My Life - So Far

"Unbounded ambition makes an obscure existence simply impossible for me"
Lucien de Rubempré

Friday, March 31, 2006

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...

Sunday, March 26, 2006

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.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

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? :-)

Friday, March 17, 2006

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.

Monday, March 06, 2006

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.

Friday, March 03, 2006

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!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

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.