Swiss updates
Well, I've finally found a computer which I'm allowed to use, so, for the curious out there, here's how it's been so far. (If you don't know what this is all about: I've been recently awarded a scholarship for working on my diploma project in Switzerland).
First, we left Cluj-Napoca Monday night, with a minibus, going for Budapest. We got there surprisingly fast (at about 3:30 AM) which left us waiting for our plane for an estimated 9 hours. After sitting / sleeping / eating / watching a movie on a laptop / exploring / getting bored to death / etc. for nine hours, we got the additional bonus of a delayed flight.
The plane, which was scheduled for 11:45 actually took of at about 12:45. The flight attendant apologized for the delay, saying that there was a technical problem with another plane, and they were filling in, and they had just rushed over from Paris(!). Interesting things about the plane:
- I had never seen before so many people stuffed so closely together. The words describing the "economy class" from a movie sounded in my mind: Oh my, they stuff you in here like cattle! I couldn't describe it better myself.
- The captain (who was also flying the plane) was a woman. Before this, I couldn't have imagined a woman pilot, flying on commercial airlines, but, hey, if a man can do it, why wouldn't a woman? Rest assured, the flight went smoothly, and one hour and a half later, we were safely landing in Geneva.
We didn't actually get to see Geneva, since the train station is in the same (huge) building as the airport. Anyway, the nice thing (for me) was that they all spoke French over there, so I could understand everything. People seemed very nice: while waiting for the train, we started eating our sandwiches, and a lady passing by smiled at as and wished us "Bon apetit!". Nice. You don't get that in Romania.
After the train got there, we climbed aboard. Another shock (for me, at least): we had gotten 2-nd class tickets, and the wagon was looking more like a living-room that a train wagon. If you don't know what I mean, email me, and I'll post some pictures of Romanian trains, so you can feel better about your country (assuming it's not Romania :-) ). In the train, more nice people: the guys that did the cleaning stormed in, and before we realized what happened, they had cleaned the entire wagon. When we handed him the wrapping from our sandwiches, the cleaner almost yelled "MERCI!" and moved on. Once again, you don't get that in Romania.
When we were leaving Geneva, we could see the residential neighborhoods of the city, and I must say they reminded us of home: large blocks of flats, stuffed together. We didn't see those anywhere else (at that density), though.
The train ride went smoothly (we could barely even hear the train). Before each station, we could hear a recorded voice telling us the name of the station, in up to 3 different languages. The Swiss seem to pay attention to details: the order of the languages was French, German, English in Geneva, and after Bern, it changed to German, French (no more English, IIRC), according to the language spoken in the area. Nice.
Three hours later, (and 34 hours since I had last slept), we entered Zurich. Nice big train station. It's called "Hauptbahnhof", which stands for "Nice Big Train Station" in German. :-) (Well, not really. It stands for "the main train station", but it sounds better in my version ;-) ).
Cristi (a Romanian coleague, currently studying here) waited for us at the station, and he showed us to the hostel. On the bus to the hostel: surprise, two Romanians. At the hostel: more Romanians. It seems we have quite a diaspora here. I wonder how the natives feel about us.
The hostel is surprisingly large, and it's full of people of all kinds of nations, but that will be another blog, another day, because I'm beat now. Pictures will soon follow, but only about next week, since I have to hack the gallery script, and I don't have time for that right now.
Thanks for reading, and good night!
