Chapter One

New home

Departure: Philadelphia, 30 June, 6:15 PM
Arrival: Zurich (via London), 1 July 12:55 PM.

When I left Philadelphia, a lot of the uneasiness I had about leaving came from not having a place to stay in Zurich. Just before departure, I had an email agreement from a guy who hosted travelers in his apartment. There I could stay for at least a couple of days as I looked for a long term place, but it wasn’t until my layover in London that I actually confirmed that, learned the address, and decided on a time to meet him. It was hard to say goodbye to home after such a short period there after graduation. That, coupled with the drawn out stress of getting my visa back before my flight (got it with 36 hours to spare), the very real fear of having no apartment, and my complete lack of German literacy made for a shaky start and anxious travels.

Being in transcontinental transit in that mood was surreal, definitely different from the pure excitement I had last time when I left for Rome. It went pretty quickly in the end, and before I knew it I was buying my ticket into Zurich from the airport; then off the train, in the taxi, and finally upstairs in the apartment with Dominik, the host of the apartment-hostel. The situation turned out to be exactly what I needed: really cheap accommodation and a safe place to keep valuables, all with amenities of a lived-in apartment. It would be home base for 2 nights and three days as I frantically searched for my long-term flat.

Those days spent in limbo were quite difficult and testing. I was for the most part completely alone with the clock ticking before my first day at work. Luckily, the two places that I had arranged to visit via the student housing site I found online were within walking distance of my temporary home, so I did not yet have to wrap my head around the public transit to complete stage one of operation: Zurich. In the end, I looked at two flats over those three days—the only two options I could find—and ended up in one of them. As it turns out, I think I made the right choice: the flat is really nice inside, has a balcony, and the guy from whom I rented it is on a surf vacation to Costa Rica returning when I leave, so perfect timing and a perfect match.

Flat came complete w/ Endless Summer poster; this must be home

Bedroom; nice!

Balcony

Sound corner; I can play with all this

Lester, the guy from whom I rented the flat, was nice enough to leave a lot of his daily living materials for me to use. It was really clutch because I didn’t have to run out to buy sheets, pillows, towels, pots, pans, etc. All that is here, and as if that weren’t enough, he’s letting me use his bike in his absence. Everything in Zurich costs an arm and a leg…nearly had to pay 50chf (about 48 bucks) for a simple adapter to plug my computer into the Swiss outlet. The cheapest pillow I saw, and I looked, was about 75 bucks. So, all that stuff plus a free bike means not only avoiding getting one on my own but also free transit within Zurich for three months. You can bike everywhere, and I plan to.

New ride, complete with flat tire; really light though

So far I guess this sounds nice—pretty pictures, nice apartment. But when you're in a beautiful place and you still find yourself in low spirits, its gets even worse because it feels like you're really blowing it. Those first three days before I took those pretty pictures were nasty. No sleep, jetlagged, constantly sweating, not enough food, and total loneliness. The one real positive in my first three days before ultimately moving into my new flat was meeting Marco for dinner. Marco is a Columbia dad, and we were connected through his daughter Amanda (thanks Amanda!). Marco took me out to dinner on the first night and really did a lot to salvage my mood. I was running wide open on absolutely no sleep, close to no food, and I was pretty worried about getting integrated into what still is a totally different environment. Marco’s architect friend joined us for dinner, and I got some critical tips about day trips and architecture sites in Zurich and the surrounding areas. I had some sort of thinly sliced veal with a special Zurich style potato side for dinner. According to Marco, that dish is Zurich, and it was tasty. He and I will keep in touch I hope throughout my stay and think he'll prove to be the most valuable and helpful resource for me here. I’m excited to get to know him better over the coming months.

Lester was also nice enough to bring me along for his last night in Zurich before his trip. I met a lot of his friends and also got a chance to meet his flatmates who I’m living with now. Before that night I hadn’t decided on taking the apartment, but his friends were really welcoming and nice as we raged amongst the always appreciated but certainly trashy eurotrash, so that really cemented the apartment for me.

View from the balcony

On Saturday, after I finished moving all of my stuff into the apartment, my flatmate Stefan and I went to the river to go swimming and play volleyball. There is a lot of water in Zurich, which is great. The lake is quite close to my house and the river is alive with paths and little places to swim. The spot we went was not actually so little. It ended up being a huge riverside hangout spot that was completely packed with people roasting in the afternoon heat. We jumped off of the bridge into the river along with tons of other Swiss swimmers, and enjoyed the rapid float down with the current. This is common practice—to drop your stuff, walk up the river, jump in, and let the current take you back down to the floats where there are ladders and sun platforms along the edge. Awesome. Stefan and I lost our game of volleyball, but there is potential there and we will look to improve for our next outing.

About 6 minutes away on the bike; it's a lake!

I’ve done a lot more than I’ve described, but all of it has been panic stricken wandering. It is a huge relief to be settled and unpacked in a flat, and as I’ve found out through describing to people I've met the manner in which I got it, I am so lucky to have had things work out like this. Some of Lester’s friends have been searching for an apartment for months now and they still don’t have one. My worries were legitimate, but the chips fell in my favor for round one of this three month effort. Work starts tomorrow, chapter two forthcoming.

Around the corner, as seen from bike