Upon my arrival in Zürich I really hit the ground running, between starting back at work, looking for a permanent flat, and working my way through Swiss bureaucracy to get my official work permit. I saw at least one flat Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and usually didn't get back to my flat until after 9 pm (21.00). Thanks to jet lag, most of those days I woke up at 4 am, so it made for some long days.
I am very happy to be back at work and to get started on my new research project, which is looking at dark production of reactive oxygen species from reduced humic material. Exciting, I know! It really feels like I was never gone at all- I just settled right in to my old desk and got to it. Several times while I was back in Minnesota I wondered if Switzerland and my job at ETH were as great as I remembered it, or if it was just a fluke things would be super different when I returned. I am happy to report that Switzerland and ETH are, in fact, just as fantastic as I remember them to be. I am truly very glad to be back.
This first weekend I took things slower to try to get caught up a little with my sleep and such. Since I know I'm going to be here for a while, the sight-seeing pressure is off, and I felt like I could take a lazy weekend. Friday evening I went for happy hour with a bunch of coworkers to bQm, the student bar at the union. There are two students visiting our lab from UW Madison, so it was like American happy hour at ETH. It was lovely to get caught up with with my coworkers.
Saturday I cleaned some around the flat (I've been assigned to the bathroom) and cooked my first meal since arriving. I also visited Paul and Jessica Erickson, who just had a baby (Jakob Ragnar) in early January. It was so nice to have some baby snuggle time. Jakob is a super relaxed baby and just slept in my arms most of the time I was there.
On Sunday I visited St. Andrews, which is an English-speaking Anglican congregation in Zürich. The location is pretty great, and the building is beautiful, with vibrant stained glass windows. The church seems to be a mix of families with young-ish children and people 55+. There might have been one person my age there, but it was hard to tell. The service was much more tradition Church of the Cross, my Anglican church back in Minnesota, but it was still nice. The organist was fantastic! I wasn't in love with the church after my first visit, but I didn't rule it out, either.
This afternoon I re-visited one of the flats that I saw on my first night here, where I was offered the room. I am so excited to have a place to live permanently and to exit the room-search process at the earliest possible time, because it takes a lot of energy. I feel very blessed- some of my coworkers literally looked for months before finding a place, and I found one within 4 hours of landing in Zürich! I am really excited about this flat. I really like the people who live there, the flat itself is really nice and spacious, the room is furnished, and the neighborhood is quiet and has great public transportation connections. Two thumbs up! Thus, as of the 6th or 7th of February I will have a new address: Heerenwiesen 23, 8051 Zürich. Pictures will be coming once I move in...
As this week has gone on, I have gotten to know my current flat-mates a little more. Robert is an opera singer from Vienna (Austria) who is currently working on two shows with the Zürich opera. He frequently wanders around the flat singing, which is enjoyable. Carlos is a businessman from Brazil. I don't think I've ever seen him with a shirt on. Is that a Brazilian thing? Then there is Frank the Turtle. He summers in a garden in the country and winters in the flat here. He's in this huge aquarium in the hall right outside of my door, and he's really good at making loud human-ish sounds as he swims around and bumps into the aquarium walls. He's totally freaked me out when I thought I was alone in the flat, but kept on hearing noises like knocking or footsteps. If I have my room door open, he sits at the corner of the aquarium and watches me, and then he follows me if I walk down the hall. He's a creeper, I think. Oh, roommates.
