My Life - So Far

Master thesis X

2010-09-11T09:57:00.001+02:00

I just realized recently that in today’s world with the omnipresence of Facebook blogging has become obsolete. There is no interaction (apart of the possibility to leave a comment), there is no access control, and there is no large public; just to name a few flaws. So I might consider stopping this experiment after 5 years, especially as it covered my studies and this chapter of my life will as well come to an end. A few years ago, blogging was a means to give friends in other countries the possibility to see what I was up to, where I was travelling and a way to share my pictures. Today, these things are exchanged at Facebook. It’s easier, faster and without time delay. With the success of the iPhone I can stay connected all the time with over 500 people in my network. Now, I don't carry my camera all the time, because the iPhone has also a camera, and I can upload these pictures in real-time to Facebook. Besides, most of my international friends, which were the main readers here, joined Facebook as well. So I'm sorry for those that still were reading my contributions. The last 5 years were a great time! I made many friends for life, travelled to many places, did a lot of sport and besides I tried to get good grades at university. I would not want to miss a single moment of the last 5 years, as even the bad moments make you stronger and most of all, these are moments you learn a lot from. As I read through my blog, I sometimes have to smile, because of the things I wrote.. And that's good. Because it shows that I have grown and have gotten wiser. And that's it all about: Life is dynamic - So Far!

Master thesis IX

2010-09-02T09:49:00.011+02:00

It's now September already and my internship at Givaudan is over. Which means at the same time that my studies at ETH are over. I finalized my master thesis in the last days and sent it to my professor for review. However, I'm still waiting for some results that I will get from the University of Trondheim in Norway. My work should not change too much though and as soon as I have the results and the OK from both the ETH and Givaudan, I will print the thesis and hand it in at the secretary. One could figure that this is the end. It's not! I have to hold a presentation in November which also will be graded and be part of the mark I will get for the thesis. So far, I only got positive critics, so I hope to get also a good grade for the work.
The last weeks at Givaudan I mainly spent writing, besides working on a possible publication. But unfortunately I had no time to do further experiments, so my work will not be published due to the confidentiality agreement I signed. In retrospect, it was a great time at Givaudan. I learned a lot and could gain much experience in the flavor industry and even had the opportunity to see the brand new site in Shanghai. Actually, on my last day, Givaudan announced to build a new factory in Hungary for 170 million swiss francs. However, that means that 120 people working at a site in Zurich will no longer be needed. This is sad for those employees, but Givaudan's strategy is absolutely right. There is no market growth in central Europe, the emerging markets will be in the East. That's why it's wiser to build the factory where the growth takes place instead of investing money in the old site in Kemptthal. In my opinion, Givaudan will grow further and further!
The last day I was invited by the global head of flavor delivery for lunch and we talked about my work and my career goals. They appreciated my work but were sorry they could not offer me a fulltime job position. However, they will keep me in mind for future openings.

That brings me to a new topic: What brings the future? I finished my studies and will need a job, do a PhD or even an MBA. I do not reveal what I'm gonna do, that's my secret. However, my life will change!
Back to normal life. On Monday I went to see the movie "Oscar Niemeyer - A vida é um sopro" at Arthouse Commercio in Zurich. It's a documentary about the brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907, that was involved in the planing of Brazil's capital Brasilia. The movie was pretty impressing and the buildings he designed were just great! Made me want to go to Brazil some day. After that we went to eat sushi at Yooji's (St. Urbangasse 8) just around the corner at Bellevue. We talked about other architects, such as Frank L. Wright that had built the Guggenheim Museum we saw last year in New York or the fantastic Falling water house he built over a waterfall. Yesterday I've had my first day off since ages and met Thomas at ETH Hönggerberg for coffee and lunch. Right now I enjoy the morning sun after a pretty exhausting bike trip. I will enjoy the next days as much as I can because who knows what I'm doing afterwards. The next appointment is meeting Lea in Lucerne and Philip, whom I met at several consulting workshops (Monitor Group and McKinsey) at the café/lounge at Haus Konstruktiv, built by Fuhrimann/Haechler. Whatch out for more to come!

Master thesis VIII

2010-08-22T23:35:00.006+02:00

I got the sad feeling that summer is already over. Most of the days it was pretty cold in August and it rained a lot. However, that didn't prevent me from having a great time! It started when we went to see Inception in cinema. I frankly have to admit that I was positively surprised! It was thrilling right till the end! The next day we celebrated the Swiss national holiday at Sommerlust where we had brunch and later enjoyed the day on the terrace of Kai's place right above the Rhine. The next week I was on my way home after a good workout in the gym, when my iPhone rang. I spontanously decided to join Peter and Marie for dinner and a drink first at Güterhof and then at Haberhaus. It was a pretty funny evening! The next days the weather turned bad and I used the time to write on my thesis, but as soon as the sun came out again I was too! I met Thomas at 0815, where we decided to get some sushi at Globus, so we walked all the way up to Bellevue where we enjoyed the last sunrays at the edge of Lake Zurich. As we were deeply absorbed in talks about architecture, we decided to have a drink at Rimini Bar, which is a cozy spot in an open air pool with a great atmosphere! The next day was rainy again, and Sophie, Sophia, Silvan and I were going to the open air Orange Cinema to watch Same Same But Different. As it was cold and rainy all night, we had some warm Asian food from Nagasui, a perfect fit with the movie! After the film was over, we walked back to Bellevue where Paul Kalkbrenner was performing his tracks from the Berlin Calling album! I completely forgot to mention all the delicious dinners and cooking sessions with Lea, Lara and Livia. It's always a pleasure!
Besides I got an email from my former supervisor of my high school final thesis. He wanted to inform me, that my work was cited in a recent publication and my research results are now more or less public in the scientific world. After a short email conversation I decided to write a manuscript that will allow me to publish my work in a scientific journal, so that the results become completely public. Hope to finish that during September and October.
Then, I went to see the athletics meeting Weltklasse Zurich at the new Letzigrund stadium in Zurich. It was a great night with big stars! However, I had to head home soon after as I had to catch the 6AM train to Zurich and then to Milano the next day! And in Milano summer was back! It was about 30°C warm and the sun was shining all day! The only problem was that most Italians were in vacation, so many small shops and restaurants were closed. We thus had to be satisfied with Abercrombie & Fitch and Diesel. Besides we went to see some architecture highlights, such as the Università Bocconi, designed by Grafton Architects in 2008. For dinner and drinks we can recommend the streets around Alzaia Naviglio Grande! We've been at Officina 12 (Alzaia Naviglio Grande 12), which was superb, but there are many more! I was literally living a life on the road these days, working on my notebook in the train, eating in between and traveling from meeting to meeting and from appointment to appointment! But it was well worth it!

Master thesis VII

2010-07-19T06:33:00.002+02:00

The weather in July was just superb and made up the cold and rainy weather in May and middle of June. One evening I went swimming with Sophie and Marcus in the Limmat and afterwards we went to eat Indian at a small place called Bombay Bar. Last week I was at Utoquai again with Sophie and we went swimming in the Lake of Zurich. It was just great, the scenery with the old majestic buildings at the lakefront, the old French-style bath and the warm lake. It almost felt as having holidays. This weekend I went to see Brothers at the Orange Openair Cinema right at the lake in Zurich. The ambiance was stunning, having the lake just in front of you, and all the glimming lights on the shores. I really enjoyed that evening and actually I wanted to see Same, same but different in August, but all tickets were already sold out. Before going to see the movie, Thomas, Sandra, Simone and I went to eat Libanese at Palme de Beirut (Bertastrasse 76), which was very delicious, even though we were quite full in no time. A propos dining: I went to eat pizza at Pizzeria Romana in Schaffhausen with Michael another evening. It was bloody hot that day, around 35°C and as we had our table outside, but with rain protection, we were pretty happy that a thunderstorm came up and the heat receded a bit.
At the beginning of July, I had a one week quality management course at ETH with a final exam at the end. The exam went well and after a workout at the gym I went to Tobias and Säde’s new place in Zürich, where we had apéro on the rooftop. All in all we were 9 people and before it was getting dark we walked to the lake to watch the firework of the Züri Fäscht. The rest of the night we spent walking around, talking to people we met (I met Karin who was with me in Rome for the McKinsey workshop). Besides, I was several times at the Rentenwiese, a cosy place in a botanical park with direct access to the lake. Sometimes it’s hard to find a free spot, but if you succeed it’s certainly gonna be a nice evening with your friends. Then I’ve been at the new Gran Café Motta (Limmatquai 66) together with Lea after she finished her studies (a moment that will come for me as well pretty soon). And I once met the infamous Carl Hirschmann in front of the Corso cinema at Bellevue in Zurich. Seems that he's not allowed to leave Switzerland.

Master thesis VI

2010-06-17T22:00:00.009+02:00

For all frequent readers I'm very sorry that I didn't updated you on what I did recently. I was up to so many things upon my return from Asia. I will write bit by bit about that amazing trip as soon as I have more time. But let's start chronologically. When I arrived back in Switzerland, the weather was sweet and spring showed off its full beauty for some days. I went to Konstanz to meet Lea's sister Claudia for breakfast and some ice cream at Aran. As my birthday was arriving at that time, I invited some friends to a little apéro (which was bigger than I thought) at my place. I pretty much enjoyed that evening and would like to thank everyone that contributed to its success.
The rest of the days I worked on my thesis at Givaudan, had interesting talks to experts from the USA and a few days ago my professor came for a visit and I'm convinced the whole project will eventually come to a good end. My supervisors already talk about a possible publication which would be great, for me at least. I did quite a bit of sports, went to the gym three times a week, went jogging and cycling and I think I'm getting slowly but surely in shape for the summer. To do something for the intellect, I read "Tender Is The Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and after finishing once again his classic "The Great Gatsby".
This week I went to Hiltl in Zurich for an afterwork dinner with Kai. It was a warm and sunny evening and after dinner we enjoyed a drink at James Joyce before we, a bit tired already, took the train back to town. The day after, I had another appointment at Yooji's at Bellevue to eat sushi. Actually I would say that my culinary pleasures were pretty much satisfied as I also went to eat at Il Boccone and at Deli in Konstanz. As the weather was still good on the weekends, we had BBQs at Kai's new place and once Thomas and I had a nice evening at his place. At Livia's place, to be more precise on her balcony, we enjoyed a great farfalle with tiger prawns dinner. And I almost forgot to mention that I already took a swim in Lake Constance a week ago, when we went to the spa in Konstanz.

Master thesis V

2010-05-01T09:11:00.005+02:00

The pictures I posted are still the ones I made in Rome as I don't have any newer ones. Though, soon I will be able to post new exciting pictures: Kai and I fixed the dates for the trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong. Exactly in one week we will be on a non-stop Swiss flight to the Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai. The Expo 2010 opened today with a spectacular opening ceremony and 350'000 visitors. I'm pretty much interested what the Swiss Pavillon has to offer. Besides, I have the opportunity to visit Givaudan in Shanghai! My supervisor made the suggestion that he could ask our team members in Shanghai for a meeting at their site. I can now spend half a day at their location, get an insight in ongoing projects and see the modern facilities which are one of the most modern in the flavor industry globally!
On May 16th Shanghai Airline will bring us to HK, were I am supposed to meet Nozomi, a girl I once met at Starbucks in Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan. The last day we will spend in Macau, which was once a Portuguese colony and is now one of the richest cities in China and in the world. Can't wait to see these cities!

Besides, as spring definitely came, I went running, cycling and to the gym almost on a daily basis. I feel in good shape and a few hours prior to my departure to Shanghai I will run my stretch for the SOLA race in Zurich. Again I will run all the way up to the Uetliberg, which equates to 420m height difference. Last weekend I already did a test run from Schaffhausen to Merishausen, a village outside in the green hills. I run that distance once every year, but I was never as fast as this time!
Talking about sports, I read Dwain Chambers' autobiography called Race Against Me. It's pretty impressive and Dwain confesses everything of his past life with enhancing drugs.

As we already had temperatures of more than 25°C, Thomas and Sandra invited for a short BBQ last Thursday. A week before I was invited to a birthday dinner at Lea's place in Zurich, where we also had BBQ and a very delicious dinner! Yesterday I went to a small restaurant in Schaffhausen, called Wii am Rii. It's just a few steps from the edge of the Rhine. The atmosphere was great and the food very delicious. If you want to know more ask me or read the critics by clicking on the link.

Master thesis IV

2010-04-18T05:11:00.001+02:00

Time flies. The last post was about my trip to Rome, but until now already three weeks have passed. The Easter weekend was not so spectacular, we had brunch on Sunday morning and on friday Livia invited me and Urs for dinner at her place. I watched some movies, City of God for example and Up In The Air with George Clooney. This movie was actually one of the best movies that I've seen recently and that is obviously not only my opinion as it also won a Golden Globe.

Yesterday evening I was in Zurich together with Sophie and Marcus, a student from Stuttgart. We met pretty early as we wanted to go to the Future is Now festival but hadn't bought any tickets in advance. So we waited in front of Exil, where we later would see Richard Dorfmeister spin his discs. Some acts didn't even made it to the festival because all the airspace over europe was closed due to the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. But they were not the only one that were affected. I knew so many people that either could not leave for their holidays and meetings and conferences or they could not return back. I even heard the story, that a plane from Venice left 50 minutes earlier than scheduled, so that it could land in Zurich just before the airspace was completely closed. This is an event nobody would ever have imagined could happen. But it shows how vulnerable we as a society are, if things we take for granted don't work anymore.

Master thesis III

2010-04-02T20:09:00.002+02:00

Last weekend I was in Rome with McKinsey. They welcomed us at their office at Zurich Airport on Friday morning. We first got breakfast and had the opportunity to get to know each other. Actually I spotted some familiar faces, people I already met at consulting workshops at Roland Berger or Monitor. We spent the morning in Zurich, had a delicious sushi and sashimi buffet and started with the case study, which was actually about the food business. We then had a short flight to Rome and were picked up by a bus that headed towards the city center, to the Hotel Ripa (Via degli Orti di Trastevere 3). Regretably, the website gives a better impression of the hotel than what we found in reality. However, we didn't spend much time in our rooms anyway. After checking in, we already left soon after for a good italian restaurant somewhere in Trastevere. I actually tried to see Thomas, who also was in Rome with his architecture class that week. Unfortunately, it was a matter of impossibility, as we both were together with a large group which makes it pretty difficult to get yourself separated.
Anyway, the next morning we had to get up early and work on our case. The team spirit in my team was just awesome and we worked together as if we knew each other for much longer. Every team had also some kind of supervisor, which was a real McKinsey consultant, and here again, we were lucky to have someone with a lot of experience and, even more important, someone that was open-minded and funny. After lunch at the hotel we had an excellent city guide, that showed us around and I might say that we got to know many beautiful places, which an ordinary tourist would never have seen. For dinner we went to eat at Gaetano Costa (Via Sicilia 45), which was just excellent. So far, I never saw people applauding for a dinner. That night though, this changed. And indeed, the menu was wonderful. After a coffee we walked to the Club La Maison (Vicolo dei Granari 3), where we had reserved tables. Again we all had a lot of fun together!

Master thesis II

2010-03-14T07:20:00.003+01:00

Last Monday I officially started my internship at Givaudan in Dübendorf, Zurich. Givaudan is the world's largest company in the flavor and fragrance industry with headquarters in Vernier, Geneva. The company has more than 8500 employees worldwide and generates a revenue of CHF 4 billion, whereas the fragrance sales make up 46% and the flavor sales 54% of the total. I write my master thesis in the R&D department, the Flavor Delivery Science. The atmosphere is very international, as my team consists of people sitting in Cincinnati, OH, USA and in Naarden, Netherlands. All teams work in close collaboration and therefore I could attend a telephone conference right on my first day. No need to say that everything is in English, even the conversations at lunch. I'm really glad that finally everything went well, after all the problems with the contract.
By the way, next Friday I'll be in Arosa, as we have a team building event the whole day, including skiing, apero and dinner. That's what I call a good start into an internship!

Besides, I was talking to Kai this week about our planed trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong this year. As I will be in community service from September till the end of November, we might go somewhen in May, as the World Expo opens right then. But we will discuss that in the next days and then hopefully come up with a decision.
Yesterday I was in Zurich at Lara's place for her farewell apero. She is going to Dublin for three months and thus invited some friends to say goodbye. The rest of the week I worked late, had coffee at Starbucks with Lea, went to the gym and went running once, when the sun was out and the snow partly gone.

Master thesis I

2010-03-01T14:00:00.003+01:00

I'm already back from Asia. I will update you step by step in the next few weeks, so that you get a clue of what we experienced in Vietnam, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. To make it short: It was exciting!
Now, it seems that winter has gone and spring is slowly but surely coming, already bringing some warm and sunny days. Besides, I got some good news concerning my master thesis. While I was traveling, Givaudan and my professor came up with an agreement for the contract we all had to sign. I'm now even better off as before, because I will also get a recompense for my work. The only problem is that I will not be able to publish all my results because of confidential reasons.
As I wrote in a previous post I applied for a strategy conference in Venice, Italy which is organized by Booz&Company. As the conference is open for master and PhD students from Germany, Austria and Switzerland it was quite difficult to be accepted. Thus I was not disappointed when I was announced that I do not belong to the lucky few participants. However, I also applied for a workshop with McKinsey&Company in Rome from March 26-28. This time I had more luck and I was accepted. To get to know each other we'll first meet at their office at Zurich Airport, before boarding a Swiss machine to get to the italian capital. The hotel we'll stay could actually not be better: It's the Ripa Hotel (Via degli Orti di Trastevere 3), a nice boutique and design hotel.

Kuala Lumpur II

2010-02-24T20:53:00.005+01:00

After I finished my coffee, I went to the biggest shopping mall of Malaysia, the Suria KLCC, which is located just behind the Petronas Towers. I strolled around the huge building and bought the novel "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When I walked out of the mall to make some pictures of the towers, I was approached by some girls that wanted to know here I'm from. Soon I was involved in a lively conversation about traveling the world and I couldn't turn down the offer of joining them for dinner. Actually they invited me to their place somewhere in the suburbs of KL. They cooked fish, rice and different kinds of vegetables, some of whom I've never seen before. When I now think of that experience I feel like being a little adventurer, because in Switzerland at least, I would never join some strangers for dinner.

Actually I wanted to go to the restaurant Frangipani (25 Changkat Bukit Bintang) for dinner, but that was obsolete now. At the hotel I slept a little bit because I spent the night before at the airport and sleeping there is not so recreative. Then I took a taxi to one of the best rooftop bars I've ever been: the Skybar at the Traders Hotel, which is run by the famous Shangri-La group. There is a huge swimming pool in the center of the bar and at the large window front you have cozy lounge chairs to enjoy the stunning views at the bright Petronas Towers. That was just fantastic! After that I checked out the Zouk Club (113 Jalan Ampang), the pendant to the one we were at Singapore. But as it was a Monday there was not a lot going on, so I went back to the hotel. The next morning I already had to go back to Singapore which meant: Good-bye Malaysia, good-bye Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur I

2010-02-22T07:21:00.006+01:00

When we came back from Vietnam we landed in Singapore at around 1AM. Sophie didn't feel well and Silvan never intended to go to Kuala Lumpur, so I was the only one who had to wait for the flight with Tiger Airways at 6AM. There was no use going to the city, so I waited at the airport, which was rather boring, as I was not at the main terminal but at the budget which doesn't house a lot of stores. However, I found a boostore and looked through the Lonely Planet for KL and wrote down some places to visit. Among these, the Luna Bar seemed very promising, but also the Sultan Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental. At least I had some ideas where to go in the evening. The flight was short and I arrived pretty early at the airport in KL. However, it takes some time to get into the city. There is a free bus run by Asia Airlines that brings you to the center, but it takes almost an hour (which is about the time you need by plane from Singapore to KL). Fortunately, I could already check in at the hotel in the Indian district which is called Masjid Jamek. As I only had one day to spend in KL, I immediately took a taxi to the Menara KL, a 421m tall TV tower. It's the worlds fifth tallest TV tower and one had some stunning views from its top.

Then I went right to the Petronas Towers, which were the highest buidlings in the world from 1998-2004. Actually I wanted to go up to the Skybridge that connects the two towers. However, I wasn't so lucky this time, because it was closed that day.
I then decided to walk to the Hotel Maya, which is included in the Wallpaper* guide and famous for its interior design. As it was pretty hot outside, I had a coffee at the bar and enjoyed the atmosphere in the hotel lobby. If I ever return to KL this is the hotel of choice!

Vietnam V

2010-02-20T20:42:00.003+01:00

In Hanoi a young driver waited for us at the airport and we started for a 45 minute ride to the city center, where our hotel was located. However, we only stayed one night in the city, as we were about to leave early in the morning to get to the world famous Halong Bay. The large bay consists of more than 1900 small islands. The Halong Bay was first listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic value. In 2009 it was included on a list of nominations as one the World's 7 Natural Wonders.

Again, we had a private driver for the 3.5 hours journey. Before we boarded our cruise, we eat the best croissants ever! Unbelievable, as we all had been in France before. Anyway, the Paradise Cruise was pure luxury! The rooms were quite spacious, the bathroom very modern, so was the whole cruise, and the details also contributed to the perfect impression. The welcome buffet was great and offered a wide variety of vietnamese specialities. The cruise had a sun deck with nice sun loungers and so we could soak up the majestic panorama of the bay! It's really a wonderful piece of the Earth! The night we spent on the boat, which also had a bar with drinks. We had nice talks during dinner and enjoyed our time on the cruise. The next morning we returned back to the dock where our driver already waited to bring us back to the hotel in Hanoi. We spent another two days in the capital, strolling around, eating street food, and checking out some nice bars. As Sophie didn't feel too good one evening, Silvan and I went to a Jazz Club were we watched the band perform for less than 30 minutes, before they closed. As we had to leave, we went to a bar called Funky Buddha with a nice DJ and nice folks. The next day was, sadly, the last one we could spend in Vietnam, before returning to Singapore with Tiger Airways.

Vietnam IV

2010-02-19T14:33:00.005+01:00

In Hue it was markedly chillier than in Hoi An. We also had some rain showers during the car ride. The hotel we had booked in advance was cheap but still of good quality. That day I didn't feel so good, or better, my stomach didn't feel so good. However, it was not severe and the next day I already felt better. Unfortunately Sophie got also sick later, when we were in Hanoi. That night we walked to a small hidden Café called Café On Thu Wheels. We ordered fresh spring rolls and some more dishes, and actually spent half the evening there. Eventually, we even booked an individual city tour for the next day. It was supposed to be on motorbikes, but as it was cold and rainy, we opted for a private car. Silvan even managed to include an airport transfer in the price. Well done.

The next day we got up at 10AM, and actually breakfast time was already over. But the old lady at the reception felt sorry for us and we still got our breakfast. Then the driver picked us up at the hotel and we went to see the Thien Mu Pagoda which lies directly at the bank of the parfume river. We strolled around the vast park and made some pictures. The next stop was a hill where we had a beautiful view of the river. At the same place we could gaze at some bunker remnants of the Vietnam War. The next sightseeing spot was the tomb of Tu Duc, which belongs to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It consists of a pretty large park with old buildings all over. I really liked that place, as it was a bit frowning and obscure, with moss on all stone walls. After this visit we were hungry and stopped for a pho soup. We then drove along rice fields to a Japanese bridge, which was very old, but not soo impressive. The very last stop was already the small airport of Hue, where we got on a Vietnam Airline flight to Hanoi.

Vietnam III

2010-02-18T10:39:00.002+01:00

After a delicious breakfast at the hotel Silvan got a motorbike and Sophie and I hired two bicycles. So we were much faster in town and were able to discover the beach further down. One resort is located a bit north towards Da Nang, called The Nam Hai. Click on the link to see some pictures, it's just an awesome place. For most readers Vietnam most sound rather poor, but there you have pure luxury. The infinity pool is just a masterpiece!
Soon we were a bit tired of the beach at our hotel, so we made a little beach walk to the Golden Sand Resort & Spa. There we enjoyed the whirl pool, relaxed at the infinity pool and had a club sandwich for lunch. Actually we spent the rest of the day there, until the sun disappeared and left the sky in a beautiful afterglow. Then we had a short ride back to our resort and enjoyed a good book on the patio right at the river. Just brilliant!

The next day we again took the bikes and drove along the sea, which was pretty rough that day. We stoped at a little spot for a coffee and soon later we had to return as we had organized a driver that should bring us to Hue in the north. We payed him 50 US-Dollar for the five hours ride in a private car. On the way north we had to go over the Hai Van Pass. The twisting road on the pass has long been a challenge for many Vietnamese drivers. However, since the completion of Hai Van Tunnel, traffic flow and safety have improved. We could have used the tunnel as well, but we went for the beautiful views you was supposed to have. Unfortunately we had slight rain und the visibility was not that good.

Vietnam II

2010-02-17T03:36:00.006+01:00

The next day we took a taxi to the airport in fromer Saigon. We booked our flight to Da Nang with Vietnam Airlines and got into the Business Class. This was great, as we didn't had to queue for Check-In and could use the wireless internet in the Business Class Lounge. Besides, we got coffee and food for free, and could enjoy the flight as much as possible, even though it took not much more than one hour. In Da Nang we again had a driver that brought us to our hotel, the Hoi An Beach Resort. The resort was right at the beach, we had a spacious room, the weather could not have been better, everything was perfect!
Hoi An is a rather small city, however, in 1999, the old town was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO as a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with buildings that display a unique blend of local and foreign influences.

We walked across the old town and found a very nice lounge just at the edge of the river, no wonder it's called River Lounge (35 Nguyen Phuc Chu). The owners, two young Austrian brothers, created a marvellous mix of european and asian elements in their menu card, which was done in collaboration with Michael Schwarzmann, an Austrian star chef. We had some fresh spring rolls as starter. I then chose a crab salad and a tuna filet with teriyaki sauce. Everything was delicious and bloody cheap!

Vietnam I

2010-02-15T10:47:00.001+01:00

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City with a delay of more than an hour, but the driver who was supposed to pick us up and bring to the hotel was still waiting. When we looked out of the car window we saw hundreds of motorbikes with up to four passengers on it. Actually whole families, with all children. What a contrast to the well-regulated traffic in Singapore! There were no rules, our driver just drove where he though was enough space. Remarkably we never saw an accident, even though I learned that Vietnam has a very high traffic mortality rate. When we arrived at the hotel, the next challenge was crossing the street. The driver told us to just walk slowly without looking at all the motorbikes that were coming towards us like a swarm of bees. If you run, what you naturally would, they would not be able to judge your position, but if you walk very slowly they just pass beside you. But you have to be aware, that they never slow down or even break for you.

As we were hungry we wandered around the neighborhood and then found a food stall where we had a pho soup. This is a Vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup, which is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts and peppers that you can add by yourself. After dinner we went to the Sheraton Hotel and took the elevator to the Wine bar at the 23rd floor. From there we could see the Chinese New Year parade down on the streets, where millions of people were celebrating. The next day we strolled around the city, tried different kinds of food, had coffee now and then in a street café and enjoyed the warmth. In the evening we had dinner in a thai restaurant, because most locals had closed due to the public holiday, and ultimately we ended up at Gossip Club (79 Tran Hung Dao Street). I never saw a security as tight as there, which can be a bit daunting. You're not even aloud to take pictures with your iPhone. Apart from that the club was pretty good!

Singapore III

2010-02-13T21:16:00.006+01:00

The next day we took a taxi to Chinatown and visited all the markets there. It's again another face of Singapore, quite a contrast to all the shopping malls at Orchard Road, that we've seen so far. In Chinatown you'll find hundreds of exotic fruits and foods, and the characteristic smell, that you can find also in the Chinatwon in New York or elsewhere. We eat at a nearby food stall and got rice, chicken and some chinese vegetables. Again it was bloody cheap. In the afternoon we soon had to be ready to go to the Airport as our flight to Ho Chi Minh CIty with Tiger Airways was scheduled at around 4PM. Unfortunately, we were at the Budget Terminal, where there's not much to do. And even worse, our flight was more than an hour late.

After the trip to Vietnam and Kuala Lumpur, we came back to Singapore for a day. This is now not in chronolocial order anymore, but it perfectly fits into this post. As I went to Kuala Lumpur only by myself, I took the MRT from Changi to the Harbour Front station. From there I took the Sentosa Monorail to get to the island Sentosa. We agreed on meeting at the beach, at Cafe del Mar, upon my return. I left my luggage at the airport, but I had my shorts with me. As we all were hungry we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. As it was a rather expensive one, we changed clothes in a toilet, so that we at least were wearing trousers. The sashimi was delicious, so was the miso soup. As it was our last evening before returning to Switzerland, we went to rooftop bar Loof (331 North Bridge Road) for a farewell drink. This appealingly eccentric rooftop bar is a playful space. The people who gather there and the mood manage to be achingly hip without being overly pretentious. As we had a direct view on the Raffles Hotel, probably the most famous hotel in Singapore, we thought about going there as well. However, the bar was crowded with tourists, so we left immediately.

Now, the next post is about the trip to Vietnam!

Singapore II

2010-02-12T21:26:00.013+01:00

The next morning we got up early, had breakfast and set out for the university. Silvan first showed us the ample food court where we immediately grabbed a delicious mango juice and a seat in the sun. That's how days should start! After a short walk to the lecture building, Silvan introduced us to the professor and we could attend a lecture about nutrition and cancer. As the students had presentations afterwards Sophie and I left and went on a bus tour around the extensive campus. We then waited for Silvan lying in the gras under a palm tree, getting suntanned. For lunch we decided to go to a nearby a food court, which was bigger than the one in the morning. I had green thai curry with chicken and a fresh made kiwi juice, for as much as nothing! However, we went to eat chilli crab in the evening which was fairly expensive. But cracking the crab with your hands made up for the price, and was pretty funny!

Back to the afternoon: As Silvan had to write a lab report Sophie and I went to Orchard Road, which is the major shopping and entertainment street in Singapore. There are innumerable shopping malls where you could spend whole days strolling around. As we took the MRT from the uni campus we got off at Orchard Station and hence we were already in the middle of the ION Orchard shopping mall. It's probably the newest one, opened in July 2009 and houses six double-storey flagship stores of close to 9,000 square feet each, including Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Cartier. Its signature glass façade doubles up as a giant media screen as well. Then we walked along the road to Wisma Atria, and further on to the largest mall, called the Ngee Ann City. It houses the Japanese department store Takashimaya as well as it is home to Southeast Asia's second largest book store Kinokuniya.
This all-afternoon shopping session made us tired and so we decided to walk home. At sunset we went to the Esplanade for a drink on the top of the theatres with a stunning view on Singapore's skyline (see pictures of the last post). We actually watched the sun go down until it was well dark, when a nice firework started, to celebrate the beginning of the Chinese New Year. After that we were hungry and ready for crab. We tried not to get too dirty hands as we intended to go to Zouk afterwards. Best club ever in Asia!

Singapore I

2010-02-10T10:27:00.013+01:00

Actually I've already been at Singapore once when I had a stopover at Changi Airport on my way to New Zealand. The flight with Emirates was good, although we had quite a few turbulences on the way from Zurich to Dubai. At the Airport in Singapore we took a taxi to the citycenter to the Ibis on Bencoolen, where we were supposed to meet Silvan. It was already 10PM but we had still over 30 degrees celcius, which was a slight contrast to the freezing temperature back in Switzerland. As we all were hungry, we walked into nearby Little India to have dinner. While walking through this ethnic neighbourhood I hardly had the feeling of being in Singapore. This place wasn't clean and tidy as Singapore is claimed to be. However, that made it fairly special and appealing. We found a restaurant called Sakunthala's where we enjoyed different Indian meals.

After strolling around a bit in Little India, we took a taxi, which by the way are pretty cheap, to the New Asia Bar on the 71th level of the Swissôtel The Stamford. It's a great location with stunning views on the sea of lights below! The music was good, but nothing compared to that played at Zouk, the late evening location of the next day. Actually we thought about going to Zouk or Attica the very same evening, but as we were tired of the long flight and wanted to attend a lecture at the National University of Singapore the next morning, we decided against and went home.

Final Semester X

2010-02-06T13:42:00.004+01:00

This is the last post with Final Semester as title. I had my final exam yesterday, in Applied Statistical Regression. Then I went to the brand new gym at Hönggerberg for a workout to get my mind free. By the way, the picture in this post is shot in the gym, which is held entirely in white. Actually I was supposed to work in the afternoon, but I had some discussions with my supervisor about the contract with Givaudan, so I had to call that off. As ETH doesn't accept the contract, I'm not even sure if I can start with my thesis after my holidays. At least my supervising professor said that I should not worry...
Then I applied for another consulting event with Booz & Company. It's a three-day strategy conference about sustainability held in Venice in March. It would be a good opportunity to get to know the company in more detail. Such events are also great to enlargen the personal network and to compare oneself with other aspiring students. Furthermore, I can further benefit by solving strategic problems and practice my presentation skills. However I guess it's rather difficult to get a place in Venice, as it's an event open for students from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Nevertheless, I'm optimistic, even though I just read that in 2009 Booz got 1200 applications, of which 35 were selected to take part at the event, that was held in Istanbul last year.

Final Semester IX

2010-01-22T06:55:00.002+01:00

To make a stright connection to the picture: I went skiing in Scuol last weekend. As Saturday was supposed to be a beautiful day, we already left for Kai's flat in St. Gallen on Friday evening. The next morning we got up very early and drove to Landquart by car. There we waited for Thomas and Sandra, who came from Zurich by train. In Scuol we had perfect blue sky and almost no one was on the slope, so we never had to wait to get on the cable car. Every now and then we stopped for a hot chocolate and tanned our skin in a sunlounger. On Sunday, the weather was not that good anymore, so we already left soon after lunch. But still, it was a great weekend up there in the mountains.
Now, let's get back to New Year's Eve. I invited Peter and Marie for dinner at my place. Actually Thomas and Sandra were also supposed to come, but the flu upset their plans. It was a nice and funny evening, also when we went to town after dinner.
Apart of learning, I bought some books, some old classics, like Ulysses by James Joyce or To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. And to get my mind free, I also met friends for a nice dinner with a glass of wine or just for a drink in a bar, of which I can recommend 0815 (Lintheschergasse 23) or Amber (Bahnhofquai 15).

Final Semester VIII

2010-01-18T21:11:00.001+01:00

I'm very sorry for my delay. I was learning day and night for the last few exams, but still I have two left. However, the effort was worth it, as I already got some marks and I'm pretty satisfied. So what did I do besides learning? Can't be much since I don't remember anything of importance.
Oh, still, I booked holidays in February. More precisely, I booked quite a few flights. The first one with Emirates will take us to Dubai and then to Singapore. We'll spend some days in the island city-state and then board a Tiger Airways machine to get to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, formerly known as Saigon. From there, another flight will bring us to Da Nang in the middle of Vietnam right on the coast of the South China Sea. After visiting this city as well as the former capital Hue, we'll take the train to get to Hanoi in the North. There we will visit the famous Halong Bay, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then we'll heading back for Singapore, but only for a few hours, since we then take a flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. As far as I heard it should be a beautiful city. So I'm curious. And on top of all, I'm longing for sun and summer temperatures!

So I guess that's enough for now, what I did beside that you got to know in the next post.

Final Semester VII

2009-12-22T07:30:00.012+01:00

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

2009-12-04T18:05:00.003+01:00

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.

Final Semester V

2009-11-19T10:09:00.004+01:00

Last Thursday I spent my first night in a hotel in Zurich. I was offered a room at the Hotel du Théâtre, which is located at the Central, right below the ETH. The location couldn't actually have been better, because it was only a short walk to the Club zum Rennweg and the bus stop to the offices was right at the corner. Funny enough the receptionist asked if I needed a map of Zurich which I smilingly negated. At the Club zum Rennweg we were welcomed by two partner of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and we could use the evening to network and get to know each other. I had some really good talks there and I also enjoyed the delicious food, which was served all night long. Most of the participants were from HSG, thus having an economic background. As I got to know a girl that also had a room in the same hotel, we left at 11PM and walked back along the Limmat. The next morning I dressed in suit and tie and went down to the lobby where breakfast was served. At the offices of Roland Berger, located in a beautiful building at Neumünsterallee, we got croissant and offee and an introduction in the workshop. The participants were divided into four teams and then the teams had to individually develop solutions to combat obesity. We then had to hold a presentation in front of the management team and one group won a first price. Unfortunately not my team, but still the event was really worth it and I gained an insight into the consulting business. As consultant you have pretty long working days, but you also get a good salary, actually one of the best, as you can see on the newest salary statistics published by the Bundesamt für Statistik. An interesting article about the most famous management consulting firm McKinsey was published in the NZZ Folio some years ago. Take a look at it, if you're keen in the topic.

Now, I applied also for two other workshops held by management consulting firms. The next one is on November, 26 at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Zurich Airport. It's a workshop about the wine market and organised by Monitor, a firm founded by Michael E. Porter, a famous economist at Harvard University. The other event is in Zurich with Booz & Company, but there I don't know yet if they accept me. Though, I hope so.

Last Friday I also had kind of a reunion with my ex-class from secundary school. We were invited to a Fondue dinner and livened up old memories! And I went to eat lunch with a friend at the canteen at University of Zurich, a place I haven't visited for ages, even though the crowd there is, in my eyes, better then that at ETH.

Yesterday I gave my comeback in sprint! And my coach meant that I was in really good shape! Indeed, I was surprised how fast I was, but now I have kind of a compulsory break, because I severely pulled my hamstring! I barely can walk and my coach had to drive me home in the car, as I couldn't get on my bike anymore...

Final Semester IV

2009-11-08T18:04:00.001+01:00

As I wrote in one of the previous posts, I applied for a workshop at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. And I was pretty happy when I got an email with the invitation for the event. It starts next Thurday evening with a dinner at the Club zum Rennweg. The club is pretty, how should I say, exclusive. It's the only private member-club in Switzerland that found its way into the International Associate Clubs. People like Georges Kern, CEO IWC Schaffhausen, Philippe Gaydoul, CEO Denner or Christoph Franz, CEO Swiss have free access there. As dinner is about to end late, Roland Berger booked a hotel room for me: My first night in a hotel in Zurich! Maybe it's time to say something about them: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants was founded in Munich in 1967 by a man named, surprisingly, Roland Berger. Now the company has offices in 27 countries and employs about 2100 consultants. In Germany they are number two in market share after McKinsey. Besides I had to buy a new suit, as the dresscode for the event is business dress. So I got a dark gray suit, after checking out several stores in Zurich. Now I'm looking forward to a new experience in the consulting business.

Besides I got a brand new 3GS iPhone. My contract was due to expire, so I was offered a new mobile phone anyway. Thus, I was thinking, why not the iPhone. And indeed, it can support me in many situations. Especially at ETH, when I need to have a quick look at citations, I just can browse in the internet. I can write emails in the train, I have unlimited access to the train, tram and bus timetable, I have maps and GPS and a very useful calendar that reminds me of upcoming events.

The last two weeks I mainly focused on studying and went to the library to have a quiet place to study. The only event that was up recently was a raclette evening at Kai's new place in Dachsen, and lunch at Tibits with Lea. But honestly, I enjoy sitting in the library with a warm cup of coffee staring out the window at the autumnal sky over Zurich. I don't need too much distraction now, I'm happy with the thought of finishing my last semester in a few weeks time.

Final Semester III

2009-10-25T20:52:00.005+01:00

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

2009-10-24T20:29:00.002+02:00

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

2009-10-10T19:45:00.007+02:00

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...

New York X

2009-09-11T05:14:00.001+02:00

To make it short: I love New York! Some months ago, Tokyo was kind of the number one. But now I'm not sure anymore. I guess, New York made it to the top. Paris is also cool, so is Vienna. But they are too normal, too much european, too small. New York is just another feeling. A feeling of belonging to the sophisticated. And I kown there is much more to see, much more places to go, much more restaurants to eat, much more bars and lounges to have a drink, much more clubs to dance. So I'll take every chance to return to New York. Maybe not next year, but certainly within the next three years! Because I guess you need to experience NY as long as you're young.

Back here in Switzerland, I still feel in another mood. I just feel more relaxed, more confidential than before. The trip was just great, not only New York, but also Montreal, Toronto and all the other places we visited. Awesome. Now I look forward to some other trips. Maybe Singapore next year, but certainly Hong Kong and Shanghai. And what I still like to see is Oman, or the United Arab Emirates. Nobody knows what the future brings, so watch out!

New York IX

2009-09-10T03:09:00.002+02:00

The last days in New York were just awesome! We had so much fun and enjoyed the city as much as we could! Thanks to Kai we got free entrance to the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. I'm not an art student or something like that, but the MoMA is really well worth seeing. No wonder it's often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world. It has one of the best collections with works by such famous names as Warhol, Dalì, Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, Matisse or Cézanne. But the museum does not only feature paintings but also includes works in architecture, design, sculpture and photography. And for those who don't know: They have the first Freitag bag in their collection. And I loved all design pieces such as the chaise lounge by Le Corbusier or the Eames lounge chair.

As we alread talk about style and design, I had to buy a Jack Spade briefcase! We were walking through SoHo, which is the hippest neighbourhood that you can find in NY. And actually we just had a coffee at Café Café on Greene Street, when we saw the store. Honestly, I didn't need a briefcase but that one was just awesome! And even though the price was also awesome I bought it. SoHo was really cool. Fabulous young couples, wealthy singles, and ex-suburbanite empty-nesters long ago took over Soho from the artists. Now, the cobblestone streets, cast-iron buildings and designer boutiques draw quite a crowd. Literally. The people on the streets look exactly like I imagined people from NY have to look. And the streets in SoHo look pretty devoid, but as soon as you enter an unimposing store, it's huge and heaps of young people are inside! That happened with the Café Duke. Outside it looks like nothing but as soon as you get through the entrance you feel absorbed in the crowd.

That evening I went to buy some Zoot running shoes in a cool store some blocks from our hotel. As Thomas and Kai were at the tennis game, and Laura was out to meet a friend, Sandra and I went to eat at Spice Market (403 West at 13th Street) in the Meatpacking District, where you can see, especially on weekends, celebrities and fashion models all over the place. I actually feel pretty small compared to these 1.85m girls. Anyway, the Spice Market is a restaurant by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, one of the most celebrated chefs on the planet! New York Magazine wrote that in the past two decades, no single chef has had more influence on the way New Yorkers dine out. And it's true! The menu was pure explosion of the senses!

New York VIII

2009-09-09T18:24:00.012+02:00

After dinner at Wolfgang's we met two friends of Kai, that also study at the University of St. Gallen. After visiting the top of the Rockefeller Center, we walked to the Times Square with all the colored lights and advertisements and heaps of people on the streets. We intended to have a drink there at a cozy lounge bar, but it was already full. Fortunatley, you just can walk around the corner and you're prone to find another good bar or lounge. However, better stick to the following recommendations, an incomplete selection of the best bars and lounges in New York, or better, in Manhattan:

The Stone Rose (10 Columbus Circle at 58th Street), a 510 square meter lounge located at the Time Warner Center, is capable of seating 300, and its massive windows facing Central Park make the city itself feel like a hired character. Leather and light wood paneling, plush banquettes, and muted lighting lend the enormous, marble-floored space surprising intimacy. The lounge was designed by Yabu Pushelberg, two great interior designer! To stick to the topic, the W (1567 Broadway at 47th Street) was also designed by Yabu Pushelberg, hence its interior is modern and invites you to relax. They serve marvellous drinks but you might need to come early to get a seat. Salon de Ning (700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street) lies on top of the famous Peninsula Hotel. Drinks are good but expensive, the atmosphere is relaxed but views on Manhattan are better from the top of the next rooftop-bar. The 230 Fifth (230 Fifth Avenue at 27th Street) fills up the penthouse and the 2000 square meter roof of a former hotel. Great location, stunning views of Manhattan by night, but drinks are lousy and come in plastic cups. The Brasserie (100 East 53rd Street) is located in the Seagram Building and was built in 1959. The stunning reincarnation showcases the award-winning, ultramodern design of Diller + Scofidio. Drinks are perfect but the bar is rather small, better come for dinner.

Finally, we went to have a drink at the Stone Rose and used the personal atmosphere for good talks about architecture, banking, fashion and a lot more. After two hours we had spent enough money and decided to go back to the hotel. The two girls also joined us and so we could continue our discussion there. It was pretty late when we went to bed that night, so we decided to sleep a bit longer in the morning. I was hungry, so I went to Starbucks quite early and then walked along the busy 42th Street. My hunger was calmed and so we went to the Guggenheim Museum at 89th Street, right across the Central Park. The museum was built in 1939 by Frank Loyd Wright and is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art, and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. However, most of the floors were closed at the time of our visit. Still, the paintings by Picasso, Chagall and Kandinsky were worth seeing. After this cultural visit we walked through the Central Park, where you kind of feel as if you were in another world. Or at least you wouldn't expect to be in the largest city in the United States. And as we the walking made us hungry again, we went to eat the best burgers in town at Shake Shack (Madison Avenue at 23rd Street) located at the corner of the Madison Square Park. Besides, Kai had bought tickets for the US Open some time ago. Unfortunately we didn't see a game with Roger Federer, but the match of Djokovic vs. Verdasco was quite ok.

New York VII

2009-09-08T20:33:00.009+02:00

The next day we went to eat bagels at Ess-a-Bagel (831 3rd Avenue). I strongly recommend the whole wheat bagel with baked (not smoked!) salmon, it's just delicious. However, expect long lines at lunchtime. Then we boarded a Greyhound Bus to Atlantic City in the state New Jersey. The city is famous for casino gambling, shopping malls and sandy beaches. As we stayed over night, we booked a room in the Trump Plaza, which is a hotel with a huge gambling hall in the heart of the building. Funny enough, we all slept in the same room that had two beds for the five of us. As the name Atlantic City already indicates, it lies directly at the sea. So it was just rational to eat at Phillips Seafood. But don't expect much, it's pretty touristy and there are heaps of people eating there. The main dish, Ahi Tuna, was delicious but the starter, a shrimp cocktail, was nothing special. After dinner we took a taxi to the newest and most glorious casino in Atlantic City, The Borgata. It was build for $1.1 billion in 2003 and indeed, it's grand and carries the glory of Las Vegas. And here the impression comes true, money does attract beautiful women. There was a dance club in the Borgata and as we glimpsed inside, we had the feeling of taking part in a movie, all the tall tanned girls were dressed in very short skirts and high-heels that could not be higher, gorgeous. You can imagine the contrast we felt when we returned to our room with the two beds for five people.

The next day we returned to New York. We purchased a combined ticket for the Rockefeller Center, so we could go up to the top both on daytime and at night. The building with a height of 259m is only the ninth tallest in New York. However it offers spectacular views on Manhattan with the Empire State Building, Downtown, the Hudson River and Central Park. The $30 entrance fee is a lot, but I guess it's worth it. That evening we went to eat at the second-best Steakhouse in New York, the Wolfgang's. However, to the pleasure of my friends, I ordered a grilled tuna and the Wolfgang Salad as starter. Actually I preferred the Wolfgang's, but more because of the location and the interior because I couldn't compare the steaks.

New York VI

2009-09-07T10:45:00.008+02:00

The very same night we went to the ever-so-stylish rooftop bar Plunge on top of the sophisticated Hotel Gansevoort (18 9th Avenue). There's a skinny pool on top where guest can swim overlooking the Hudson River. At night this rooftop-bar attracts block-long lines and if you are dressed in t-shirt the doorman won't let you in. Understandable, nobody was tired that evening, as it was our very first night in New York! Anyway, the next day we walked all the way up Fifth Avenue, had breakfast, read the Times, and enjoyed the city and did some windowshopping. We went to Abercrombie & Fitch, where you are served by male models showing their six-packs. And another thing for the girls: We went to the flagship store of Tiffany & Co., undoubtedly the most famous jewellery store in the world, that became popular when Truman Capote wrote his novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Not far away, Apple's newest flagship store lies below a huge glass cube at 767 Fifth Avenue. It's open 24 hours a day, but there are still heaps of people at every hour of the day. For lunch we went to Peter Luger Steakhouse located in Brooklyn. It was rated as New York's best steakhouse for 24 years in a row. For dinner, you need to reserve a table months ahead!

Actually New York has a great subway network and the price is ok with 2 Dollar for a ride. However, we almost always took a taxi to get from A to B. First, it's pretty easy to get a yellow cab in almost no time, except from 4 to 5 in the evening. Second, we were mostly a group of at least four, so we could divide the amount, which was rarely more than 10 bucks.

In the afternoon we walked over the Williamsburg Bridge to Manhattan. Actually we wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge, but the waiter at Peter Luger suggested to walk across the Williamsburg Bridge instead. After crossing the East River, we went to see Chinatown, the Finance District with the famous Wall Street, and walked down to Ground Zero. Actually you can't see anything there, except for a big gap between the buildings which is now a enormous construction site. As we were tired of walking we went to Starbucks for a coffee. By the way, there are currently 209 Starbucks stores in Manhattan. And compared to Switzerland, the products are bloody cheap in the United States. Finally, we walked down to Battery Park, where you can see the Statue of Liberty standing far away.

New York V

2009-09-06T21:31:00.002+02:00

The trunk of our car was completely full when we put all bags in, stuffed with clothes and shoes that we had acquired after our extended shopping tour. At least it was no long way to the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. But we soon after had another problem. We were a group of five and normally it's difficult to find a taxi that has enough space for five. But it might even be impossible to find a taxi for a group of five plus eight pieces of luggage. So Thomas and my humble self agreed to take the Air Train to Midtown Manhattan. As we were studying the New York City map, a big Afro-American soldier dressed in desert uniform got on the same train which kind of seemed to come directly form the Iraq war. He looked at us and asked where we were going. We told him that we were heading to Manhattan and as he had to get off on the same station, he helped us with purchasing tickets for the metro. When we had to say goodbye to Mr. Watkins, he gave us a handshake that almost broke our fingers. Probably, he was really in Iraq.

We got off at Penn Station, near the Empire State Building. When we arrived after a 40min or so ride with the train, it was already dark. But as soon as we, after a cookie and a coffee to go at Starbucks, entered the streets of New York, it was as if it was daytime. There were so many people out in the streets, so many lights on the buildings, so many yellow cabs, it was just awesome! We walked all the way to the Hotel Kitano at Park Avenue, buying another coffee at Starbucks as well as the New York Times.

The rooms at Kitano were spacious and just great! It's actually some sort of japanese hotel, thus the interiour design was pretty japanese, which I like, of course. In the lobby they have live jazz concerts every weekend, from our rooms we had a direct view on the Empire and we had a personal cleaning lady, that even came to prepare the beds for the night after they had already been made in the morning. Pretty cool service.

After relaxing a little bit we dressed for dinner and went to the italian restaurant Salute (270 Madison Avenue). It was a recommendation of the Kitano staff, and a good one. The interior was modern and held in white, still with a view on the busy streets. Kai and Thomas got the five course menu for 80 Dollar, whereas I was not so hungry that evening. However, the Bresaola with Mozzarella di Bufala was brilliant. So was the Risotto ai frutti di mare. But I did envy Kai and Thomas a bit, as all courses looked very delicious. At least I was still ready for a drink somewhere. The place to be at night is, no question, the Meatpacking District, which runs roughly from West 14th Street south to the Gansevoort Street. One hidden spot is the APT in a nondescript building on West 13th Street, mixes high-style with homey comfort. The bar was honored as New York's best bar in 2001 and has been described as a nightlife masterpiece. Indeed it's pretty cool inside, even though the music was kind of strange that evening.

New York IV

2009-09-04T06:10:00.005+02:00

In the morning of the next day we had a relaxed breakfast at Starbucks and then just strolled around the city, did some shopping, and watched all the different people passing by. As we had to check out at the hotel we soon were looking for a place for lunch. Near the Four Seasons we found a nice restaurant, that rather looked small at first glance, but we could get up to the first floor where we were lucky to find a rather large terrace with palm trees and a small bar. I had some whole wheat pasta (yeah, whole wheat!) with chicken, cherry tomatos and pecorino! Fabulous, especially as that was a nice little spot to eat! If you want to know the name, just ask. Soon after we were back in our car, heading in direction of Niagara Falls. Due to our incredible TomTom GPS navigation system, we never had to think about wrong turns. Moreover, we were totally five people in the car. Especially the backseat in the middle was not that comfortable, so we always changed our sitting positions at every eating or fuel stop. And there was just one way to put all the baggage in the trunk! The doormen at the hotels always tried to put the baggage in, but we had to help or at least tell them how to put it in correctly.

Anyway, the Niagara Falls were pretty amazing. The falls are situated at the border of Canada and the United States. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie with the Lake Ontario and drops down for more than 53m between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, ON and Niagara Falls, NY. That's approximately twice as high as the Rhine Falls, but what makes it even more impressive is the fact that they are more than 790m wide! Actually it's pretty difficult to get a full picture of the falls, because you have a cloud of tiny water drops in the middle of the falls. At least there's always a rainbow in the sky.

At the border to the United States we had some little problems. As Laura had a student visa, she was actually not really aloud to re-enter the States without a green form. Thus, we had to wait in a overcrowded waiting room, full of Asians and Mexicans that were waiting for their visa. You were not aloud to make phone calls unless you wanted to get arrested. And Barack Obama was smiling at us from the picture frame on the wall. Eventually, after waiting for an hour, we got our passports back and could pass the border. As it was already late, we decided to sleep in a cheap motel in Syracuse, NY. The next day we drove to Central Valley, NY where, hidden between green hills, lies the Woodbury Common Premium Outlet. Here you can find brands like Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger or Salvatore Ferragamo. We spent quite some money there!

New York III

2009-09-03T04:12:00.001+02:00

The next day we left Quebec pretty early in the morning because we wanted to get all the way down to Toronto, which covers a distance of approximately 800 km. As we just had short stops in between it didn’t take too long to get to the largest city in Canada whit a population of more than 2.5 million. After a seven hour ride we arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. Again the hotel was great, with a beautiful lobby and friendly and helpful staff. However, the rooms at Westin in Montreal were better. The weather was great and we had warm 25 degrees which were much more than the 8 degrees in the morning in Quebec. Besides, Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, as about 49% of the population were born outside of Canada. And indeed, the folks on the streets were really cosmopolitan and international. And that's cool.

We had a short rest at the hotel, then went out and were just amazed by all the skyscrapers. We walked all the way down the Yonge Street to the CN Tower. In between we stopped now and then for photos and went to see the Allen Lambert Galleria, a 6 storey pedestrian avenue designed by Santiago Calatrava. The CN Tower with a hight of 553m was the highest construction built by men for more than 30 years. Now only the Burj Dubai is taller (actually way higher with 819m. Crazy. The Empire State Building in New York which is 381m tall, was built in 1931 and held the title of the worlds highest building until 1974. And now we are at 819m. Crazy!) We took the elevater to the observation deck on 346 meters and enjoyed the sunset on Lake Ontario. Everything has other dimensions here. This lake has half the size of Switzerland. Even on 346m you can't see the end of the lake and you inevitably think it must be the sea. Besides, on the observation deck you can stand on a glass floor, where you can see down on the ground. Cars seem like ants and people are just tiny points moving so slowly.

New York II

2009-09-01T03:07:00.005+02:00

After a very delicious breakfast at the Westin with toast bread, salmon, ham, egg, yoghurt, cereals, fresh fruits and coffee, we went out in the drizzle and walked to the old town of Montreal. In 1967 the Expo 67 took place in town. For that event Moshe Safdie built an interesting living complex called Habitat 67 which is located on a small island behind an ugly wheat factory. This factory is just huge and the biggest part is shabby and derelict. From Habitat 67 we walked over a bridge from where we had a good view on the skyline of Montreal as well as on the Saint Lawrence River, a massive river that connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic. We then took the metro to get to the Olympic Stadion that held the olypmic games in 1976. The stadion looked like a building of Calatrava (in Toronto we later saw a gallery of Calatrava). Montreal has a huge underground city. You can find the entrances at some metro stations or in the underground level of shoppings malls. You'll find restaurants, bars and many shops down there. In the evening we went to Vargas for Dinner. I had a Tataki Salad with grilled tuna that was just great. Unfortunately, that was only the appetizer and I was already quite full. As main plate I had a Chicken Teriyaki with chinese noodles. However, I couldn’t eat all of that even though it was really delicious. After eating we intended to go to a rooftop bar next to the Vargas. There was already a long queue of girls in short skirts and high heels waiting to get to the top of that building. We also took the elevator to get up, but as we had to pay 15 Dollars to get in, we decided to just have a drink at the Hotel bar, because we didn't wanted to dance as we were all completely full.

The next day we drove to Quebec, which took us about 3 hours. Quebec is rather small compared to Montreal or Toronto and has a unique french character. There are narrow cobblestone streets, with small european houses. The old town is even on the UNESCO world heritage list because the protection wall around the city is the only remaining in North America. We strolled around the old town, went to see some churches all called Notre Dame, went to see the Chateau Frontenac, which is really beautfiul and reminded me of Schloss Neuschwanstein in Germany. From there we had also beautiful views on the Saint Lawrence River. The weather was fine and sunny and we even met some swiss guys from Basel when we visited the citadelle of Quebec. In the evening we even witnessed a firework in town. Our Hotel was the Loews Le Concorde, which was inside one of the highest buildings of Quebec. On top, there was a revolving rooftop restaurant. We went up there for a drink and had nice views on Quebec by night.

New York I

2009-08-29T14:47:00.009+02:00

Now I've really been in New York. Been. Because right now I'm sitting on my bed in the Hotel Westin in Montreal in Canada. But maybe I should explain that chronologically: On Thursday Kai, Thomas, Sandra and me took the 10AM train to the airport in Zurich. We were pretty early, so we had plenty of time to have a coffee at Starbucks, eat something and stroll around the shops in the shopping mall. The flight with Delta was quite okay, I mean it took almost 9 hours from Zurich to JFK in New York. During the flight we had stunning views on greenland, revealing its snowy mountains and deep valleys. Having arrived, we got our rental car and then waited for Laura, a girl studying with Kai at HSG. She was in Berkeley during summertime and now joins us for the trip to Canada. When we finally had our car, we headed for Boston, but as it was already late, we needed a hotel for the night. So we stopped at Sturbridge in Massachusetts where we found the Hampton Inn. There, the desk clerc asked us where we were heading to. As he heard that we were on the way to Boston he told us that the city would be crowded with people because Ted Kennedy's funeral would take place there. We already heard that in the news, but didn't know that even President Obama would come to the funeral in Boston. So we had to change plans and instead headed north to the canadian border. On the way to Montreal we passed by the skyline of Albany, NY which is actually the capital of the state New York and came across Lake Placid, where the bobsleight runs take place in winter.

As I already said, we stay in the Westin here in Montreal. The rooms are just great! We even have Starbucks coffee in the rooms and a radio with iPod connection. All in all perfect. For dinner we dressed in shirt and went to Steak Frites (405, Rue St-Antoine Ouest). I enjoyed a perfect filet de saumon and duck rilettes as appetizer. For desert I tasted the crème brulée, which was good, but that one I had in Paris last year was, I'm sorry, better. But the restaurant as well as the clientele were superb! But funny enough, some restaurants do not have a licence to sell alcohol, so you see a sign in front of the building that says: Bring your own wine. Thus, many guests walk in with bottles of wine in their hands. Before we walked back to the hotel, we had a drink at Suite 701 (701, Côte de la Place d'Armes), a nice lounge in an old majestic building. But we were so tired, that soon after we went back to our rooms and had a long and deep sleep.

In Between II

2009-08-24T19:46:00.016+02:00

A few hours after the last post I went to drink something with the girls from Unilever at the terrace of the Surstoffbar. Actually, only Ulli and Renate worked or better still work at Unilever, Nathalie is just a friend of Renate and lives in Zurich. It was pretty funny and I guess we consumed rather much but paid rather less. The evening was even more special because they spontanously asked me to join them for a hike up in the mountains. Not in a weeks time, but 10 hours later! Naturally, I could not turn down that offer, so the next morning we met at the old busstation in Schaffhausen and drove up to the mountains by car. In between we stoped for gas and had to fill our bags with something to eat and drink. Anyway, our hiking tour was perfect, the weather beuatiful and we had a bath in the Seealpsee, which was so refreshing in the heat of the day.

In the evening I had to watch the 100m final at the world athletics championships in Berlin. It was insane. Usain Bolt set another fable world record with 9.58. Unbelievable. And actually I still remember Donovan Baileys 9.84 in Atlanta or Leroy Burrells 9.85 in Lausanne. Then an improvement of 1/100 was considered as huge, compared now to the 11/100 improvement by Bolt, this seems to be as little as nothing.

One evening I was at a concert of Big Zis at Kaufleuten in Zurich. Thomas won two tickets for the evening, so we just had to go. First, I went to the gym, took the bus to get to Thomas' place, left my belongings there and soon after we left for the Kaufleuten. But before we got our free entrance tickets, we went to eat a Tiger Prawn Salad at an irish pub and restaurant at Sihlstrasse. Funny enough, as everybody was talking english, the waitress also talked english with us. Okey, the concert was fun but over pretty soon. All the same, I was happy that I could sleep in Zurich and didn't had to worry about trains and buses.

The day before I intended to join some friends for BBQ at Flurlingen, but as a thunderstorm came up shortly before, we changeed the location and went to the tallest building in Schaffhausen. There you can overview the whole town and we saw fascinating flashlights far away. The terrace on the 15th floor had a roof, so we had a great evening up there! Actually I was the only local, all other were either from Germany, Austria or any other country.

On Wednesday I met Michael for ice cream as the therometer hit the 30 degree mark. We then met some friends at Güterhof and talked about anything but nothing. On Thursday I intended to go for a swim with Jonathan, unfortunately I had to work longer, so we had to cancel this. Besides, the train ride back home was sometimes pretty displeasing, as it was extremely hot inside the trains, as only the ICE has a good air-conditioner. It was much hotter inside the trains than the oustide and we had outdoor temperatures of more than 33°C. That day I watched the 200m final with the astonishing 19.19 world record set by Usain Bolt and then I went running at 9PM, when it was already getting dark outside. However, the temperature was still very high... Anyway, it was just great running at dusk with Bolt's dream run in my mind!

Yesterday I went to an openair concert for the first time in my life. It was the Bodensee Hegau OpenAir located in the little village of Aach in Germany. It's actually not far away from Schaffhausen, by car it takes you a bit more than half an hour to get there. The acts playing were not less famous than Reamonn, Sunrise Avenue, Milow and Maria Mena. The weather was just perfect and the location out in the nature too. We had much fun there and all in all that was a great evening!

Last, a little bit about New York:
We just changed our swiss francs into US Dollars and as Kai is working for a swiss bank, he could change them at a rather good exchange rate! Well done, Kai! Besides, I checked out my Lonely Planet and found some good spots, for example rooftop bars or lounges, where you have fabulous views on New York! If that's not enough, we will climb the Empire State Building at night and make some stunning pictures of NY by night!

This is the last post before I leave for New York. I will update you as soon as I've made some pictures! See you soon!

In Between I

2009-08-15T20:55:00.003+02:00

I'm not yet in New York but all arrangements are up to speed. We already booked the hotel in NYC, actually we had to book two, as it's, even a few weeks in advance, pretty difficult to find a good one. When we first sat together we were thinking of the Royalton (44 West 44th Street), which has been designed by Philippe Starck. However, the rooms, which combine a funky mix of modernd and classic styles, were just a bit too expensive for some of us. Anyway, we will check out the Bar 44 in the Royalton which is a inviting mecca for conversation and cusinie as stated on the website. Now to our hotels: The first one we booked is the Kitano (66 Park Avenue at East 38th Street), rated by Lonely Planet as a Deluxe Indie Inn. Just have a look at the web if you're intrested. More of that as soon as we'll have checked in. The second hotel is the Roger Williams (131 Madison Avenue) that blends vibrant color, bold architecture and a hip and homey feeling in the fashionable Murray area of midtwon Manhattan. Okey, that's it with NYC for now. More in the next post.

The days after I returned from Vienna were, again, just great! First, a photo that I took in Asakusa in Tokyo was published in the newspaper and I now could win a MacBook or an iPod touch. But actually I don't care about the prizes, it's cool enough to have it published. Then I went swimming in the Rhine with Sophie on a beautiful evening. We met just after working in Zurich and took the ICE to Schaffhausen together. Then we walked to the Rhine, which was not that warm on this day, and had a long swim. As swimming made us hungry we went to Güterhof and had a drink and grilled fish with a delicious salad. After that I went to see Gran Torino on top of the castle Munot as the Munot Openair Cinema took place up there. That, once again, was just marvellous. The atmosphere was just great, the weather fine and it was fullmoon, which made it even more special. Two days later I stayed in Zurich and met Livia after a workout in the gym. We bought some ingredients for a delicious salad with citron and blood orange dressing. We made some pasta with red pesto and opened a bottle of wine. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed the menu as well as the superb view on Zurich. Besides, the next day I bought Jamie Oliver's book Happy Days With The Naked Chef. I'm looking forward to some more cooking sessions! Then on Saturday I went again to the Güterhof with Kai and Tobias, who is currently doing an internship as investment banker in Frankfurt/GER. So we talked quite a lot and enjoyed the evening further on at Oberhof and Orient. It was a really great evening and a foretaste of New York!

This past week I was out with Kai and Thomas on Thursday, as we met at Güterhof for grilled fish! I love these summer evenings where you can sit out until it gets dark! And unfortunately it's getting dark earlier and earlier each day... Anyway, on Wednesday I met a friend in Zurich and first had coffee at Starbucks and then enjoyed the sun at the Limmat. I left soon after as I joined Thomas for the train back to Schaffhausen, where we talked a lot about architecture. And today we went to Stein am Rhein in the morning and drove down in the rubber boat! We listened to chillout sound, had a stop now and then for ice cream and just enjoyed the ride back down! Pure life!

Vienna Again III

2009-08-02T21:53:00.011+02:00

We started our last day with shopping. We first went to the Energy store right across the street. I considered buying a jacket, but then found that there must be something better. What I bought afterwards was not a jacket but a Puma bag, that I found in the Puma store on Mariahilferstrasse. As we got up without breakfast, we were pretty hungry and decided to immediately have lunch somewhere. And again, we went to the NENI at Naschmarkt were I had a very tasty caesar salad with grilled chicken breast. It was surely over 30°C and sitting there was pure beach feeling, so we decided to go to the Danube river in the evening. But before we went seeing the Rathaus and the nearby Votivkriche. In Vienna you need to drink Café as much as you can, because it's really delicious, comparable with Paris, even slightly better. So we went to the Café Central (Herrengasse 14), that was founded in 1868 and where Trotzky used to play chess and Loos designed his works.

Loaded with caffein, we took the metro to the Vienna International Centre, which lies just north of the river Danube. In the evening sun, the high-rise buildings looked pretty majestic. Anyway, we took the bus and after a short ride, we were at the Vienna City Beach! It was great relaxing in the evening sun on the sunloungers with chillout music playing in the background, right at the shores of the Danube. I felt far away, felt the summer, and was happy!

For dinner a friend recommended the restaurant Oswald&Kalb (Bäckerstrasse 14) with modern viennese cuisine. However, we didn't know where it was and so we were lucky that I had my PowerBook with me. So we just went to Starbucks for a coffee and used the WiFi hotspot and google maps to get the location. The self made chanterelle ravioli and the pecorino cheese on green salad were again superb. We thought about going to the nearby Buddha Bar for a drink, but decided to go home first and take a shower to get ready for the nightlife. At that time the Impulstanz Festival Lounge was located at Novomatic Forum at Karlsplatz. The whole bohemian socity of Vienna seemed to be there! It was pretty cool and we even knew the DJ that was performing at today's Deep Down and Discofied. However, we soon left and checked out the Fluc and the Volksgarten, but we were not quite satisfied. So we eventually ended again in the Passage.

And that was our trip to Vienna. The next morning we had to get up quite early to get the train back to Zurich...

Vienna Again II

2009-08-01T23:03:00.007+02:00

The next day we slept a bit longer than usual, as we did not have much sleep in the train and the previous evening was over pretty late. First we went to the Café Sperl (Gumpendorferstrasse 9) where we had coffee, read some newspapers and later decided to have lunch. So I ordered a Erdäpfel-Vogerl salad with roasted duck stripes. We then continued our sightseeing tour for Schloss Schönbrunn. In April I visited the interior of the Hofburg, this time it was the interior of Schönbrunn. However, the audioguide did not reveal much more than it had at Hofburg. The next stop was the Hundertwasserhaus and the KunstHaus, both designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The first one I’ve already seen, this time we had coffee in the Café on the terrace. The KunstHaus was rather unspectacular, so we just had a short rest there.

For dinner we were pretty late, and some restaurants already ran out of menus, but eventually we found a restaurant that had still open. Then we walked to the museumsquartier that was pretty crowded. They have some cozy seats called Enzi, and you barely found a place to sit. We had a drink at the outdoor bar before a girl group celebrating a wedding-eve party came along. They were pretty funny, and they were not expecting to find two swiss guys there. After relaxing at the MQ in the warmth of this lovely summer evening, we decided to go clubbing. We went to the Passage that hosted the Club Fusion that night with techhouse. The crowd was rather snoby with men almost only wearing dress shirts and beautiful long leged girls with high-heels that all seemed to be overdressed slightly. Anyway, the party was great and we danced all night long!

Vienna Again I

2009-07-31T10:38:00.014+02:00

I'm in Vienna again. This time we, that means I and a former track and field training partner which is now a doctor in medicine, went by train, the night train that leaves Zurich at 10:40 PM and arrives at Vienna Westbahnhof at 8AM. After a short walk we got to Chwallagasse next to the metro station Neubaugasse where our hotel was located. The location could actually not have been better, as we had the shopping street Mariahilferstrasse just around the corner. The Gumpendorferstrasse with the Café Sperl, Ra’mien, Shanghai Tan and the Naschmarkt were also in short walking distance. Even the sizzling museumsquartier was not far away. Thus, a great starting point for our trip.

In the morning we had breakfast and coffee and then walked to the museumsquartier where we could have gone to the MUMOK, the museum of modern art or to the Leopold Museum, where Gustav Kilmt’s paintings are presented to the public. However, as the weather was so good (actually, the weather was good all days long and hot, really hot. Summer. As it should be) we walked on to the Maria-Theresien Platz, the Hofburg with the Heldenplatz and then went to the Burggarten, next to the Palmenhaus.

In the meantime Ulli called and we decided to meet for a coffee in the afternoon. So we had enough time to go to see the Stephan’s cathedral and do some shopping at Kärntnerstrasse. Then we went to Figlmüller (Bäckerstrasse 6) to eat the famous Wiener Schnitzel. It was quite big and pretty tasty but the location was just a bit too touristy. For coffee we met at the station Kettenbrückengasse next to the Naschmarkt, where Ulli already waited for us. We found a cozy place where she gave us some very helpful recommendations for good bars and clubs. She came with us then and we went shopping again in stores such as American Apparel, Diesel and others. As we were pretty tired we went home and relaxed a bit, wrote some messages on facebook, and then decided to go to the Naschmark for dinner. We found a comfy place called NENI (Naschmarkt 510), where I had a delicious tuna steak with wasabi puree. It was pure summer feeling, as the NENI was mad just like a beach bar. Then we joined Ulli and her friends for a drink before we went to the Tanzcafé Jenseits, which was funny to see. Not much later we went to the Camera Club that the waiter at NENI recommended, as it hosted some electro and minimal acts that night.

Restart VI

2009-07-27T20:51:00.002+02:00

I spent an awesome weekend up in the mountains! I already announced that trip in previous posts, now we put that in action. Urs, Livia, a friend of hers and my humble self met on Saturday morning in Zurich where we took the train heading along Lake Zurich for Glarus, the hometown of Urs. When he was studying Food Science, he used to commute every day, but now as banker he lives amidst Zurich at sizzling Schaffhauserplatz. He bought some breakfast and we enjoyed the journey up to his place. There we wandered up to a alp hut that belongs to the family of his. Just a few days before a helicopter brought fresh food, gas and water up there. After a few hours of climb in the steep terrain, we arrived and we were to find an amazing view of the Alps and the Klöntalsee down in the valley. As there were still some clouds covering the sun, the ascending was pretty comfortable. As we were hungry we cooked two packs of spaghetti with a delicious tomato sauce and mango and banana pieces with chocolate cream as dessert. With a glass of wine, the evening was perfect! Thank to the iPhone we even had access to the internet and could play music all night long. And for the romantically minded among you, the sky up there at night is just awsome! I'm no ignorant and also watch the stars back down in Schaffhausen, but sorry, I never saw so many stars as I saw up there! And Livia and I even saw a shooting star dashing across the beautiful sky! However, the night was bloody cold so we were happy to find some blankets in the hut.

When we woke up in the morning a fabulous blue sky waited for us! We had breakfast with everything you could imagine, really! We enjoyed the sun, relaxed on the sunloungers, listened to good music, got tanned and eventually decided to take a bath in the nearby creek that was following its path down the valley. It costed quite an effort to get the whole body into the bloody cold water, but it was so refreshing! After the descent, we had another bath in the Klöntalsee, which was not much warmer. But again, with an ice cream in one hand, it was pure pleasure! The evening we spent at Urs' place where his parents prepared dinner for all of us. Tired but filled with joy, we took the train back to Zurich and said good bye.

Besides, last sunday I went to eat ice cream with Michael and we planned a trip to Belgium in late fall. And most important of all, I'm going to Vienna this week! But this time I'll take the night train on Wednesday evening and will spend the weekend in that beautiful city! Actually we wanted to go to Stockholm, London or Berlin, but as it was rather short-term, there were no cheap flights. So we just came up with the idea to go to Vienna!
Together with Urs and Livia, I plan to go to London anyway somewhen in September... Amazing!

Restart V

2009-07-19T10:19:00.003+02:00

Don't know where to begin! :-) This past week was just great! I did so many things, met so many people, had so many good talks, made so many new plans. I'm just happy!
Let's start with this week. On monday I only had a workout in the evening and finished Balzac's "Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes" which I started reading in April, but because of the exams and everything else that I was up to, I could not continue. Now I'm reading "The Great Gatsby" by Fitzgerald, which is set in New York and hopefully it helps to get into the NYC feeling! Anyway, on tuesday I worked until 5:30PM and then went to a friends apartment in Zurich for a glass of wine. As he offered the wine, I offered a Tuorta da nusch, the engadinian nut cake. With these appetizers as basis, we had good talks about architecture and our future jobs and the ever-existing questions of how important the salary is. I had to leave pretty soon after, as I went to see Ice Age 3 together with Livia and Urs. We met in front of the Abaton cinema at Escher-Wyss-Platz, where you can see the movie in 3D. This was pretty funny, as you have to wear some stupid-looking glasses.

That night a enormous thunderstorm swept over Zurich and Schaffhausen. When I went to bed, I could see lightnings all over the sky. And in the morning I again woke up because of the thunder that echoed through the city. On wednesday I went to the gym in Zurich and then intended to relax a bit at home. But a friend called and asked if I'd join him for a drink at Güterhof. Of course I could not turn down that offer! The next day the sun came out again and it was pretty hot. So I went swimming in the Rhine with Jonathan and his friends and after that cooling we enjoyed the evening with a nice BBQ. On friday it rained the whole day, ceaselessly. I intended to meet Sophie, and as the weather was that bad, we immediately went to see "Alle Anderen" at the cinema Riffraff. I really liked the film, and Sophie even knows the main character Lars Eidinger personally. After the movie we went to eat at Lily's just around the corner at Langstrasse 197. I can fully recommend the Red Thai Curry and the Edamame, they were just delicious! Before I went back home, we had a drink at the Riffraff bar, which is pretty cozy and invites you to relax on the couches.

Yesterday I went out with some girls from Unilever. We met at Haberhaus, where we already had a drink a week ago. I have to admit, that were two pretty funny evenings! And it was always fairly late when I was at home. Besides Ulli, also an intern at Unilever, studied in Vienna and she now asks her former professor for any open master topics. If there is something interesting I might go to Vienna next year! :-) If this doesn't work, then I try to get a project in the United States or any other country. And if it's too difficult to find something abroad, then I try to find a project in the industry in Switzerland. That would enlarge my network in Switzerland and maybe open another door.

Restart IV

2009-07-04T21:52:00.004+02:00

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

2009-06-28T18:36:00.005+02:00

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

2009-06-08T20:16:00.004+02:00

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

2009-05-29T20:35:00.005+02:00

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. 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

2009-05-18T16:33:00.005+02:00

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

2009-04-19T09:38:00.003+02:00

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

2009-04-18T07:43:00.005+02:00

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

2009-04-17T09:11:00.009+02:00

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

2009-04-15T22:43:00.006+02:00

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

2009-04-10T20:16:00.002+02:00

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

2009-03-30T21:30:00.008+02:00

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

2009-03-14T06:41:00.005+01:00

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

2009-02-28T19:30:00.012+01:00

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

2009-02-14T20:25:00.001+01:00

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

2009-01-18T14:44:00.009+01:00

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

2009-01-02T08:32:00.002+01:00

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

2008-12-24T01:00:00.003+01:00

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

2008-12-17T21:43:00.008+01:00

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

2008-12-06T14:48:00.003+01:00

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

2008-11-22T18:56:00.003+01:00

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

2008-11-08T13:20:00.007+01:00

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! 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

2008-10-25T18:02:00.009+02:00

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 Keinohrhasen, 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

2008-10-12T11:55:00.005+02:00

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 of 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

2008-10-11T23:02:00.001+02:00

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

2008-10-06T09:16:00.008+02:00

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

2008-10-05T09:53:00.004+02:00

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

2008-10-04T17:58:00.011+02:00

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

2008-10-03T18:18:00.000+02:00

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

2008-10-02T23:23:00.011+02:00

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

2008-09-28T07:33:00.001+02:00

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

2008-09-22T10:38:00.003+02:00

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

2008-09-11T18:21:00.001+02:00

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

2008-09-07T16:49:00.004+02:00

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

2008-09-01T07:33:00.004+02:00

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

2008-08-28T18:08:00.008+02:00

Today it's Valentinas Birthday! Congratulation!
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

2008-08-24T14:14:00.004+02:00

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

2008-08-16T16:18:00.010+02:00

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

2008-08-08T11:13:00.000+02:00

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

2008-08-01T20:06:00.005+02:00

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

2008-07-10T07:58:00.002+02:00

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

Summer is Here III

2008-07-03T17:26:00.003+02:00

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

2008-06-15T20:23:00.003+02:00

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

2008-06-01T21:00:00.006+02:00

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

2008-05-28T22:52:00.004+02:00

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

2008-05-04T12:13:00.009+02:00

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

2008-04-28T17:44:00.004+02:00

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

2008-04-16T15:52:00.008+02:00

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

2008-03-24T14:31:00.005+01:00

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

2008-03-09T12:50:00.008+01:00

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

2008-02-22T17:29:00.011+01:00

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

2008-02-16T08:17:00.008+01:00

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

2008-01-28T11:24:00.004+01:00

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 contract 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

2008-01-15T15:51:00.006+01:00

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!