We're baaaccck! Back from our trip to the beautiful country of Switzerland. This was such an amazing experience. We crammed a lot of travel and education in with a ton of fun and relaxing. Though I was a little concerned about going with a group that was 75% male (and of the subset of students, it was 92% male, most of which I didn't know that well going into it), I ended up having what was easily one of my most memorable trips. Surprisingly, structural engineering grad students are lively, hilarious, sweet (at times), and of course really really nerdy (usually in a good way). So here are my greatest takeaways from the trip...
Language
One of the coolest things about Switzerland is its diversity in culture and language. The feel in Riva (Italian)was completely different from Montreux (French) which was completely different from Zurich (rich...and German). Each area had such a distinct personality. This isn't necessarily much different from any other country, but since this was only my second trip to Europe, it made me have a real appreciation for the beauty of the different languages.
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| View 1 from our apartment in Riva San Vitale... |
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| View 2 from our apartment! |
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| Me and the Freddie Mercury statue in Montreux |
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| Beautiful Zurich |
Education
OK so admittedly, I was excited about the prospect of going to Switzerland and Italy and I was certainly interested in seeing the bridges, but I was pretty lukewarm on the thought of visiting structures labs. But since this was first and foremost a work trip, I kept an open mind. So even though I had my moments of grumpiness...
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| No really...I love touring labs. |
...it was an amazing experience. Here's a little taste of what we saw...and even though these look fake, at times, these are my actual photographs. :)
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| Nanin and Cascella Bridges |
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| Sunniberg Bridge |
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| Salginatobel Bridge |
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| Letziwald Bridge |
Food
I was probably most excited about the food, and it didn't disappoint. What's not to like? Cheese? Good. Fresh baked bread? Good. Chocolate? Great. Beer and wine? Fantastic.
What's apparently even better? The Doner Kebab.
And what happens when you put them all together? You get the Epic Doner...
(Video courtesy of YouTube and the CEBs)
Experience
On our last day, as we were enjoying ridiculously expensive glasses of wine in Zurich at a little dive bar/cafe near our hotel, ProMo and I reflected on what our favorite experiences were.
Of course, the day that we toured and saw all the amazing bridges was one of ProMo's highlights...he was like a kid on Christmas morning with every bridge we drove up to... but I was surprised to hear that the daily evening trips to the bar in Riva was actually what he would take away as his greatest memory of the trip.
The sun didn't set until around 10 PM there, and our "family" dinners at the villa were usually over by 7. The bar was small, friendly, and always had enough seats for our group. They loved playing "American" music when we'd show up which consisted of two CDs: the 80's hair band CD and the current pop/dance/techno CD.
A typical evening would consist of sitting outside, ordering "una birra" (0.5 L) every few minutes, devouring the free snacks they gave us (ranging from the best cheesy poofs ever, to salami, to cake-like bread for dessert), having usually great, but occasionally heated, conversation, and just enjoying the world around us.
Overall, the trip made me so thankful that we had the resources and ability to experience it, but at the same time, it made me wish we could do something like that more often. It was beautiful but crazy, exhausting and exhilarating, decadent yet occasionally minimalist, but always memorable.
arrivederci e grazie
au revoir et merci
Auf Wiedersehen und danke
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| The hills are alive... |
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