Hi Everyone!

 

From the moment that I came to Switzerland about a month ago, there has been almost zero time to relax or sit back. Weekdays are a constant balancing act between figuring out how to live by myself in a foreign country, adjusting to the academic system here, and making new friends. While weekends have been just as busy, as attempting to make the most out of every single minute of traveling isn’t always easy.

Therefore, due to the last few weeks being hectic for myself and everyone else, my group of friends and I chose to find somewhere where we could finally unwind. Luckily for us, finding a place suited for relaxation wasn’t difficult at all because Switzerland is filled with woods, mountains, lakes, and other serene nature attractions.

After only a little bit of searching, we chose Viznau, a tiny town of 1,000 people that is on a lake and encircled by vast mountains. Just to get there we had to take three different trains and a bus because of how remote the town is. To add to that, our villa for the weekend was a 45 minute walk from the town, which made it completely isolated. That evening and night that we spent at the Villa was exactly what I needed to recoup from the intensity of the prior weeks. All we did was appreciate the view, cook a big meal for all of us, and hang out. The whole time there wasn’t any sound but the one coming from our voices and the music we were playing. All in all, it was one of the most carefree days in my entire life.

I would’ve stayed there for forever if I could, but we had to be a little more productive in our touristic endeavors. Therefore, on Sunday we took a train from Viznau up to Mount Rigi, a popular mountain in the area. The train ride lasted about an hour and had increasingly more spectacular views the higher that we went up.

 

 

 

At the top of the mountain, we were greeted with the most spectacular view of all: a breathtaking panorama of mountains. We took it all in for about an hour, taking as many pictures as possible and trying to comprehend the beauty of what we were looking at.

 

To top off an already extremely relaxing weekend full of remarkable views, we spent the rest of the day in a spa on the top of the mountain. Not only was the spa itself much better than any I have ever been too, there was an outdoor heated pool that overlooked all of the mountains. 

The hard part of having such a calm weekend is going back to the busy life of an exchange student after. However, despite not always having much down time, these last few weeks have been some of the best of my life. Whether its trying to order food at a restaurant when the server doesn’t speak English, catching up on Finance homework, or being in a spa on the top of the mountains, I have loved it all.

 

Radek

Hallo aus der Schweiz! (Hello from Switzerland!)

 

One of the many perks of studying in Switzerland is its location in Central Europe. There are multiple countries that are only a few hours or less away, which means the possibilities for trips are endless. Last weekend, my friends and I decided to take full advantage of that by going to Konstanz, a small town in Germany and only a hour train ride from where we live.      

 

Unfortunately, Konstanz is right by the Swiss border, which means that it is very similar to what I’ve gotten used to in Switzerland. While studying abroad I hope to experience many different kinds of cultures and people while traveling and Konstanz didn’t provide much of that. There were many of the exact same stores that I see in Switzerland and the people even spoke with a similar Swiss-German dialect.

However, even though  I may not have gotten the full German experience that I craved, the town made up for that in multiple ways and it was more than a worthwhile trip. To start, everything was much cheaper than it is in Switzerland. I had already heard of Swiss people going to Germany just to grocery shop, but I didn’t think that there could be such a drastic change in prices. Luckily, our train ride back to Switzerland was late at night, which meant that we could save money on lunch, coffee, and dinner while in Germany. Not only did everything cost about half as much as it would in Switzerland, it was some of the best food and coffee I’ve had while being abroad so far. For Lunch and then later for coffee, we went to the most popular café in town called Pano. The food drew us in, but the intimate atmosphere of the place gave us no choice but to stay there for a few hours. To top off an  already amazing food day, for dinner we went to the most authentic German restaurant we could find and I had a Weiner Schnitzel. It was satisfying to come back to Switzerland that night without an empty stomach or wallet.

 

Aside from eating and drinking coffee, my friends and I spent much of the day walking around and trying to see as much of the town as possible. Konstanz was filled with fantastic architecture and streets, and it being situated on a lake didn’t hurt at all either. Half of the fun of traveling comes from just that, exploring the towns you go to and discovering various unique features. The other half of the beauty of traveling comes from being able to connect with the people that you travel with. I may someday forget some of the towns that I see while being abroad, but I’ll never forget all the memories I make. The day trip to Konstanz was filled with carefree moments that I’ll always remember.

 

Konstanz was the first of many possible day trips that I’ll be able to have while studying in Switzerland. However, for the meantime it’s back to school and living in Winterthur. I’m slowly starting to adjust to the Swiss system of academics and I’m thrilled to share my experiences from that standpoint in future blogs.

 

Till next time,

Radek

 

 

 

Hoi!

After arriving in Winterthur, the town that I’m living in, and quickly getting accustomed to the local area, my new friends and I decided it was time for our first trip. Since we only had the weekend and we hadn’t seen much of Switzerland yet, we chose to go to Luzern. Luzern is a small, scenic town in central Switzerland, and only about a two hour train ride from Winterthur.

Despite Luzern being a somewhat common place for people to visit in Switzerland, I didn’t expect much going into the trip. I’ve already planned many other trips to more popular tourist destinations  throughout Europe, so the quick visit to Luzern felt like more of a warm-up than a trip of a lifetime. However, I couldn’t have been any more wrong as Luzern ended up exceeding any expectations that I had and being a place I’ll always remember.

On Saturday morning, my friends and I arrived in Luzern with absolutely no idea what to do or what to see. Besides for the hotel that night and the train ride back, we hadn’t planned anything in advance.

When we started to walk around the town, I was immediately captivated by all of the views Luzern had to offer. Every single street was fascinating and we walked around the town for hours, only stopping to get sweets and coffee at a Café or to look inside one of the fancy stores that Luzern is filled with.

Besides having dazzling streets and being a shopper’s dream, the town also sits on a lake, with two famous bridges that go across it. We crossed the bridges multiple times without ever getting tired of looking at the incredible place that surrounded us. Most people likely just walk across the bridge once or twice, but the feeling that it gave me was something that I wanted to have over and over.

The bridges and all of the streets in the town were extraordinary and already enough to make the trip worthwhile, but that wasn’t even close to the highlight of the trip. The best part came when we decided to take a risk and venture into the unknown.

From the moment my friends and I got to Luzern, all of us noticed a white palace-like building that overlooked the entire town. The building looked like something straight out of a Disney movie and we took turns coming up with theories of what it could actually be. We eventually found out it was a hotel, but we still had no idea how to get up there or whether it was even possible. In the end, we decided to just figure it out for ourselves.

After trying to get up to the hotel a few different ways, we finally found a small trail that we thought led up to it. Thankfully, at the end of the trail was the hotel, but also the best view that I’ve ever seen in my life. My friends and I stood there for about an hour taking in the panoramic scenes of the entire town.  Not only did we get a view of a lifetime, we also went into the hotel and had coffee and dessert. Being in the hotel made feel like royalty, as it was just as grand and luxurious inside as it appeared to be from the outside. My friends and I sat there for a couple of hours and connected with each other, all while still being able to see the whole town from our table.  

It wasn’t until after the trip  that I looked online at what to do in Luzern. Ironically, I found lists filled with museums and excursions that we didn’t do and not a single mention of the hotel or the views from it. It made me realize that you shouldn’t always do what is advertised the most or what tourists usually do in a particular city or town. Sometimes, you have to take a chance because you never know what you could discover.

Aside from the trip to Luzern, day to day life has been tremendous as well. I’m currently writing this blog while having a Cappuccino in one of my favorite spots in Winterthur, Locanda Trivisano, after just taking a class in Portfolio Theory. The trip was truly memorable, but living here in Winterthur and being an exchange student is something I’ll hopefully never take for granted.

I look forward to writing more about my daily life here in Winterthur in future blogs and showcasing all of the aspects of studying abroad.

Till then,

Radek

 

 

 

Hallo Leute! (Hi Guys!)

 

After a long Winter break, I finally arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday to study abroad at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Although the main campus of the school is in Zurich, the business school and where I’ll be living is in Winterthur, a town of 110,000 people and a 20 minute train ride from Zurich.

Since moving in a few days ago, I’ve already made new friends from all over the world and explored Winterthur as much as possible. Winterthur is a cozy European town filled with many friendly people, coffee shops, and places to get delicious Swiss chocolate. I’ve quickly fallen in love with discovering new small side streets that are everywhere in the town and seeing what each has to offer.

Even though I’ll probably never get bored of walking around the town itself, the best part of Winterthur might be the scenery and nature that surrounds it. Twice I’ve gone on long hikes through the beautiful forest trails and taken in all of the sights. Both trails offered picturesque views overlooking the town and I was able to get an idea of how fascinating and vast the Swiss wilderness is. Hiking also provided a great way to connect with the people that I’ve met and make some great memories. 

Along with enjoying Winterthur, my friends and I also took the 20 minute train ride one of the days to visit and walk around Zurich. While Winterthur is more of a peaceful town where only locals live, Zurich is a bigger city full of attractions for tourists. For the most part we walked along Bahnhofstrasse, which is the equivalent of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The street goes through the entire city and ends at Lake Zurich, a gorgeous lake that overlooks the city.

We decided to grab coffee and sweets at Sprüngli, one of Zurich’s most popular cafes. Luckily, we were one of the last groups of people to get a table and as we left there was a long line out the door. Sometimes famous places may be a bit too overhyped, but the coffee exceeded all of the expectations that I had. Even though we were in Zurich for much of the day, there is still a lot more to see and I’m excited to visit the city many more times as I study here.  

Tomorrow I begin the next step of studying abroad as orientation begins. I’m eager to meet even more people that are studying at the school and to begin to get a feel for the school from an academic standpoint. It will be intriguing to see how much things differ from Loyola and how I’ll be able to adjust.

 

Till next time!

Radek