Final Semester III

Now I’m already on the way back to Zurich, typing these words into my MacBook. Today the weather was just great, I enjoyed the sun, eat crêpes at Creposuk, as I already did last year. It’s still a great place to have crêpes, and they use wholewheat flour, which makes them special. I walked along Rue Saint-Honoré, went to the japanese-style concept store Collette (Tom Ford scarf for 485 Euro, almost bought it). I walked through the Tuileries gardens, walked along the Seine, the Bassin de la Villette, and read a lot. Besides I made some decisions and I fueled my spirits. Now I can focus on my studies, and look forward to the winter with confidence.

Part two, on 27th of October
Today I attended the 2nd Natural Science Day as I wrote in the last post. Located in the Technopark in the vibrant part of Zurich West. The area is now full of construction sites, one of those is for the new Mobimo Tower. Anyway, back to the event. I was working for DSM Nutritional Products together with 12 other students on every possible level (PhD, Master and Bachelor). And it was quite international, as we had students from Japan, India and Indonesia in our group. DSM was present with the people from the Recruiting Center, with Dr. Klaus Kraemer, Secretary General of Sight and Life, Dr. Ralf Biebinger, who did his PhD at the Human Nutrition Laboratory at ETH. The workshop was pretty much about the topics of the Nutrition lectures we had in the last semester. So I was kind of the expert in that field. At lunch, we had the opportunity to talk to the DSM representatives and could ask questions about career and possible jobs. All in all, a great networking day! After the event was over I met Kai and Thomas for dinner at the Restaurant Movie (Beatenplatz 4, near HB). Well, it was not that good actually. But Kai and Thomas made up for that.

Final Semester II

Right now I'm sitting in a Starbucks Coffee at Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, France. I bought a TGV ticket some weeks ago and will meet Peter in a few hours. But it's a pretty short stay here, tomorrow I have to go back already as on Monday I will attend the 2. Natural Science Day at Technopark in Zurich. There I will take part in a workshop of the company DSM Nutritional Products, where I already had a job interview (and they wanted me) a year ago. But back to Paris. I just wanted to have some time to think. Time to watch out of the train window, watching the autumnal forests and foggy meadows passing by with great speed. I have to get my mind clear, I want to now what to do with my future. I had a job interview yesterday at a software engineering company where I could work as marketing assistant. But I'm not quite sure if it's a good idea to work 20-30% during my last semester. I know I have not so many lectures and I could manage that. But maybe I should better use the time for studying. And maybe I even could work at the consulting company that I've worked during my bachelor studies. That would be another option which I rather might accept. Besides, I right now work at the Laboratory of Food Biotechnology in a project about 3-HPA, an antimicrobial substance produced by some Lactobacilli.

Anyway, as I'm already talking about job, I read "Das Magazin", actually a number that was published somewhen in 2004. It's about how Zurich works. How you get a good, well-paid job in Zurich. Is it always the best qualified person or the person with the biggest social capital, which means with the biggest network of people with influence and power? So I wondered about the secret of success. Thus I wrote an email to Mark van Huisseling, the journalist and columnist. I proposed an equation that includes factors like talent, ambition, diligence, social capital and luck. A well-balanced mixture of these components will make you successful. Mark agreed with me. And what did Lucien de Rubempré say in "Illusions perdues"? He said: "Unbounded ambition makes an obscure life simply impossible for me." Right.

To strenghten my economy skills I also attend the lecture Discovering Entrepreneurship, which is provided by the MTEC department (Management, Technology and Economics). The lessions are great and the professors too. I guess I learn a lot. And maybe, if I don't go into Research & Development, I might do an MBA in the future. I attended a podium discussion moderated by Kurt Aeschbacher, the famous, at least in Switzerland, TV man. And as Urs had birthday, he organized an apero at his place. And guess who belonged to his guestlist? Patrick Rohr, another famous moderator. You see, I was up to quite a few things in the past few weeks. I attended even more discussions, with Doodle founder Michael Naef or presentations of the new professor Raffaele Mezzenga at ETH. Besides, I went to eat Pizza with Silvio, a buddy studying medicine that I know from the time at the army. Or with Yu, a japanese, south-african citizen, who is also studying at ETH. Then I applied for an event called "Consultant for a day" at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. It's about obesity and strategies to decrease the prevalence in Switzerland together with Dr. med. Markus Meier, head of Gesundheit Sprechstunde. Another TV show.

Enough talked, I'll enjoy the Paris weekend and see Peter and Marie for a drink at Bastille, eat some crêpes and just enjoy the autumn with a good book by Balzac.

Final Semester I

Actually, I wanted to post something with relevance. Some general thoughts about success and how important an efficient network can be. And some general thoughts about my life. Next time more of that. Still, a little review of the summer of 2009: I guess it was one of the best summer that I ever had. I travelled a lot, I saw new countries, new cities, met so many amazing people. I was happy! And still I am. But now it's already October. Time to seriously concentrate on my last semester. Unbelievable, already four weeks have passed since I returned from New York. And in approximately two months time, I will have my last lecture at ETH. That's kind of glad and sad in combination. No joke, I loved to attend lectures, even though the first year was not that easy and for my taste focused too much on Maths. However, I'm also eager to transfer my knowledge into a proper job position. That's what we were trained for. So I'll enjoy the next two months as much as I can. In January and February I will have my last few exams, and then I will start my master thesis from March 1st at Givaudan.

Besides, the weather in September and beginning of October was great. It was warm and a few days ago, we had 26°C! Two weeks ago I spent the whole Sunday at Güterhof together with Thomas and Kai. First we had a coffee, then got the last Ice Cream of the season at El Bertin and returned for grilled fish and baked potatoes. The day before I was invited to a flat party by Sophie. It was a nice evening and I met quite a few people, that I haven't met for ages! For example Muriel, who was in Tokyo together with Sophie two years ago. Then, as Sophie also had birthday a few days later, I was again invited for some delicious pasta.

And I went to see Inglorious Basterds, the newest movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was really fabulous, and even though some scenes are quite brutal there are others were you barely can't stop laughing. And Christoph Waltz playing Hans Landa is just awesome! No wonder he one the award for the best actor at the Cannes International Film Festival.

In the first week of the semester, there are many opening parties. So I went, together with Sophie and Silvan, to the Alte Börse where the Wednesdaze took place. The music was great and I met many old friends, but drinks were too expensive. Fortunately I could sleep at Sophies place and didn't have to return back home. A few days later, the French DJ David Guetta had a concert at Alte Börse. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any tickets anymore...