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.

An Alternative to Constance

In a blog post I made last year, I mentioned that many Swiss head to the German border town of Constance (Konstanz) in order to do some cheap grocery shopping. Well, a closer alternative has been found, fellow grocery refugees! Waldshut, an other German border town, is 20 mins closer to Zurich than Constance and features 3 huge supermarkets. All of which are open until 10pm during the week. Crucially, this means you can get to Waldshut and back in the evening without paying a single Rappen if you have a Gleis7 travel card.

A vast bounty of treasure awaits those who make the journey over the border!

It's certainly worth making the occasional trip, particularly as German alcohol and meat can be around three times cheaper than their Swiss counterparts! Keep hold of your receipts and fill in the relevant Custom forms and I believe you can even claim back the tax paid. However unlike Constance, Waldshut isn't a terribly nice place to visit. Cheap grocery shopping for the Swiss appears to be the sole purpose of the small town, to which it may well owe it's existence. Or so it seems.

Outside the main train station in Zurich.

In the meantime, Siberian weather has achieved a tight grip of the majority of Europe. Zurich is no exception, temperatures have been as low as -15 and the snow looks set to stay. If things carry on like this for a while, it might be possible to go and ice skate on the Katzenseen in Affoltern.

Bergholz forest in Affoltern.

The temperatures are much worse in Eastern Europe though. Great, that's exactly where I'm heading next week and the week after!

Exploring Affoltern

As the semester doesn't start until tomorrow, I've had another free week - enabling me to use the time getting to know the area I live in. Affoltern is a city district to the North of Zurich. Close enough to the city centre to be convenient, but far enough away to be surrounded by plenty of scenic countryside.

The Katzenseen are among the prettiest urban lakes in Switzerland.

Affoltern is lucky enough to have a couple of small lakes – the Katzenseen - where people often go to swim, sunbathe or have a barbeque. In fact it seems to be extremely popular as I discovered when walking around the lake, I noticed that any available sunny space around the lake had a swimsuit clad occupant. This popularity isn't restricted by the seasons either, I've heard that during particularly cold winters it's possible to go ice skating here! Although invariably like many other places in the German speaking realm, you must always be on your guard and not stumble upon the nudist areas...

One of the many little constructions I could find in Bergholz.

There are not just lakes here too. Directly off my street is a rather nice forest, Bergholz. My new favourite jogging route, and looking at the number of other folk I see there, a favourite of the locals too. Curiously, I've only been up to Bergholz a few times so far, but I've always noticed a solitary gentleman sat on a tree stump playing his trumpet. I imagine his wife cast him out into the woods to go and practise, at least judging by his talent – or rather lack thereof.

This past week has also been a good opportunity to get to know the other students here, whether at one of the Erasmus Student Network events or at any of the random parties which have been going on. I'm sure there'll be yet more once classes begin next week too...