Sechselauten

Well it's April and I'm in Zurich yet again. Only this time there's a twist: it's to be my second-to-last research visit. I'm a natural born sap (Fi's words, not mine) so naturally my otherwise aimless wanders about town have now metamorphed into semi-melancholic strolls along the lake and narrow alley-ways. And I finally grow to appreciate the beauty of this city.

Soon to be stripped of it's "yeah, I do my research in Zurich so I have to like, go there, ALL the time"-status, it gradually loses it's sharp edges and starts to take on semi-romantic allures...

*snorts a laugh*

Yeah right!

It's still an overpriced city where no foreign student could ever survive. Where no random stranger will engage in a conversation with you and where you're greeted with pity upon wandering into a restaurant on your tod. And it's still a cringfully *trendy* place-to-be. The kind where you have to add a thousand complicated and pointless specifications to order a simple cup of coffee. (Semi-skinned-double frothed-decaf-mocha-frappucino.... really, do we have to??? GROUND BEANS WITH HOT WATER!!!)

Don't worry. I have issues.

As cities go, this is still one of the better ones though. The type where you can easily still make it through the day without the irresistable urge to disinfect your hands and face every five seconds. The lake IS gorgeous, the alley-ways ARE quite romantic and the people I've worked with are highly enjoyable companions. So in that respect, I will quite miss it :)

If anything, it's an amusingly quaint place. Where else in the world would they celebrate the start of spring by burning a snowman? And predict the "greatness" of the summer ahead by the time elapsed before the snowmans head explodes? If you think I'm making this up, look at the proof below. It is also the reason why I'm stuck for things to do this afternoon, as my experiments are finished and all the shopkeepers, museumguards and restaurantiers have bummed off to watch the snow melt. I suppose I COULD always go join them...