See You In Aberdeen!

I was invited to the University of Zurich's exchange afternoon yesterday. The event was to help outgoing Swiss students, wanting to take an exchange semester elsewhere, meet up with students from the partner universities. Naturally I excepted the invitation, partly because I felt obliged to, but also because I was interested to see if any students wanted to come to Aberdeen in September.

The University of Zurich has partnerships with universities all around the world.

To my surprise, I actually did meet two students who are planning on coming to Aberdeen. Cool - so I thought maybe I could help them if they had any questions. It turns out questions about minor things like accommodation and the university system isn't exactly what they had in mind. No, they were much more interested in trying to have their stereotypes of British student life confirmed / rubbished. Is binge drinking a problem? Are there parties every night? Is it always cold? These were the kinds of questions that I had the pleasure of being able to answer...

The University of Aberdeen hosts a relatively large number of exchange students, considering that the university is quite small.

I reckon, I promoted Aberdeen student life well, as they still seemed keen. The afternoon reminded me of how I felt a year ago before coming to Zurich: an uneasy mix of excitement and anxiety. They'll have a great exchange semester, I'm sure. I've certainly had an excellent exchange year here. It felt a little weird to be saying, “see you in Aberdeen”, afterwards – another reminder that my time here is about to draw to a close...

Getting Hold Of Chuffs

Zurich is often quoted as being the most, or close to it, expensive city to live in globally. High standards of quality, high salaries & production costs and low levels of competition all contribute to keeping Swiss prices sky high. Students can feel the pinch at the best of times, not least here in Zurich. However with Swiss economic prosperity come opportunities that can allow students to afford to live here.

Swiss Stock Exchange: You don't have to work in banking and finance in order to be able to afford to live here as a student.

Before even considering looking for jobs, students of the ETH and the University of Zurich are able to accept invitations to participate in paid surveys. Many of these surveys take the form of economic themed games on a network, enabling the more successful of players to earn quite a decent amount. As I discovered, even if you have a run of bad luck, you can still take home pay equivalent to a acceptable hourly wage. Maybe I should try my luck again...

The Swiss Franc (CHF) – affectionately called the 'Chuff' amongst British expatriates in Switzerland – is a strong currency: allowing the Swiss to afford to travel abroad and import.

Thanks to the ETH; jobs and internships in the Swiss technology industry are abundant in Zurich. For those of us not studying technology based degrees, there are also a number of other positions available, for example on the university market place platform.

I have been lucky enough to find work in English tuition. Anyone currently on a year abroad, whether you're in Switzerland or France or Germany, can make the most of this opportunity. By knowing the local language (allowing you to translate expressions and understand your client) as well as English, students and professionals alike appreciate the services you could offer. And most importantly, it can be fun – as such tuition sessions may simply take the form of conversations – whereby you'd offer corrections and tips.

Not only does Zurich appear high on the list of the world's most expensive cities, but it also appears high on quality of life leaderboards too. A correlation perhaps?

It's a bizarre feeling speaking English again after so long, even it is just during a few sessions a week. Although I prefer speaking in German here, it is nice to be able to hold a conversation without having to think constantly about how to formulate what you want to say in a foreign language! It's certainly going to feel strange once I return home after this year abroad!

Regardless of where you are on your year abroad, working in your host country is a great way of gaining useful experience as well as networking – which may better facilitate finding work in the country after graduation, if you wish to return. And for those of us in Switzerland: high prices also equate to high wages, so make the most of it!

The Spring Semester

It's March already. My second and last exchange semester in Zurich is under way. Time is definitely going by quickly. This semester already seems to be going better than the last semester, probably because I'm settled here now. My courses are pretty much the same as last semester, except literature has been swapped with two other courses: Makroökonomik (macroeconomics) and Geldpolitik (monetary policy). They're certainly more interesting – at least to me – and I find it cool that my professor for Geldpolitik actually works at the Swiss National Bank.

View from the ETH Polyterrasse.

Again, it seems like it's going to be a busy semester. Lots of early starts, even a 6pm finish on Mondays and no free week-days (many students here have Fridays free for example). Feels too much like work – well, almost. This semester I must also give a presentation, in German of course, about Swiss German variations, as an Englishman, to an audience of mainly Swiss students. That's going to be - shall we say - interesting. Hmm, what have I got myself into?

The Bächlerstrasse student apartment complex.

The new semester brings with it a fresh helping of nervous / eager exchange students. Some of which have moved into the student apartments here in Bächlerstrasse. And with the new exchange students and the Spring semester comes partying! Plenty of it.

That's right, 9GAG.com is also popular in Switzerland: A popular meme is pinned by one of the inspected Spring clean signs instructing us to, well, clean.

The Spring semester also brings the obligatory inspected Spring clean. Acceptable, given that it's mentioned in the contract, it's just a shame that it also coincides just after a number of flat parties going on here. Making cleaning an even bigger task – that's before any possible / expected (delete as appropriate) hangovers are considered.

'Tis the Season for Exams

It's that time of the year again, the exams at the University of Zurich are under way. The student flats have become eerily quiet as everyone is in their own rooms hidden beneath a pile of revision notes and empty cans of energy drink. The streets of Zurich also seemed noticeably quieter this week – although the constant rain recently might have played a role there – perhaps caused by the eloquently-named Scottish hurricane 'Bawbag'.

Snow has been forecast though, so hopefully the city will also be able to enjoy the deep snow the Alps have had. It would not only make for a white Christmas but would probably brighten the dull exam-mood. Despite being an exchange student, I too have a number of exams to attend. The first of which was today, Russian phonetic. Thankfully, it was easier than it sounds. Although I'm afraid I won't be able to say the same is true for my other courses.

Revising for my Russian exam on Tuesday.

Instead of spending my weekends reading over notes, I've done what every exchange student should do, try to get to know the environment I'm in – planning day trips, going to parties and generally having a good time. Of course, of all this has caught up with me now that the once distant prospect of exams looms ever closer. My literature exam on Monday shouldn't be too difficult in theory as we just have to define terms and discuss various schools of thought, although in practice this means I'm going to have to do some last minute cramming. And then there's Russian which won't be easy, but hopefully I should manage, there's still time.

I'm just lucky that these exams have no bearing on my degree in Aberdeen, I'm here for the experience of being in a German speaking country – this experience and learning the language will – and should - always take precedence over my actual modules here, the credit points for which my university at home won't recognise anyway. I think it's preferable to spend more time out and about in Switzerland, in order to practice speaking (Swiss) German – which is also the aim of this year abroad and is more useful to my degree – than spending most of my time hidden away under books, whereby I wouldn't be getting much speaking practice at all or even experiencing what this great country has to offer.

That's what I keep telling myself, I'm still going to have to try...

Autumnal Reflections

This weekend has been the first free weekend I've had in a while, giving me the chance to reflect on the past two months in Zurich. Autumn is well and truly under way in Zurich, turning the city which is usually so green in Summer, in to rather nice shades of gold and red.

The University of Zurich seen from Rämistrasse.

University is going well and I still find I have quite a bit of free time after taking into consideration all the reading that has to be done. Coursework has begun to be handed out now that the semester has entered its second half. Essay writing in German takes some getting used to, although luckily the assignments are usually quite short. Russian is also going surprisingly well, despite the rather extreme pace. Learning Russian at university is not normally possible in Aberdeen, so I'll have to keep my notes when I return. Of course, a holiday.. ahem – I mean an 'educational' trip to Russia at some point is a must!

After two months in Switzerland I'm finding myself getting used to various things and developing Swiss habits. For example I have probably eaten more Swiss cheese and chocolate than I would've ever imagined. Well, who can blame me when they taste so good?

Swiss Francs look pretty cool, but they take some getting used to.

One thing I haven't yet got used to is using Swiss Francs. The notes are pretty cool but differentiating the coins from one another is quite a challenge. They're all round and silver (except the coins of less than 10 Rappen – or cents) which when compared to Sterling is striking, as British coins are all of various shapes, sizes and colours. Euros too have a little more variety. For example the ½ Frank coin is the same size as the 10 Rappen coin, and smaller than the 20 Rappen coin – which is of course worth less. Coins are often considered as small change and are quite undesirable as they take up a lot of wallet space. Therefore I found it strange that there should be a 5 Franc coin, which is a rather unwieldy chunk of metal. Although when reflecting upon Swiss prices, perhaps the 5 Franc coin is right to be considered as Kleingeld...

The Semester Begins

My long-awaited first semester at the University of Zurich started this Monday and it's been quite a busy week. I've enrolled in 4 courses; introduction to literature, German linguistics, German language history and Russian. All of which are taught in German, which is great – by being thrown into the deep-end, I hope that my German will be able to improve as quickly as possible.

There are two universities in Zurich; the University of Zurich (pictured) and the ETH.

However, it has been a little tricky getting to grips with the linguistic courses whilst being taught in a foreign language, particularly as it's a technical subject that I've not been exposed to before. Free time will be something that I'll be becoming more and more unfamiliar with, as I'm certainly going to have to study hard to make sure I understand everything – I guess likening this exchange to a year-long holiday was a little hopeful of me! Having said that, I'm enjoying all of my courses (despite the 8 o'clock starts) and finding them interesting.

I've also noticed a couple of things at the university here, for example every lecture has a 15 minute break – something I find quite nice as it gives you chance to get to know the other students. I was then a little bemused to discover that at the end of every lecture, everyone knocks on their desks – which according to the Swiss students I asked afterwards, is supposed to be a sign of respect to the professors – like clapping perhaps.

Inside the university's main building, in which most of my lectures take place.

All of my lectures are taught in High German, but most of the students speak Swiss German to each other, so it has certainly been worthwhile taking the time to learn the dialect here. Besides, an Englishman speaking Swiss German (or at least attempting to) is a great conversational ice breaker and has allowed me to get to know a few of my classmates already. I'm sure as time goes on, my German will develop and I'll find the courses more manageable too.