Einsiedeln, Rowing

Gruetzi! Things have been slow here at work this week, with me just reading things and getting a broad overview, so I will tell you about the places I've been to last weekend. The weather wasn't so ideal...very cold, rainy and misty, and foggy! Saturday I spent the morning rowing on the Eglisau, which is a river that runs very close to the German/Swiss border. It is just beautiful there!! I think I've written this before- that I joined the Seeclub Zurich for my time here so I can continue to row and train. Most of the other rowing clubs in Zurich train on the Zurisee, which we do as well, but the conditions aren't as perfect as they are at Eglisau. On the Zurisee you have to watch out for sailboats, motorboats, and the rather large ships that transport cars and passengers from one side of the lake to the other (so you don't have to drive all the way around). The Zurisee does have some good points though- if you row down far enough, you pass the Lindt Chocolate Factory, and inhale the yummy chocolate smell! Seriously, the smell is incredible...maybe a marketing trick to get you to eat the Lindt chocolate. ;) Above is a picture of the bridge under which the boathouse in Eglisau is- you can just see the very blue/green water!

On Sunday I desperately wanted to go hiking somewhere...but since the weather was being stubborn, I settled for Einsiedeln, which is a little south of Zurich beyond the lake. The views from the train of the lake were impressive enough! The higher in the train we climbed though, the harder it was to see much of anything beyond 50m. Luckily, in Einsiedeln there is a very impressive kloster called Kloster Einsiedeln, and I spent some time exploring inside. The description in my guide book says, "Records of pilgrims flock to the probably finest example of Baroque architecture in Switzerland. A pilgrimage on the Jakobsweg to the Benedictine abbey with the Black Madonna and the monastery is currently experiencing a veritable renaissance." So needless to say, it was impressive!! Inside there were many figures of a Black Madonna- which were different from the many white Madonna figures I have seen in my travels. I asked someone what the significance of this was and was told that many years ago, the Madonna was represented with fair skin, but after time, the soot from the candles dirtied her face to be almost black. After many years, the figures were all cleaned, but the townspeople were so used to the black Madonna that they insisted she be kept with a black face. Hence, the kloster being filled with the black Madonna figures.

On Monday afternoon I had off from work, along with the rest of Stadt Zurich for Knabenschiessen. I met up with other ThinkSwiss researchers (Charlotte and Joseph), and as Charlotte mentioned in her post, the festival was similar to a huge carnival! Lots of delicious things to eat, things to watch, and fun rides to go on. I'm not exactly sure of the history of the Knabenschiessen myself, but Switzerland traditionally has a history of excellent marksmen and sharp-shooters as the men in the army would perch from atop mountains and hills to protect their valleys and country many, many years ago. A twist on this tradition is now called the Knabenschiessen, which is a contest for the youth in Zurich (boys and girls) to practice their shooting skills. Whoever has collected the most points at the end of the competition is crowned "King of the Festival". Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of the competition, as it was held Saturday and Sunday, and Monday was just the handing out of the prizes. But we did see a parade with all the participants, which was cool!

This weekend we're taking on Berg Titlis, which is close to Luzern and Pilatus....it's going to be cold at the top (minus 3 degrees Celsius!), so I'm off to go buy some gloves and a hat!
Have a nice week everyone,
Katherine

Summer School on Nursing Advanced Quantitative Methods at Basel, Switzerland

I really had a fabulous time in Switzerland, even with my bad experience with the airlines and visa issues. The wonderfully opportunity to be in the summer school in Institute of Nursing at the University of Basel, Switzerland did refresh my head with the content of advanced quantitative methodologies, more importantly, gave me hands-on experience on SPSS, especially dealing with raw data and making it to be ready for data analysis. It is very intensive, however, comparing to the gained knowledge, everything worth it.

Through the final poster session, the communication with other students from other countries who had the similar research interests enriched my knowledge in medication adherence. Their work is very impressive. When I saw them using Help-hand in their clinical setting to monitor medication adherence and used it as an intervention tool, as well, I really opened my eyes to what is happening outside the U.S.

Everything's wondeful related to the support of ThinkSwiss and Summer School at University of Basel. I began to drink beer with my colleagues, to which I was not that used. Hanna, a master student from the Institute of Nursing hosted my stay in Basel. She's so nice and considerate. She prepared bicycles for another American student and me to travel to the summer school. Then, I realized I became a local person while I was riding a bicycle. She took us to the barbecue along the Rhine River, where I was introduced to Margret. She hosted my stay in Zurich after summer school, and planned my intensive two-day trip around Switzeraland by train. Living in Swiss family, I was very impressed by their organization of everything. Many cute things were designed to save space, they use every space for its purpose. The timing of the buses and trains is another impressive thing. We knew Switzerland is famous for its watch, but now we know it is also famous for being on time of all the buses and trains. Also, the planned trip by ThinkSwiss in Bern was wonderful, we have scoooters touring the city. I believe everyone has a great night at Bern, even Michelle and I missed the last bus to come back home, we made it back home by walking. Even we kind of worried about our safety, it turned out fine. Safety is also a positive part of Switzerland.

Deb, my fellow doctoral student, and I are both from University of Pittsburgh, same for the two professors teaching in the summer school. We all had some problems travelling to Basel. They had a hard time waiting for the delayed airplane. My major problem is the visa. I will share my experience to prevent other future students getting into the same problem. If you have U.S. passport, you won't get into any trouble as I did. I am a Chinese holding a Chinese passport, I travelled through Paris to Basel. Basel and Geneva airports are special, since these two airports have two sides, one in Switzerland, the other side in France. If I fly from Paris to Basel, I will land in the French side first, this way, I have to have a visa to France, which I didn't have at that time. I called the travel agency and Delta before I travelled, they said I would be fine, they didn't even know this international regulations. I bought my own ticket from Paris to Zurich and took the train to Basel, I didn't realize the same problem occurred when I planned to go back. The institute of nursing and their secretary are very nice to offer me phones to call some local places to tackle the problem. Finally, with the help of ThinkSwiss, I got the visa to France, even I found out they didn't check my visa when I came back in Basel airport. Since I arrived at the airport around midnight, I walked back and forth many times between two countries with legal documents, thinking of my hard time in making this travel. Anyway, that's the only bad part for my trip, I learned, cried and smiled again. I said to myself, how wonderful it is to come back.

Since I got my visa, and I have two days left in Switzerland, I went around Switzerland during these two days, I was impressed about the travel information, I could get maps of the city in each train station, they even told me where should I go for tourism purpose. I went to Interlaken, Top of Europe, Geneve, etc. I took the Glacier Express and went to the final destination where no vehicle is allowed. Switzerland is fabulous, I am sure I will come back in the future.

Picture Link

I 've had two primary travel goals in mind since my arrival: see as much of Switzerland as possible while its still "summer" and try to absorb as much Swiss culture/tradition before setting my sights on the rest of Europe. I would appreciate any advice on how I might achieve these ends!
Yesterday, the 3 Americans in Zürich (Katherine, Joseph and I) met at the Knabenschiessen to wander around. I am not too sure of the history of the event (so maybe I'll let Katherine explain), but I am certain that the carnival- featuring rides, games, and LOTS of greasy food stands- was one of the biggest I have ever seen. Katherine and I rode the "Star Power" ride in order to get a great view of Zürich, and we all enjoyed some delicious wurst.
On Sunday I went to Luzern specifically to see the Verkehrshaus- the Swiss Transport Museum. It was definitely one of the most interesting, thorough, and informative museums I have ever visited. The exhibits also attempted to present some of the social and environmental issues involved in transportation, so overall it was excellent. Anyone who has ever used any means other than their feet to move from place to place should visit this museum. There was even a "Swiss Transport Policy Game" where one reads about 12 different policy/construction options, then has 30 seconds to select which options should be adopted, limited by 100 million Swiss Francs. I was surprised that the young children were not as eager to play the game as I...
Below are some pictures from Knabenschiessen and Luzern. The kind people of ThinkSwiss requested I put a link to some of my other pictures on the blog-so this link is for pictures of our Scooter Tour on 21.8.08 in Bern. You can also view my other photos from here. My pictures will probably be more interesting than my writing...

A fraction of the planes on display at the Verkehrshaus.


This is a ferocious swan who tried to bite my hand off near the Chapel Bridge because I was holding bread. I threw my roll at it and ran away.

On the ride at Knabenschiessen- huge carnival in the background!

FINAL REPORT FOR THINK SWISS

My overall impression of stay in Switzerland and every thing related to the stay, including culture, research, meeting new people and seeing new places has been quite up to the mark. I would like to again comment on the beauty of Switzerland, which frankly far exceeded my expectations. I had always heard about how nice the landscaped and environment of Switzerland was, but to experience it first hand was something out of this world. I will be discussing some of the points, positive as well as negative that I encountered during my stay at Swiss.

First of all I would like to state some of the positive attributes of the stay, in terms of research and otherwise. First and foremost is the Swiss life, culture and its natural beauty. The environment it self had certain kind of soothing experience. May be it was the mountains and the running water, but it was all very good. The people I worked with were very dedicated professionals. The lab setups, the infrastructure and the system all seemed to be very appealing. Another positive point that I would like to emphasize is the size of the cities and their organization. I live in Chicago and it is kind of huge place. Basel on the other hand was quite small well organized town which was kind of easy to manage even though I had not lived there for long.

Now coming to few negative points or some things if present/not-present would have made my life much easier. One of the challenges that I had to face many times was that of the language. Every thing seemed to be in German, even the road maps and other essential stuff, like groceries etc. The other challenge that I faced, was the new working style and environment. The working attitude at Eth is a bit different, than the working environment in Chicago. I will say more about this in the document.

I found my colleagues to be very professional, very dedicated and very knowledgeable in their fields. I had the chance to work with physical statistician and mathematicians and was integrated very nicely in the team. We had kind of weekly meetings related to research I was involve, discussing the possible solutions to the problems arising and the ways to practically confirm the theoretical assertions.

I found the research team in Swiss to be somewhat similar to the team I work here with, in US. My team is always very helpful with anything work related (not to mention non work) and fortunately I found the same in the Swiss. The research mentality however, differed in some areas (such as how to approach the problem or confirm a theory etc), but that was partly because the interdisciplinary nature of the research that I was involved in the Swiss. Nevertheless, the research experience was very fruitful, and I learned a lot, acquired new skills and made a lot of new connections. I enjoyed my work at Eth Zürich.

I am currently in a PhD program, so I would rather finish my program here at US. Had I not started my PhD here at US, and the quality of research that I witnessed in Switzerland, I would have certainly considered pursuing PhD at any reputable Swiss university. Nevertheless, after my PhD if I get an offer for post-doc or a faculty position, I would seriously consider it.

My institution did not apply for my visit visa. I am citizen of Pakistan, and live in the US on student visa. I needed a visa to enter the Switzerland and I applied for it from Chicago, USA. I was told during the visa process that it would take around 4 to 6 weeks, and I had some trouble because my appointment date had already started while my visa was being processed. Anyhow, I got my visa in about 6 weeks and every thing went just fine.

The accommodation in Basel was difficult to get at first. I suppose it was due to the football games that were going on at the time I was looking for accommodation. It was extremely difficult to find a place at first, partly because there were very few temporary rentals available and partly because very few people replied back to my email in English. Anyway, I was supported by the nice admin people at Biosystems Science and Engineering Dep’t Eth Zürich. They contacted a few people and forwarded the links for the accommodations that were available at that time. I was lucky enough to get a room just 2 days before my flight.

I spent around 1200 to 1500 CHF per month during my stay in Switzerland and I stayed in Basel for little less than 3 months. In addition to the Thinkswiss, I was supported by the Biosystems Science and Engineering Department, Eth Zurich Switzerland.

Lastly, I would again like to thank ThinkSwiss organizers, Presence Switzerland, and the Swiss Embassy in Washington. I had a wonderful, enjoyable and unforgettable experience.....


Fahad Saeed

PhD Candidate
Parallel Algorithms and Multimedia Systems Laboratory,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Illinois at Chicago, IL USA.

Smart Energy Strategies Conference

Hello everyone,
The past 3 days I was busy with the Smart Energies Strategies Conference coordinated by the Energy Science Center of the ETH here in Zürich. It was tiring, but an overall excellent conference!! I learned a ton, which made the early mornings and late evenings setting up and closing down the conference definitely worthwhile.

The first day involved a panel discussion with several well known climate scientists, including as I mentioned in a previous post, Dr. Pachauri, who is the IPCC Chairman. You can read an interview with him from the conference here- but unfortunately I think it is only in German- and you can also find a link to a podcast of his talk (in English) at the bottom: http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/080908_Pachauri/index/

The first session was on global challenges that we face today, such as climate change and access to resources. I particularly enjoyed the talk by Justin Adams of BP, who stressed the fact that not all solutions to climate change would address all the challenges, and that separate solutions are needed depending on if the challenge is global, regional, or local. A poster session followed this first panel of talks. The poster entitled, “Integrated Assessment of Swiss CO2 mitigation policies- focus on the residential sector” was of great interest to me. The research combines an energy model with an economic model, and analyzes the effects of introducing a policy or economic measure, such as a carbon tax, on carbon emissions, and offers suggestions for current policy. I was able to ask a few questions, as I am sure I could find this information helpful for my further research here at the ETH. The second session of the day was on transportation systems…not something I am particularly interested in, but nonetheless informative and important to climate and environmental policy.

That evening was the conference dinner, at the Zunfthaus im Waag, downtown in Zürich. We had traditional Swiss food- Rösti and something that resembled the German Schnitzel- although I forget the correct name for it. Delicious!! My dinner table neighbors- a student at the EPFL in Lausanne, and a representative from the Swiss Federal Office for Energy- and I chatted all night about policy and models and feasible solutions, etc. It was great networking for me, and a great introduction into Swiss policy and politics on a national level, but also a canton (or state) level.

The second day began with a panel on Smart Conversion Systems, including a great talk by Dr. Larry Kazmerski of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. A very entertaining presentation on the past, present, and future of the solar thermal and solar PV field- complete with videos and props! I spoke with Dr. Kazmerski afterwards on the possibilities of solar thermal in the US, which ties into some work I did on renewable heating and cooling policies back in the states this past year. The afternoon session was on Smart Grids, where Professor Goran Strbac spoke, among others, on the electrical grid system. This was very helpful for me, as I have never really been able to grasp a visual image of what the “grid” really is…but Professor Strbac succeeded! After this the second poster session began. I had a chance to look at all of the posters, and especially liked the one titled, “Thermally driven residential heat pumps based on integrated organic Rankine cycles.” There was an Apero at the end of this second day, but I was kind of tired, so I did not stay that long.

The third and final day was on Smart industries, services, and buildings, and energy economics and policy design. Professor Manfred Morari and Dr. Jürg Tödtli were my favourite presentations. Their talk was on how weather forecasts enhance comfort and save energy. The most surprising fact that I heard from the conference was in the talk from Dr. Richard Tol on the economics of climate change. He said that despite the thousands of scientific studies and analysis done on climate change, there have only been 13 economic studies and analysis done on climate change!! I could not believe this…With the potential for jobs and economic growth from the renewable industry alone, I thought surely more economists would be interested and have performed more than 13 total studies!!!

All in all, the conference was a huge success, and I hope to be able to come back and participate in 2 years when the conference will be held again.
So much for now,
Katherine

Rain and Football

I've been here a week, and I've already seen a wide variety of Swiss weather: dreary and rainy, pouring rain, light rain, occasional drizzles, overcast with a chance of rain, etc. The weather wouldn't usually affect me this much, but most of the activities I plan take place out-of-doors. This poses a problem. I was planning on saving money by biking most places--the grocery store in Villigen and the Coop in Würenlingen are not too far away--but after getting quite wet and a little cold on Thursday, I'm beginning to rethink this brilliant plan. I was going to go hiking today, followed by shopping at the Coop complex, but it's spitting just enough that either would require slightly more fortitude than I'm willing to provide this afternoon. So, I'm back at the computer, glancing out the window, waiting for a hint of sun or a brief pause in the rain that will get me outside.

This first week has been quite an adventure. I'm splitting my time between two research groups that are working on two different sides of one large project. Most of my lab time was spent in the concrete bunker monitoring a small pilot-size reactor unit that produces methane. A typical experiment begins first thing in the morning and ends around 4 PM, leaving plenty of time for coffee. If something goes wrong, we stay until much later (6:30 on Wed.). Funny things have been happening, and they ended up shutting the whole unit down on Thursday because of wild pressure fluctuations in the system. They spent all day Friday taking it apart piece by piece and cleaning everything. The smells were . . . . powerful. They found some interesting (read: gross) brown solids in the filters that have unknown origins. Hopefully, this thorough flushing will bring operation back to normal for next week.

The remainder of my research is a variety of applications in analytical/instrumental chemistry. The previous intern is leaving next week, so I get to take over her experiments with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The research group here is using the DSC in a novel way, so the work I'm doing has little background literature with which to check myself. (If I really knew what was going on, I might call it pioneering.) In addition, I'm running various analyses of biomass/organic liquids that they might want to run through their reactor (this won't take up much of my time, though).

Finally, I made a huge mistake: I left my football boots at home. PSI has a soccer club that plays indoor and outdoor, both once a week. We went during lunch on Wednesday to the gym in Würenlingen, where we played for well over an hour. I played in my Aasics, which are fine for a gym, but not so great for (wet) grass. I found that this is my favorite way to meet people, so I'm joining the basketball club too. I was worried, at first, what my supervisor would think of what ended up being a 2.5-hour lunch break, but he came too. Good times, great exercise. This is looking like it will be one of the highlights of my trip.

With that, I'll sign off. Until later,
Joseph

Crazy First Week!

Hello to everyone again!

Things are slowly but surely starting to fall into a routine, which I am very happy about. Last week was slightly chaotic finding an apartment, getting things organized, figuring out my way around the town, finding a bicycle, forgetting that the supermarkets close at 8pm and are not open on Sunday, etc. Last weekend was spent meeting up with some rowing friends from Germany, which was fun to see them all again.

This week I started at the ETH, in the Energy Science Center. It is very exciting to be a part of the research and action going on at the ETH! The Energy Science Center is the umbrella group that facilitates cross-departmental collaboration between the other departments of the ETH focusing on energy and environmental issues. The ESC also works closely with other industrial and academic partners to share research, cooperation, and ideas in the field of energy. As of now, I have two tasks. One is to assist with a conference that will take place next Monday-Wednesday, called Smart Energy Strategies. You can find more information about this here: www.esc.ethz.ch/sms08. As I was looking through the program of speakers, I was excited and thrilled to see such a high-level of speakers and panelists! There will be over 300 participants at the 3 day conference, so we are going to have our hands full next week, I think. Aside from the speaker panels and presentations, there are also poster sessions which present the work of the students; I cannot wait to have the chance to look at these and ask questions. I hope there will be time to see everything!! When the conference is over and wrapped up, I will begin the second (and majority) phase of my work here. This still has to be more finely tuned, but it will involve working with a program called Energy Navigator and modelling energy scenarios for various cantons and for all of Switzerland itself. I am curious to see how this program works, and how the results can be translated and adopted into a form of energy policy.

Since I am an avid and competitive rower back în the US, I have already found a new rowing home for my time in Switzerland. I will be training with the Seeclub Zürich, and yesterday was my first chance to meet some of the team members. We drove out to the Eglisau, where a BEAUTIFUL river runs through the cutest town I think I have ever seen. The water was a clear blue. Absolutely breathtaking! We rowed for about 80 minutes and then put the boats away and drove back to Zürich. This Saturday I will be meeting the head coach and will attend a grill-fest hosted by one of the members. Sounds like fun! Saturday night is also ,,Lange Nacht der Museem", which means that the museums in Zürich are open to the public all night long, and best of all, for just a small fee! There are too many museums to visit in just 1 night, so I think I might have to choose just 2...going to be a tough decision.

I will post on Monday to let you all know how the conference is going!

Have a great weekend (or, schoenes Wochenende!)

Katherine