice when you've made a step. For me, buying my first personal care products in Switzerland was one of those steps- personal care products are so... personal! I was more attached to the brands that I was familiar with than I expected, and it was weird to have to sort through all of the unfamiliar options and try to figure out what I wanted to use. My medicine cabinet is slowly transforming itself into a European medicine cabinet. Like most Americans that I know over here, however, we have all drawn the line at toothpaste. We all still import our toothpaste from the US, because none of us like the toothpaste here. Weird, I know, but true. The first doctor's appointment over here also was one of those discreet steps. To have an official doctor over here for me was one of those, "Oh, yeah, I live here, don't I?" moments.

Other steps are so gradual you don't really notice them. Until one day you wake up and realize that a huge shift has been made. I have just realized that I have to remind myself to cook with meat. My go-to recipes and dinners are now primarily vegetarian, a result of the super-high meat prices. I now plan to go to the grocery store at least 3 or 4 times a week, because eating fresh food is normal (and refrigerator space is definitely limited).

I had one more step this week: I got my first ACS (American Chemical Society) anniversary mug delivered to me here. Back in the US, I had quite the collection of nerdy mugs made of beakers or proudly displaying the periodic table of the elements. But here I have had no nerdy mugs! So... to have a nerdy mug in my flat feels like one more step of this becoming more home-y.

Traveling is good for your mood!

Although I really don't need another excuse to travel, this article from Time makes the case that traveling is better than buying things. And I totally agree!

A Sunday in Bern.

This Sunday I went with two co-workers to Bern, mostly because we could. We actually had originally wanted to go hiking, but the weather was iffy enough that we decided to stay in the city. And we wanted to get out of Zürich, so we took the hour train ride to Bern. I have to say, I have gotten used to traveling by myself, but it is also quite nice to travel with others!

It is a good thing that we decided to stay close, as we ended up having to meet at work to check on an alarm that was going off and replace a nitrogen tank, which meant that we got a late start.

Thanks to our late start, we ended up getting into Bern just in time for a late lunch. We walked across town and watched the Bern bears for a while before settling on lunch at the Altes Tramdepot. And there I had the best beer that I have had since coming to Switzerland. Really, it was fantastic!

After lunch we wandered up the hill to the Rosengarten and smelled a bajillion roses. The view over Bern was quite nice, also.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the small streets of Bern, window shopping (in the truest sense, as all of the stores are closed on Sunday) and stopping for a coffee in a cafe in a little park.

Bern has a really beautiful old town, and I quite enjoyed meandering around and having a relaxed visit. For me it is still a novelty to just be able to decide to take the train to another city to hang out. And, who knows, we might go back just for the beer!

What passes as news.

This week one of the free newspapers here in Zürich ran a half a page story (complete with pictures) on how the clocks on the Fraumünster and St. Peter's Kirche were a whole one minute different!

This story was not even human interest- it was maybe 3 or 4 pages in to the paper, next to car accidents and other local news.

I just had to laugh. Of course church clocks being different from each other would be news here. Although I didn't understand enough German to figure out if one of them was actually the right time...

Dressing for the weather.

Switzerland tends to have a more mild climate than Minnesota, even though it actually is quite a bit further north. However, this summer we have seen some warm temperatures and drastic weather changes.

For example, last week it was almost 90 and humid on Tuesday. Since there is little or no air-conditioning here, this means that it is also super hot inside. My office/lab building is really lacking on the whole climate-control front, so my office (which is on the top floor of the atrium) has been an inferno. I'd guess it's definitely been in the 80s. So... great, it's hot, everyone wears shorts and t-shirts, etc.

By Wednesday, it was rainy and the low was about 50, with a high of maybe 62 or so. So all of the Europeans showed up to work in long pants and sweaters. First of all, 62 is not that cold! Secondly, it was still at least 80 in the building! Thirdly, it's JULY, people! I have no idea how they could wear all of those clothes without burning up. Although, to be fair, I think as a Minnesotan I have a higher tolerance for cold than the average person. And I've also been working in a glovebox, which means I'm up to my armpits in thick rubber gloves all day. Let me tell you, that is hot. But still, it is funny to show up to work in shorts and a t-shirt next to people who are wearing thick sweaters.

However, since on average people here seem to ascribe to the "being cold gives you a cold" belief, I guess I can understand the thinking behind this. Recently I was talking with someone about the air-conditioning in the labs in Minnesota, when we'd have to wear sweatshirts all year long. The person said, "Wow, you must have such good immune systems from all of that training, to go from hot to cold all summer long!"

This is July?

Today it was the 19th of July.

It was 55 F and rainy in Zürich.

I made hot soup and was thankful for something warm.

Thank you, Swiss summer.

Braunwald, take II.

Last fall, the first hike that I took in the Alps was in Braunwald, and it still ranks as one of the more beautiful hikes on which I have been. (The background of my blog features a picture taken on this hike.) I even went back to the area a few weeks later for a second hike. It really is just gob-smackingly beautiful. It also helps that this area is quite close to Zürich, which means that you can even sleep in a little and still have a nice hike.

On Saturday the weather was absolutely perfect to take a hike (70-ish and totally sunny), so I decided to head back to Braunwald to take a different hike- the Panoramaweg. This hike was definitely not short on panorama, either.

The day was totally perfect. Not too hot, a little breeze coming up the valley, and what the weather services likes to call "abundant sunshine." Maybe a little too abundant, because I definitely got a little toasty, despite applying copious amounts of sunscreen.

Strangely enough, I also ran into one of my colleagues and her husband, who were hiking the same trail but in the opposite direction. It's a small world over here in Switzerland...

One of my favorite things is to stop on the trail to just listen and smell. I could hear the clanging of cowbells across the valley, the buzz of bees in all of the alpine flowers and the whisper of the breeze in the pine trees. The smell of pine wafted up from the forests and the sweet smell of the flowers and grass was really heavenly.

 
Yup. I think I like it here.

Thoughts on shopping in Switzerland.

I finally broke down this past week and went shopping for some clothes. I had been putting it off for a while, but I had reached the point that I didn't really want to wear anything that I had in my closet. So, I headed off to the nearest mall-type place, Einkaufszentum Glatt. And proceeded to have a total disaster.

Problem #1. Aside from H&M, which I know from the US, I am absolutely clueless about the different stores and brands. I had a hard time getting a feeling for if the stores were for young people or older people, if they were super pricey or less expensive, etc. I found myself in several stores where I was clearly 30 years younger than the next youngest person there. At least this was a good clue that I didn't need to browse there.

Problem #2. Holy prices, Batman! I have been getting used to the insanely high prices here in Switzerland. Case in point: I went for a hike and spent 4.80 CHF for a juice at the top. For you in the US, that is the equivalent of paying almost $6 for a bottled drink at a cafeteria. Lovely. But sticker shock hit again with clothes shopping, so I decided to stick with H&M, which was the least expensive. A very plain shirt still costs at least 25 CHF, but that was about as good as it was going to get.

Problem #3. I am not European. I do not have European style. I still have more of an American style. And I am definitely not in America. So I had a hard time even finding clothes that I might want to try on, because most of them really weren't my thing, and I am picky, let's be honest here. Plus there were no colors! I felt like half of the clothes were some shade of taupe. Unless they were mustard or neon yellow.

Problem #4. Ummm... European sizes? It was a challenge to figure out what size made sense to try on, because the sizing system is all different.

Problem #5. It is currently sale season. Which is great, except that the H&M looked like a cyclone had hit it, and it was like going for a treasure hunt in a hot, crowded beige sea of clothing.

I found 1 shirt before getting so cranky that I just had to leave.

Thankfully, later this week I went shopping with my colleague Rachel, who took me to a much nicer and less-crowded H&M where I experienced more success and actually found a couple of shirts. But, let me tell you, I'm definitely looking forward to going shopping when I go back to the US!

Leysin hike.

On Saturday, Rachel, Harold, Rhianna and I met (from our respective hotels/hostels) at the Geneva main station to catch a train into the mountains. We ended up going on this hike up to a lookout with a revolving restaurant at the top. We had to take a cog-wheel train up to Leysin, which was on of the steepest train rides I've taken so far!

The day was a little hazy and cloudy, but quite warm. The hike was really beautiful. We hiked through a forest that smelled like Minnesota (all pine-y and wood-smoke-y) and through rocky hillsides covered with Alpine flowers, with beautiful views of mountains surrounding us. It really is times like this when I wonder how on earth I ended up being so lucky to live in a place where I can easily go hiking in the Alps and be surrounded by such beauty.

We hiked up to the top and enjoyed the views from a terrace at the top. We ended up starting back late enough that we took the gondola down the mountain, since we had to get our bags from the train station before the man left for the night.

From Leysin we started back to Zürich, with a stop for fondue in Fribourg at Rachel and Harold's favorite fondue place. The fondue was really quite excellent, and it felt so exotic to start out the day in Geneva, train to the mountains and have a beautiful hike, then train back to Zürich, stopping in a random city to have great fondue. Overall, it was quite a lovely trip.