The Polyball

The Polyball is a prestigious annual ball held by the ETH (the other major university in Zurich) and claims to be the largest decorated ball in Europe! This year's theme was left quite vague: 'The Search for Eldorado'. Me and pretty much all of my flat mates and neighbours decided to go and check it out, this Saturday just gone.

The Polyball is open to all, not just students of the ETH.

The event was held in the university's main building and included 15 different stage areas, ranging from salsa, jazz and waltz to a casino floor and cinema. Although the casino was a rather limited idea in practise due to the small technicality of the illegality of gambling actual money on non-licensed premises...

Poker and blackjack could be played, although no money could be won or lost.

The decoration for the ball included huge wall-to-wall murals which looked awesome, they were painted voluntarily by students not wanting to have to dig deep (real deep) in their pockets for the tickets. They did a great job!

I have no idea how many came this year, however I was told that last year saw around 9000 people attend the Polyball!

Those who missed out on this year's Polyball should seriously consider going to the next one in 2012. There's music to suit everyone and if you're not terribly good at dancing, I wouldn't worry too much as you'd be in good company!

Alpine Hike

The beauty of living in Zurich is that I'm not too far away from escaping city life and making the most of the proximity of the Alps. On Sunday I went to Walenstadt – about an hour away by train – which is also one of the closest ski resorts to Zurich. As the skiing season hasn't really begun yet, I spent the day hiking.

Walenstadt is the name of the town closest to the ski resort.

Walenstadt itself is a small town situated on the border between Canton Sankt Gallen and Canton Glarus. It's a really picturesque area as the mountains look quite dramatic and there is also a lake in the valley, the Walensee. Once I arrived at Walenstadt train station I took a proper esoteric bus full of cheery locals up to Walenstadtberg, where I begun my hike.

Walenstadtberg is easy to get to from Zurich and it makes quite a pleasant day out.

Despite it being neither the hiking season nor the skiing season, the mountain seemed to attract quite a few people. I can understand why, it was nice to get on some high ground above the eternal fog which seems to have it's grip over much of lowland Switzerland.

Paragliders were also out in force.

Perhaps I will return here once the ski season gets under way, I've heard Flumserberg is particularly good and easy to get to too. From what I saw this side of the valley, it seems to have quite a varied range of pistes.

A Day in Basel

My train journey to Basel today was rather pleasant. After helping an old lady with her bags, she proceeded to sit at my table, where we then talked for the duration of the trip. It was nice to use the time to practice my German – it certainly beat staring out the window aimlessly for an hour, besides I got the impression she was quite lonely. What was rather surprising was that after carrying her luggage off the train once we arrived in Basel, she stuffed a 100 Swiss Franc note in my hand (£75) – ordering me to use it to finance my student life. Of course, I didn't accept the money and gave it straight back. Although perhaps hanging around train stations helping people with their luggage could become quite profitable if I were to ever hit rock bottom!?

Basel lies on the spot where the French, Swiss and German borders meet.

The reason I went to Basel was to meet up with a friend who's currently spending an exchange year in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It was nice to catch up as well as see the sights of Basel. Basel is situated in the Northern part of Switzerland, where the French and German borders meet Switzerland. It's known as the Dreiländerecke (3 country corner).

Despite it's proximity to France, the local language of Basel is still Swiss German.

The Altstadt (old town) area of Basel is very picturesque and has quite a few sights, as well as shops, comparatively more than Bern. There was a noticeable amount of activity in the city, perhaps due to the rowing race which was taking place on the Rhine.

One of the market squares in the Basler Altstadt.

I would suggest that anyone thinking of going to Basel should consider going this coming weekend or afterwards as that is when the infamous Basler Christmas markets will be open. We saw the preparations for the Christmas market by the cathedral and it looked rather festive indeed.

The Swiss Capital: Bern

Yesterday I headed out with a group of other exchange students to the picturesque city of Bern. Although Bern is only the fourth largest city in Switzerland (Zurich is the largest), it is the Swiss capital. However being so small, it's quite unlike any other capital city in that it has a slow and sleepy atmosphere to it.

It only takes around an hour to reach the city by train from Zurich. So it's definitely a trip worth making.

In order to have a tour around the Swiss parliament building, we had to reserve on an early showing meaning that we also had to get up and leave Zurich at a most unreasonable hour. However the tour was surprisingly interesting and the building itself was pretty impressive – although the airport-like security measures meant that I was unable to take any photos of the inside.

The Swiss Parliament building (although it's even more grand when looking at the interior).

After the tour, we had a wander round the city itself, including observing the infamous Zytglogge ('Time Bell' clock tower) chime in twelve o'clock - which to be frank, was quite an anti climax. A large group of tourists had gathered in front of the tower, thus leading me to expect something slightly more spectacular than a couple of figures turning their heads - or moving their hands in time with the bells. After that we enjoyed a 'quick' snack by the cathedral – which involved the ESN rep buying out a couple of bread and cheese market stalls in order to feed us all...

The view from Rosengarten overlooking the old town.

In the evening we then walked up to a rather nice view point over Bern and had a couple of beers before taking the train back home to Zurich. All in all, an enjoyable day in another beautiful Swiss city, which I'd happily recommend to others!

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...