no longer homeless

Well, I'm officially one month in and I can't believe how fast its gone. At the same time, I have learned so much, seen so much, and met so many new people that maybe it does feel like a month.

It took almost a full month, but I finally found an apartment!! I received an email Monday morning from my relocation agent that I got the apartment I wanted in Seefeld! I was more than relieved. I accepted immediately. I haven't done a total count, but I'm sure I viewed 30 apartments over the period of 3 weeks. This, along with countless hours searching on homegate.ch, and all the time spent on the train back and forth to Steinach just to see one apartment a night was really starting to wear on me.

I don't have pictures of the apartment yet, but will post as soon as possible. When I had my viewing the building was still in the process of being completely remodeled. My apartment is on the top floor (4th floor) and is a whopping 43.5 meters squared. It is a studio, but the real attraction is the private access to the roof. So I will have my own roof terrace which has a view of the lake! My friends at work are already asking when the first roof party is going to be and have graciously agreed to come and help put together IKEA furniture (which will be my next adventure). The apartment also has its own washer/dryer, which is a huge plus for apartments in Zurich.

I will get the keys on Friday, July 13th, and plan to move in over the weekend and be out of my temporary apartment by Monday, July 16th. My shipment from the U.S., which is currently being stored at the movers' warehouse in Zurich, will be delivered on Monday morning. I can't wait to have the rest of my clothes/toiletries/etc. All just before I make my first trip home on July 19th! Needless to say, the next couple weeks will be busy, but very exciting!

birthplace of switzerland

Saturday morning, I woke early to meet some friends for a "hike". I use quotations because it wasn't a very strenuous hike, but was a beautiful "walk".

I met Katie (American who works at Deloitte), her fiance Steve (from Switzerland), and their friend Mandy (also American). We then drove about an hour to Flüelen, which is near the birthplace of Switzerland. I was immediately amazed by the views and the beautiful colors of the water. We took a boat ride across the lake and then began our walk back to the car. We stopped throughout to take pictures, feed ducks and a pony, and eat a picnic lunch. The entire hike took almost 3 hours, but was nice and flat. We had plenty of beautiful scenery along the way while walked next to the lake, through tunnels in the mountain, and through fields next to the lake.

Like I said, it was absoultely beautiful.

Here's the beginning of the tunnel we walked through

 

From inside the tunnel

Me rocking my Relay for Life shirt (see more info below)

A momma and 2 baby ducks.

Me, Katie, and Mandy

So, as I mentioned above, I had to wear my Relay for Life shirt on Saturday to support Relay for Life which took place in my hometown this past Saturday. For those that don't know, Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's fundraiser. It is a 24 hour event in which teams raise money and walk all day and all night in honor and memory of those who are fighting or have fought cancer. It is a great event that is very close to my heart. Now, while I could not participate in person this year, I made it a point to do my walking on Saturday. I didn't stop after the hike, I walked all over the city Saturday evening/night and Sunday. If you would still like to donate to this wonderful cause, it's not too late. You can do so at:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?px=14274173&pg=personal&fr_id=37996

Thanks for your support!

rheinfall

After "mastering" the train system this week going back and forth to Steinach, I decided I was up for a little excursion outside of Zurich. Sunday morning I packed my backpack with a sandwich and checked the train schedule and off I went to Rhine Falls (Rheinfall in german). Rhine Falls is just outside of Shaffhausen, which is less than an hour train ride from Zurich. It is the largest waterfall in Europe and was quite impressive (not Niagra Falls impressive, but really neat to see none the less).

After walking on the footbridge over the top of the falls, I took a boat tour down the river and right next to the falls in a boat that looked like this:

Notice all the people standing on the platform over the falls.

And yes, I finished Sunday with an apple tart. Delicious!

In other news, I now have access to American television! Thanks to Minh for setting up the slingbox at my house, I can now control the TV/DVR at my house from my ipad or computer over the internet. Pretty cool and definitely beats watching the same episode of Jersey Shore three times!

steinach

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to see a little bit of the Swiss countryside. At least that's how my boss sold it to me when he let me know that I would be working on a client out of town. The client is located in Steinach, which is on the lake on the Swiss/German/Austrian border. It takes almost 2 hours by train from Zurich. So I had my first Swiss train experience. I managed to make it on the right trains and not get lost which is always a plus. The Swiss pride themselves on their trains ALWAYS being on time. And you really can set your watch to the train time. We stayed in the cutest hotel in the next village over from Steinach, Arbon. There were four members of the team (3 from Zurich and 1 from Basel) that stayed overnight all week, the other two commuted from Zurich for the couple days they came out to the client.

Although I've still never been to Germany or Austria, at least I can say I've now seen them!

 As you can see, there were lots of sailboats on the lake. I took these pictures earlier in the week when it was still a little rainy. Thursday and Friday were really nice and the weekend is going to be nice as well.

As I said earlier, the hotel (Hotel Wunderbar) was really cute. I don't really know how to describe it but "cute" is definitely the word that comes to mind. There were only about 10 rooms, so it had a bed and breakfast feel to it. The decorations were very unique - from the big spoon outside to the natural foosball table. There was a pet bunny that liked to hang out in the garden outside my room. And the food at the hotel restaurant was really fresh and delicious! The four of us had a great time getting to know each other and talking about our cultural differences. One girl is from the french-speaking part of Switzerland, another from Bern (the Swiss-German speaking part), and the guy just transferred from Poland. His German is much better than mine and at times when the girls were trying to help me translate menus, we would resort to Lise translating it into French and then if I understood it then I would teach them the English word. One way or another we made sure I knew what I was eating!

one week mark

Well, I made it past the one week mark! There are quite a few odd things about Zurich that I'm having to learn to get used to. One of the most obnoxious is my computer keyboard:

You probably can't see or wouldn't notice, but the Y and Z keys are switched on Swiss keyboards! There are a bunch of other switches with punctuation marks, but the Y and Z are definitely slowing me down!

Other things I'm having to get used to are not tipping and everything being so expensive! I've been told that waiters and bartenders get paid very well so your "tip" is already included in the cost of the food/drinks. If you have a nice meal it is nice to "round up" to leave a small tip (2-10 CHF depending on the bill) for the waiter, but no tip is required. Also, everything is expensive here. If you sit down at a restaurant (even for a small lunch) it will cost at least 25 CHF. The grocery store and take away lunch places are much more reasonable, but still more expensive than the U.S.

The biggest expense here is renting an apartment. I spent all week searching for apartments, visiting about 12 places and spending countless hours doing online searches. I finally narrowed it down to the area I want to be in, which is called Seefeld. This area is right on the lake and many expats live there. It is also one of the more expensive areas to live. On Thursday night I visited an apartment that I fell in love with. I put in an application Friday, and am waiting to hear back. Renting an apartment in Zurich is a competitive business. There are too many people for the number of apartments, making it very difficult to actually get a place. I've heard that if foreigners don't have a relocation agent they often won't even be considered. Luckily I have an agent that Deloitte hired to help me out.

Since my week was spent engrossed in apartment searches and trying to get a cell phone, by Friday night I was ready for some relaxation. Katie Lawrence (a friend from Deloitte in Cincinnati), "introduced" me to friends of hers that live in Zurich that she had met while living in Bermuda. I went to dinner with them and their neighbors Friday evening in the Old Town area and then went out for drinks afterwards. We had a great time. Katie's friends are both from Canada and their neighbors were from Australia and New Zealand. They gave me a bunch of tips about Zurich and things to do/places to see.

Saturday I tackled the laundry. Thanks to google translator I figured out how to work my washing/drying machine! The drying lacks a little to be desired. I ran an extra dry cycle and the clothes were still a little damp. I hung them throughout the bathroom to finish drying:

I also had to go to the grocery Saturday since all the shops are closed on Sundays (another thing that takes some getting used to). I then went to church. I thought I'd read online that this church nearby (St. Peter and Paul) had an english mass at 4:30 on Saturdays...I guess I read wrong. It was still a beautiful church and I could at least follow along with some prayers although I understood none of the readings or homily. Here is a picture of the outside of the church:

I had heard of an expat get-together at a bar in Seefeld Saturday night and decided to go to see if I could meet some new people. There are many expat websites that I've been exploring this week. A small group had formed by the time I arrived and everyone was really nice. It was a very international group (typical for Zurich). There were some Swiss, Germans, Americans, and French there and everyone spoke english. A couple of us exchanged email addresses and are going to meet up again soon.

When I woke up on Sunday morning it was raining...again...It has rained at some point every day since last Sunday. Saturday night I sprinted from the tram stop to my apartment door because it was pouring and I hadn't taken my umbrella! So, I decided to hop on the tram and head down to the Old Town again and walk around a bit. By the time I got down there the rain had let up. I really love this area as there are no cars allowed on the tiny little streets and its all cobblestone walkways. There are lots of shops, restaurants and bars. Of course all the shops were closed, but it was nice to window shop.

Here is the Spanish restaurant we went to Friday night. The paella was very yummy!

Also in the Old Town I saw a fondue restaurant for the first time since I've been here. Don't ask me what the name (Swiss Chuchi) means. 

Since it was no longer raining I decided to walk home instead of taking the tram. Here were a few of the beautiful sights along the way:

The flag next to the Swiss flag is the flag for the Canton of Zurich.

When I got close to my apartment I stopped at a bakery and treated myself to a croissant for breakfast and a cake with strawberries for a Sunday afternoon delight. Jean-Marie Roux (my french "father") always went to the pastry shop on Sunday mornings and would get us each a breakfast pastry and a dessert of our choice. I really like that tradition and think I am going to continue it here as well.

uetliberg

On Saturday it was absolutely gorgeous out, and some people at work had told me that I should definitely get up to Uetliberg at some point. Uetliberg is a mountain offering panoramic views of the entire city of Zurich. It is part of the Alps chain and rises to 2,864 feet. The native Swiss people at Deloitte ensured me that Uetliberg was not really a mountain (even though berg means mountain in german). Well, after my hike Saturday I am sticking to the literal translation and saying that Uetliberg is most definitely a MOUNTAIN! That's right, I climbed a mountain in the Alps on Saturday! To give you an idea of how high it is, here is a picture I took in Bellevue (by the lake). Do you see the two tiny sticks at the top of that large ´´hill´´? That is a tv antenna (on the right) and a viewing tower (smaller one to the left) at the top of Uetliberg.

My hike up the mountain started with a nice and flat 30 minute walk through beautiful gardens to the base of the mountain and the start of the trail. Then the fun started. The first 5 minutes of the hike up (which I was told would take about 70-90 minutes) were straight uphill and I started sweating. There were people running (yes, running!) past me on the trail. I´m sure they were calling me a fat american in their head as they passed and heard me breathing so heavily. But the trail was beautiful. It winded through the forest and along a creek for awhile.

Although the trail never stopped going uphill, I eventually got into a groove and got my first glimpse of the city of Zurich from above. Another 30 minutes later I realized that the glimpse I saw earlier (which I thought was amazing at the time) paled in comparison to the view from the top of the mountain. But for the best views, I had to climb up the viewing tower (pictured below) which slightly sways in the wind. This is the same tiny little tower in picture above.

Restaurant at the top of the mountain

Lampposts along the trail near the top of the mountain

Pictures cannot do the view justice, but here are a few I took from the top of Uetliberg atop the tower:

City

City and Lake

City and Lake

Lake Zurich

Backside of Mountain - Country

Looking down from top of tower at the top of the mountain. They were getting ready for a wedding which is why there are the white chairs and aisle way.

Me at the top :)

I had a nice little picnic after taking lots of pictures. The hike down took less than 40 minutes. For those of you non-hikers that would like to visit Zurich there is a tram that takes you to the top of the mountain, so no worries!