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!