Suisse, Switzerland, Schweiz

Five weeks ago I booked a spontaneous vacation to the cultural capital of Swtizerland, Zürich.

Germanwings offers a type of mystery flight. You select your departure airport (Köln in my case...also happens to be their hub), the date you can fly and a theme. Themes vary from shopping, beach, skiing, cultural, eastern Europe, etc. A list of ten or so cities will be presented and you can mark four or so cities where you do not want to fly. A €5 surcharge for each city exed out is excised but I think its fair. Thus increasing the chances of your dream city.

I did just that. I booked a ticket not knowing where I would go. I paid €85 for a round trip flight from Cologne to Zürich. It was completelz worth it. I loved the Germanwins idea of not knowing where you are going until you book the ticket. After I was told I was off to Zürich, I had my doubts. Although I had alwazs wanted to visit the city, I was afriad of bad weather, cost and not seeing something new.

That, however, turned out to not be the case. Switzerland was everything that I wanted it to be. The people were overwhelmingly friendly and helpful even if our language barrier (their Swiss German in its spoken form is almost inconceivable to the rest of the German speaking community) sometimes got in the way. After a pleasant smile and a a short description in high German of what I needed, they much obliged and provided the service in a friendly manner. Instead of the typical "danke schön" used in the rest of the German speaking area, one uses the French "merci." I like it. I have the luck of having a former student of mine currently living in Zürich. Felix and his wife were helpful and introduced the city to me.

I was quite lucky to find accomodations in Zürich using the Hotel Reservation Service. For four nights in a nice hotel I paid only €200....bargain basement. This included a room with a balcony view of the mountains around Zürich. I can certainly recommend Hotel Leoneck. Don't be put off by the Craz Cow mantra they have going on. It is said that Zurich is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I'd probably agree with that. Food is terribly expensive there and one could expect to pay at minimum of 25 Euros per meal per person even for the most basic of meals. However, it was worth it.

Warm weather and sunny blessed my time in Switzerland. From the Zurich lakefront one can see the snow covered Alps and really enjoy the view of the city. Lake Zurich is beautiful and you must take a trip on the lake by boat when there. Unlike cities in neighboring countries, Zurich is almost completely intact. Switzerlands strict neutral policy has benefited the country like none other. You can tell that the city is in good condition and will most likely stay this way another 100 years.

Zurich is surrounded by plenty of small cities, mountains and other natural areas. I took a day trip on Easter Sunday to some of the surrounding mountains and went hiking. I really enjoyed myself and the views of the city and the lake which were offered up to me. I had the opportunity to meet some locals who expressed their views of their country, Europe and their place in the world. Globalization hasn't escaped Switzerland either and there is some growing pressure for greater integration into the European community. The Swiss pride themselves on their independence and I hope they contniue to embrace their independent streak.

Zurich is not a city which stresses you. The trams run like clockwork on time and with amazing efficency. The city is clean and orderly, maybe even too orderly and clean. If you find yourself stressed in Switzerland its unlikely to be because of your urban environment.

Eurovision + more

Its a Saturday evening and I'm watching on German television the 54th annual Eurovision contest. For those who are not familiar with EV, think of it as a glorified, four hour long American Idol in horrendous outfits and choreography designed by your Aunt Gertrude. Not to mention the linguistic variety. Sadly, Germany is only fourth from the bottom. At the first though of spending my Saturday evening watching EV, I laughed. However, as it turns out, I'm having eye problems this evening and I'm wearing my five year old glasses so going out wasn't much of an option. As I'm eating dinner and watching Eurovision, I couldn't help but begin to enjoy the kitch and campiness of it all. The music wasn't all bad even though the themes are (love, pain, tonight is the night) redundant. My favourite part of the evening still goes to American singer, Oscar Loya, representing Germany and his choice for pants. My retinas are still burning. I can't find a picture but the shiny pants certainly got my vote. The Norwegian star who is my age and sings about "when I was young...." is certainly going to win...but he was the favourite to begin with. Eurovision cracks me up. Where else can you get so much kitsch? My next job will be teaching English to the Eurovision hosts and contestants.

You can watch the Norway song here.

My time in Aachen is most likely coming t a close. My special foreigners tax status will be ending at the end of July and although I've ben offered a slight raise and contract extension, I'll probably move on. Where to is still in the air, but time will tell. I'm hoping to stay in Germany but that might not be possible.

As a worker in Germany May and June are perhaps my favourite months. Not only is the weather much more enjoyable as the Spring begins to set in, there are also four public holidays in six weeks. FOUR! May 1st-"Tag der Arbeit" their version of Labour Day (May Day), May 21st "Christi Himmelfahrt" which I think is something to do with Ascension Day, June 1st is "Pfingsten" is Pentecost and June 11th (only in North-Rhein Westfalen) is "Fröh Leichnam" which the best I can come up with is "Happy cadaver day." Sadly, no more holidays until October (Day of German unity) and if it lands on a Saturday (which it does) too bad...no holidays for you. I'm doing a bit of traveling during this time, of course. I'm off to France and perhaps to visit some friends in Dresden in June. If thery'e not available, I'll go somewhere else.

If I can't stay in Germany, I'm going to be quite sad. I enjoy the finer German things in life. Good bread, good healthcare, good coffee and speaking/listening to German. My next job will have to do something with German(y) for sure.

Travel the distance

I love living in Europe.

Nothing is too far away. Drive in any direction and in two hours you are someplace different, new, exciting. Perhaps you are in a different country, different language, culture, etc. In my case, I only drive 10 minutes and I am in The Netherlands or 15 minutes to Belgium.

May is the month of France. Bensacon, Strasbourg and Paris.

I'm driving to all three. Three hours to Paris. Four to Bensacon.

Love it.

Joooooooooob hunting

Dear Jobs in German-American foreign policy and Transatlantic studies,

Please make yourself known, immediately.

I prefer that you need me in Berlin but would also accept jobs in Vienna, Zürich and maybe Washington. Really anywhere in Germany I'd accept.

Come out come out wherever you are!

Love,
Christopher

ps-Don't require a masters degree. I don't have one...yet...but tis on the way

Life was more than an event

I'm well aware of my lack of updates lately.

Topics due to be written about:
-My trip to Switzerland
-Upcoming trip to France
-Swine Flu?

Perhaps I'll be inspired by something soon. We'll see.