Final Semester VII

The last semester is over! The last few weeks passed pretty fast, as I had exams in Epidemiology, Food Microbiology and two presentations, one of those in front of the Head Sustainability of ABB. I guess I did well, particularly the exams. Actually, can't wait for the marks. After the last exam on Thursday, I went to an event by Bain & Company, where they talked about merger & aquisitions, a topic I'm not really familiar with. Thus, it was a great opportunity to get a first insight. After the presentation we were invited for lunch and had time for networking that I used extensively. Then I went to the gym for a nice workout and returned to ETH to make pizza and christmas cookies. We had so much fun there, however it was also kind of a farewell event, as some of them I won't see again for quite a long time. As Kai was going to California, I took a train back to Schaffhausen and met him at Oberhof. We talked a bit and decided to go to the Orient next door. The party was great, and made up for not going to Indochine, so it was pretty late when I returned home.

A week before I was invited at two birthday apero in Zurich. The first one started at 6PM and was at Lara's place, where we got Pizza and different kinds of salad. But actually I was just there to say Hello, because I had another invitation for an apero in a lounge at Hotel Plattenhof. I went together with Tobias and again, nice people and nice location. However, as I had to prepare for the exams I went back home, whereas the rest headed for a party at Alte Börse.

Then I participated at Absolventenkongress located at Messe Zurich. It's one of the biggest job congresses in Switzerland and all notable companies were present. I had interesting talks with Nestle, Unilever, Kraft Foods but also with Roland Berger, Booz & Company and Bain & Company. All in all, a great day!

Right now we have approximately 15cm of snow outside! The weekend was bloody cold, and on Saturday it started snowing. On Sunday I went to Zurich by car together with Thomas. We went to Globus Delicatessa and to Sprüngli for some chocolate, and then drove back. However, we were driving 50km/h on the highway because we were in the middle of a snowstorm. At least I felt something like christmas mood coming up!

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!

Final Semester VI

I finally found some time to write a new post. I was up to many things recently and already had an exam in Food Biotechnology and a presentation in Food Chemistry. So I had to prepare that in the library and still, I have 4 exams before Christmas. Luckily, the semester ends pretty early as I have my last exam on 17th and then will go to the gym for the last time in the semester, listen to a presentation by Bain & Company, meet friends to bake some christmas cookies, and then will have party at Indochine in Zurich. However, I can't afford to be negligent, as I have another 5 exams in January. And at the moment I'm not yet quite sure when I will start my master thesis, but I guess I will have two weeks off in February. So I might go to Singapore with Sophie to visit a friend who is currently studying at the National University Of Singapore. And there is still plenty of time to go skiing on a weekend or two.
Besides, I have no plans for what to do on New Year's Eve. Kai will be in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and I kind of envy him. Talking of him, we went to have a drink at Güterhof two weeks ago and then went to the cinema in Singen/GER to watch "Law Abiding Citizen" with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. Besides, I once had lunch with Jonathan, went to Café Vordergässli with Ulli and Michael to have coffee and cake (the lemon cake is just perfect!) and met Lea for lunch at Tibits. That's what I love in Zurich, you got so many choices for lunch or dinner, you see people and feel alive!

Besides, I was accepted for two more consulting workshops. The first was with Monitor and took place at the Radisson Blu at Zurich Airport, which is, frankly, a perfect location to meet. The conference room was in the 8th floor, next to the Airport Lounge with it's large panorama windows! You could constantly see airplanes take off. After the final presentations we were invited to an apero in the hotel atrium with its famous wine tower. It was a great evening and I got to know some nice and smart people, some of them being MBA candidates for Stanford University. As I wanted to improve my english anyway, I downloaded the podcasts of a lecture at Stanford called: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders, so I can listen to that in the train, just great!

The second workshop I had was with Booz&Company, that are located near Stadelhofen in Zurich. Here, in contrast to the workshops at Roland Berger and Monitor, we were only students from ETH, which was a little bit less challenging. However, it was still a great opportunity to get to know the company and the consulting business in general. The same day I also got a job offer at ETH Juniors, which is a consulting group built by students from ETH. But actually I don't think I can do it, because I would have to postpone my master thesis. However, it think about applying for an internship in the strategy consulting business after I'll have finished my studies.