Restart IV

Wow! I'm just sitting outside in front of my place and drop this lines while watching the fabulous summer evening sky! That's just the end of a great day! After a workout in the morning, I went to Zurich to get the Lonely Planet New York City guide and check out some shoe stores because it's time for new ones. But as I got my shoes from all over the world, I guess I'll wait until I'm in New York. Anyway, after shopping I went to the Letten where I met Carlina (beautiful name, isn't it?) and after a bath in the Limmat we went to the mercado mundial, which is a market at the Latin Festival Caliente with lots of culinary specialties, exotic drinks and good music. As she had to work in the evening we went back to the mainstation where we caught our trains. Back at home I met Kai for a drink at Güterhof.

And now I'll tell you what we planned: On thursday evening, after I came back from Zurich, we all sat together at Oberhof and discussed all opportunities we had for trips around the world. First we intended to go to Copenhagen by car, then we thought about going to Croatia for a week, as we could have stayed there for free. But then Kai came up with the idea to go to New York! And that's what we are going to do! But not only that, we will combine that with a roadtrip to Montreal in Canada. There would even be the possibility to go to Toronto and then see the Niagara Falls while driving back to New York. We intend to stay approximately one week in New York and the rest we'll be heading north!

And I also have another trip in my mind. On thursday I went swimming in the Letten with Livia and Urs. By the way: It's just so refreshing and relaxing to do that after work. Urs then had the superb idea to buy some meat for a BBQ at his place. And with a glass of wine, we decided to go to Den Haag/NED for a weekend, most likely plus a friday so that we have more time to spend there.

On wednesday I went to eat at Tiffins together with my cousins. This is an asian restaurant in the vibrant Seefeld area located at Seefeldstrasse 61. They have a very delicious selfmade Ice Tea which definitely got my recommendation! Besides, it was very nice to see my cousins again. Actually they are also studying in Zurich but I do not see them very often. Unfortunately.

Restart III

Twenty days later. And so much changed inside me. Happiness came back to my heart, it's like a rush through my body that fills me with joy. I don't even remember when I last had that feeling. I spent a few wonderful weeks, enjoying life as much as I could. In the south you would say: "Pura Vida". That's what it is! Sitting together on the terrace in the evening sun, with a mouthwatering dinner on the table and a glass of finest wine. Talking and talking until the sky turns dark. Pure life!

Besides, I was invited to join a lounge opening in Fehraltorf. I've never been in Fehraltorf before in my life, but the lounge was pretty cool and the food was just delicious. I need to add that it was for free! We even met the swiss actor Walter Andreas Müller, which now sounds like Mark van Huisseling's B-promi list. Anyway, that evening was pretty cool and as it was already late, I stayed in Zurich that night (it was a monday). Then I went to "DJ Sam meets Oberhof" at Oberhof with a former training partner, which is now a Dr. med. The party was great and even though it was a thursday I stayed quite long and enjoyed the good vibes. Then I invited Livia and Urs for a selfmade thai dinner at my place. That was also a great evening, we had so much fun together! And we now plan to spend a weekend in the mountains in Glarus, where Urs has a small cottage somewhere up in the heights. I'm really looking forward to that, I miss the mountains quite a bit... Then we had also a great evening in Zurich at Urs' place! He can really create marvellous menues!

I did a lot of sports and feel in shape. Hope the weather stays good for the next weeks, so we can go swimming in the Lake Zurich after work!

And I'm not sure if I should join Kai and his friend for a trip to New York in September. The flight is bloody cheap, but I do not have so much time... Maybe if I just go for a week than it would be possible to go also on the roadtrip to Copenhagen. Anyway, time will show! :-)

Restart II

I guess it's time for a new post. I'm still thinking a lot. This time I deal with my future, in contrast to the previous weeks, where I was mainly trying to deal with the past. As I had plenty of time the last days, I went to have some drinks at the edge of Lake Zurich, watching the sunset with a friend, planning our roadtrip to Copenhagen in Summer. That's what we're going to do. I can spend hours on flickr, looking for stunning photos from all over the world. If I don't stop, I guess I'll soon book a flight. I have time, I've got money, so what? Another friend plans to go to Shanghai next year, so I might join him with some friends after my graduation. That brings me to another point: What to do after I have finished my studies in 2010? I mean I could immediately try to find a good job. I could try to find a job abroad, possibly within Nestlé or Unilever. So I could spend some years outside Switzerland to gain more experience, because I know, that I will not do that for more than a few years. Or I just plan some trips far away, come back and try to find a job in Switzerland.

Anyway, nobody knows what happens tomorrow, so everything can change from day to day.

I even forgot to tell you that I currently work for SQTS which is located in Dietikon/ZH. I help to investigate the migration of printing ink from the food packaging to the product. It's very interesting and we have lots of fun in our team!

Restart I

Today it's my birthday. But today there was also a crack in my heart. A crack that hurt. I have to think a lot. I can spend hours sitting in the sun, doing nothing but think. Yesterday I had my last exam. Now I have time. But nothing to do, there is nothing to fill the gap that opened. I know that sooner or later I will be able to fill it, most likely not perfect, but I'll do my best.

Fortunately it's summer!!! Winter would make it even harder. Winter is like a shallow sleep, summer is pure life. People connect, you feel happy, you feel good. There are so many things to do and to see. And I want to see as much as I can. Until one day I can settle down, be proud and say: I used my talents, I did what I could, I saw what I wanted. I'm happy.
I'm looking forward to this day!

Life is manifold, complex, a mixture of wins and lots of losses, broken dreams and ever-reaching hope.

MSc in Food Science IV

Recently, I was up to so many things, that I barely found time to eat and sleep. I don't want to complain but I work up to 60 hours a week. The main problems are the presentations and reports I had to write for my studies as well as preparing for exams, working as research assistant, doing administrative work... To give you an overview about my projects, here are some titels: "Decreasing Enterobacter sakazakii food contamination level with bacteriphages: prospects and problems", "Optimization of a cofermentation process with Lb. plantarum and P. freudenreichii for high folate and vitamin B12 production in a cereal-based medium", "Understanding consumers' perception of conventional and functional muesli using soft laddering technique". Sounds good, isn't it? And the worst was that I also had to waste whole weekends working, mainly because I have to go to lectures basically from 8 to 5 and then catch the train back home and write reports, research projects and presentations.

Vienna IV

The last day in Vienna started with a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Then we had to gather our stuff together to be ready to move in a bigger room. This time, we had a very spacious and bright room looking right on a calm backstreet. We had a free standing bathtube with view on the flatscreen on the wall. Unfortunately, it was only for the last night. So in the morning we went into the St. Stephans cathedral right around the corner. We even payed the 3.50 Euro entrance fee to get to the top of the tower, nota bene by feet. It was pretty narrow on the stairs, and as I was carrying my Bree bag on the back and Valentinas bag in the hand, it was difficult to pass by for those who were coming down. But on the top we had a stunning view on the roofs of Vienna.

Then we strolled around the Kohlmark and went to the Palmenhaus near the Hofburg. This is a very beautiful café and we had something to drink, as it was sunny and pretty hot. After this stop, we walked to the museum and had an insight to the magnificient chambers of the former emperors. Afterwards we were pretty tired and went back to the hotel. But as it was our last day, we soon pulled us together and went to the Café Leopold at the Museumsquartier. There we enjoyed a chicken wrap whilst the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon.

Vienna III

Yesterday the weather was not that good as it was the day before, but as long as it doesn't rain sightseeing is still amusing. We took the metro to the Vienna International Center which is lying north of the Danube River. It houses several tall buildings and towers with heights up to 120m. Then we went to the Hundertwasser house built from 1983 to 1986 by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (I already saw a public toilet built in Kawakawa in New Zealand, which was built by this architect). Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and a total of 250 trees and bushes, growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows.

After that we had a short coffee break and wrote some postcards in a nearby Café. Then we headed to the metro station Kettenbrückengasse where the famous Naschmark is located. There, you can find local vegetables and exotic fruits, seafood and everything you can imagine. From there we walked to the Museumsquartier and then passed by the Maria-Theresien Place on the way to the Rathaus. From far away it looks like a huge church, but then you see that the towers do not form a cross. In the early evening we went to the Prater, where the Riesenrad is located. I guess it was in High School, when we read "The Third Man" by Graham Greene. In the novel Harry Lime and Holly Martins meet in the Riesenrad. Actually my imagination which I had then was quite different. The Riesenrad stops every now and then because the cabins are pretty large and visitors need some time to get on and off.

After the Riesenrad we were getting hungry, and so we decided to have dinner at ON at Wehrgasse 8. Unfortunately, we didn't have a reserved table and therefore had to sit next to the kitchen and in the smoking area. Nevertheless, the meals were delicious!

Vienna II

Yesterday we had our first individual breakfast at the hotel. The staff was very friendly and attentively and the breakfast was rich and delicious. Soon after we left the hotel as it was sunny and the temperature was over 20°C. Firstly, we went to the Schloss Schönbrunn with its enormous and impressive gardens! I guess you could spend hours strolling through the gardens. After that we walked to the next beautiful palace, the Schloss Belvedere. We sat down on the lawn and enjoyed the sun and the view over the old town of Vienna. After that rest we went shopping at Graben and Kärtnerstrasse.

For dinner we decided to go to "Dai Fratelli", but that was a mistake. It's an italian restaurant just around the corner of Stephanplatz and our hotel, and the crowd sitting on the terrace looked pretty sophisticated and well-to-do. First, since it was already late, we had no table, but after a minute or two, we got a seat inside. Now, the waiters didn't care about anything. We got the drinks, the salad came a minute after that, and the pizza after two minutes. We had no time to eat, and they were talking in italian and in the next moment in english and than in german. They didn't care about us, and as the service was bad, we decided to give no tip. So Valentina rounded the bill up and said that to the waiter in italian. However, he didn't care and gave us less change! What an impudence!

After that, we strolled along the wide nocturnal streets in Vienna. Impressing how much folk is out on the streets at that time of the night!

Vienna I

Valentina and I will stay the next 4 days at the Hollmann Beletage in Vienna. We got up at 8 today, had breakfast in the lovely spring sun, took our luggage and left for the Airport in Zurich. After a short flight with a fabulous view down on the ground we landed in Vienna. We didn't have any difficulty finding the hotel, which is situated in the heart of old central Vienna. The spacious and bright bedrooms impress with neat, modern design. All rooms bear a certain surprising effect like in-closet-hidden bathrooms or completely open-in-room-integrated bathrooms. As patron Robert Hollmann knows his business (he is both an actor and a chef) every guest starts his day with an individual breakfast. Sounds good, right?

After a short rest, we left the hotel and popped up right onto the lively streets of Vienna. We walked passed the Stephansdom, had a coffee at Starbucks (I know, I know) on Kärntnerstrasse and walked to the Hofburg, where we enjoyed the last sunrays.

For dinner, we went to ra'mien at Gumpendorferstr. 9. The minimal designs make you feel like dining in a school cafeteria, but that makes it friendly. And yes, the food was good, very good indeed!

MSc in Food Science III

Last saturday Valentina and I went to Winterthur as there was a information day at the Zurich University for Applied Sciences. Valentina intends to do her Bachelor's in Physiotherapy there, so this was a good opportunity to get an insight into the studies. After the presentations we walked to the main shopping street and had lunch at Wagamama. I had some delicious Udon Noodles with chicken and ginger and as starter some edamames, which are green soy beans. Valentina had some japanese rice with chicken in a dough. Maybe we will find some time to go to the Zurich branch once, as it is really mouth-watering! Some days before we also had dinner at Lemongras in Schaffhausen. The curry there is always worth trying! And this thursday I had my first BBQ this year. It was a wonderful day and so I went to Chällis apartment in Zurich where he and his girlfriend were already waiting! We didn't have a wide selection, but the carrot salad, the meat and some bread were just enough!

As it was so warm and sunny, I went running quite often and I also took my bike out to have ride outside. This is what I'm going to do right now!

Besides, I went to a presentation about job opportunities at the Boston Consulting Group, which is located in Zurich. The presentation was for free and at ETH, so I just wondered what non business people are doing there. As I was working for a consulting agency for quite long, I certainly know what consulting is, but at the agency nobody had graduated from natural sciences.

And I went to see another presentation with the title "Decreasing Iron Deficiency without increasing Infection" held by Dr. Gary Brittenham from Columbia University in New York. It was interesting to see the connection between iron and infections, which was quite new to me, even though I worked with iron for my bachelor thesis.

MSc in Food Science II

Today I had a job interview at the laboratory of Swiss Quality Testing Services in Dietikon/ZH. As the current spring semester will finish end of May, and the fall semester will start mid September, I have plenty of time for a second internship. This time I'd like to work in the analytical and chemical field, which is what interests me most and besides I think I'm more an analytic kind of person.

A couple of weeks ago I and Valentina were invited at the apartment inauguration of my friend Chälli. He moved to Zurich together with his girlfriend some time ago, so it was really time for the inauguration. It was pretty funny to see some old friends and we had some good talks. The evening passed by much too fast, and fortunately Kai gave us a ride to Winterthur where we could catch a train back to Schaffhausen.

Whenever we pass by the Gelateria El Bertin, we just can't pass by... Even though the weather, with a few exceptions, was not good during March, I invited Valentina, or vice versa, for a spoon of ice cream at least once a week. However, there was one sunny and fine day where I went jogging to Merishausen in the evening. I once again will participate at the yearly SOLA race in May, to run the Uetliberg stretch for the Food Biotechnology Team.

MSc in Food Science I

Finally I finished the novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe which I started reading last fall. Unfortunately I had not so much time to read every day, so it took me some time to get to the end. But commuting to Zurich and back gives me enough time to read.

However, I need to read heaps of scientific papers about microbiological applications or nutraceutical production of vitamins by some bacteria strains. But reading is not all, I also have to hold a few presentations at the end of the semester and conduct a study about fruit and vegetable intake in swiss school children and another one about laddering techniques in sensory evaluation. Yes, there is quite a little bit of work to be done, but that makes live interesting.

Besides, Valentina is also going to carry out a research project as final thesis. And coincidentially she has the same supervisors as I had, when I wrote my thesis about the brachiopods fauna in Schaffhausen in 2003. How the years pass!

Lucky me, I now can work as research assistant at the Laboratory of Food Process Engineering at ETH. I work on a PhD project on the flow structure of non-newtonian fluids in elastic tubes. Must sound horrible to lay people, though.

Internship X

Yesterday I had my last day at Unilever, at least for that internship. We organized a nice little aperitif with sandwiches, brownies, coffee and fruit juices. First we were quite disappointed, as only a few were coming, but the room filled soon after. We then went on a final goodbye tour and eventually got our certificate of employment, which was pretty good. In the end the internship was a very interesting experience in a young and motivated team, where I could gain much knowledge.

Today Valentina and I went to Zurich after having breakfast early in the morning. We then first had lunch at Tibits, which is to say we took it away and went to the lakeside. It was such a beautiful day, heaps of people were promenading at the lake. After having taken a bath in the early spring sun, we returned to the Bellevue, bought a box of stracciatella Mövenpick ice cream and went shopping. I bought a pair of trousers and a polo-shirt to be prepared for the spring. Then we went up to the Uetliberg where we had stunning views on Zurich and the snowy mountains! We just sat there in the sun and enjoyed that day eating ice cream.

Taling about ice cream, the gelateria El Bertin will open again next weekend! I'll be there for sure!

I was once lookig for interesting architecture in the internet and once again Santiago Calatrava catched my eyes! Therefore I post a picture of the law library he designed in Zurich.

Internship IX

I'm back! :-) The internship at Unilever comes soon to an end. On monday the new semester starts at ETH, but I will be at work on monday and friday until the end of the month. But the best thing is that I'm highly motivated for the next two semesters.

This week I went to see the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" which is set and filmed in Mumbai, India. It tells the story of Jamal, which appears in the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" where he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life. It's really impressive seeing these young kids live in the slums of this large city! Once again this was a stunning movie!

On thursday I met Michael at Güterhof for a drink and some ice cream. I don't even remember when I last saw him, but it must have been long long ago, as we could talk and talk and laugh and talk.

And Valentina and I already planned a new city trip! In April we will be in Vienna/AUT for 4 days. I found a reasonably cheap flight with Swiss and then looked for a hotel, which will be the Hollmann Beletage, right in the city center! I'm really looking forward to discovering the city with Valentina, it's always a pleasure and much fun with her!

Now I come to the picture. I didn't feel good one day, I guess it was some kind of influenza, so I had barely some appetite. But somehow I wanted to eat some salad. Therefore I walked into the supermarket and bought some carrot salad together with a japanese dressing. The dressing is made by a company called akari taste gmbh, consisting of two young entrepreneurs with one of them having studied food science at ETH. They're now really successful and I only can recommend the dressing! It tasts great!

Internship VIII

Last week I got my diploma and I now officially hold the academic title "BSc ETH in Food Science". Actually my last lecture finished already in May 2008, but the bachelor thesis took its time and so did the bureaucracy at ETH. But what says the proverb: Good things come to those who wait!

Maybe you won't believe me, but I feel highly motivated for the next two semester and the master thesis which I'll start to write exactly in one year. What I don't know yet is if I write the thesis in the industry or at ETH.

Saturday was a beautiful day! I went to the gym in the morning and then met Valentina in town to walk to the Rhine and back up to the castle Munot. Unfortunately, it wasn't that warm as it seemed and we were pretty much frozen after our walk so that we headed back home to eat a hot selfmade pizza.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a few new books, as I got a voucher when I extended my GA last fall. First, I needed some english literature, therefore I bought "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As last spring I was reading some novels by Balzac, I bought another one belonging to his "La Comédie humaine", namely "Splendeur et misere des courtisane". And the last one I bought was "The stranger" by Albert Camus, written during the Second World War.

Right now I'm reading the novel "The bonfire of the vanities" by Tom Wolfe. It's supposed to be the most famous novel by Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class and politics in 1980s New York City. To make the story more realistic I use google maps to see the streets that Wolfe describes in New York. Or you search for the street names in Flickr, and then you're suddenly in the middle of the plot.
The novel evoked this feeling in me, saying "I have to go to New York!" Strolling around Fifth Avenue, going to the central park, seeing the enormously expensive apartments on Upper East Side...

Internship VII

Here it is, in full glamor, the new year 2009! It started good, the weather was fine and not too cold. The evening we spent at Güterhof, sitting in a lounge chair with a nice drink on the table. The Güterhof was bursting, nevertheless we tried to invite some friends, but unfortunately, most of them were skiing somewhere up in the mountains. The main thing is that we enjoyed it anyway. New Year's Eve was very funny but pretty unspectacular although we had a delicious dinner.

The day before we went to see the german movie "Buddenbrooks" in the small but authentic Kiwi Scala cinema. It's the adaption of Thomas Mann's novel which he finished in 1901 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. It portrays the downfall of a wealthy mercantile family over four generations. Again, a movie worth seeing!

The picture in this post I already used in my blog some time ago. It shows downtown Tokyo, shot in 2005.

Internship VI

Merry Christmas and a happy 2009!
In retrospective this year was just great! I spent a wondeful time together with Valentina, in summer we went to her hometown in Italy and travelled to Paris in autumn, I finished my bachelor studies with a 5.75, found an internship at Unilever, exactly what I wanted.
This were only the most impressing things but there were so many other fantastic and exeptional experiences. Just imagine a warm spring day sitting in the garden, basking in the sun with a good book and the sweet flower odor around you. Or daydreaming at the edge of the Rhine, watching the water pass by and by with your girlfriend in your arms... This moments are invaluable! In this spirit: Have a happy new year!

Internship V

Tomorrow I'll have a day off! As I still need some christmas gifts, I'll go to Zurich as every year. Hopefully the trains won't have any delays because of the snow. Since more than a week, we have plenty of snow and ice on the streets. Actually I should pass by my former employer in Zurich as I got a gratification this month, even though I only worked for half of the year. I don't think that I'll get anything at Unilever, mostly because I'm just an intern. Besides, the salary is not bad either.

Almost forgot, the raclette evening was much fun, as promised! I bought just enough cheese and meat, and we even had to much chocolate mousse. Kai, a guest, still wanted to have a drink at Güterhof afterwards, but I was too tired to have one, so I stayed at home. I guess, they didn't go either. Last saturday Valentina and I went to town after a short workout at the gym. As we both were hungry, I spontanously invited her to the restaurant Bambus, the second thai restaurant apart of the Lemongrass. It was delicious, but in my opinion the service and the interior at Lemongrass are slightly better.

Internship IV

I finally got the mark for my bachelor thesis: 5.75. This is what I expected and I'm very satisfied but one's always looking for a 6, isn't it? So now I'm only waiting for my bachelor diploma which I hope I'll get soon. Besides, as I will begin my master studies at ETH next February, I was already planning my schedule. Hopefully I don't have any lectures on Monday, so I could work, preferably at ETH as junior research assistant. This is what I will apply for in the next weeks.

Beside working at Unilever I went to the Eurofit two or three times a week. I kind of need to do sports in the evening to get my mind free... and a workout with my ipod and some friends to talk to is just perfect. Then time has come to see my girlfriend, which I enjoy so much, as I don't have to study or write reports right now.

Last week I invited my girlfriend to a thai dinner at my place! It was pretty spontaneous, but that's what it makes special, right? Today I'll have the raclette evening I mentioned in the last post! This will be great fun, promised!

Internship III

Yesterday I went to see the italian movie Gomorra at the Kiwi Scala cinema together with my co-worker Marcel and Christoph. The movie deals with the Camorra, the mafia-like criminal organization in the region of Campania and shows a grim picture of the suburbs in Napoli, Italy. Around 50% of the business is in the hand of the Camorra, and 4000 murders in the past 30 years have been carried out by the Mafia. It kind of reminded me of City of God, set in the poor suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Both movies are highly worth seeing!

On Tuesday I went to eat out with the people from Unilever at a small hidden restaurant in Stockach/GER. It was more due to the fact that we have a lot of Germans in our office than due to the cheaper prices. Almost the whole time I was talking with a former chef, who has been cooking in many different countries and has seen a lot of the world. Besides, the internship is very interesting. I'm working on four different projects and got to know all processes and administrative problems that can evolve during the development phase.

As I now earn more money as before when I only worked part-time, I bought a new white 2.1 GHz MacBook! The old PowerBook was getting too slow and I was running out of storage space.

Apropos eating, I will invite some friend at my place to eat a delicious Raclette in a few weeks. Just send me a text message if you want to join us! :-)
Moreover, I read an article about the restaurant Schlössli Wörth, located directly at the Rhine falls. The rating was pretty good, so I might check it out soon!

Internship II

Last saturday Valentina and I could celebrate beeing together for a year! I got a wonderful selfmade photobook as present with pictures and a lovely text for every month we spent together! I love you so much! That evening we went to eat thai at the restaurant Lemongras to have a nice and warm end of the day. A few hours ago I looked at the photobook again and was pretty impressed by what we all did during that amazing year! And watch out, there will be a lot more to come!

Before the last month ended I took a day off and went to Zurich to finally hand in my Bachelor thesis. According to my supervisor my mark should be pretty good, but from now on I can't do anything else than wait. Besides I went drinking coffee with Jonathan that day, met some friends at ETH and was looking for some new clothes. I just remember that we had 5 cm of snow that morning and I was quite shocked when I opened my window! I decided to take a later train as I read in the internet that trains and buses all over the Zurich area had delays.

Besides what happened? Yes, as everybody is talking about the global financial crisis, I read some articles about the Great Depression in the early 30s. It all started with the stock market crash on October 29, in 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The Great Depression had a great impact on Germany where one in five of the population was unemployed at the time. In my eyes, one book depicts the difficult situation in Germany at best, Erich Kästner's Fabian. It describes the life of Jakob Fabian in Berlin in 1931 with a lot of irony. Strongly recommended!

Internship I

As I was working pretty hard the last two weeks, nothing of relevance happened, so here are some thoughts.
Mark van Huisseling (MvH), a journalist, was in Paris the same time as we were. He writes a weekly column in the journal "Die Weltwoche", this time about his stay in Paris, where he was invited to attend a jeans auction at Drouot. In his article, he recommends the club "Les Bains" which we may go to see next time we're in Paris!

Another piece of news: Guru's Jazzmatazz will perform at Blue Note in Biel/BE on friday, 14th November. I've listened to all albums and it would be great to see them perfom live, but most likely I won't attend the gig. If it was in Zurich, why not, but Biel is a bit too far away.

Lately, we watched Kleinohrhasen, a german movie with Til Schweiger, which is pretty funny. Then we watched Into the Wild, which recounts the life of a 22-years old student which sets out on a crosscountry drive towards his ultimate goal: to live alone and off the land in Alaska. Into the Wild was directed by Sean Penn, which stars also in 21 Grams, a 2003 drama directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Then we watched Atonement, which won an Oscar and was nominated for six others.
Besides, Wall-E is a movie which is in cinemas right now. It's a computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, which has been highly rated and already been compared to the japanese anime movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Murano Resort VII

Now we come to the end of the story. On tuesday morning we had to leave our room but could leave our luggage there. So we went to the Champs-Elysée to have breakfast and buy some souvenirs and food for the journey back home. Then we went to the H&M at boulevard Haussmann where we met Hélène. She has been in the same hostel in Tokyo one year ago and lives in Paris. Unfortunately we had only 15 min to talk as she had to work before and we had to leave for the airport Paris-Orly in the south of the city. Therefore we took the metro back to the Murano, snatched our baggage and went to Les Invalides where an Air France Bus should leave every 15min to the airport. Should. That was our problem. I read that in the Lonely Planet and had made already a calculation. We already sat in the bus as a man asked the driver when the bus is going to leave. And the answer was hard. He said in 30min. This would still have been okey, but it was 4PM and therefore a lot of traffic on the streets! Yes, and as we finally arrived at Paris-Orly, the easyjet desk was closed...

So we had to pay 100 Euro and to wait until 9.45PM for the next flight to Geneva. But that was the next problem. The flight was around one hour, so we were in Geneva at 11PM. At this time we had no train to Schaffhausen or at least to Zurich. In Zurich we for sure could have had a room at my friends place. But in Geneva? Jeannine, the wife or Valentinas brother then organized us a bed in the YHA in Geneva. We arrived at 12 and had to get up again at 4.15AM to catch the 4.56 train to Zurich. We tried to sleep in the train but at 7 it was impossible, as all commuters had to go to work in the morning. So had I! When we were in Schaffhausen Valentina took all the baggage and I went straight working at Unilever, as we had important product tests! I was pretty exhausted in the evening! :-)

Murano Resort VI

I'm sorry for the delay! I hope you'll soon understand why I didn't blog for a couple of days. Okay, back to the last post. After we walked along the Champs-Elysées we had a relaxed lunch in the Jardin des Tuileries, which is surrounded by the Louvre, the seine and the Place de la Concorde. We were watching the ducks in the pond and all the people walking by. The sun came up just to say hello and disappeared behind the clouds soon after. This was the sign to leave the park and to take a metro to Les Galeries Lafayette. I saw some shoes the day before in a store named Minelli, which you can find on every corner in Paris. But unfortunately they had a very narrow cut, so I decided not to take them. However, inside of Les Galerie Lafayette I found a pair of shoes by G-Star Raw, which I immediately bought. After a coffee we went to a H&M near boulevard Sébastopol, where Valentina bought some clothes.

As we were tired because of our shopping tour we went back to the Murano. For dinner we actually wanted to go to Baan Boran again, as this thai restaurant was really delicious! But then I found an indonesian restaurant with the tellingly name Indonesia, located near the Odéon at rue Vaugirard. I took the Nasi Goreng menu and Valentina the chicken curry. Frankly, we'd better gone to Baan Boran again. It was not really special, somehow the indonesian taste was missing. The drinks were too sweet and very small and all the small details which we have seen at Murano or Baan Boran were missing as well. For the next time we know! :-)

After a short ride with the RER train, we were at the Eiffel Tower again! This time it was illuminated in a blue colour with stars on one side. At 10PM thousands of small lights started flashing for 5min. That was very beautiful!

Murano Resort V

Before we went out for dinner yesterday evening, we went to the Tour Montparnasse, where we bought a ticket for the elevator to the 56th floor. There we had to walk up another 3 floors to be on the rooftop on 210m. It was extremely windy up there and pretty difficult to take pictures. Nevertheless we managed to make a few good shots! As I mentioned before, we went out for dinner afterwards. Actually we planned to eat senegalese in the restaurant Nouveau Paris-Dakar, but unfortunately we noticed to late that most restaurants in Paris close on sundays! According to the Lonely Planet a thai restaurant was supposed to be open. Its name was Aux 3 Eléphants, rue Tiquetonne. The rest you can read in the internet or in the Lonely Planet! :-)

This morning we had our pain au chocolate and the coffee and tea respectively at the same place as yesterday. As the sun was shining, we walked past the boulevards and discovered a little nice café called De La Ville Café at Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelles. There we drank a Jus de Litchi before we took the metro to l'Arc de Triomphe. We took a few pictures and walked along the Champs-Elysées.

Murano Resort IV

Today we were upgraded to a Junior Suit at the Murano Resort. So in the morning we had to pack our luggage before we left the old room. When we came back in the late afternoon we were already received by a concierge, who led us to the new room in the 5th floor. When we entered we couldn't stop marvelling at the size! The new room is at least three times bigger than the old one, the DVD screen is larger and the bath room is divided in three rooms! It doesn't feel like a hotel room, but more like a cutting-edge design apartment!

Besides we also did some sight seeing today! In the morning we had breakfast in a café at the Boulevard Montmartre before we went to the white church Sacre Coeur on the montmartre hill. Sooner we took the metro to the Jardin de Luxembourg. There we bought some chicken with rice and coconut-lime sauce at Wokbar! This is a small take-away restaurant with a great concept. You can choose each ingredient and they prepare it in a wok just in front of you! Three minutes later you can eat your menu at the bar or take it away. We eat in the Jardin, which surrounds the Palace de Luxembourg. It's a lovely palace with a little pond and palm trees on each side. Unfortunatley the weather was not that good to really enjoy it.

Sooner we walked to the Pantheon but we didn't go in as we would have paied an entrance fee. Normally you don't pay for churches, so after the Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur we didn't wanted to see a church that demands an entrance fee. So we went to Starbucks for a coffee. Furthermore, while walking to Starbucks, I already saw some shoes I might buy tomorrow! After the coffee stop we walked to the Jardin des Plantes near Gare d'Austerlitz where we looked at all the different plants Mr. Linné collected some centuries ago!

Murano Resort III

Yesterday evening we went to the Louvre. On friday evenings the entrance is free for people under 26 years. So in no time we were inside the famous museum. Actually we just wanted to see the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci back in 1505. So we walked straight up to the first floor and past most other paintings. Most other visitors thought the same, as a big crowd was already waiting to see the Mona Lisa. Honestly, it's not that impressing as the painting is rather small and behind a glass wall.
Anyway, we then went upstairs to see some belgian painters like Rubens.

When we left the Louvre, there was a fantastic evening ambiance! The sun was lightening the sky and all the old majestic buildings! So we decided to eat in the nearby thai restaurant Baan Boran. The chicken with green curry and cocos milk for Valentina and the chicken with red curry were delicious, so were the fruity appetizers called Phuket Morning! The restaurant is located rue Montpensier, actually just around the corner of the Louvre. It was already full and we had to wait for 5 min until a table was free. But the waiting time was really worth it!

This morning we went to the Tour Eiffel. You either could walk up the stairs to the first and second floor, or you could take the elevator to the third floor on 274m! And this is what we did! It was pretty cold and windy up there but the stunning views made up for everything! The weather conditions were good as well, so we could take some good pictures. When we returned to the ground we walked to Trocadéro where we eat crépes! After a short metro ride we left at Avenue New York where we saw the Lady Diana memorial flame, as she died there in a car accident in 1997. Valentina knew that there is a replica of the statue of the liberty in Paris. I found something about that in the Lonely Planet and not much later we strolled along a artificial narrow island in the middle of the river Seine to the statue.

After a lunch stop we went to La Défense. It's the major business district for the city of Paris, with 150'000 employes and 20'000 residents. We sat down for a while and enjoyed the sun!

In the evening, we went by metro to the station Crimée where my friend Peter was waiting for us. We last saw us at the Kantifest in Schaffhausen and he was so kind to drive us home late at night. This time we were invited by his girlfriend Marie to eat a very delicious quiche lorraine!

Murano Resort II

This morning we got up at 9am as we sat in the hotel lobby for quite a long time. The lobby, under glass roof, is dominated by a colossal fireplace whose flames spread furrow in 6-meters. A huge Chesterfield is facing it, to contemplate the fireplace at one’s leisure. First we had a nice fruity drink in front of the glowing fire. As we were hungry we sooner ordered a Club Sandwich, which was larger as expected. Sitting in the lobby is very special. This urban palace of a new style, is a subtle mixture of luxury, modernity and comfort.

After getting ready in the morning, we took the metro at Republique and went to the Centre Georges Pompidou to have a coffee at Starbucks. Then we walked to the Hotel de Ville and further on to the famous church Notre Dame. It's impressing not only from outside but also from the inside. After eating a crêpe at Creposuk, we went to La Fayette were we strolled around and had a closer look at the newest fashion trends.

Murano Resort I

On the road again! Today we boarded an aircraft from Geneva to Paris. After a very short flight we landed in Paris Orly, took the train to Paris Central and then a taxi to the Murano Urban Resort! It's a deluxe design hotel in the Marais district of Paris, with everything you can dream of! As soon as you arrive the concierge takes your baggage, they show you around the bar, the lounge and the restaurant.

Then they lead you upstairs to your room where you have to register your fingerprint, as you do not have a key. You just press your finger on a little field next to the door. Then you have a big Bang & Olufsen DVD and CD player as well as Grundig toilet interior. The rest is all brand new design. The table, the chairs, the bed, everything! You can even change the color of the room from green to blue to yellow to red... I'm just sitting in front of the DVD screen on the wall writing this post on my Apple Powerbook. Live blogging, actually!

In this post some pictures of the bath in our room. It's held completely in black and with with silver fittings. Even the toilet paper is black!

September V

On friday, after having finished my work at Unilever, I went to town where Valentina already waited for me. We walked all the way down to the Rhine, bought some ice cream and sat on a bench in the sun. I was always wondering why the El Bertin Ice Cream Shop is that succesful (I have to wonder as food scientist)... With enough cash I'd buy the company and open some more stores in Zurich, Bern and Basel. Guess, it would be succesful? I mean the concept is simple: You need some fresh raw milk of the region, a good product presentation and good staff which is helpful and doesn't chat all the time. And indeed, they work all the time without chatting, and with the white uniform the staff looks very professional. And what you need is a perfect location! This is given in Schaffhausen, as people walking through town inevitably walk to the Rhine, passing by the shop! Today El Bertin closed and will re-open in March 2009.
Besides, Ben & Jerry's opened their first ice cream shop in Luzern this week. They started back in 1978 in the mountains of Vermont/USA, now belonging to Unilever. What success!

On friday I then went to Zurich with the 18.09 ICE from Schaffhausen. I attended the European Research Night located at Bellevue. The ETH, the university of Zurich, the ZHAW and some companies presented their projects to the public. The organization was great! There were boats from Bellevue to the Zurichhorn every 10 minutes, always with a small presentation.

Also, I walked past the Corso cinema where a big crowd in black was waiting around a red carpet. They were waiting for Sylvester Stallone, the US actor! He got the Golden Icon Award on the occasion of the 4th Zurich Film Festival. And at the Research Night I suddenly passed a man, who looked familiar. I then realized why: He was the swiss actor Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart, who played in TV-shows as well as some movies in cinema.

September IV

On friday evening Valentina and I have been at the Kantifest, which takes place every 4 years. It's a great event to meet old friends and indeed I had to stop every minute to say hello to friends that I haven't seen for ages! For example Simon, who graduated the same year as I did, and who also went to the Auckland University of Technology. Sooner we met at ETH but it's been certainly more than a year we didn't see us! And of course I met my buddies Joni, Chälli, Kai and Lukas, and of course the four Fuchs brothers! Many thanks to them for the lift back home at 3:00! Valentina had to work at a bar from 1AM, so I and my buddies stayed in the very same bar, to get some drinks for free! Actually there were more than 30 bars offering drinks and food.
On saturday Valentina and I went to the Rhine for a walk, as the autumnal sun was out! We even went to have an ice cream at El Bertin which is about to close its doors in a week!

September III

Last weekend I finished my bachelor thesis which holds the title: "Validation of a 24-h recall with a 3-day weighed food record for assessing dietary iron intake in Swiss women of reproductive age". I sent it to my supervisor at the ETH to correct it. If everything is ok, then I will print it and and wait for my mark! I have a good feeling as I invested heart and soul and a lot of time!
My internship at Unilever Schweiz GmbH in Thayngen is very interesting. The centralized R&D in Heilbronn/GER develops new products and we implement them in the factory here in Switzerland. I'm really looking forward to the time I can spend at Unilever!

Wow, one year ago I went to China! How fast time passes! Unbelievable!

September II

Back to the surprise I mentioned in the last post: Well, I ordered a Lincoln Stretch Limousine to pick me up at my place. I just said to Valentina that she has to be ready at half past seven in the morning, but she did not know what exactly we were about to do. As soon as the driver stopped in front of her place, I jumped out of the car and knocked on Valentina's door. She was pretty astonished when she opened it! Back on the street, we crused to the rhine falls were we stopped and enjoyed the wonderful mood in the early morning sun. Then the driver drove us to Stein am Rhein and further to the Lake Constance! It was just great! And everyone was watching as we passed by!

That same afternoon we again went to the local airfield to watch the Patrouille Suisse, the jets of the swiss airforce. It was crazy what they showed, flying in a line with 3m gaps in between! I'll post some pictures in the next post!

September I

Last week I had quite a few things to do. As I want to finally finish my bachelor thesis this week, I worked hard and even went to the green library at the ETH on friday. So I was alone and could just focus on the work. And as soon as I'll have finished my bachelor thesis, I will start my training again. Recently I didn't have time to go to the gym in Zurich. As I now work in Thayngen I will do my workout at Eurofit in Schaffhausen. It's near and since I go to work by bike I can reach it quite fast.

Besides, I'm already signed in as master student, but on leave because of my internship!

On Saturday I had a big surprise for Valentina... More to that in the next post!

Italy V

Today it's Valentinas Birthday!!! Love you so much!!!
In retrospective, the holidays in Italy were pretty cool! It was always sunny and hot, you could get up and get on your shorts, t-shirt and flipflops without thinking if the weather might change. Then the food was delicious, homemade as well as in the cozy restaurants out in the countryside. And I could relax! I was working a bit for my bachelor thesis, but no that strict. So mostly I was reading books or just enjoyed the sun and the beach!

Italy IV

Once we made a trip to the most southern point in Puglia, which is located at Santa Maria di Leuca. Our way led us up to Otranto, a small beautiful town famous for the catacombs of Torre Pinta.
Another day we went to Lecce, a city with a population of 92'000 people. Lecce is famous for its many churches. And indeed, if you walk through the old town you see church after church! We had a coffee break and then went back to Veglie.

Usain Bolt once again set an unbelievable world record in the 200m with 19.30. 12 years ago, I saw Michael Johnsons run to olympic gold in 19.32... And I never though that within 20 years someone will break this record. But now Usain Bolt holds the 100m, 200m and 4x100m world record. And to now that he even can go faster, is nearly frightening! I guess with 2.0m/s tailwind and an optimal reaction time he could go below 9.60 and, noticing that he had -0.9m/s wind in the 200m final, below 19.20 in the 200m!

However, there is still a dark cloud over the Jamaican performances. There were virtually no doping tests before the olympics and the braces Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker were wearing, are hints for the use of HGH, the human growth hormone.

Anyway, in TV I saw many places in Beijing that I've visited the previous year!

Italy III

A few minutes ago Usain Bolt set an unbelievable world record in 9.69 in the 100m olympic final in Beijing! Asafa Powell, whose former world record of 9.77 I've seen live at the Weltklasse in Zurich, didn't even win a medal. Second was Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago in 9.89 and third Walter Dix of the United States of America in 9.91. I clearly remember the olympic final in Atlanta in 1996, when Donovan Bailey set a new world record of 9.84, and now we are at 9.69! Unbelievable!

But back to a new story about my stay in Italy. One evening we went to a kart racecourse, near Porto Cesareo. I've never drove kart before, but Valentina and her brother Pino together with Jeannine had already been on that track the year before. First, it was a bit tricky to find the right speed in double bends but in the end to race against the other three was very funny!

Besides, shortly after I returned from Italy, I met a friend from High School in the bus. We had not really time to talk in there, so we went to have a drink at Oberhof that same evening. The Oberhof is a lounge/bar which opened last fall and offers a cozy and calm ambiance to talk. A week later I invited Valentina for dinner at the newly openend restaurant Güterhof, located next to the Rhine. I always wait for the bus in front of that building, and even late at night, it's full to burst. When we arrived that evening, we first had to wait 15min until we got a table. Fortunately they offered us a drink at the bar. The meals were delicious and served with devotion to detail; and all in a charming atmosphere! Apart of that, the Güterhof is the first restaurant in Schaffhausen where you can eat sushi! Yamm!

Italy II

Italy is famous for it's kitchen, and indeed, it was delicious and very cheap. Whenever we were hungry we went to "Il Refugio", a pizzeria just around the corner. On weekends we went to beautiful restaurant located outside the town in the olive groves. One of them was Masseria Zanzara, a former baron country estate built in 1471. As the evenings were still warm enough, we always could eat outside in the cozy courtyard, surrounded by olive and palm trees. The days were much hotter, sometimes the temperature reached 39°C!

P.S. Today the 29th Olympic Games started in Beijing! The opening ceremony was just spectacular!

Italy I

The last three weeks I spent in the hot south of Italy! To specify, I was in Veglie, a town near Lecce in Puglia. It's Valentina's hometown and her grandparents and cousins still live there. It was just great to be in a sunny place that long, especially together with Valentina!
Helvetic has several flights per week from Zurich to Brindisi, which is the nearest airport. However, we went all the way down by car, which took us about 16 hours. And then we went to the beach - each day! We had exclusive sunloungers at Bassamarea Lido Club located near Porto Cesareo. It's a beautiful club, held mainly in with and light brown. It had a nice lounge in the center and a bar for drinks, snacks and ice cream. We even had our own parking lot for the very old BMW we drove down there.
One day we went to a photographer, which had already made fotos of Valentina some years ago. Early in the morning we went to the beach where we had an one-hour photo shooting. It was great fun and that same evening we could already have a look at the fotos!

Summer is Here IV

This evening I'll be on the way to Italy! See you in August!

Summer is Here III

Two weeks ago I had my last day at the consulting agency I've now been working for 2 1/2 years. Recently I've been working quite a lot, always after a workout in the gym in Zurich. Now I can focus on my bachelor thesis and after my holidays in Italy together with Valentina I will work for Unilever for half a year.

Besides I got some exam marks back. Actually I was really good this time, got a 6 in Marketing (this exam I had just an hour after my job interview at Unilever), a 5.5 in Human Nutrition and a 5.25 in Food Processing. Now I write on my bachelor thesis to get the final 17 credit points.

Almost two week ago, Valentina and I went on the Rhine by boat. Her cousin drove us to Stein am Rhein, where we pumped the rubber boat and soon set sail! It was a hot day, but the water was still a bit cold at 15°C. Nevertheless we jumped in to have a swim. We stopped several times to have a cup of ice cream or something to drink or eat. Especially when the evening sun lit everything in a beautiful red color, it was pure pleasure to float on the Rhine!

Last week we went to Herisau AR, where a sport meet was set. Valentina once trained in a local club and wanted to support her friends. As they had their first performance early in the morning, we left on friday evening and slept in the car! This was quite funny as we slept in the car trunk with plenty of space! We had blankets and pillows in there, so it was like a normal bed! :-)

The day before I went to eat a Pizza with my friend Michael, as we didn't meet for quite a long time. He's now going to Lanzarote with his girlfriend! I kind of envy him, as I have beautiful memories of that little island!

Summer is Here II

Actually it's not what the titel indicates... The last two weeks were not that sunny, but as I worked twice a week and did quite a lot for my bachelor thesis, I didn't care.

I got my first exam mark last week. It was a 5.25 in Fermented Milk Products, which is part of the Biotechnology lectures. This is exactly what I expected, and now I soon hope to get the rest of my exam marks.

Last monday I had a job interview at DSM Nutritional Products in Kaiseraugst AG. I could have worked in the functional food marketing for Teavigo. It was very interesting to hear their projects, but I already had my work contract with Unilever for September 2008. I'm really looking forward to getting some work experience during this six month internship.

Last week Valentina went to Italy to attend the marriage of her cousin. Unfortunately I couldn't join her, as I had to work for my bachelor thesis that weekend. But I went to pick her up at the airport in Zurich, so we had time to talk on the way back through the empty streets on that Sunday night.

Summer is Here I

My birthday started as it ended 17 hours later: Valentina called me to wish me a wonderful day! I couldn't be with her all day long, as I had my last exam in Human Nutrition on that morning. My goal was to get a outstanding mark, ans this I should have reached, as far as I can estimate my effort. After the exam I returned back home to have lunch and afterwards went to see Valentina. She gave me a fair and beautiful letter and a present, but her big present has yet to come. Unfortunately I had to leave her alone, as all my food science friends met at Rote Fabrik to celebrate the end of our Bachelor Studies. The Rote Fabrik lies directly at the shores of Lake Zurich and as we could sit outside under the mighty trees, it evokes a very special atmosphere. The meals were delicious and we had good talks. But the clouds over Lake Zurich were getting darker and darker and the storm warning lamps began to light. Soon a heavy thundersturm sweeped over us and everyone who could not find any shelter was soaked to the skin after a few seconds.

On the way back home, I had to run a few times to catch the train, as I missed a streetcar and had to wait for a local train to Zurich Mainstation. I had only one minute to change tracks (from track 53 to 24), so I was lucky to know I could run 100m in 11 seconds... :-)

On friday morning Valentina surprised me when she arrived and blindfolded me during the car ride. Even after we had arrived I had to stay in this condition and she led me down some stairways until she said that I should sit down. Then she loosed the blindfold and I realised I was sitting in a boat on the way to the Rhine Fall rocks! The boatman left us when we reached the rocks and we had a romantic breaktfast amidst the thundering water mass! It was stunning, fantastic, marvellous, just awesome!

Later that day we went to eat a Coup Denmark at El Bertin and went to have dinner at the thai restaurant Lemongrass, just before it started to rain.

6th Semester VI

Tomorrow I will have my last exam during my bachelor studies! I already had exams in Marketing, Biotechnology, Microbiology and Food Processing. This is the reason I neglected my blog quite a bit. Besides I had to give a presentation about Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world. This coffee is rather special as the coffee berries are eaten and digested by a small tree-dwelling animal in Indonesia. Locals will collect the digested beans and wash them extensively before they are roasted and ready for consumption. As only 400-500 kg are produced annualy, one cup costs up to $50!

I had some excursions to Emmi AG, Pastinella and Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG. Actually I enjoyed the last one most, as they had the best day program and the best meal afterwards :-).

Even though I had exams, I used the time I spend each day in the train to read some books written by Honoré de Balzac. My first novel was "Father Goriot", now I read "Eugénie Grandet" and already bought "The woman of thirty". All novels are set in Paris and present the french life after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Balzac's work habits are legendary: He used to work often for fifteen hours or more at a stretch. His preferred method was to eat a light meal at five or six in the afternoon, then sleep until midnight. He then rose and wrote for many hours, fueled by innumerable cups of black coffee (There is a coffeehouse chain in Germany named after Balzac).

Once more I ran a 6.2km stretch with 420m in hight difference for our SOLA 2008 Team "Meep, meep"! As Valentina came to Zurich to watch me running, I tried to run as fast as possible so she wouldn't wait too long! :-) Unfortunately I wasn't faster as last year, so I invited her to eat at Tibits before we returned to Schaffhausen.

What happend as well is very tragic... One of my friends commited suicide. I was pretty shocked because I met him a few days before and I didn't noticed anything! He was talkative and funny as ever...

6th Semester V

On May 1st, Valentina and I have been together for half a year! As she returned from her camp the day before, we were just chilaxing and in the evening we went eating pizza with her parents at the restaurant Mamma Rosa. The next day I worked for my bachelor thesis and later went to Valentina where we had BBQ with her cousin and his girlfriend after we have been in town for some ice cream (I chose rhubarb and saffron – very exotic and strange, I know).

We actually had no plans for Saturday until the morning, when we sat in the garden thinking of going to Rümlang to a kart course. But this course is indoors, and as we wanted to enjoy the beautiful and warm weather, we thought of taking a boat tour on the Rhine.

But then Valentinas grandfather had a great idea: He supports a local airfield and therefore had some vouchers for a flight. So Valentina and I took the car and in no time we were already sitting in a small four seat aircraft! After take off, we flew directly to the Rhine fall, where we turned and had a marvellous view over Schaffhausen. It was fantastic! Over Lake Constance the pilot made a parable flight, where you can feel weightlessness! Admittedly, we had quite a queasy feeling afterwards!

As we had a car, we drove up to a small artificial lake called Engeweiher. We enjoyed the warm spring evening and let the day fade away... All in all, I spent a wonderfull day with my girlfriend!

6th Semester IV

As I mentioned in my last post I participated at a workshop at the Sprungbrett Event last Monday. I could attend a workshop for Unilever and the goal was to create a brand activation concept for Bertolli, an Italian food manufacturer. First, we had an introduction into the world of Unilever whose mission is the add vitality to life. Then we formed two groups for brainstorming and soon we brought our ideas to paper. After lunch, each group held a short presentation in front of the senior brand manager of Bertolli.

The next day, Valentina sent me a text message saying that she saw me in the newspaper. And indeed as soon as I was at home, some neighbors talked to me and asked how it was at the workshop…

Last Wednesday we had an excursion to Midor in Meilen. Midor produces ice cream as well as bakery for Migros. We had insight into the whole production steps from mixing the ingredients to packaging the final product. Even though they might use state-of-the-art technology, there is still space for improvement, because after filling the boxes it needs to be checked manually by a women sitting next to the band-conveyor.

On Saturday I went jogging from my girlfriends place in Schaffhausen to Merishausen, a village in a valley leading to Bargen, the most northern town in Switzerland. Actually I run pretty fast, as I made the 9.6km with a height difference of at least 100m in 45min. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining through the light green leaves, turning the whole way through the forest into a green tunnel. I feel in shape for the SOLA race on 17th of May!

Yesterday I had my second BBQ this year at Valentinas place. Unfortunately she had to leave soon, as she has a school camp until Wednesday. I will certainly miss her!

6th Semester III

It happened quite a lot since I wrote my last post, especially what my bachelor thesis was concerned. The human nutrition institute intended to create an iron food frequency questionnaire for swiss women aged 18 to 40 years. This has never been done before for this age group and therefore it would have needed a huge effort to accomplish the FFQ as bachelor thesis. So it was decided that I now have to validate a 24h diet recall instead of the FFQ. I intend to interview approximately 10 women of the targeted age group seven times over a defined timeperiod. This has to be done, as it's almost impossible to get the average daily iron intake with one recall. And one big disadvantage of this method is that people are likely to forget what they eat the last day... But still I'm highly motivated to write a good thesis!

Next monday I will participate at a workshop for Unilever, a company based in Thayngen in Schaffhausen. It's part of an event called "Sprungbrett", where local companies give an insight into their work field. The goal of my workshop is the development of a brand activation concept.

Two weeks ago, all third year food science students organized a party called "E175 - The Taste of Gold" at StuZ2. It was a great evening, even though I went back home with the last train after I worked at the bar for a few hours.

Last week Valentina and I had a sauna lasting two ten minutes sessions with a cooling in between. For me it was the first time in years, but she does it more regularly. It really helps to relax and forget the world around you...

6th Semester II

I'm still looking for an internship starting in fall 2008. It's pretty difficult to find good offers, and I'm not quite sure when my bachelor thesis is due to be finished. I had a job interview at Lindt & Sprüngli in Kilchberg right at the shores of Lake Zurich. The atmosphere and the workplace were great but as the beginning of the internship was planned for July I had to call off because of my bachelor thesis.

I now have one week of easter holidays so I can rearrange everything. Actually it's spring now, and a week ago we already had 18°C... I went running and after that relaxing in the garden wearing some shorts. In the afternoon Valentina, I and Michael with his girlfriend went to town for some ice cream, as the "world's best" Gelateria El Bertin opened its doors.
But the last few days the weather changed... it snowed! I think it only snowed once or twice this winter, but now as it is should finally get warm and sunny, it's snowing...

6th Semester I

The last semester of my bachelor studies has just begun. I have lectures in Food Microbiology, Food Processing, Food Biotechnology, Human Nutrition and Marketing. We also have some lab classes in Technology and Processing which are pretty cool, as we can create and process our own food! Last week we made some vanilla ice cream… whereas “some” is kind of an understatement, we made about 50 liter. And we made our own tofu by milling soybeans. In a supermarket we bought rice and thai vegetables and made a delicious meal!

At my girlfriend's place I created a thai dinner on friday. I also intended to make some Sushi, but we were full after the thai dish. I was influenced by the restaurant Lemongrass, where we went for dinner a week before.

The last days in February were beautiful and I went cycling and running and spent much time outdoors with Valentina, but unfortunatley I then caught a cold. Now as it is rainy all days I feel better...

Longing For Spring VI

Last Sunday I joined Valentina and her family for a walk around the shores of Lake Constance at Stein am Rhein. The water level is that low, you can walk in for more than fifty meters without getting wet feet. The local newspaper brought a report about the low water level and as it was a beautiful and warm day there were hundreds of people out there, mainly families and amorous couples.

The beautiful weather continued and on Tuesday I had the first BBQ of the year! As the semester at uni had started, we all came together on the roof-deck of the Food Science Institute. We all brought some steaks, sausages, bread and salads! Sitting there in T-Shirts we had a cozy first BBQ!

Besides I started with my bachelor thesis in human nutrition about the validation of a food frequency questionnaire about iron status in 18-40 years old women. Right now I have to do a literature review and read many studies that already have been done, which is very interesting!

Longing For Spring V

Spring is coming! The last two weeks were always sunny and pretty warm, even though the nights still were winterly cold. During these days I had a lab course in food microbiology at uni. We could buy our own food and bring to the course to analyze the bacteria content. I found some Listeria on my Mövenpick smoked salmon, which can cause severe illness. And don't use your PET water bottles for too long, they're soon contaminated with E.coli and other gastrointestinal bacteria!

The week before the lab started, Valentina and I went to Zurich, and I walked her through the whole ETH campus, showed her the sports facilities, the libraries, the lecture rooms, the different restaurants we have there... We then met Jonathan at Starbucks and talked for a while until we started back for home.

I read quite a lot of books during the semester break. During the semester I don't really have time to read as I need to do many things for uni, especially now where I have to write my bachelor thesis. Anyway, I read two books by Haruki Murakami, "Noakos Lächeln" and "Afterdark". Then I read some classic literature such as "Wallenstein" and "Kabale und Liebe" by Schiller and "Effi Briest" by Theodor Fontane. Right now I'm reading something more up to date, "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

This brings me to the movies. Marc Foster directed a stunning movie based on that book. It's now in cinemas in Schaffhausen, so I might watch it soon. Yesterday I went to see "27 Dresses" with Valentina and I bought the DVD "Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the coran".

Longing For Spring IV

Last week I did quite a few things. As I don't have any lectures, I went to the gym three times and even cycling one morning though it was bloody cold. I always went working after my workout at the gym and later went to Valentina each day!

But first I should start with last sunday. As it was a really beautiful and pretty warm day, Valentina and I went out for a walk to Stetten, a village up in the hills and therefore always oustide the thick fog we have down in Schaffhausen. What we saw was just fantastic! The snow covered Alps seemed to be just one arm's lenght away... We walked and walked until the sun finally set. The last part of our walk led us through a rocky wood section, I've last been ten or more years ago with my grandparents...

Then on Tuesday I got a new mobile, the Sony Ericsson W910i with a subscription that enables me to call Valentina for free after 8PM. It has a built-in 2 megapixel cam and a fantastic screen. A big improvement compared to my old one...

As Thursday was once again a beautiful day, Valentina and I went to see the Rhine Fall in the afternoon. During the winter season, it's not that spectacular as in summer, as the Rhine doesn't carry much water. However it was beautiful and we made many pictures :-)

To complete this week Valentina and I went skiing and snowboarding in Davos on Sunday. Actually we had tickets for the Jakobshorn area, but they had to close down everything couse of a winter storm (in the italian part of Switzerland the temperature rised as high as 22°C). So we got new tickets for the Rinerhorn area, which was much smaller but we could still enjoy that day up in the mountains.

All in all it was a fabulous week, mainly because I could spent a big deal of my time with Valentina!

Longing For Spring III

Finally I found some time for my blog! ;-) I had my last two exams last week, and now I get my marks day by day. The best I had so far was a 5.75 in food processing. Actually I now have winter break until the beginning of February. But I decided to work every second day at the agency to earn quite an amount of money. Besides I'm going to the gym three times a week and dropped my coffee consumption to one coffee a day. I want to be in shape for the SOLA race in May and the summer in general!

Then I changed my education plans. As I finish my Bachelor Studies in June, I decided not to continue immediately with my Master Studies but to work for half a year as a Trainee. I sent my application to several companies in the food sector. As at today I already had one job interview and I also got the job. But as the salary is pretty low I might cancel.

Then I've spent much time with my girlfriend Valentina. We went to Geneva by train on a cold but in the end sunny day and strolled around the Old Town and the Lake Side. I really enjoy being with her in another city where we both could discover unknown spots and places!

Nota Bene: The picture in this post is the first one that has been processed with Picasa. My girlfriend did a great job!

Longing For Spring II

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!!

See you again in 2008!!!

Longing For Spring I

I'm sorry... I've once again been pretty busy the last months... AND I just noticed that I haven't even posted one entry about what I did during the semester that started immediately after my trip to China and Japan. But actually I have been busy with my studies, been writing laboratory reports in food chemistry, with working at the agency and one other thing: I got a new girlfriend, the prettiest, the loveliest, the most adorable girlfriend you could ever imagine. Now as I look back it must have been more than just hazard and coincidence that we met that night. And life is full of coincidences. So she had classes with my former biology teacher who used my research material and even made an excursion to where I did my research project. Some days later I invited her for a asian dinner at my place and soon after we were a couple! P.S. 02.06.2009 It has all gone!

Madrid

I'm very sorry that I didn't blog for a long time now... I had some exams in food sensory, food biotech and food analytics and therefore I had to study a little bit...

Now I want to post some pictures of Madrid where I've been in October for four days! It was actually a pretty spontanous trip, I never had plans to go to Spain and not at all during the semester. But then I got a call from Livia (she was one of my friends that have been in the Netherlands) and she asked me what I was doing on the weekend. As I didn't had any plans, I immediately accepted her offer. Our aircraft was due to take off in Basel bound for Madrid on Thursday evening and come back on Monday. That was just perfect!

Her flatmate Janina is actually from Madrid and so we only had to pay for the flight, everything else was organized. So we could stay Janinas aunt's place and her parents even payed for the metro & bus ticket.

All in all we were around ten people, me, Livia, Janina and her brother, their parents an grandparents... It was just great having such good cityguides. We visited the whole city and what we did most was eating. The weather was just great, it was sunny and still pretty warm, at least compared to Switzerland. One evening we went to Café Central where the Lluis Coloma Jazz Trio was performing. Damn cool!

Tokyo IV

My last day in Tokyo was a relaxing one. I had nothing really to do so I decided to spend my day reading and drinking coffee at Starbucks in Shinjuku. When I came to Japan in 2005 Shinjuku was the first neighborhood I've been in Tokyo, so I knew my way through the crowded streets. I ordered a Java Chip Frappucino and sat down at the window front and continued reading my book by Haruki Murakami. Then I suddenly was involved in a conversation with a japanese girl named Nozomi. We talked quite for a long time and found that we have a great deal in common. As I asked for a place to eat out with my friends, she recommended the Daikanyama area, but my friends already had other plans... We joined David, a swiss friend of Sophie living in Tokyo for dinner and karaoke afterwards. It was fun as hell and especially Davids interpretation of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin was a highlight!
My flight back with KLM was comfortable but pretty long again, as I had a stop over in Amsterdam. Back at home I enjoyed a beautiful autumn day before my lectures at ETH started for the next semester...

Tokyo III

With my new cell phone I called Sophie and Muriel and we agreed on meeting at Shibuya for lunch. As they didn't have some okonomiyaki before, I proposed to go to the same place i've been with my friends some days before. This time I was kind of an expert and knew how to cook the perfect okonomiyaki ;-). Then we walked back to Harajuku, where we had a short stop over at one of the ubiquitous Starbucks before we continued our walk to Omotesando. There we split and I walked further on to Aoyama, a neighborhood well known for its fashion houses, restaurants, and shopping. It's in this neighborhood, where the famous swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have buildt their famous building for the fashion company Prada.

They are the same architects that buildt the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, which I incidentally missed when I was there. Anyway, their building for prada was very very impressing! Then I went back home, checked emails, had some quick meal and talked with other guests in the lobby.

On Friday I went shopping almost the whole day and the evening I went to Roppongi Hills to meet Sophie and Muriel. We had dinner at Bamboo Bar, which evokes a very special atmosphere, as the colorful illumination changes all the time. After the delicious meal we went to the Tokyo branch of the Absolut Vodka Ice Bar. I've already been in that one in Stockholm, and there are another five in London, Copenhagen, Milano, Shanghai and Jukkasjärvi. It was ice cold in there, but it was a nice alternation to the heat oustide...

Tokyo II

The next two days I almost entirely spent with my new friends. They knew a japanese girl in Tokyo, so we had the perfect cityguide. First we had a walk in Asakusa where we found many small shops, selling dishes and vases. I bought a cute small brown vase before we returned back to the hostel. We talked for quite a long time until we decided to go to Shibuya to have dinner. Shibuya hosts many restaurants and is full of mainly young stylish people as there are many fashion and shoe stores. We had a quick look inside some of the stores but we all were hungry and so we went to eat some delicious okonomiyaki! After that me and Akim went to have some Ice Cream and a coffee at Starbucks whereas the girls went shopping and bought some cool hats. Back at the hostel we talked for hours and as before it was interesting as hell!


The next day we slept a bit longer than usual and me and Akim went to Akihabara, which is famous for electronic equipment. We saw the newest plasma flatscreens, the newest digital cams and the brand new iPod Touch! I bought a mobile phone so I could stay in touch with my japanese friends and with Sophie and Muriel.
Unfortunately Akim, Hélène and Ilham had to leave for France in the evening... So I intended to stayed at the hostel as I was tired anyway. But I met two girls from Switzerland. When I asked them where exactly they were from, they said: Schaffhausen! Crazy... And we even have some mutual friends! So we went to have a drink at a bar just around the corner of the hostel...

Tokyo I

The night I arrived in Tokyo I met some high school students from Augsburg in Germany. They were on a trip across Japan because they all attended japanese classes back in Germany and the teacher, half german half japanese, was going on that trip every year. Of course, everybody wanted to learn japanese then...
As it was already pretty late (almost 3AM) I had to find my room in the hostel and then find some sleep. But it wasn't that easy... My room consisted of six beds and I got the bed number five. So I opened the door and as I had no light with me, I stepped into the room in the darkest darkness. It was very narrow and my bag punched every bed I passed. Then I had to find my mobile phone so I would have a faint light to be able to make my bed. By that time almost everybody in the room was staring at me, wondering what I was doing at that time of the night!

One thing about that was positive! We could talk about my arriving late at night! So I got to know my three roommates! Ilham, Hélène and Akim were all from France and were supposed to stay in Tokyo until Wednesday. They were working for Air France and could travel for almost nothing. That day I was slightly tired and had a relaxed day. I took the subway to Omotesando and walked to Harajuku and further on to Shibuya. There I had a coffee at the world famous Tsutaya Starbucks store that could be seen in "Lost in Translation" and "Babel". I did a bit of shopping, bought some new shoes and enjoyed the hot day (33°C). The evening I spent at the hostel talking to my french friends in english!

Beijing IV

As the weather forecast predicted sunshine on Saturday, I booked a trip to the Great Wall. Back in Switzerland I saw georgous pictures of the not so touristy section between Jinshanling and Simatai. The only problem is Jinshanling lies 120km out of Beijing. So the bus left the hostel at 6:15 in the morning and the journey took almost three and a half hours. In the bus I met a couple from London and we talked about travelling and China, because the've been in Hong Kong some days before. At Jianshanling, we had to take an old and scary cableway up to the wall...

Then the 11.5km hike began! The sun was shining and it was pretty hot, but fortunately I had enough water with me... Some sections of the wall were rebuildt whereas others were almost destroyed. However I was deeply impressed by this enormous construction! The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass and it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.To set an end to all the rumours about the visibility from the moon: No lunar astronaut has ever claimed he could see the Great Wall from the moon...

Mao Zedong had a saying, "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall" ("Bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn"). So now I can call me a real man! :-) Having arrived in Simatai, we got lunch in a restaurant and our group talked about all the world and his brother. We all were tired and on the ride back everyone was sleeping...

The next day I had my flight to Tokyo at 4:40PM. Under no circumstances I wanted to miss my flight, so I went to the airport quite early. I had time to go to Starbucks at the Departure Terminal, where I met a webdesigner from Hong Kong, who's working in Shanghai and Beijing. We talked for a long time until we had to take our flights. Mine with Air China was delayed and so I arrived in Tokyo pretty late, as I had to go through customs and everything... As I didn't book my room in advance, I went to the Sakura Hostel in Asakusa by taxi and fortunately they still had some beds available.

Beijing III

The next day was still rainy but it didn't hinder me to do a bit of sightseeing along the mainstreets in Beijing. I walked for several hours and stopped every now and then at Starbucks or had lunch somewhere. I was impressed by the way buildings were built everywhere. And they all were huge! Really huge!

One problem I had was to stop a taxi. I never succeded and if I saw one standing near the sideway it already had a customer or was supposed to pick up somebody. So I decided to walk to the official taxi stoppoints. In the afternoon I wanted to go to the Summer Palace which is northwest of Beijing.

In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace an "outstanding expression of the creative art of Chinese landscape garden design, incorporating the works of humankind and nature in a harmonious whole." It is a popular tourist destination but also serves as a recreational park but I could not really enjoy the beauty as it was still rainy that day. However Lake Kunming and Longevity Hill are even marvellous at such a cloudy and foggy day.

Beijing II

My second day in Beijing was a rainy day. First I went to have a coffee at Starbucks at Oriental Plaza which is a huge shopping complex on Wangfujing Street. I strolled around and was impressed by the sheer grandeur of the buildings and streets! But actually I was a bit disappointed of Beijing and I couldn't really imagine how they ever will be able to organize the next Olympic Games. The smog was thick as butter and even when it was supposed to be sunny you could hardly see a sunray. The public transportation system in specific and the traffic in general were everything else than well organized. They only have two subway lines but hundreds of buses.

The problem with the buses is that if you can't read the chinese characters you won't be able to figure out where the bus is going and where the stop is you have to get off. So the only mean of transportation is taking taxis. But here as well, taxidrivers don't speak any english at all. Actually nobody does (as far as I was concerned). Anyway, I had my coffee at Starbucks and then I decided to walk to the Temple of Heaven which is approximately one hour by walking. The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City and was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

Beijing I

I had my flight to Beijing on Tuesday, 9/11, which is exact the same weekday as in 2001 when the two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. I was pretty early at the airport in Zurich-Kloten so I even found time to have a coffee in the Airside Center Starbucks Store. Boarding time was 5:30PM but my flight was delayed. In Vienna all connecting flights were negative, except the one to Beijing! I was flying with Austrian Airways, but I was slightly disappointed of the service they did. The airplane was old and the board entertainment system too. And for you engineers out there, I have an assignment: Why can't you build soundproof airplanes? It's that noisy in there because of the aircraft turbines I had to listen to my iPod with maximal volume and the music was still very low. During the night we could see Moscow below, an immense sea of lights down there.

Finally having arrived in Beijing I took the airport shuttle to the city centre, and then I struggled to find my hostel. There was no subway in that direction, no busdriver understanding even a single word in english, even the taxidrivers didn't know the location and they as well spoke no english at all. Anyway, a taxi drove we at least in the right direction and the rest I walked even though I was tired as hell. I had to share my room with a finnish guy who took the transsiberian railway from Moscow to Beijing. We talked for a while and I then explored the neighborhood by myself. I walked to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Outside of China, the square is widely known for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when over 500 students lost their lifes. The square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square metres, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.
I met a chinese couple from Shanghai and went to drink tea in the hutongs, which are narrow streets or alleys around the Forbidden City. After that nice experience I went back to the hostel and immediately fell asleep...

Summer X

When do you feel happy? And how do you measure happiness? I thought about that quite often recently, as I had my exams and therefore I had to take a backseat to most other activities like doing sports or reading books/magazines as well as watching movies and surfing in the internet. So what makes me happy? Friends? Girls? Success? Sports? Job? Money? I think it's a good mix of all of that. But there loads of other activities and things that help to feel happy and confident. Reading, music and movies, time to think, time for myself. And this is also very important. I actually need people around me, but sometimes I only want to be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes I just imagine how things will be and what may happen in the future. Sometimes I compare all the billions of possible ways how things could turn. Sometimes I just set a goal for myself and then I give everything to reach my goal. These are things which make me happy... And I now that anticipation is the highest form of joy...

Actually I was just listening to a song that reminds me of the good time I had last fall. And again, I guess music has another big influence on my mood. There are songs I basically listen only during practice in the gym and others that make me feel sad cause they remind me of certain things...

But back to my time this week. I five exams in the last two weeks and now there is only one left on Monday. Yeah, Monday. After the exam we're going to a party to celebrate the end of the exam session. And on Tuesday my flight leaves for Vienna and then for sizzling Beijing! Damn, I can't wait anymore! Got my visa last week and now I'm ready for China! But Tokyo as well will be amazing!

I'm posting once more a Starbucks sign, as today me and Jonathan went to the new-opened Starbucks store inside of Orell Füssli at Bellevue. So you can order a delicious Frappuccino and enjoy a book right on the cozy sofas. I found a nice book called Lounge Design, where you can see the world's best lounges! Just amazing!

Besides Jonathan, Lukas and I went to Lausanne on Sunday. We just had the idea to go to Geneva or Lausanne by train. As we all had something to learn or read the six hours journey passed by quite fast. In Lausanne we had some lunch, did a short sightseeing and went to Starbucks... You wouldn't believe, but I have to change my lifestyle a little bit and one thing that I want to change is: Drink less coffee which means not going to Starbucks anymore!

Next time I'm gonna post pictures of my trip to Beijing and Tokyo! Will be back 24th of September!

Summer IX

Today I had my first of seven exams. We had one hour time to solve three problems in physical chemistry. I wouldn't say it way easy, but I tried my best and I solved most of them. The next exam in food technology will be in a weeks time, so it's not that stressy. The last weeks I was mainly studying in Zurich, so I don't sit alone at home, but can drink coffee and have lunch with my friends from uni. Besides Jonathan and Lukas are working at UBS in Zurich, so last week we met for a drink after work at Pur Pur. It was a nice evening and we could talk about the usual topics like girls, money (mostly money and girls depend on each other) and our future. Right now they are making quite a bit of money in the bank, working in the investment department ;-)! As for me, I can't work during the exam session. But as soon as I'm back from Asia and the fifth semester has started, I'm back at work.

On Friday me and Jonathan went to Mascotte and as we were too early, we checked out the Wings Airline Bar & Lounge at Limmatquai for a drink. This time we had no problem getting in at Mascotte and we then grabbed a seat at the lounge inside. We met two cute girls from Persia and talked to them for a long time. As they wanted to dance with us we just forgot about the last night train at 3AM and instead took the first one in the morning ;-)!

Jonathan then bought a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne on Saturday. So we met at Andy's place and had a relaxed evening. The next day I felt bored so I called Jonathan and we then spontanously decided to meet. At his place we had kind of a BBQ only for us two. Moreover our timing was just perfect because as soon as the steaks were ready a thunderstorm sweeped over Schaffhausen.

Right now I just can't be alone... I'm really longing for people to talk to me. And I take every chance to get to know people. Not much more than a week ago I got to know Jane and her friends at Domino and now I bump into her all the time... Actually no wonder, as her parents own the Café Vordergasse, where I'm walking past almost every day!

Summer VIII

Another amazing weekend has passed by! On Saturday the world famous Streetparade took place in Zurich with more than 800'000 people celebrating all kinds of electronic music. Even on Friday afternoon there were extraordinarily many people out in the streets, so Jonathan and I decided to check out some clubs in Zurich that night. As we had a train to Stadelhofen Station we spontanously decided to go to Mascotte at Bellevue. The queue was pretty long but we didn't care... Actually we talked quite a lot so we didn't realize that we wouldn't be able to get in without girls. So we had to ask girls to come in with us. That was no problem at all, but we didn't get in anyway due to the age restriction of twentytwo, as we had another younger friend with us. We then decided to drink something at Pur Pur, but it was rather empty in there, so we walked along the lake right to Mythenquai where we went into the Acqua Club. The entrance fee was for the Fresh & Stable Streetparade Warm-Up Party was pretty high with 25 CHF, but anyway, we finally found a club to party. Down in the club Rolf Imhof and DJ Le Noir were playing some Tech-House whereas the Lounge upstairs provided some chill out tunes. On the turntables was DJ Mahara McKay, who was Miss Switzerland a few years ago. Besides we met Bligg, a swiss hiphop artist becoming famous with his hit single "Alles scho mal ghört". At 3AM we took the last train back and as we met some friends this night found a good end.
On Saturday we once again went to Zurich, had fun, party and met many really strange though interesting people from all over the world!

Summer VII

I didn't write down much here recently. And I even don't have an excuse. I was studying and working in Zurich this week as I discovered a nice library where I can learn more efficient as ever in my life... The last two weeks I was studying at home which has one really good advantage: I can do sports whenever I want to. As soon as I'm fed up with learning I can go out running or cycling or even go to the gym. But there is distraction around. I eat too much, spend too much time in the internet actually doing nothing and the worst is I go to bed late which makes me sleepy the next day. So right now I get up at 6:45 and take the 8:00 train to Zurich. This week I spent practically all my time in Zurich. Went drinking coffee at Starbucks and Tannenbar, went swimming in the Limmat, prepared a nice dinner with Livia and her roommate Janina and could have gone eating Sushi at Yoojis with Sophie and her friends... And best, I didn't care when I was at home, as I was studying for hours every day. Besides, exept for a extrem hot Monday, we had heavy rain the whole week! When I went to Livia's place I was walking trough the rain without a proper jacket so I got wet as hell!

On August 1st we celebrated Swiss National Day. So the day before, Jonathan and I went to Zurich to have some drinks before checking out a few clubs. On the way to a bar, Jonathan met a friend from Uni, so he joined us spontanously. We first went to Edi's Weinstube and talked a few minutes. Yu, which was his name, is Japanese and also a citizen of South Africa. And he even did military service down there as marine officer! Crazy, init? And best of all, he has connections to Tokyo, Japan!
We then went to Lake Side right at Lake Zurich. We haven't been on the guestlist, so we waited in the queue for one and a half hour until the bouncer said: "Sorry guys, we're completely full, you have to leave!" So we were pissed, really pissed. But we catched the next taxi we could find and headed back to town to check out some other clubs, but once again they were full to burst. Eventually we found a bar, had some drinks and stayed until 4AM when they turned on the lights. We felt hungry, so we again took a taxi to the Langstrasse where you can find food 24h a day! At 5:40 we took the train back to Schaffhausen and witnessed a wonderful sunrise! At 7AM I was home and went to bed for a few hours before we again had BBQ at a friends place.

On Saturday it was my turn to held a party at my place! I prepared sushi, salmon sandwiches, tiramisu and many kinds of salades together with Livia and Urs, who just came to help in the afternoon as he had some business meeting later on. All in all we were more than twenty people out there and yeah, we had fun! The next morning I got up early as I couldn't sleep anymore and besides it was a beautiful day anyway. So Sophie, Jussi and I went swimming in the Rhine which was a great start into the day! I guess I have to do this more often, even though soon it's gonna be fall again...


"make money, have fun, forget reason"

Summer VI

As I had plenty of time and nothing to do, I participated at a research study about left-right differentiation two weeks ago. I had a brief assessment and then had to fill out some forms about my mental state and my well-being before I had to do some tests on the computer. After a little bit more than an hour I got a bookshop voucher, so I went to Orell Füssli at Bellevue where I just strolled around for a book to catch my eye. I didn't quite find what I was looking for, so I bought a Lonely Planet city guide for Beijing.
Actually I spent days in the internet looking for interesting places to go in Beijing. I was quite impressed of what I found at Flickr about The Great Wall at Jinshanling. I'm really looking forward to walk the 10km to Simatai.

Besides I finished reading "Hamlet" by Shakespeare and "I am Charlotte Simmons" by Tom Wolfe. Both of them were fantastic! "Hamlet" I read entirely in the train but the other one was so interesting I couldn't stop reading! I somehow feel sad I already finished... For my trip to China and Japan I bought Haruki Murakami's "South of the Border, West of the Sun" but right now I have to start learning for my next exams in August and September.
Recently I met quite a few friends and we had a great time together. Last Thursday I met a friend from sports to have a drink at Fass and later on at Tabacco Lounge where I met a few more! The weekend before I met Sabine for Ice Cream and a short city tour as she is from Basel. Some hours later me and Jonathan went to Winterthur as we've actually never been out there. Again we met a friend in the train and later in a Club, so we decided to sleep at her place...

This weekend Jonathan and I went to Pontresina up in the mountains to join a friend for a mountain hike. So we walked up and up and up to the Boval SAC hut at 2495m altitude. We talked and played games until late and in the early morning we departed for Diavolezza at almost 3000m altitude. In no time we were up there even though we had to cross two glaciers and so we had some Ben & Jerry Ice Cream as reward ;-)

Summer V

Yeah, last week was rather boring because it was once again rainy and cloudy all day long. So I decided to help a friend move from her old apartement to the new one. First we went to her to-be-flatmate and moved all her belongings from the third floor to a hired car downstairs. Then we had to take everything up to their new apartment on the fourth floor... Was pretty hard work especially as I went to the gym in the morning, so I actually had two workouts! All in all we had a great time moving all the furniture and besides I'm getting to know more and more places in Zurich ;-)

Moreover I've got some awesome news: I'm going to Beijing/CHN and Tokyo/JPN in September! As I told you long long ago I have a friend working in Beijing, so why not going to see him? :-) After five days in China I will move on to Tokyo where I'm going to meet Sophie and her friend Muriel and we for sure gonna render Tokyo unsafe! :-)
Unfortunately the flights I'm gonna take are bloody expensive which means I have to work a lot the next weeks... However I spent another fortune on clothes, bought at Blue Dog and Diesel Store Zurich.

In Zurich the Zürifäscht took place last weekend. As I was working anyway in town, I took the opportunity to have a glance. I met Sophie and we went to have some green thai curry at a very nice place somewhere up at Seefeldquai. We had our own sunlounger and a superb view over Lake Zurich with music and drinks right a few feet away. Time passed fast and soon we went back to the Bellevue to watch the firework over the Lake...

The picture I made when I once walked home early in the morning (yeah, pretty early) showing the railway bridge over the Rhine.

Summer IV

I had to change my mind this week. I had this idealistic view that summer is always sunny and warm. But the last days were everything else than that. It rained and was pretty cold. So on Thursday Jonathan and I decided to take an train early in the morning down to Locarno as the weather in the Ticino was much better. Jonathan as well split up with his girlfriend a few days before so we could talk about everything concerning girls and relationships during the 4.5 hour journey. In Locarno we went to the Lido at Lago Maggiore and relaxed in the sun and took a swim in the lake. At 5PM we left Locarno and continued our journey back to Schaffhausen. We read [Shakespeare - Hamlet] and talked again, but this time the train was abuzzed with commuters. Even though we were pretty tired we decided to sit back in a bar, get comfy and end the evening on a cozy note. This is what we did! We even met friends who were celebrating their school graduation. So we joined them and went to the Orient Club and later to Tabacco Lounge. On Friday I slept a bit longer and then went working until 8PM before heading for another party: the Unterstadtfäscht in Schaffhausen. It's actually more than a party, kind of a big openair party, held on Friday and Saturday. It's crazy how many people you know and it was a great event to socialize and get to know new people!

Summer III

Yeah, I just returned from a slightly exhausting bike ride along the Rhine, took a shower and now I'm sitting outside in the garden soaking up the last sunrays of the day. Last Thursday I had my last exam (which I passed) and so from Friday on, I'll have holidays until 21th of August! Seems to be a long time, and, yeah, it is! But you don't have to be jealous, I have to learn for the exams in August and September. Anyway, the next few weeks I won't touch anything concerning my studies. I can work at the agency, do a lot of sports, definitely a lot, and enjoy the rest of the day...
Which is something I already did the last days even before my last exam. On Wednesday I decided not to learn too long, so I went swimming with Jonathan and his girlfriend. It was such a warm day, I guess the hottest this year, so we decided to go to a chilly und cosy spot directly on the Rhine to take a swim in the evening sun. It was one of these days when the Rhine just smells like the sea, and you wish summer will never end!

We listened to Jack Johnson, talked and once in a while took a swim in the clear blue green water. When I came home at 10:30PM the sky was still bright and I sat down for a moment to soak up the beauty of this wunderful summer evening.
On the horizon I could see lightning, but I knew it was too far away to concern me...

After my exam on Thursday I went to eat Pizza at Santa Lucia with a friend before I went back to the BQM, where we talked and had some drinks. Most of us went to a party called SoNaFe located at ETH Hönggerberg. There was no entrance fee and therefore it was full to bursting. It was once again a nice evening, and I hope I can post some pictures soon...

Summer II

I just got up a few minutes ago... Actually I should be learning for my last exam next week, but I think there's still plenty of time to do so. But I have an excuse for sleeping that late. Yesterday was the ETH Beach Party on the edge of Lake Zurich! And we had even more than one reason to go. First, it was a Thursday and we don't have lectures on Fridays, so this was perfect. The other reason was an exam we had in the afternoon. And after exams you want to do something. On Wednesday when we had another exam in food chemistry, I went cycling for an hour or so. And yesterday we simply went to the Beach Party. It started at 3PM and you paid 10.- entrance fee, but you could eat and drink as much as you wanted. We had a great time together, went to take a swim in the lake, danced, talked and enjoyed the Party!

Already on Wednesday I went to town having a few drinks with my friend Jonathan. We talked about the world in general and women in special ;-). Last weekend I was invited at a BBQ by a friend of my friends (and so on). Right now nothing is cosyier than chilling in the garden with nice music, nice people and a nice drink... Yeah, summer is great! As my friend had to get up early the next morning I also hoped I could get to bed soon (as I went clubbing the day before until 4AM). But no, we had some Ice Cream at El Bertin, a drink at Domino Club and there we met so many people we literally were trapped ;-)!

Last week, I had a few Milkshakes with Jonathan and once I went to have a drink at Lounge 74 with a girl I met at the competition I mentioned in the last post. So again, I never felt bored since spliting up with my girlfriend...

Summer I

I guess this is gonna be a long long post, cause I have to write down quite a few things.

Maybe the most important thing is: Me and my girlfriend split up... Just one day before my birthday we had a big crisis. I tried everything, and I mean everything, to fix it. But she didn't wanted to accept, so I didn't see a future together. It was hard, I couldn't sleep, was thinking and thinking all the time, and most of all I was sad. Really sad.

But as soon as it was over, and this was the point: when I knew it was definitely over, and I wasn't in uncertanity any longer, I said to myself: Hey, you did enjoy this time as much as you could, but now you have to go on and look forward to your future.

And I once again want to citate what I wrote once before (It sounds best if you listen to Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (Come to an End)):

Good things never last, so enjoy the good moments whilst they last. Because they never last. Sooner or later, it all comes to an end. What matters then is how you handle it.

Yeah, how you handle it. Want to know what I did? I called a friend, went to cinema and then drinking; drinking until 5AM. I had to get up a few hours later, as I had a competition. And even without a good preparation I won the 1000m race, which made me think, ...wow... no sleep, drinking, and you still win races.... Then I went back home, made a delicious Tiramisu and took the train to a Party in Zurich held by Sophie (the girl that supported me on phone when I was lost in Glattbrugg). It was cool and I had a few drinks to really enjoy this marvellous party! Again it was pretty late until we went to bed...

One thing I want to tell to everybody who was here for me, talked to me and gave me many helpful advice: Thank you!

Then I started reading the novel "I Am Charlotte Simmons" by Tom Wolfe. This was almost the only thing I could do the last week. But again, it helped. Check out the link if you're interested.

Right a few minutes ago, I happened to witness a thunderstorm I've never seen here. The sky suddenly turned black as hell, it became sturmy and it started to rain. And the rain became heavier and heavier. There was lightning after lightning. Thunder after thunder. And I had to take the bus to town... At the mainstation: Pure chaos. Only a few, including me :-), had an umbrella, the rest was waiting or looking for shelter. Now as I write down these words, the rain stopped a bit, but still, this was crazy...

UPDATE 05.06.2007: The thunderstorm's been in the news all over Switzerland...

Spring VII

Where should I begin my post? Maybe two weeks ago, when an exibition called Polymesse was held at ETH. It's an annual event, where famous and less famous companies present their industry and actually recruit potential experts among us students. Even if I don't even have my Bachelor yet, it's a good opportunity to get a glance at what you will expect after you've got the Master. Besides most of the stands have some chocolates or some other candies as freebie. I went to a very interesting presentation of Nestlé, the world's largest food company, and I talked to several guys of the marketing staff of Unilever.

Two days later we went to another excursion to PanGas, a gas producing company in Dagmersellen/LU. I really enjoyed it, not only because the first thing we did was having coffee and cookies. We did some cryocooking, where you cook with liquid nitrogen whit a temperature of -196°C! Yeah, pretty cold, and I wouldn't put a finger into the bottle... So we made our own ice cream within a few seconds. Why not open the first Cryo-Bar in Zurich?

Last week I only had classes on monday and tuesday so I had plenty of time to do sports. On saturday I even made Sushi and then watched the japanese movie Laputa - Castle in the sky which I first watched in New Zealand together with my japanese friend Shinsuke. Yesterday me and my friends spent half of the day at the Lindli as it was a hot day. I even went to take a bath in the Rhine...
As completion of the day we watched the swiss movie Snow White.
The pictures shows something I discovered on a wall. I don't know what it is but I guess these are some kind of insect eggs.

Spring VI

What a freakin weekend! It actually started already on friday morning when I had to get up at 5:15AM as I had an excursion to Bell AG, the biggest meat manufacturer in Switzerland. We actually saw everything from slaugther to the complete product ready for sale. It was very interesting except of the blood which was everywhere ;-) We even were invited for lunch with the CEO of Bell. Funny, almost everyone eat up the meal which included a piece of meat...
At around 3PM the excursion was over and so I seized the chance to have a coffee at Starbucks at Steinenvorstadt, before I walked back to the mainstation. Then I was invited for a BBQ. But for the first time for weeks it started to rain...
And the rain continued until Saturday where I once again had to get up at 6AM as I had to run 6.2km with a difference in altitude of 420m. It was the same stretch as one year ago and I was even faster as 2006 even though I had the feeling of a perfect race. I needed exactly 33:45 min to get to the top of the Uetliberg. Next years goal is already fixed: Below 30:00 min ;-) !

I went home to sleep a bit and then I once again returned to Zurich, as I went to drink something with a teammember. Then we went to the italian restaurant Santa Lucia at Marktgasse to eat Pizza.

Further that evening we had some drinks at Edi's Weinbar before we went to the SOLA-Party at Uni Irchel. Actually I wanted to get back to Schaffhausen at 10PM but, you know, I didn't made it... Then I decided to get home at 1AM but then they were no trams anymore so I had to walk and time was getting short, so I decided to take the last train at 3AM. I had to dash to the trainstation at Oerlikon cause it was already late. Unfortunately I had run out of money and couldn't pay the nightbonus.

And it happened what had to happen: the conductor came. So I could decide to pay CHF 80.- or disembark at Glattbrugg. I chose the second thing. To my regret, the next train to Schaffhausen should come at 5:15AM... I was alone and the only thing I could do was listen to my iPod which was running out of battery as well... and a particular thank goes to Sophie who supported my by phone during this difficult time!

Spring V

It's already May 1st. Unbelivable. April was just great! I think it never rained a single day the whole month. And the temperature was about 6 degrees above the average. And so it was time for Ice Cream! I spent more than CHF 50.- for Ice Cream and over 120.- for Coffee last month... Maybe because Starbucks is now selling the marvellous Banana Java Chip Frappuccinos for CHF 8.40 (medium size). Today I took a train to Zurich only to have a Frappuccino at the lakefront. Crazy, isn't it? But an elderly woman said what I was thinking: The possibilities are endless, as long as you're young! (and pretty and have plenty of money in your pockets)
She's right...

Another thing about Starbucks. I met my cousin a few days ago and he said he's going to quit his job at Starbucks as it's too hard to balance job and studies. And another fact: I've been at every Starbucks in Zurich except the one at Rindermark and the recently opened store at Sihlcity. But I wouldn't call me addicted... :-)

The weather forecast for saturday predicts rain and right then I once again run for our SOLA-Team. I was training hard the last weeks, been in the gym, biking and jogging and even sprinting again. I feel in shape as I had kind of a nutrition plan (including my ice cream) and I'm prepared for the race!

Spring IV

I love spring! Actually I wouldn't call that spring, it's rather summer. We never had a cloudy day since the easter weekend and it was even pretty hot with 26°C... I was eating ice cream all day. To keep in shape I also did a lot of sports. I went jogging and biking the last weekend, and during the week I went twice to the gym.
On friday I met a friend from sports. He was going to meet two working partners from Germany, so I joined them for a drink at the Fass. I dashed home to get ready for the evening. My girlfriend wasn't here, so I did something with my friends. We went to the Domino Club, where we met many other friends... It was funny to see them all again! Then we joined a group of girls celebrating a wedding-eve party. This was really crazy. They wanted to see our sixpacks, so we took off our shirts and showed them our bodies. As reward they paid for some drinks and a Dürum Kebab...
I came home at 5:30AM and was tired as hell...

Saturday was great as well... After sleeping the whole morning I went jogging and then met some friends. That evening I was invited at a BBQ (the first in 2007) until we again went to town to have a spoon of chocolate ice cream!

On Monday I went to Starbucks at Bleicherweg and finally went to the lake to take a bath in the sun.

Spring III

This easter week was a wonderful one. It began on monday, when I went to training with my former coach. I tried to do the whole workout together with my training partners, but it was too much for me: I had sore muscles until friday... But on friday I took my bike out for a ride to get a bit out of town as the weather was beautiful. On Sunday I was jogging again and yesterday I did a short sprinting workout in the morning...

Last thursday a friend from uni made a party at his new apartment in Zurich, near Starbucks at Schaffhauserplatz. We were about 7 people and it was quite funny!

On saturday I met another friend from High School, so we went to eat Ice Cream at El Bertin. I guess I've been there almost ten times this week :-)

I enjoyed the sun at the Lindli and watched some movies after the sunset. So I've been in the cinema watching The Number 23. Yesterday evening there was Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du coran on TV. I previously read the book, so I knew it was a good movie! All in all a wonderful week! ;-)

Spring II

This was another spring week where many things happened...

On the way to Zurich I met my former Track coach and so we talked about training and took a trip down the memory lane. So I decided to give my comeback today evening! The result you can see in the next post... On friday evening my former trainingpartner called and so we went to have a drink first at El Bertin and then another one at Surstoff Bar in Schaffhausen. We talked about almost everything...

On saturday I went jogging for 45 min to keep in shape :-) Then I went to Sihlcity in Zurich where I bought a sweater at H&M and some pretty expencive 55DSL by Diesel shades. Even as Sihlcity is quite big, it was crowded as hell this afternoon. After coming back to Schaffhausen I went to a friends birthday party to have dinner and some drinks... ;-)

The picture I took at the law library in Zurich, constructed by Santiago Calatrava. This is already the forth work I saw, after the Turning Torso in Malmö/SWE, the Montjuic Tower in Barcelona/ESP as well as Stadelhofen Station in Zurich.

Spring I

Last week I finally got my exam mark: 4.7. In my opinion this is ok. Even though I was secretly hoping for a 5. But I passed and this is what matters.

This weekend we escaped from the late snow to the warm and sunny South. We again took the 8:09 Cisalpino in Schaffhausen with direction to Venice in Italy. We had our own compartment and could install the speakers for our iPod. In Bellinzona we stopped and bought something to eat and soon we took another train to Locarno and then to Verscio, where the Teatro Dimitri is located. After watching some lessons, we went back to Locarno and took the bus to Mesocco, where we have a house.

On sunday we forgot to change the clocks to daylight saving time. We realized it when the bus didn't come...

Early Spring IV

Wow, what a weekend! On saturday morning I had my last exam in organic chemistry. Actually I studied not that hard because I thought I don't really need a good mark to pass. But during the exam I could solve problems I could never solve before. So I was happy in two ways: The chemistry exam was easier than expected and the exams are finally over...

In the afternoon I went to eat some ice cream. After strolling around in Schaffhausen we decided to visit the Haberhaus, a bar in and old medieval building in Schaffhausen. The evening we went to the Tabacco Lounge to have a few drinks.

On Sunday we went to Starbucks in Berne to have a coffee as we didn't really sleep that much. Then we took a train Neuchatel where we had a short stopover on our way to the Creux-du-Van. It's is a long, half rounded cliff that developped naturally through erosion and its ripid walls are up to 160 meter high. We had to walk 2 hours to get to the top which lies on 1400m (the trainstation is on 700m above sealevel). It was really impressing. Back in the train to Zurich we all were very tired and slept the whole way.

Early Spring III

Only one exam left... Yesterday I had one in biochemistry and I think it was one of the best marks so far. But I've been learning a lot so this is just the reward for the layed out time. The last exam will be in organic chemistry on saturday (!) morning. This means I probably can't even get out on friday night... But I already know what I'm doing right after the exam. I will dash to the mainstation and take the next train to Schaffhausen. Then I'll head for the Gelateria El Bertin, which will open its doors on saturday.

Last saturday we could see a total lunar eclipse here in Schaffhausen. In most parts of Switzerland it was cloudy but here we could see the moon in a fantastic but strange red color. On sunday I went to the Lindli as it was a beautiful day and I didn't intend to learn the whole day. I met some friends and talked until the sunset. I really love spring!

Besides: In a few days there will be a big opening in Zurich - Sihlcity opens its doors. It's a huge complex for shopping, living, pleasure and wellbeing. Zurich's new neighbourhood is rising up on the foundations of the former Sihl Paper Factory. It is the innovative execution of a sophisticated concept that unites a wide variety of activities in a single location.

Early Spring II

First I have to apologize a trillion times I've not been updating my blog for the last few weeks. But I had to study very hard for the exams at uni and my notebook crashed and I had to get a new one, this time a Powerbook G4. But this will come later...

Yesterday I had the second of seven exams. In the first one, in food analysis, I got a 5 so I was pretty pleased. Tomorrow we will have the very important exam in physics. And on friday another one in anatomy. This will continue for 3 weeks...

Anyway, it's definitely spring now. I've been learning several times at the Lindli which I'd never done before in February. Actually this was a year without a winter. It snowed once and there were hardly ever days where the temperature dropped below 0°C.


Recently I was often listening to Coldplay as their songs remind me of the time in April when the trees get their beautiful green leaves!



NOTE: I will add some more text here in the next day without opening a new post! So check again later!

22.02.2007
Today it's my brother's birthday... I went to the hairdresser at 8AM (yeah, pretty early) and then I was learning and enjoying the sun and the warm temperature. Again I was at the Lindli as I was fed up with learning at home. I hope I'm prepared enough for the anatomy exam tomorrow.

After my exams have finished, I'll start my workout to get in shape for the summer :-)! I already went to the gym 3 times a week now and have been cycling and jogging. But this is not enough... I want to be in shape so I would be able to compete again in track and field. Maybe I once will find time to do so.

Early Spring I

It's Spring now - definitely! On friday Locarno measured 23.8°C! Imagine: 30°C in Summer is really hot in Switzerland and now in January we have almost 24°C... In Schaffhausen we have pretty warm 15°C and everywhere you can see blossoming flowers and hear birds singing. The previous weekend I went to the Lindli for the first time in 2007. It was a sunny day with almost no wind, so I took off my sweater and sat there reading in the t-shirt. I made it into the local newspaper, as a journalist wrote an article about the mild weather and saw me sitting there...

Last week it was pretty stormy as the hurricane Kyrill sweeped over Europe. Once as I was outside, it was as I would walk into a wall because of the wind. And besides it was pretty dangerous as many trees or branches crashed down on the streets.

Recently I bought an 80GB iPod in black! I know 80GB is much, but so I can use it as external harddisk...

On sunday evening we went to the cinema and watched the swiss movie "Breakout" with Stress, Melanie Winiger and Max Loong. So yesterday I was pretty tired at uni but fortunately my some lectures were cancelled, so me and my friends went drinking something at bQm.

Maybe I have to finish our Paris story: New Year was a beautiful day and we again went to the Eiffel Tower, later to the Pantheon and besides we just strolled around. The next morning we had to get off very early to get to the airport. In Basel we went to Starbucks again and in Zurich once again, where we met my cousin and talked a bit, as he also was in Paris during High School.

Paris VI

After our first night at the new hotel, we intented to climb the Eiffel Tower. There was again a pretty long queue... So we had a devilish plan :-) We went along the queue and took some pictures and slowly but surely we fused with the queue... We paid 3 Euro entrance fee and climbed up to the first and second platform. We didn't went up to the third one on 274m as it was quite foggy and the sight was limited. But anyway, we had a superb view over Paris!
Later on, we strolled around the neighborhood and found some small food markets and we really felt the french atmosphere!

As it was New Year's Eve, we bought some Champagne and went home to relax a bit, before we intended to go to the Champs-Elysées to watch the firework. But as we were again on the streets it rained cats and dogs. We decided to drink coffee somewhere, couldn't find one but a Chinese Restaurant! After a delicious dinner we went back to the hotel and took a bath with Champagne...

Besides: The firework was cancelled!

Paris V

In the morning of the following day we had to check out at the hostel and check in at the Hotel Belfort in the 11th Arrondissement. This hotel was on a calm street but still not far away from the metro stop Voltaire. We had everything there: A big supermarket, a bank, small fruit shops and many bakeries. The room and the bed in the hotel was bigger than the other one and we even had a bath.

We were very happy it wasn't that cold anymore, no, we felt as if it was spring already because now the temperature was far over 10°C. So we just walked around the 11th arrondissement and we soon came to the Bastille, a prison, known because of the storming on July 14, 1789, which is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. This date is now the French national holiday.


We walked and walked and soon we were at the Place de Vosges, the oldest square in Paris. We again saw the Notre Dame from behind and decided to see the Pigalle at night before returning to the hotel.

Paris IV

The third day started as the second ended: Bloody cold! It was around -2°C but with a strong, icy breeze that made the felt temperature decreasing to -7°C. As we had warm clothes we didn't care and went to the westernmost extremity of Paris, to La Défense. It's the largest business district in Europe and lies on the Historical Axis, which begins at the Louvre in the centre of Paris and crosses the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Maybe the most important building at La Défense is La Grande Arche. It should represent a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe and was completey in 1990.
The Arche is almost a perfect cube and it has been suggested that the structure looks like a four dimensional hypercube projected onto the three dimensional world.

As it was that cold we had a coffee at Starbucks and wrote several postcards for our friends. As it was still sunny, we decided to take the metro to the possibly most recognized monument in the world: The Eiffel Tower. Including the 24 m antenna, the tower is 324 m high. At the time of its construction in 1889, the tower replaced the Washington Monument as the world's tallest structure, a title it retained until 1930. The queue was so unbelievable long we walked on by to see Les Invalides, a complex Louis XIV initiated in 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides, the hospital for invalids. Tired of the coldness and getting hungry we took the metro to Les Galeries Lafayette, a big departement store with a beautiful dome in the middle.


As soon as it was 18'o clock, we went to the Louvre because on fridays everyone under 26 will get free entry. We only had to show our passport and in no time we were amid hundreds of paintings and sculputres. We were pretty tired, so we just wanted to see Leonard da Vinci's oil painting Mona Lisa!
In the hostel we met some Austrians as they were cooking in the hostel kitchen. Suddenly a deafening alarm siren went off. It was the fire alarm because of a pan that was was too hot. A few minutes later the fire brigade was there with three cars and the whole hostel was in trouble... :-)

Paris III

After a bloody cold night in the hostel, we got our free breakfast with bagettes and coffee and then climbed up to the 130m tall Montmartre Hill, that overlooks Paris.
Sadly it was pretty foggy and we couldn't see that far. We went into the well-known Basilica of the Sacré Cœur that was built from 1876 to 1912. Its white dome is a highly visible landmark in the city, where just below it artists still set up their easels each day amidst the tables and colorful umbrellas of Place du Tertre.
We walked around the narrow streets and found many galleries, artists and cafés. Famous artists, such as Dali, Monet, and Picasso had studios or worked around Montmartre.
Then we looked for the Café "Deux Moulins" on Rue Lepic 15, where the movie "Amélie" was set. It was so crowded with folks, we had to wait 40 minutes until we finally got our Café crème and Crême brûlé.
From the café it's just a short walk to the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge in the district of Pigalle. Then we took the metro to Place de la Concorde and walked to the Champs-Elysées and on the way we took some photos of L'église de la Madeleine, a huge church, of the Palais Royal and the major tourist attraction Notre Dame. It's widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.


Finally we went to the Centre Pompidou, where the French national modern art museum is located. The building structure is very distinctive: The coloured external piping is the special feature of the building. Air conditioning ducts are blue; water pipes are green; and electricity lines are yellow. Escalators and elevators are red. White ducts are ventilation shafts for the underground areas. Even the steel beams that make up the Pompidou Centre's framework are on the outside.
Besides there are some very nice paintings shown: All in blue. You need much time to see every detail... :-) But it's not my duty to judge modern art...

As we were getting very tired we found a Starbucks right around the corner and had a coffee.

Paris II

This time I decided not to travel with a direct train to Basel but with a stopover in Zurich. In Basel we met a friend of mine and went to Starbucks to chat and drink some coffee. Then we took the bus to the EuroAirport.
The flight was pretty short and we could see a beautiful sunset from the sky. In Paris we took the train to Gare de Nord where we took the metro to our hostel on the Montmartre Hill. We just left our baggage there and went on the way to the Tour Montparnasse, with 210m the tallest skyscraper in France. The 58 floors of the tower are mainly occupied by offices, while two floors are open to the public: The 56th floor with a restaurant, and the terrace on the top floor. Up there, we had an absolutely stunning view of Paris!


Back on the ground, we bought something to eat and went to the Champs-Elysée and walked up to the Arc de Triomphe where we took the metro back to our hostel.

Paris I

This morning we came back from our awesome holidays in Paris! It was just pure pleasure being in the capital city of France! We experienced that much during our six day trip: We went on top of the Tour Montparnasse, on the Eiffel-Tower, had another stunning view from the top of the shopping mall Galleries Lafayette, walked along the Champs-Elysées, climbed up to the top of Montmartre to see the Sacre-Coeur, went into the famous Notre-Dame, had free entry to the Louvre and much more... We even witnessed a fire alarm in our hostel. But I'll soon post everything in chronological order.

Wintersemester VII

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!!

See you again in 2007 after my trip to Paris!

Wintersemester VI

Right now I feel a bit depressed even though there is only one day left until christmas holiday. Even though soon I will be in Paris. Even though we just had a little party with christmas cookies, cakes, chips, coffee and wine after the last microbiology practical training. But still I don't feel happy right now...
[Listening to Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars]

Maybe one reason for my mood might be that I didn't sleep that much recently. I watched once again some movies I got from a friend:

Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes
Blow
Das Experiment
Wrong Turn

Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a french movie and demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of freerunners, who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. You can find a short freerunner video here.
Often mistaken for Japanese, the word yamakasi is actually taken from an African language, which is spoken in the two Congos. Ya makási can mean "strong body, strong spirit, strong person", though in French usage its meaning is closer to "high energy".
Blow with Johnny Depp was very touching and is now one of my favorites.

On sunday all shops and stores were open so we went to town for a walk where we met Joëlle. We went to have coffee at Fass, where a vernissage of Milk and Vodka, a comic drawer, is held until January.

Since beginning of December we now have fast ICE trains from Germany instead of the always late italian Cisalpinos. However we still have only one direct train to Zurich an hour. But Zurich has a vision for 2025 where they have a wide train, tram and bus net to cover all suburbs and surrounding regions.

Wintersemester V

Once again a week passed that fast! And in 14 days it's Christmas. But I'm absolutely not in the mood for christmas time. Yesterday I walked home at 5 AM after checking out some clubs in town. And I clearly heard birds singing spring melodies. I sat down as it was quite warm and listened to the birds' twittering. I felt as it was spring, really... Yeah, maybe I have to tell you where I've been yesterday: First I went to the Kammgarn to have some drinks and then to another club called TapTab, where I met some friends.

On friday we went to the cinema to watch Children of Men which is set in London in 2027 where human no longer can procreate: No children. No future. No hope.

Last week I checked out the two new Starbucks stores I mentioned in the last post. When I was in Oerlikon I strolled around the new suburb and was quite impressed and made a few fotos.

Then I was looking for a Freitag bag. I wasn't quite sure if I should get one as they are pretty expensive (CHF 200.-).

The last thing I want to mention: A friend made a video clip for a swiss hiphop combo, which is now playing on Viva Swiss.

See the clip on YouTube!

Wintersemester IV

It's already December, which means only a few days to go until we take off for Paris. More information will follow in the next posts.

I went to have my hair cut at Kopfsalat in Schaffhausen. Actually I made once a picture when it was closed...

Moreover I went twice to Winterthur in the last weeks, just for fun. I think it's Switzerlands 6th biggest city with a population of almost 100'000. Once I decided to drink coffee at Tibits by Hiltl. But then I realised I had to take the next train back to Schaffhausen.
But let's talk about coffee: Starbucks opened several new stores in Switzerland. In Zurich they opened one at Schaffhauserplatz and one in Oerlikon, where a whole suburb (Centre Zurich North) was created around Max-Bill Platz.

Wintersemester III

As the titel indicates it should slowly but surley get winter. Indeed it's everything but winter: Yesterday Glarus, a city up in the mountains, measured a temperature of 21.5°C! In Schaffhausen as well we had pretty warm 14.9°C. And that's not all: We found many blossoming flowers and bees and butterflies. And in less than a week it's December...

Note: [It's now Sunday the 26th of November and it was even hotter! In Bad Ragaz the temperature raised to 22.2°C]

Wintersemester II

On Friday I went to have a drink with a friend at Lounge 74. We talked about topics such as girls, sports (he once was U18 swiss champion in the 400m dash) and studying. Besides we met many other friends we hadn't expect to meet there!

And on saturday I watched "The Da Vinci Code" with Tom Hanks and Andrey Tautou. As it's partly set in Paris we now have some other places we want to visit in December.

Last week I had to buy a new GA at the SBB shop in Schaffhausen.

"With the General Abonnement (GA), you can hop aboard the next train and enjoy unlimited travel on SBB's network as well as on most privately operated railways. The card also entitles you to free travel on postbuses, lake and river boats and on trams and buses in numerous Swiss cities and urban networks – totally over 23'500 kilometres of public transport. And many mountain railways and cableways grant special discounts for GA holders."
www.sbb.ch

Wintersemester I

Week No.3 at university ended today. I'm quite pleased that I passed the exams and now I'm motivated for the next semester and the exams in February and March.

My studies now consists of two practical trainings in physics and microbiology. This is a nice change from the lectures. We work in groups of two and every group has an assistant which is mostly a PhD student. In microbiology we breed bacteria and viruses.

The focus in this semester though lies in physics. Then we have lectures in maths, biochemistry, environmental economics, organic chemistry, anatomy of humans and animals and in food analytics.

Today I couldn't attend my lectures as I had a cold with fever...

So I listend the story: The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) writen by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in 1943. Although ît's ostensibly a children's book, it makes several profound and idealistic points about life and love.

Fall V

I passed!

Fall IV

I'm still waiting for my exam result... It's now thursday evening and I don't know if I passed or failed. And therefore I'm not sure what to do tomorrow. On Tuesday I went to the gym at Irchel and met two friends and with both of them I went to Starbucks. On wednesday I worked some hours at the agency and did some sports in the morning. Actually I decided to do more sports and I try to eat healthy and pay attention to my nutrition.

But anyway... I only attended two lectures so far this week: One in biochemistry and another in environmental economics. What else should I do as long as I don't know my result?

Besides I've been at the Kammgarn-Bar with my friends to chat and have some drinks yesterday evening! We suddenly felt in the mood to have a drink so we spontanously decided to check this bar that we didn't really know.

Today it was more than 20°C warm! I was sitting on a bench in a yard surrounded by medieval buildings. I had to move to a bench in the shadow because it was too hot to sit in the sun! And soon it's November!

Fall III

Last sunday I went to have a drink at Lounge 74 with a friend from High School. He's been in Vancouver/CAN this summer and now he's going to study at the same university as I do. So we met and talked about everything we experienced during this time. Besides we suggested that we could do our workout together at uni. Apropos workout, I've been in the gym for the first time since my exams started in September. I did exactly what I usualy was doing, but the next day I had sore muscles, they were hurting like hell!
Maybe this was a good reason to watch some movies, as I couldn't move anymore... So I watched

Lost in Translation
City of God
La Haine
Princesas

I was watching Lost in Translation together with a friend and I told him before that I like the movie because I've been in Tokyo and Kyoto, where the movie is set. In my eyes it's the only fact I like the movie. As for him, he didn't know the locations so he was waiting for the action to come. He always thought in the next few minutes something is going to happen... But nothing happend. This movie doesn't really have any action.

Yesterday we went to eat Chinese at a Chinese Restaurant in Germany but still near the border. After the meal with noodles and spicy chicken, we took a bus to a village in the countryside where we climbed up a hill to enjoy the beautiful weather and the deep blue sky.

Today the semester at university started! But I'm still waiting for my exam result, so I don't really know what to do. Tomorrow I will attend some lectures and go to the gym and maybe meet some friends. Maybe...

Fall II

Finally my exams belong to the past! On monday last week I had a two hour exam in earth- and productionsystems and yesterday the last one in law. So me and my friends went to drink coffee at Starbucks (that one at Rennweg) and we went into a big department store where we bought Sushi! Then I realised that one year ago I've been in Japan!

One week ago we watched the Oscar-winning movie "Crash". It's one of my favorite movies, maybe even the favorite one. The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles during a 36 hour period and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices.

The next 10 days I will do whatever I want to and start reading some books that I wanted to read long ago: William Shakespeare - Othello and Franz Kafka - Der Prozess. As my exam results will be published on 27th of October I don't really know if I should attend my lectures at uni...

Fall I

Last weekend we went to have dinner at the restaurant Sommerlust right at the shores of the Rhine. Around midday, when the fog had disappeared, we went to a small hill which provides a superb view over Schaffhausen to have a picknick with chilled champagne. As soon as we finished the champagne we went to the museum to visit the Otto Dix exhibition Retrospektive. Then, as I already said, we had our delicious dinner.

Actually it happend a lot, though nothing really happend... I had two other exams this week, biology and mathematics. On friday I was quite upset because of the maths exam and so I went to the cinema with two friends to see the movie Click with Adam Sandler. It was big fun and so I could calm down a bit!

Yesterday evening a friend of mine celebrated his 30iest birthday at the Tabacco Lounge in Schaffhausen. It wasn't until 2am when I was back home.

Besides: This September was the hottest one since beginning of the measurements. And indeed I can't remember having worn shorts that much in September.

Late Summer IV

After the exam on friday me and my friends all went to Starbucks to have a cup of coffee and to talk about our prosperous future :-)! I don't know my marks yet but I think it was not too bad. On monday we had the exam in economics, on wednesday in Technic of Problem Solving and on friday morning we had a two hour exam in Diversity of Animals and Plants. But there are still 6 exams left. I try to learn as hard as much but I don't forget to live...

Late Summer III

I will spend New Year in Paris! Actually I intended to visit Paris after my exam period in October but New Year isn't bad either.

So I spontanously booked the flight with easyjet yesterday evening! We will spend six nights in the romantic city! The hostel for the first three nights is located on the Montmartre hill in the 18th arrondissement and is named Le Montclair Montmartre. Then we will spend the last three days in the Hotel Belfort.

The movie "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain" is set in Montmartre, so we'll enjoy a coffee at the famous Café "Deux Moulins", Rue Lepic 5. Besides we will see the worldfamous Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées, the Basilica Sacré Cœur, the Panthéon, the Louvre...

Late Summer II

My exams are approaching... In 10 days I will have the first one. But I don't feel stressed as I don't want to build up any pressure. So I can enjoy my life as much as I can. I read books, blog or do sports whenever I feel to.

Yesterday I created a new Flickr account where I can share my personal photographs with a wider community. Check it out!

On Tuesday I went to the Rhine as it was a warm day and I wanted to soak up the last sunrays.
Besides the weather is already partly autumnal. In the morning it's cold and foggy until the sun emerges at midday.

Late Summer I

Today it's exactly one year since I started blogging! Time flies fast, I know, but I never thought that fast!

Here is a short summary of what I did since being back from Scandinavia:

1. Preparing for my exams that will begin on 18th of September
2. Went to see the athletics meeting Weltklasse Zurich
3. Watched some movies (Erbsen auf halb Sechs)
4. Met a lot of my friends at the same weekday without appointment

Today I went shopping in Zurich. Schaffhausen is too small and has not a wide variety of shops and boutiques so I always go to Zurich. Spent once again too much money on clothes! ;-)

Scandinavia VIII

The last station of our trip through Scandinavia was Oslo in Norway, one of the most expensive cities in the world. As of 2006, it is ranked first according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Yet about 22 % of the population of Oslo are immigrants what we couldn't overlook. We payed 80 NOK for a return ticket to get to Grefsen where our YHA lay and provided a superb view of the city.
Unfortunately the weather changed from sunny and warm to rainy and cold. Luckily we already explored Oslo the day we arrived! The second day we spent mainly in cafés and shopping centres as it was raining outside.

Actually my impression of Oslo was not that good. Sweden and Copenhagen were much better!

Scandinavia VII

In the morning of the 6th August we took a bus which drove us back to Sweden and straight on to Göteborg. The weather was great and it was even pretty hot, even though there was a slight wind from the sea. In Göteborg we hadn't booked a hostel in advance, as we couldn't find any in the internet. We then went to a tourist information centre. They had bad news: All hostels were booked out. At least they gave us some youth hostel numbers. I then called some of them but they had only dorms for female. But we were lucky this time! The last number I tried had still some beds!


In the afternoon we enjoyed the beautiful weather while we were walking through the city centre. Because of the European Athletic Championships the whole city was in party atmosphere! There was the so called EM-Festen a big music festival with swedish and international bands such as Eskobar or CKY. We watched Eskobar after we had been to the Ullevi Stadion where the EC take place. They played great!

The next day we relaxed and then went to the Ullevi Stadion, as we had half day tickets for the Athletic Championships! We watched the 100m quarterfinals with Dwain Chambers, shot put, javelin, and the womans 10000m final!

Scandinavia VI

We spontanously decided to stay two days in Copenhagen and then move on to Göteborg back in Sweden. We decided to sleep a bit longer than usual cause we've been out until 3:30AM whereas the italians came home at around 5AM! In the morning we first had coffee with the italians and after a short walk to the tourist information centre we had another at Baresso, rated as the best Coffee-Bar in Danmark.


Besides we went to Christiania a partially self-governing freetown which was founded in 1971, when a group of hippies took over an area of abandoned military barracks.

Scandinavia V

In the morning of the next day we left Malmö by bus and headed to Copenhagen in Danmark. The journey took us over the Öresund Bridge with a total length of almost 8km. It's quite impressing beeing over the bridge that provides a fantastic view over the strait.
Arrived in Copenhagen, we first went to our hostel where we met two funny Italians, Fabio and Antonio. They offered us some italian coffee and we talked and talked and talked. As the weather was really nice we decided to leave the Italians and to do some sightseeing. We visited Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish royal family, Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping area in the world, the Kastellet, one of the best preserved fortifications in Northern Europe and constructed in the form of a pentagram. Of course we went to see the little Mermaid, maybe the most famous tourist attraction in Copenhagen.



The Italians in our room invited us to a party on the Stubnitz, which is a huge fishing boat, which had been transformed into a mobile platform for parties! Unfortunately it was quite expencive to get in, so we decided to have a drink somewhere else.

Scandinavia IV

The following day we took the X2000 train from Stockholm to Malmö which is the third largest city in Sweden. Malmö is situated in the south of Sweden and once again the weather was superb although it was raining most of the time in the train.

Our hostel was outside the city centre, so we left our luggage in a locker and explored the Old Town. And again we had some stops for coffee. We were hungry and therefore went to Pizza Hut to buy a Pizza. Smart as we are we ordered only a small Pizza to save some money. Actually it was still pricey. But what we got was soooo small... You couldn't name it Pizza!



Nonetheless, we were ready to go to the beach in Malmö. One thing which is visible almost everywhere in Malmö is a skyscraper named HSB Turning Torso. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and officially opened in 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres with 54 stories and is actually an apartment building apart of some offices at the bottom.

Scandinavia III

The next day we got up early to catch a sightseeing bus that drove us through all parts of Stockholm. We were still tired so both of us fell asleep during the tour. Maybe it was because I listened the tour information in French :-)

We had lunch in Gamla Stan and bought some coffee. Then we were ready again for new explorations.

We walked to the island of Södermalm, former renowned for its poverty and regarded as a slum. Today it is considered a fashionable place to live or to go to, and it boasts prominent shopping districts and a wide range of cafés, restaurants and bars. Also, rather than being known as a slum, Södermalm is now known as home of bohemia, alternative culture and a broad range of cultural amenities.

Once again we stopped for a coffee on our way to the Globen. The Globen is the world's largest spherical building (it has a diameter of 110 metres and an inner height of 85 metres). It is now mainly used for Ice Hockey and music concerts. Even Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela have been inside.


Besides: On our way back to the hostel we took the subway for the first time!

At 9:30 PM we went to the famous Ice Bar in the lobby of the Nordic Sea Hotel. The outside temperature was around 22°C whereas it was bloody cold inside with -5°C! The interior and even the glasses are made of pure ice!

Scandinavia II

The first thing I can remember is that I had to get up at 3:40 AM... And I tell you: That sucks!
After a two hour flight we landed in Stockholm and immediately went to our hostel. We couldn't check in at this time but store our luggage there. After a short rest and loads of coffees we explored Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm.

The weather was fine and not to hot as it was back in Switzerland before we left. However, we were quite tired because of the walking we did. We wanted to save money by not taking any means of transportation. So we walked and walked.



After several coffees and energy drinks we went to the Vasa Museum on the island of Djurgården (Stockholm is built on 14 islands). The Vasa was a hugh war ship in the 17th century but sank during its maiden voyage in 1628. In 1961 it had been salvaged and now it's preserved in the Vasa Museum.

In the evening we went to Friday's to have a drink to celebrate our first day in Sweden.

Scandinavia I

I hope I will soon find some time to post all pictures and stories of our Scandinavia trip! It's been a fantastic journey through three countries and three capitals within 10 days...

I went to an Openair Cinema to watch "Brokeback Mountain" the same day I landed in Zurich. It was a bit stressy but seeing that movie made up for everything...

Summer Break II

20 minutes ago, I was lying on my towel at the Rhine because it's bloody hot out there... But let's begin with something else: Today I bought a new digital camera: Sony Cybershot T30! It was quite expencive as I also had to buy a new 2GB Memory Stick at MediaMarkt in Winterthur. I guess I'm not the only one who was interested in the black T30: Most of the internet shops were out of stock.

Since I came back from the Netherlands it was always more than 30°C and it never rained here. Some trees already lose their leaves or the leaves are getting red or yellow as in early fall. It's almost too hot... If you sit in the bus or old trains you can't stand it longer than a few minutes. I usually go running or cycling in the morning to escape from the heat.

But soon enough I will be in Sweden, Danmark and Norway. On monday I met my friend for a short briefing. We decided also to go to Kobenhavn/DEN and then back to Helsingborg/SWE. Besides we got tickets for the European Athletics Championships in Göteborg. Hope we will find a hostel there. In Stockholm we already booked one for the first two nights, the City Lodge!
This afternoon I changed my swiss francs to swedish, dansk and norwegian krones. I'm ready for Scandinavia!

Summer Break I

I went to Glarus on Monday for dinner! All four "Netherland"-friends came together and we recapitulated all stories and everything that happend to us during these days. Moreover we exchanged our pictures and enjoyed this warm summer evening.

Now I have to learn for my exams in September... I don't really want to, but that's not the question. I try to do some sports to get a change from learning.

Netherlands IV

On saturday morning we again had so much luck! We wanted to go back to Leiden to take the train to go to Den Haag. But as we paid for the hotel we got the advice to take a direct bus from Noordwijk. This is what we did. We were almost the only four people travelling to Den Haag. Then again, we had to find a hotel. At a tourist information center they recommended us the Stayokay YHA hostel. It was quite cheap but for the first time we had only dorms with six beds.



We were all hungry so we bought a meal at a Yam Yam to go and after another shopping tour we took the tram to go to Scheveningen where the most frequented beach in the Netherlands is located.

In the evening we went to eat Pizza in an Italian Restaurant before having a drink in a very chilly lounge near the water.

Netherlands III

After our shopping tour we decided to go to the North Sea to relaxt at the beach. The first step was a phone call to a hostel in Noordwijk. They offered two double rooms with breakfast included for 24 Euros per person and night. No wonder we accepted! Step two was to get the train and bus tickets to Noordwijk. The woman at the ticket office at Amsterdam Centraal Station was very friendly and explained that we had to go to Leiden by train and then change to a bus. Arrived in Leiden, we organised the bustickets and soon after we were sitting in the bus to Noordwijk.



The next problem was: Where to go out? We didn't know where the hostel was so we remained in the bus until we noticed that we were already driving out of town. Then the busdriver suddenly stopped and asked where we wanted to go... We told him the name of the hotel and he just said: "No problem, just walk along this street for 7 min and you will be there". And indeed, after a 7 min walk we spotted the hostel.



We then went to the beach to have a picknick with food we bought back in Amsterdam. There was a beautiful sunset at 10:30pm and the sky was full of different colors. We almost couldn't believe how the sky could change its color!



The water was quite warm, so we decided to stay another night at the hotel so that we could spend a day at the beach!

Netherlands II

I guess it's now time to introduce my friends. As you may have noticed I don't usually use names but now I'll change my mind. Here they are:


Urs is from Glarus/GL and decided to quit studying at university. He now tries to get a job at a bank. Hope he will soon find one. Besides he's a pretty good curling player.

Livia was born near Zurich but then moved to Kehrsatz/BE. She now lives in Meilen/ZH in a big house where she can hold awesome parties! ;-)

Larissa is from Herisau/AR but now lives in Zurich in an apartment. She loves to play piano and is full of ideas, which is always very helpful.

All pictures were made during our trip in the Netherlands...

Netherlands I

Wow, this trip was once again a full success! We had soooo much fun together! But let's start at the very beginning. On wednesday we boarded the airplane in Basel and about one hour later we landed in Schiphol where the airport of Amsterdam is located. We took the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station and what we needed then was a cheap hostel were we could leave our luggage.



We then found the * Hotel de Koopermoolen not far away from the redlight district. After a short rest we went to eat indonesian which no one of us had ever tried before.

The next day we made a shopping tour in Amsterdams most famous shopping lane, the Kalverstraat. We all four bought some new shoes, I found a pair of yellow Adicolor Shoes! Had to buy them immediately!

Early Summer V

Today I need to take a train to Basel to get to the airport. Me and three friends from uni spontaneously booked a flight to Amsterdam/NED. We don't even have an accommodation nor a detailed idea what exactly we want to do there. I don't worry about that, I'm quite sure this will be great fun.



I finally made it to post a picture of the Rhine Falls. See here.

Early Summer IV

A friend called me on thursday and said she wanted to show me something. I was curious and immediately took the bike to get to her. It was already dark outside, so I had no idea what it could be. But then I realised that it had to be dark: We saw hundreds of glow worms! They were hovering over a small ditch near her garden. I was impressed! I didn't even know that there are some glow worms in Schaffhausen... I only saw them in New Zealand before.

On saturday I invited some friends from uni to a BBQ. I prepared everything from salad to meat and from drinks to dessert (the pictures shows how we made ice cubes). Some of them slept here and the next morning we went to see the Rhine Falls before taking a swim somewhere below the falls.

Can't believe it: The second semester at uni is already over and now I have to learn for the exams in September and October. The detailed plan we got last week: There will be 9 exams in 4 weeks.

Early Summer III

In May I moved my room from upstairs to downstairs. But my new room needed a better interior. So I got a bigger bed and moved some furniture around. But something was still missing. I wanted to have a small table in the centre and a cushy couch to chill. On friday I took the car and drove out to Dietlikon to IKEA. There you can spend a whole day if you want to. It's just huge! Their vision is as follows:

"The IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

They indeed do! They even sell plants, swedish food and you can have a rest in the foodzone. No wonder I spent more than 4 hours in there!

I bought a small table, a couch, 2 lamps and a new pillow.

The Rhine in the evening sun... Beautiful...

Early Summer II

On tuesday I had a fotoshooting with a professional photographer! It's an easy job but you have to smile, look and move exactly how he tells you. I wonder when I get the pics... Right, maybe I have to say I didn't make the fotos for my proper use, but for the agency I'm working at. We need them for the homepage as well as for CVs.

Last friday I had an excursion from uni to the Greifensee, which is a lake not far away from Zurich. The focus was on biology in general and botany in special. Actually I'm interested in botany as far as trees are concerned but during this trip we only saw grasses (the pictures in this post shows a flower of a tulip tree [Liriodendron]). I and my friends were quite bored until we got some handmade yogurts from a local farm!
When I bought a mango in a supermarket I met a friend from high school. We talked about girls, sports and nutrition... So I decided to go home to eat my mango and go running. What I did...

By the way: Everybody is watching soccer these days! On monday Switzerland played against Togo. We won 2:0...

Early Summer I

Last weekend I and a friend from uni made a Ice Cream Tour from Schaffhausen to Berne via Zurich. In every city we bought some Ice Cream and checked the water in the Rhine, in the Aare and in the Lake of Zurich. In Berne I went swimming for the first time this summer! Okey, I admit the Aare was still too cold, so we went to the Marzili swimming pool...

Something about the Ice Cream: The cheapest one was in Schaffhausen (this one is even handmade)! The most expensive one was Häagen-Dazs in Zurich and Berne had most different kinds...

On the evening of the same day I went to a BBQ on the shores of the Rhine. When we left at 11pm it was still dusk! I love the summer!

On sunday we went to the Rhine which is a great place to bask in the sun! We almost spent the whole day down there before we went to the brand new italian restaurant Santa Lucia to eat pizza! The pizza "Quattro Stagioni" tasted excellent!

Picture: Platanus occidentalis and blue sky

Ticino IV

No wonder the Ticino is pretty famous for good food: Italy is not far away. During the bus ride from Bellinzona to Mesocco we saw many small grottos, so called family-run restaurants. They serv wine and authentic food often made from own cultivated products.

Our budget was rather small so we bought some Gnocchi and a tomato/pesto-sauce as well as salad in a large supermarket. Mmmh...

Ticino III

The next day we had to clean the house and then take the train back to Schaffhausen. Of course we first had a long breakfast with coffee.
The journey back is quite long, it takes more than 4 hours. Moreover the highway leading to the Ticino was closed so there were hundreds of people waiting for the trains. At 7pm we were back. Tired but more than satisfied.

Ticino II

On sunday we slept late and then went to a Pasticceria in Mesocco to buy some fresh bread. After breakfast and coffee we took the bus to Bellinzona and from there the next train to Locarno. This city is located directly at the shores of Lago Maggiore. I’ve been there several times, always in a training camp in spring. So I knew the way to the best ice cream shops and places to see.


We then took a bus to Ascona on the other side of the river Maggia. Many famous people have lived or been attracted by this city: Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Klee, Rudolf Steiner, Gustav Stresemann and many others.
We walked through the old town and went to a place directly at the waterfront to relax. I felt so free...

Ticino I

As you can see, the last post was about the kiwifruit I eat in Bellinzona. Now you might wonder why I was in Bellinzona. There is a simple reason: The weather there is often inverse to that north of the Alps. This, and a warmer climate in general, as well as the lakes together with the sunshine make the Ticino pretty attractive.



As my grandparents both are from Mesocco, which lies in the Mesolcina Valley, and we still own a house up there we spontaneously decided to take the 8:09 Cisalpino Canaletto to Bellinzona. We bought some freshly-baked bread that tasted absolutely awesome and climbed up to castelgrande, the first of the three castles in Bellinzona which all belong to the UNESCO world heritage!



Although it was very windy, we enjoyed the superb weather and the mediterranean climate with its palm and fig trees.

Daily Life II

When I was in New Zealand I always had a Golden Kiwi for breakfast. The kiwifruit got its name from a marketing strategy, naming it after the kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand. Unlike the green fruit, it is less hairy, with yellow flesh and sweeter, less acidic and more tropical flavour than the green kiwifruit.

Daily Life I

Happy Birthday! ;-)

Last week I went to an italian restaurant, called Trattoria Soul, because we were kind of celebrating the end of a project in the agency I'm working at.

The weekend before I was invited at a party in Meilen near Zurich where a friend of mine is living. It was just great! We even could sleep there in a separate room so we didn't need to catch the last train back...

Picture: SHS Graffiti in Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen V

Last weekend we watched the DVD Snow White. It's a swiss production casting Carlos Leal from Sens Unik. Check out the link if you want to know the synopsis.
Besides we recently watched several other movies:

Amélie
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
The Crow

Amélie was so wonderful! It creates a world you want to join during the movie. I liked the special atmosphere the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet evokes by using green lights and colours (with the effect as if you were looking through green glasses). I felt as if I was in Paris too...



Yesterday after the workshop I went to Starbucks at Bellevue to have a coffee (they now sell this gorgeous Banana-Mocha Frappuccinos... wow). And you know who I met there? My cousin who has a parttime job there. I knew he's working at Starbucks but I didn't expect him to work at Bellevue.

Something about the pictures:
The one above shows the N4 suspension bridge crossing the Rhine. The other one shows a horse-chestnut in the old town of Schaffhausen.

Schaffhausen IV

Actually I wanted to write a new post some days ago, but my notebook crashed soon after I wrote the last one. So I had to change my harddisk which contains all my important data: All the pictures I made in Japan, New Zealand, Italy, even every single picture you can see here on my blog, all the movies and all the music I downloaded from the Internet (I know it's illegal now) and all my documents from university. At the end I had to pay 400 CHF to get it repaired (which is equivalent to 16 hours of work for me!).

Something more about money: My friend Michael and I already booked our flight to Stockholm in August. The detailed flight information you'll find below:

01.08.2006 06:55-09:20 Zurich-Stockholm LX1248
10.08.2006 16:40-19:00 Oslo-Zurich LX4671

The attentive among you might have noticed that 1st of August is Switzerlands national holiday! So we'll celebrate that in Sweden... :-) Maybe nobody will understand what we'll be doing but the majority of all Americans doesn't even know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland...

I almost forgot that: I did some sports recently. Last Saturday there was the SOLA-race which covers a distance of 130km in and around Zurich. You have to build teams with 14 runners who have to run distances from 4.4 to 13.5km. I had to run on top of the Uetliberg in Zurich which means I started at 460m above sealevel to get up to 873m. The entire distance was only 6.2km but including 400m hight difference. The start of the race was at 07:30 in the morning but the start to my part was at 08:45. Even though I only slept for 3 and half an hour I was so fast, I was almost flying (took me 35min to get to the top). My calfs didn't even hurt after the race.

Maybe it was because of my new Asics running shoes.

There are even two pictures (1 & 2) of me in the Internet... :-) Don't laugh! ;-)

Another thing I almost forgot! Last friday I met Sven from Lüneburg/GER whom I met in Nelson in New Zealand. He intended to come to Switzerland so we arranged to meet in Schaffhausen. We went to Café Vordergasse and had breakfast there and talked for hours!

Schaffhausen III

Wow, can't believe it: Today it's May 1st. Last week I went to the cinema, watching Ice Age 2. It was big fun! Two quotes I'd like to write down here (You probably won't understand a single word, if you haven't seen the movie...)

Manfred: "He's not my kid. He's not even my dog. If my dog had a kid, and that kid had a pet, that would be Sid."
Ellie: "I'm not a mammoth, I'm a possum."

After the cinema we went to Lounge 74 to have some drinks for free. I tell you a secret: If you show your movie ticket to the waiter you get the second drink for free, no matter what you order (the best choice would be a Long Island Ice Tea which normally costs CHF 17.50).

Schaffhausen II

I apologize a million times I've been busy recently. One reason might be the weather. It's definitely spring now, so I spend more time outdoors and less sitting in front of computers...
I met so many friends at the Lindli or in town, I can't even remember everyone. To some of them, let's call them A, B and C, I talked for a pretty long time:

A was my classmate at High School. He is going to a triathlon training camp in Mallorca for 2 weeks. In July he will go to a language school in Vancouver/CAN which made my a bit envious. I'd like to go to Vancouver as well some day.
B was also a classmate for the last year at High School. He is now studying architecture at ETH Zurich. He is living in Zurich, this is the reason I haven't seen him for ages. I guess the last time I saw him was at the graduation ceremony in 2004... Crazy, how the time is running.
C I know from sports but she as well is not living in Schaffhausen anymore. Right now she took a year off from uni to go to Brighton/GBR (I have to say you either love or hate this city. Nothing in between. I've been there for 3 weeks during High School and right then I would say I hated this city lying at the seafront. But now I really appreciate having been there) where she is working to get some practical experience.

Next time I will post the latest news about my trip to Stockholm and Oslo...

Schaffhausen I

Good news: On mondays my classes always start at 9am, so I don't have to get up that early. The new semester consists only of the following classes: physics, maths, chemistry and biology. Biology is mainly about the classification of animals and plants. Moreover I chose a dendrology course, which is the science of trees. Now I have to write a semester essay about a tree. I'll write about the most beautiful tree in our garden, a japanese cherry (Prunus serrulata).
Actually I have no idea why I have to choose such courses because they have nothing to do with my proper subject.

This week I immediately went back to Schaffhausen after classes to see my friends. As long as the weather was fine we went to the Lindli and enjoyed some ice cream.

The picture above shows a graffiti made by a member of the SHS-Crew. Another SHS-Crew member is performing at the orient club today:
SULAYA «MBS» RELEASE CONCERT

Spring Break VIII

Today it was fairly windy but it didn't hinder me from having lunch at the Utoquai in Zurich. The Utoquai is what the Lindli is in Schaffhausen. Ehm, maybe I should say: The Lindli in Schaffhausen is what the Utoquai is in Zurich. I really enjoy sitting there. It always reminds me how international Zurich is. If you listen to the people walking by you often hear them talking English or other foreign languages.

At the mainstation you can now get coffee for free. If you want some you have to hurry up... This offer will end tomorrow. I guess it's a promotion event of Nescafé's newest products.

I met quite a few people during this week, so twice I went to the Fass, which is a bar located at the Webergasse 13 in Schaffhausen. Many High School students use to come after classes to have a drink or do the homework. So I invited a friend for a coffee to discuss our holidays in summer. We plan to go to Stockholm/SWE, see the country and then take a train or a flight to Oslo/NOR. If you've ever been in Sweden or Norway, please leave a comment! Maybe you can give us some helpful advice.

Besides, I went to eat Dürüm Kebab for the first time in two years. I know it's not that healthy but once in two years it's ok, I guess.

Did you know that there is a fitness center right in the middle of the mainstation? I didn't...

Spring Break VII

I'm totally happy! I went to the Lindli again, had some ice cream, met friends and had a great time! It was a fantastic sunday... I don't know the exact temperature here, but in Kloten ZH it was 21.8°C and Kloten is not far away from Schaffhausen. Moreover we had to change our clocks to daylight saving time. This means we can enjoy another hour of sunlight in the evenings!

Last monday I went to the Häagen-Dazs Glacier in Zurich. I warn you: It's bloody expensive! I paid CHF 7.60 for 2 spoons. Okey, it's Häagen-Dazs but in my opinion it's not that much better as the ice cream they sell at El Bertin in Schaffhausen. At El Bertin you get one spoon for CHF 1.90 which means I could have had 4 spoons for the same money.

Yesterday I once again went to Zurich to celebrate a friends 20th birthday. Actually her birthday is tomorrow. So: Happy Birthday! She invited us to a spaghetti-party. They were really delicious, not like what we get at uni...

Yeah, the picture shows my Häagen-Dazs cup on top of the marvellous picture book "New Zealand Horizons" which I brought from Auckland and now gave to my friend as a birthday present.

Spring Break VI

Wow, what an amazing day! Right now the sun disappears below the horizon leaving a colorful sky. Spring is here! This afternoon I went to the Lindli, which is the river promenade in Schaffhausen, to read Goethe's masterpiece "Faust". Don't ask! I just did it...

This morning I came home at 5:30am but woke up at 9:30am because the sun was shining directly into my room... However I don't feel sleepy at all now. Note: Normally I don't go out that long... But yesterday we went to a huge disco complex called Top10 in Singen/GER. 4000 m² big. Crazy. In 2005, it was rated as one of the best discos in Germany!
Apart of the large mainhall they have another four floors all playing different kinds of music. If you want to see the prettiest girls you should go to the black music floor... :-)
Top10 closes at 5am so we left at 4:30 and went to Burger King because we all were hungry after this exciting night. It was so crowded, we almost couldn't find a place to sit even though it was almost 5am. Maybe because we were 5 people plus 2 waiting in the car... So we all had a hot shrimp snack. Didn't know they sell shrimps...
I know it's not healthy to eat there. I mean I'm studying food science!

This is another problem: Whenever we want to pass the border to Germany the customs officer wants to see our passports. All other cars can just pass through, but we have to stop. Do we really look so suspicious? :-)

Spring Break V

Hm, I did so many things in the last two weeks I can't put them in order anymore... Last sunday a friend had her 20st birthday so on saturday we went to Hiltl, the first vegetarian restaurant in Europe to have dinner. I had indian coconut noodles served with vegetables and date chutney. It tasted great and looked fabulous but it was a bit too small. I mean if you're really hungry you wouldn't be full. Hiltl has another take away restaurant called Tibits which is located near Stadelhofen Station.
Which brings us to another thing that happend this week. There was a bomb threat at Stadelhofen. It was on wednesday afternoon when the police got an anonymous fax saying there was a bomb in the tunnel. So all commuter trains in Zurich were put back in service for about three hours.

I had to wait for the train several times so I checked out some bars in Zurich:

0815 Bar, Lintheschergasse 23, Kreis 1
Nachtflug, Stüssihofstatt 4, Kreis 1 (Niederdorf)
Strozzi's, Fraumünsterstrasse 23, Kreis 1

What else happened? I worked in the morning and went to the gym or to the 400m track at Fluntern. Nothing special though... Wait, I had to held a presentation about podcasting in front of all workers and employees. Has been a long time since I last hold a presentation. I think it was at high school.

Spring Break IV

Today... I had to go to the ETH campus at Hoenggerberg by train, bus and tram BUT the train didn't come... Between Schaffhausen and Zurich the train got stucked in the snow so I had to take the next train to Winterthur where I had to take a connecting train to Zurich. BUT this way takes much longer as the normal one. At least I was in Zurich... In the train I met a girl I know from High School who had important exams at uni today. She was near tears... Moreover I had no place to sit during the one hour train ride.
So far I made it into Zurich, BUT I had to go to the Hoenggerberg campus. Therefore I took the Nr.10 tram at Central. I was at least waiting for 15 min until it eventually came. On its way up to the main campus it got stuck... Not only this, no, it couldn't even open the doors anymore because there was too much snow on the sidewalks. After another 15 min it moved and I could catch the bus at Milchbuck. When I arrived at the campus up there it was already half past 9 and I was supposed to be there at 8:15. I went to the cafeteria in the main building and read the newspaper because there was no use going to the labs anymore...

Actually I can't remember when I last saw so much snow. I mean we have 45cm of snow. On Saturday evening one of my best friends called me and asked what I was doing. He intended to go to Frauenfeld but there was so much snow even on the highways that he was driving less than 30km/h. So we went to the Surstoffbar in Schaffhausen. Then we met two other friends at the "Cut the Vinyl" party in the Orient Club. There were no cars, no buses, no taxis, no nothing on the streets when we walked home at 4:30am. There was just snow, nothing else than snow...

Saturday morning I went to the gym at Fluntern and afterwards I had a coffee at Strozzi's in Zurich.

Spring Break III

As the title already explains I should have a break from uni. But we have to do some kind of chemistry practical in a lab. It began on wednesday afternoon and will end next friday. I know it's not too exciting to have such a course during your break but it's a good opportunity to get to know other people. We work in small groups we couldn't build by ourselves and therefore you can't stick to the people you're usually stick to. Which is great...

Do you remember my post from Tuesday? There I wrote about an ice cream shop... I was already thinking of ice cream... Imagine we had about 20cm snow today. No joke. It was complete chaos on the streets. Crazy world.

Today I saw a good friend of mine in the train. She was my dance partner at our high school ball hold at Park Casino in Schaffhausen. Was big fun! In the train we talked and talked and talked... I guess the other passengers were a bit annoyed. Anyway.

I've been in the cinema quite a few times recently. Went to see:

Jeune Homme CH 2006
Memoirs of a Geisha USA 2005
Jarhead USA 2005
Walk the Line USA 2005

Walk the Line totally deserved the three Golden Globe Awards. Even if you're not into this kind of music it's worth seeing!

Spring Break II

Bad news first: The H5N1 virus made its way into the area of Schaffhausen. They found death birds in Stein am Rhein which is near Lake Constance... However, I'm not scared at all and I won't cease to eat chicken...

What I forgot to say: A week ago I went out for a drink [no alcohol :-), just passionfruit juice] at Lounge 74 located at Herrenacker 18. I've never been in there even though it opened in August 2005. Actually I should have gone earlier. The atmosphere is totally relaxing and drinks are not too expensive. The second floor provides a large-scaled lounge but the age limit to go up is 21... [Please don't tell 'em my age!]

Another thing I forgot: I met a friend from sports last friday. We have some plans to go to Sweden for a week or two in summer. Hope we can see Stockholm by night...

If you're not from Europe please note: Switzerland is not Sweden and vice versa. Sweden is that big country in the north of Europe, whereas Switzerland is the country famous for chocolate, watches and banking in the middle of the continent.

Picture: Starbucks on Friday.

Spring Break I

Since I've been at university I neglected my friends here in Schaffhausen. Now as the winter semester is over I see them more often again. Recently we had great fun together. On Friday I met my ex-girlfriend for a coffee at Spaghetti Factory in Schaffhausen (By the way: After work in the morning I missed my train so I went to Starbucks at Stauffacher in Zurich. They have a big lounge on the second floor where you can relax and chill out. I read almost the entire Die Weltwoche while I enjoyed my Frappuccino Chocolate).
While I was waiting for her, I saw another girl whom I knew has holidays right now. Besides she didn't know what to do. So I asked her if she wanted to join us for a coffee. She accepted... maybe because I offered to pay :-)

At Spaghetti Factory you usually sit next to the large window front hence you can see all people walking by. Soon we started to play a game which one of us knew more people. At the end I made a proposal: Let's make a bet! So we decided to meet on Monday at 12am. At this time of the day the city is most crowded. The bet was as follows: The person who first knows 15 people wins (it's necessary to say "Hello"). The loser has to pay for lunch at Spaghetti Factory afterwards. I don't know why but she had so much luck! She won 15 to 10 after less than 30 min... So I had to pay for the spaghetti al pesto...

Yesterday was a beautiful warm day. Unfortunatley El Bertin, the best Ice Cream Shop in town was still closed. Reopening is on March 11th.

Barcelona V

We only spent 3 days in Barcelona, afterwards we went to Lloret de Mar which is a 2 hour bus ride away. It's a smaller town with nothing much to see but the beach... which is so overcrowded with old, fat and sunburned tourists. We usually went to the beach in the evening before we went clubbing. Party, Party, Party! This is the only thing you can do in Lloret de Mar. There are clubs, pubs, and discos on virtually every corner. Two of the best were:

Bumper's Disco Club, Sant Lluch 2
Xtra, Avinguda Just Marles 36

Xtra is a famous house club with international DJ's whereas Bumper's is a beautiful lounge with palm trees and small huts where you really can enjoy a drink. In the second floor you will find a disco where the DJ plays all kinds of music.

Once we had party until 8am, went back to the hotel, eat breakfast and went sleeping...


Pics: A grand staircase leads up from the foot of the Montjuïc Hill at the south end of the Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina to the Palau Nacional which was built in 1929 to host an International Exposition in Barcelona.

Barcelona IV

Barcelona offers a unique opportunity for tourists on foot to walk from Roman remains to the medieval city, and then to the modern city with its open thoroughfares and grid-iron street pattern. It indeed looks like those american cities from the aiplane.
The historic city center is fairly flat, while the modern city fans out towards the surrounding hills, bordered by steep streets that are vaguely reminiscent of those found in San Francisco.

A notable place to go is La Rambla, a boulevard that runs from the city center to the waterfront, packed with crowds until late at night and lined by craft sellers, street entertainers, cafeterias, and restaurants.
La Rambla ends at the old harbour, where a statue of Christopher Columbus points eastwards across the Mediterranean Sea to his birth place of Genova.
Barcelona's largest leisure and shopping destination called Maremagnum is located at Port Vell at the waterfront. There you can enjoy the sea view from a restaurant or from one of the many caffes. We went eating in an italian restaurant providing breath taking views of the beautiful sunset... I'm sorry, I can't remember the name...

Above: Las Arenas de Barcelona

Barcelona III

I guess the most impressing building in Barcelona is La Sagrada Familia, a large basilica which is still under construction. It is the last, and perhaps most extraordinary, of the designs of Antoni Gaudí.
La Sagrada Família was planned in the late 19th century and Gaudí worked on the project for over 40 years, devoting the last 15 years of his life entirely to this endeavour. He intended the church to eventually be 172 m tall. At the moment the highest point is at 115m. Work was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War in 1935 and recommenced in the 1950's, after the end of World War II.

According to the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, 2.26 million people visited the basilica in 2004, making it the most popular attraction in Spain, before the Museo del Prado and Alhambra.

I made a big mistake: I didn't enter the basilica. The queue was too long and the price to expencive. But some friends who waited for 2 hours in the queue said the interior was absolutely stunning. Maybe I should have gone inside...

Barcelona II

While the girls went shopping and the majority of the boys in our class were drinking whisky in the hostel (which was in the red light district...) I and a friend went on a sightseeing tour. It was not a tour in a proper sense. We just purchased a ticket for the metro. So we entered a subway train at the metro station next to our hostel which took us by hazard to the Olympic Park. I need to add that Barcelona hold the Olympic Games in 1992 so you can still find many remains in and around the city.

The Montjuic Communications Tower was designed by Santiago Calatrava for the Olympic Games. The 136 m tower represents an athlete holding the Olympic Flame.

Barcelona I

Note: I haven't been in Barcelona/ESP recently, but I'm gonna post the pictures I made in July 2004. It was our last school trip in High School just one day after the final exams. We spent 3 days in Barcelona and another 3 in Lloret de Mar which is more or less the party capital of the spanish mainland.
I can clearly remember we had to get up at 4:30am to get to the airport in Zurich. I think I never get up this early in my life before. So we all were slightly sleepy. But as soon as we were inside the Swiss airplane, our mood was improving. Some of us bought so many bottles of whisky in the Duty Free Shops, they couldn't bear it anymore. So everybody had to take a bottle during the flight... :-) Of course we didn't drink it at 8am! ... Hm, I think there was a friend who started drinking in the plane, so the statement is not 100% true.

The picture above I took during the bus ride from the El Prat Airport. Barcelona has a population of 1'593'000, while the population of the metropolitan area is more than 4'686'000.

Rome IX

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II or Altare della Patria occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. The monument was designed and built by Giuseppe Sacconi between 1895 and 1911 to honour Vittorio Emanuele II , the first king of unified Italy.

The monument is built of pure white marble and features majestic stairways, tall corinthian columns, fountains and a huge equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II.
The monument is controversial. Its construction destroyed a large area of Capitoline Hill housing a Medieval neighbourhood. The building itself is often regarded as pompous and too large. Anyway...

Besides, we went to see the catacombes on Via Appia Antica, the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, Campo de'Fiori, the Pantheon... It was just fantastic!

Rome VIII

The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman empire and the largest amphitheatre built in Ancient Rome. Originally capable of seating 50,000 spectators, it was once used for gladiatorial combat. Construction was initiated by Emperor Vespasian and completed by his sons, Titus and Domitian, between AD 72 and AD 81.

Sad but true:
The marble that originally covered the facade was reused in constructions or burned to make quicklime. During the Renaissance, but mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries, the ruling Roman families (from which many popes came) used it as a source of marble for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica and the private palazzi of Roman families such as the Barberini.

Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma
Quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma
Quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus.

(As long as the Colosseum stands, so shall Rome)
(When the Colosseum falls, so shall Rome)
(When Rome falls, so shall the world)

This is a fact: Italy is bloody famous for food. Pizza, Spaghetti, Gnocchi, Risotto as well as sweets like Tiramisu and Gelati. One restaurtant you should check out is Trattoria Pizzeria Luzzi, Via San Giovanni in Laterano 88 near the Colosseum. Guests are mainly italians and the fantastic tasting food is 100% homemade. So it's an ideal spot for people looking for authentic italian food in a good atmosphere without being interrupted by noisy tourists.

If you're not italian, please don't visit this restaurant. Its authentic style might get lost! :-)

Rome VII

I HAD to make a picture of that building. It's the Castel Sant'Angelo, a towering cylindrical building in Rome initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself. The building spent over a thousand years as a fortress and castle and is now a museum.
My name actually refers to Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), Roman emperor from 117–138.

Rome VI

At the evening of our second day we took the 110open sightseeing bus for well-invested 13 €. It was getting cool in the evening but the view was fantastic and compensated everything.

The Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano Possibly the largest church in Christianity, covers an area of 23000 m² and has a capacity of over 60,000 people.

The dome, or cupola, was designed by Michelangelo, who became chief architect in 1546. As built, the double dome is brick, 42.3 metres in interior diameter (almost as large as the Pantheon), rising to 120 metres above the floor. If you look down at the ground floor inside the church, the people seem to be as small as ants. It's absolutely stunning up there, as you also get spectacular view over Vatican City and Rome.

Directly to the east of the church is Piazza San Pietro, built between 1656 and 1667. In the center of the colonnade, which was designed by Bernini, is a 25.5 metres tall obelisk. The obelisk was moved to its present location in 1585 by order of Pope Sixtus V. The obelisk dates back to the 13th century BC in Egypt. Including the cross on top and the base the obelisk reaches 40 metres. On top of the obelisk there used to be a large bronze globe allegedly containing the ashes of Julius Caesar.

By the way: We almost had an audience with the Pope Benedict XVI together with hundreds of visitors. But we intended to see the large museums, so we decided not to take part of the audience. Besides we tried to talk to a member of the swiss gards but he was from the french part of Switzerland so it didn't work...

Rome V

A fountain stands on each side of the Piazza del Popolo to the east and west. Steps from the Piazza to the east lead up beside a waterfall to the Pincio park, near the Villa Borghese.
Had a short rest there in the roman sun... Lovely...

An Egyptian obelisk of Rameses II from Heliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza. The obelisk is the second oldest and one of the tallest in Rome and was brought to Rome in 10 BC.
In the south of the Piazza begins the Via del Corso which is partly a pedestrian area with loads of nice but expencive shops.

Rome IV

To take a break during your sightseeing-tour the Scalinata di Spagna is a fantastic spot. We enjoyed the sun sitting admidst the young folk on the steps. The Spanish Steps ramp a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and the church Trinità dei Monti above. The monumental stairway, of 138 steps, was built in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish embassy, today still located in the piazza below, with Trinità dei Monti.

From this church it's a short walk to the Villa Borghese which is a large landscape garden containing several villas such as Villa Medici. There is another entrance at the Porte del Popolo by Piazza del Popolo. The south part of the park offers one of the greatest views over Rome.

Rome III

Going to Rome and not seeing the Fontana di Trevi would be a sin as it is one of the most famous fountains in the world. It gained fame due to Anita Ekberg night bath in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. A current legend is reported that it is lucky to throw coins with one's right hand over one's right shoulder into the Fontana di Trevi. Throwing one coin in will ensure that the thrower will return to Rome. Throwing two coins ensures that the thrower will fall in love with a beautiful Roman girl (or handsome boy), and throwing three coins ensures that the thrower will marry that girl or boy in Rome.
For the curious in you: I threw just one coin...

In 1730, Pope Clement XII organized a contest to build a fountain. Nicola Salvi actually lost — but was given the job anyway. Work began in 1732 and was finished in 1762, long after Clement's death.
The backdrop for the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, in the center is superimposed a triumphal arch so the fountain is 26m in hight and almost 20m wide.

Rome II

One place I really liked was Piazza Navona. The Piazza follows the plan of an ancient Roman Stadium of 240 x 65 m in size built by Domitian in the first century.
Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Rome. It has sculptural and architectural creations by Gian Lorenzo Bernini who built the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in 1651 and by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi who created the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone. The Piazza contains two additional fountains sculpted by Giacomo della Porta — the Fontana di Nettuno (1574), located at the northern area of Piazza Navona, and the Fontana del Moro (1576), located at the southern area.

Today it's an lively place with open air cafes around and a superb Gelateria: I tre Scalini which is famous for one thing - it's scandalously delicious Tartufo Nero. But I was so eager to eat some ice cream I couldn't resist and paid 3 € for a chocolate and tiramisu ice cream. Mmmhh...

Rome I

I'm back here after an exciting trip to Rome, the eternal city and the capital of Italy. I don't know exactely where to begin my story... Let's start at the very beginning: The EuroAirport in Basel.
Oh... Actually I arranged a meeting with a friend in Basel and we went to Starbucks and exchanged stories about what had happened to each of us. But that's another story.
Back to the airport. We booked the flight with easyjet.com because it's one of the cheapest airlines flying from and to Switzerland. The flight was pretty short, it didn't feel to be much longer than my daily train rides to Zurich. After landing and the troublesome passport and customs procedure we had a first impression of the italian traffic while we were sitting in a shuttle bus heading for Stazione Termini in Rome. From Termini it was a short walk to the Hostel Carlito's Way located at Via Villafranca. In the evening we strolled around looking for a good restaurant and passed by the Piazza della Repubblica. The picture above shows the Fontana delle Naiadi built by Mario Rutelli in 1901.

Random Thoughts VIII

Holidays just started! Wow, my first term at university is over. Can't believe 14 weeks have passed so fast. The second term starts in the first week of April. If you think of that... April... It will be spring, the trees will have leaves, it will be warm...

If I'm lucky I will have my first spring impressions in two days! On Monday I will be in Rome! I was already surfing the net for the best ice cream shop in Rome (btw: the italian word for ice cream shop is gelateria). It seems to be Gelateria Giolitti, via Uffici del Vicario 40.

Random Thoughts VII

Yesterday I would have had quite a busy day if not... Yeah, sometimes things just happen... Actually class starts at 8am but the first lesson is not compulsory, so I decided to stay in bed a bit longer to get up without stress. I took the 8:09 train in Schaffhausen to get to the biology class just in time. This should be the first and last class for yesterday, cause I didn't go to economy afterwards. Instead I discussed the maths exercises, which are far more important than economy (I don't mean in general but in relation to my studies). After having lunch, our math assistant invited us to the BQM, a coffee shop at the campus. This was not too bad, as I had to go to work soon after.
In the evening 6 friends from uni and I arranged a meeting at an appartment in Meilen not far from Zurich. One friend who is actually from Mexico promised to make dinner for us. It was typical mexican food, a bit hot but most delicious. The only sad thing was I had to leave at 11pm as I had to return to Schaffhausen. Apart of this it was a nice evening. We have to do a remake someday! :-)

Random Thoughts VI

Recently I read an article in Die Weltwoche, which is a famous weekly magazine in Switzerland. The article was about the life quality in cities all over the world: The best place to live in the world is Zurich according to a quality-of-life survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Zurich was crowned No. 1 for the second year running based on 39 criteria that included a variety of political, social, and economic factors such as the quality of health, education, and transportation services.
And indeed I start to like Zurich more and more. It offers great opportunities for almost everything you can think of. I'm really looking forward to the summer, sitting on the edge of the lake, enjoying the warmth and the sun. Anyway, I have to stop dreaming all the time...

Top 10 Cities With the Best Quality of Life in 2005

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Geneva, Switzerland
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Vienna, Austria
5. Frankfurt, Germany
6. Munich, Germany
7. Dusseldorf, Germany
8. Auckland, New Zealand
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Sydney, Australia

One thing I really like in Zurich is Stadelhofen station. The famous spanish architect Santiago Calatrava built this station in 1991 and earned much acclaim. It's near Bellevue where I've been working for a few weeks. In this area you can find the opera house, some cinemas and lot's of shopping centres. After work I usually go to Stadelhofen to catch the train there instead of taking the tram to the mainstation. It's faster and more comfortable.

Random Thoughts V

This time I'd like to reveal what I didn't wrote in the last post: I got a part-time job and during spring break I'm going to Rome/ITA.

1. It was pure hazard I got this job. I knew somebody of the management at Farner PR which is a public relation agency. I can work there as a freelancer after my lessons at university have finished. I know it's quite hard to work, to study and to do sports at a fairly high level, since you also want to have some freetime. Actually I only will work parttime in the next two weeks. During spring break I try to work 80%. So I got time do do sports or learning. In the summer term of university I think I won't have time to work anymore because the lectures finish always at 5pm.

2. I already booked the flight to Rome on 13th of February. Hope the weather will be fine down in Italy. Since I took an Easyjet flight, it was bloody cheap. If I flew with Swiss I'd pay twice as much. The only thing is Easyjet doesn't land in Zurich, so I have to go to Basel.
The hostel as well is cheap and just around the corner at Stazione Termini in Rome. AND: I'm really looking forward to the delicious italian food!


NOTE: I deleted the pictures of this post. But I will post pictures of Barcelona later. The new picture you can see above I made yesterday afternoon a bit outside of Zurich.

Random Thoughts IV

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

Right, it's been almost one week since my last post, and time indeed changed many things in my life. But I will write about these things in my next post...

On Monday I went to the cinema in Zurich (Corso, am Bellevue, 8001 Zurich) to watch MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. It's a pretty good movie, although I was a bit upset that the main character isn't Japanese even though it's set in Kyoto. The movie reminded me of my time in Japan and especially of Kyoto.

Right, today I strolled around the ShopVille, a underground shopping complex at the main station in Zurich. Then I met a friend who studied medicine and now works as an assitant doctor. We talked some time until he told me he's going to Japan for two weeks. He didn't know I was there, so he asked me question after question as I told him so. He's going with two friends and they will spend a week in Shibuya before going to Kyoto. I'd like to join them... :-) BUT: I have other plans...

I think I have to go to bed early today, because yesterday there was a student party at the "ETH Hoenggerberg" campus. First we made a delicious mascarpone salmon pasta at my friend's room. After that we enjoy the party but as we had to go to the lectures today, you can imagine how I feel now...

Today's picture: Che Guevera in "The Motorcycles Diaries". Watched it this week!

Random Thoughts III

I feel depressed. Has been a long time since I last had such feelings. You might ask why. It's not because of the weather, no, yesterday it was even sunny. It's not because of my familiy. It's not because of my university.

I only tell you:
Good things never last, so enjoy the good moments whilst they last. Because they never last. Sooner or later, it all comes to an end. What matters then is how you handle it.

And this is maybe a good advice. How I handle it.
I know it only hurts a few days, after a while you get over it. So I have to look forward and not backwards, because this hurts again. Thinking of this time...

I can't help but I have to write about it. Or to talk about. My first chance to talk is today afternoon. Talking really helps to get over such things, it's like a therapy.

I feel better now.

Actually I wanted to post some pictures of Barcelona/ESP but the contrast to my feelings is to big, so I posted a picture of the "Limmat"-River in Zurich. Made in December 2005, reflecting my feelings.

Random Thoughts II

Another fact which you can add to my previous post: The quality of the air is decreasing rapidly. There is no exchange of the different air layers. The cold air is on the ground covered with a layer of fog. The fog layer causes the following disadvantages: 1. No sun below the layer 2. The temperature is colder than in the mountains 3. The air can't get rid of the emissions thus the air quality is low.

No wonder I want to go away as soon as I can. But I only have a short time window in February or in the middle of March. Where to go?

I miss the sea.
I miss the sun.
I miss high temperatures.

I even don't know if I should stay in Europe or if I should go further away...
Right now, I'd prefer Europe... But this might change...

Paris, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Kobenhagen, Berlin, Wien, Rome, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapore


Picture: 90 Mile Beach, New Zealand

Random Thoughts I

I'm sorry. I know I neglected my blog so far in 2006. I was quite busy even though I had holidays until now. And this is the next problem. I'm absolutely not keen on going out because it's cold as ice. Seem to be the right words cause all the water is frozen to ice except for the big l