Blog #15: Last Details and a Little Fun

Blog #15: Finals Week in Zurich (6/28/2005 to 7/3/2005)

The last few days have been fun and good. I have actually studied… I think for the first time all semester. I have a few more days of that and then no more for quite a while! I still do not know how I feel about actually finishing school. I have already started a list of things that I may want to take as night classes, namely, I have developed quite a need to know more languages than English in the last few months. German, French, Spanish and Australian are currently on the list. Maybe I will take a cooking class, too. We shall see.

The first final and the first last class were not the best I have ever had. Our presentation could have been better and the final exam… you guessed it: it could have been better. It is, however, over. That is important. I ran down to the Hauptbahnhof, Zurich’s train station, to meet Alex. If you remember from Blog #13, she is the Aussie girl I met in Munich. I had finally suckered someone into visiting me in Zurich! Actually, it was quite nice to repay the backpacking community by hosting someone with a free floor to sleep on since I have crashed at other people’s places for so many nights. In fact, Alex was great. We had a lot of fun and I had the opportunity to see some things in Zurich that I would not have, otherwise.

The first thing to know about Alex is that she is Australian, but Greek by heritage. I actually asked her if her life is like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and she had to admit that, while the movie was a bit extreme, there was a nugget of truth in it. The second thing is that she is serious about food. She worked at a food magazine in Australia for five years. Now while I may have been able to fool some of you out there into thinking that I know what I am doing in the kitchen, I knew that this young lady would see right through my home-grown knowledge. As a matter of fact, my strange tuna pasta leftovers that I had just thrown together did receive accolades, but that does not mean that I was not on my toes in the kitchen around this professional. The other night we made some really good pork with green salad. All in all, I managed to not land flat on my face in the kitchen, so I was happy.

We went out for a walk in the city to see all the popular stuff. We strolled the Bahnhofstrasse, the street where you can buy your Rolex and Armani, down to the Lake of Zurich and up through the residential areas. This is where my excellent tour guide skills failed me. My excuse is that I did not have my compass with me. I think it was a latent desire to prove to Alex that compasses are good companions for travelers. So we were walking, and walking, and walking. Finally, not willing to admit that I was tired of walking, Alex suggested we catch the tram. We found the next tram station, I deciphered the map and judged that we could actually walk uphill faster than we could take the tram back to town, since the tram did not go straight uphill. So this was a failed attempt to reach home, as well. One thing this venture proved to both of us is that you do not have to go very far in Zurich before you are in the wilderness. After thinking we had reached our destination, we had actually reached the end of the line for the tram we had decided to not take because it would take so long. We finally found a grocery store so we could eat that night and made it home, weary from a good day of walking.

On Thursday we experienced the great Lindt Let-Down. Lindt is a very popular Swiss chocolate made here in Zurich. While we were told we could not see the factory, we made it to the headquarters so we could see the one-room museum and hope to taste some of the chocolate. After about an hour of travel time, we arrived at Lindt. The construction was a foreboding clue, but… you guessed it… the museum was closed. It was quite appropriate since it was the only thing Alex actually wanted to do in Zurich, other than visit yours truly. We were given some excellent (chocolate) parting gifts that all but appeased our sense of loss. It was really funny, though, because Alex has an old family friend who works in marketing at Lindt. OK, this is a chocolate factory… his name is John Candy. That is funny. Admit it. He was in a meeting and we were unable to meet him, but we left a note and headed back to Zurich for lunch.

As we waited in the train station for our train to Zurich, we inspected a particularly sketchy (that’s Australian for “questionable”) looking vending machine. Other than selling AA batteries, this machine contained iced tea. This was not just any iced tea. No, no, you couldn’t have that in Switzerland. It was flavored with Swiss cannabis. Yeah. This stuff came in a cardboard “can” and we had to get a picture of Alex posing with the drink and vending machine. Alex claims she could not tell the difference in taste, but she did not grow up near the South where people know how to make iced tea. Imagine iced tea that had been used to wash your dirty socks. I do not suggest this: it does not clean the socks and does not help the tea.

To continue in theme that this was a day for drinks, we found a shop later in the day that actually sold Dr. Pepper! Alex spotted it because we had talked about how I had been unable to find it in Europe and she thinks it tastes like medicine. I do not understand why people say that—it must be psychological because of the name. I paid about $2.50 for a 12-oz can, but it was worth it. It’s Dr. Pepper! I even posed for a picture in front of the store with my prize. Just when I thought Europe was uncivilized, they surprise me yet again.

We met up with Cho in Zurich for lunch. We were in search of Thai food, but we (and by “we” I mean Cho) did not know exactly where this place was located. After searching and asking, then asking again, we found a Thai place that was, by Zurich’s standards, reasonably priced and very tasty. We then wandered around this great walking district and hit a couple second-hand stores. As with most things in Zurich, these stores are amazing, albeit exorbitantly priced.

My second last class was good. It was short. There was one group presentation and our professor wrapped up with a few short lecture notes and closing statements. I really enjoyed this class… I just hope it likes me back!

After spending Saturday packing and wrapping up some loose ends, I went with Cho and Ben, our German friend, so see War of the Worlds. Not a bad movie, but I do not see it winning a Movie of the Year award. Just call it a hunch. There was a narration by Morgan Freeman and a really creepy, short part by Tim Robbins. We wrapped up the evening with more Thai food at the place we had discovered with Alex on Thursday.

Now we come to the end. I am turning in my key to my dorm room today. I have two more weeks to jaunt around Europe before I head home to the good old U.S. of A. I have loved my time here, have met some great people and learned quite a lot, but I will not regret returning home. I have learned the value of being able to buy whatever I want, at anytime of the day, at Walmart. I will probably stand speechless for 5 minutes in front of the first clothes dryer I see. A tear may even form in my eye. I will eat more Mexican food than should be humanly possible. I will buy Dr. Pepper because it is cheaper than water or beer. I will turn the air conditioning on full-blast and freeze my fingers and toes, just because I can. I will go to a restaurant, drink a coffee and talk as loudly as I want because there is no touchy Viennese lady at the next table who can “hear everything I am saying.” And if there is: we are in America and you can move to another table, thank you very much. I will not pay to use a toilet. Period.

In the next couple weeks I will try to make the most of my time in Europe. I leave Zurich today and will fart around in Switzerland for a couple days before I have to be in Geneva for a final I am taking early. Here is my schedule (subject to some change) for the last couple weeks before I return home.

Sunday 7/3 leave Zurich, Lucern
Monday 7/4 To Lugano
Tuesday 7/5 Lausanne
Wednesday 7/6 Geneva (exam at 3:15)
Thursday 7/7 Berlin
Friday 7/8 Berlin
Saturday 7/9 Berlin
Sunday 7/10 Brugge, Belgium
Monday 7/11 Brugge
Tuesday 7/12 Paris
Wednesday 7/13 Paris
Thursday 7/14 Paris
Friday 7/15 Normandy
Saturday 7/16 London
Sunday 7/17 London
Monday 7/18 London
Tuesday 7/19 fly to KC
Wednesday 7/20 Home

Feel free to email me while I am on the road. I have a tentative schedule for my trip to Oklahoma and Texas at the end of July. Here it is…..

Location To Do
Tuesday 7/19 Missouri Arrive late
Wednesday 7/20 Springfield Crash
Thursday 7/21 Springfield
Friday 7/22 Springfield
Saturday 7/23 Springfield
Sunday 7/24 To DFW
Monday 7/25 San Antonio Dr. Ingram
Tuesday 7/26 Houston
Wednesday 7/27 Houston Big get-together at Wen's
Thursday 7/28 Houston
Friday 7/29 Houston
Saturday 7/30 Houston/Conroe
Sunday 7/31 Tulsa Libby
Monday 8/1 Tulsa Around town, Andrew
Tuesday 8/2 Springfield
Wednesday 8/3 Springfield Pack to move
Thursday 8/4 Rolla Dan, Wilsons
Friday 8/5 Chicago
Saturday 8/6 Chicago Find Apartment
Sunday 8/7 Chicago
Monday 8/8 Chicago
Tuesday 8/9 Chicago
Wednesday 8/10 Chicago Work


Pictures from Finals Week in Zurich: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2124410263&code=16919216&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite