ThinkSwiss trip to Bern July 29, 2009

Hello, Bonjour and Sälü zämä,

On July 29, many of you ThinkSwiss researchers will take part on a trip to Bern. I hope you will all enjoy it. It is a great opportunity to meet many interesting people: your sponsors from Presence Switzerland and the State Secretariat for Research and Education, people from the U.S. Embassy and last but not least your fellow ThinkSwiss researchers from all over the U.S.

ThinkSwiss participants on the trip:
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship awardees: Ishita, Jason, Matan, Julian, Yee Hoong, Erin, Jonathan and his wife Kristin from Lausanne; Rebecca from Geneva; Brett, Tom, Martin, Katlin and Rob from Zurich.

Travel Grants awardees at the Summer Research Program at EPFL: Stephanie, Amy, Liza and Hallie.

Travel Grants awardees at the Biology Undergraduate Summer School in Zurich: Chantal, Jen, Shane, Heather and Alexander.

Don’t forget:
To print out and bring along your e-ticket, half fare card (if you have one) and a picture ID to get into Embassy. There’s no dress code, casual clothing is ok.

Enjoy Bern!
Bern is my hometown, where I’ve lived for the last seven years. So I hope you will like this place as much as I do.

My three favorite spots in Bern:

• The “Pläfä” , which is the platform in front of the cathedral (Münster) overlooking the river Aare. A beautiful spot to just hang out and relax.
• The Old Tramdepot, down by the bear pits. This used to be the place where streetcars were stored, but now it is one of the best places to drink a beer in Bern. They have their own homebrew and the view from their terrace onto the old city is great.
• The river Aare. Anywhere along the Aare is great! I think in summer I love Bern mainly because of this nice river. For a little stroll along the river you probably best walk upstream from the bear pits.
  

Have fun,

Ursina
Office of Science, Technology and Higher Education
Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.

P.S. At the moment there are no bears in the bear pits. Pedro, the last bear in these pits died recently :( and the new ones are waiting for a nice big bear park down by the river, which is still under construction.