Final post for awesome Switzerland

Final report of awesome Switzerland

The time in Switzerland is completely over now; I have been back in the U.S. for two weeks now. The new semester has started at my university and many new exciting things are to come. But for now, I want to look back on the times spent in Zurich and all the other places in Switzerland. For a nine week program, a lot of experiences were packed into every week. At the beginning, I came early, a few days before the BUSS program started so that I could adjust and visit a few friends and family before everything started. The first day was the hardest to adjust because of the jet lag and being in a completely new place. However, after that first day things got a lot better. I found the places to buy cheaper food that was still pretty much gourmet for American standards; Migros, my favorite. My circadian rhythm acclimated to the sun’s schedule. And I became acquainted to the innovative research going on at ETH/Uni Zurich. After almost a week later of my arrival I finally was introduced to the biology undergraduate summer school and the cool people involved. And since then, there has always been something to do. The day was dedicated to research and learning new techniques in the laboratory. The late afternoon and evening was used for recreation and time spent getting to know each other in the program. A typical sunny day, we would get off work at around 6 pm or so and head over to the river, Limmat or the lake. The scenery was beautiful during these times and is something that vividly sticks out in my memory even now. Swimming in probably the cleanest city water in the world on a hot summer day and find that snow-capped colossal mountains are waving at you in the background. Yeah, those were some good times. Most of the people in the program were extremely easy to talk to and get along with. They all had a science background and were very intelligent. And everyone was excited about life and had so many aspirations which was refreshing to see. One of the earlier weekends a group of about 5 of us went to Interlaken and Grindelwald. We camped in a barn full of hay and had amazing farmer’s breakfast the next morning for an unbeatable price. No joke, their everyday food in Switzerland is about as good as the gourmet special occasion food in America. Anyways, the mountains are an eyesight over there. No wonder the Swiss people always seemed in good spirits.
The week after Interlaken, there was the trip to Santis peak close to the Borden see and Germany. This was also an unforgettable experience because we got to do some Swiss sport climbing. Now, these were the only routes I climbed in Switzerland regrettably, but I’m sure all of the other cliffs are just as good. In my opinion, the climbing routes were very well protected and safe and easily set up to do single or multi pitched climbs. And the variety of styles and difficulty even on that one cliff looked immense. Then there was the trip to Bern, sponsored by Think Swiss. This was a great experience and I appreciated how they wanted to pour knowledge and understanding of the Swiss culture and history into the students. They are excited about diversifying American and Swiss students and exposing them to different ideas and cultures. The visit to Einstein’s home and the original clock tower of Bern were just a few of the things that the Embassy and Think Swiss planed out for us. The coolest thing for me in Switzerland was the amazing church I became apart of during the summer time. International Christian Fellowship was full of diverse, happy, loving people that were ready to be a blessing to the rest of the world. This was truly inspirational and gave me so much strength and motivation to do all the things that I do.
The consensus, I love Switzerland and the rich culture there and I look forward to working there and with the people there to progress and reconcile the world.