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.