End of the Swiss chapter

I’m flying back to Brussels from Zurich at the moment, watching the snow-capped Alps to my left fade into the distance as we turn to follow the Rhine to the sea. This weekend was an emotional one, as I spent it helping my dad move out of his Swiss home.

He is moving back to the US this week, his company has transferred him back there. And with that, a very significant chapter of his life – and mine – has come to a close.

Switzerland was where I began this European adventure six years ago, so it was a bit jarring to see my dad’s empty house today and walk out the door for the last time.

As US recovers from Irene, GOP may hold relief funding hostage

I've just returned to Brussels after a weekend of trying to navigate the hurricane-hit Northeast US. It was a bit of an adventure trying to get from Connecticut to JFK airport yesterday, navigating around floods and downed trees. As I flew out on Monday I had the feeling I was being airlifted out of a disaster zone.

Though Hurricane Irene itself may have packed less of a punch than the worst-case-scenario predictions, the aftermath of inland flooding and power outages is creating a mess from New Jersey to Vermont. And according to reports, funding for the recovery effort may be the subject of political brinksmanship in Washington over the coming weeks and possibly months.

I had gone to New York for two weeks for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary and my new nephew's baptism, both of which were scheduled for this past weekend. Needless to say, both were cancelled. I had to quickly make adjustments to my plans on Friday as predictions for the hurricane got progressively worse and the New York City mayor announced all public transport would be suspended from noon on Saturday.

Worldwide family events

I’ve returned from my intensive week of ceremonies, back in London but quite exhausted from moving around so much. Though I’m disappointed to have been in the US during all of the post-Ireland-referendum-panic last week, perhaps it was for the best. After all, it was good to get away and get a little perspective during the very heated debate that’s been taking place.

But this I can report: as with most EU matters, no one in the US is even vaguely aware of what’s going on with the Ireland referendum or with the Lisbon reform treaty in general, as it has received basically zero media coverage.

I started my travels Friday the 13th when I flew to Zurich for my youngest brother’s high school graduation ceremony on Saturday. My family moved to Switzerland two years ago from the New York area, and my youngest brother went with them and finished high school at an international school there. It was a beautiful day for it, held at a reception hall on a hilltop overlooking the lake. The ceremony was long, but very interesting.

After the keynote speech, performances and bestowing of a seemingly endless litany of awards, we finally got to the presentation of the diplomas. However when they started my family and I all gave each other a pained look when we realized that they would be reading a three-minute long bio for each of the students before they handed them their diplomas. With 86 graduating students, we knew we were still going to be there for awhile!

Venezia

This weekend, for Easter, I hopped a flight over to my family’s house in Zurich and we took a train south across the Alps to Venice. Everyone in Europe gets Good Friday and Easter Monday off so I thought I’d take advantage. Having heard that there was going to be a snowstorm all weekend in Switzerland, we decided to try to get away somewhere marginally warmer. It’s always amazing the difference in temperature after you cross the Alps. It’s really a beautiful train ride, we’ve driven across the Alps before but the train ride was actually more scenic I thought. The St. Goddard pass is really just a fascinating route. And the fresh snowfall made for a scenic journey.

We stopped off in Milan on the way, I was amazed by the enormity of the Milan train station. I suppose a massive rail hub like Milan needs a massive train station. The weather happened to be beautiful when we stopped off there, it looked like a nice city but I saw was the central square around the railroad station really. I’ve heard the rest of the city is rather industrial.

Swiss weekend

I had a very nice relaxing time visiting the family in Switzerland this weekend. I definitely needed it, as the last few weeks have been not entirely pleasant.

Saturday we spent just lounging in the lake. My dad got this hilarious big inflatable gazebo imported from the states that he can put outside the house in the water and take a little raft out to. The Swiss going by in their yachts seemed to react to it with a mixture of befuddlement and horror, which we found quite amusing. It just needed a big American flag at the top. But it was nice to lie out there with the geese and the ducks, it was eerily quiet on the lake Saturday, maybe everyone was at the Caliente festival in downtown Zurich.

Sunday we took a little road trip to the Italian section of Switzerland, which just drove home how truly bizarre that country is. The Italian section is the canton of Ticino, which is the part of Switzerland below the Alps. It’s right at the exit of the mountain pass that people from Northern Europe have used to get down to Italy for centuries. During the height of the Swiss consolidation period in the late 15th century the Swiss confederacy obtained it through conquest, attracted to its strategic location as the north-south crossroads of the Alps. It was actually the last area the Swiss obtained through conquest.

Swiss weekend

I'm here in Zurich for the weekend, flew out Friday morning. It's been a nice, relaxing time. Since I've already been here I don't feel the need to run around doing sightseeing stuff, so we've just been hanging around here, sitting on the balcony as we look out at the Alps. It's insanely warm here. I've been going out with just a sweater on. But then you go about 30 minutes away up the mountain and there's snow everywhere. It's crazy.

Today we went up to some snow-covered peaks and then went to a water park in the afternoon. It's the same one I went to back in August, right on the edge of the mountain overlooking Lake Zurich. It's year-round, you enter the pools indoors and then go outdoors in them, so in theory, it keeps you warm. There's also the water slides, but large sections of those are open-air so it gets pretty freakin cold. I'm pretty convinced I'm going to have a cold tomorrow.

It's funny how normal this is all beginning to seem. I pop over here for the weekend to my family, and my grandmother, who is visiting, and we just kind of hang out. We were talking about how bizarre it is last night, all of us sitting here in Zurich. But it doesn't feel bizarre, it feels quite normal.

Back in the US

Well I am now back in the US, back at my desk at work IMing with Alison, who sits directly across from me, and delaying writing feature articles I should have started weeks ago. Ah, back to the status quo. Actually today is a little unusual because I got up at 4 in the morning after having slept for 14 hours. I must say, sleeping 14 hours is very nice, I feel great!

I was pretty exhausted from the flight yesterday. I cant sleep on planes (too anxious, they make me nervous) so a nine hour plane trip is not exactly a pleasurable experience. I flew American Airlines, which I can safely say I will avoid taking on a transatlantic trip from now on except under the most dire of circumstances. The seats are uncomfortable, the monitors are terrible, and the service is very poor (one meal for a nine hour flight! One meal!!).

Getting back into this country was a nightmare. All those new security regulations you've heard about? They apply only to international flights coming into the US, not going out. So getting out was a breeze. Went through security with liquids and gels in my bag, and once I got to Switzerland I breezed through the border check in about 2 minutes. Like everything else in Switzerland and Germany, the process was smooth and logical.

Lessons from an Alpine water park

On our last day in Switzerland Pierce and I decided to do the most relaxing thing we could think of, visit Europe's largest water park, Alpemare, on an Alpine ridge outside of Zurich. We didn't really know what to expect, but it was definitly impressive. Tons of water slides cascading down the mountain, thermal iodine baths, a wave pool, a lazy river, everything a water park should have. And all on the edge of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. It was very cool.

One of the more interesting things I observed during the visit was yet another example of the completely different environment Europeans operate in in terms of legal liability. We were shocked to find at the water park that there were pretty much no attendants, anywhere. When you got on the slides, the only thing that kept you from going down whenever you felt like it and plunging into the person in front of you was a little traffic light. You could in theory go down whenever and in any way you wanted. And the slides were crazy! I came out with literal bruises! Same thing with the wave pool. With our wave pools in the states, there are lifeguards literally every five feet, and they're constantly blowing their whistles telling people not to do things. At this one, there was only one for the whole pool, and he was barely paying attention. He didn't even have a whistle.

Switzerland

I gotta say it is really amazing to be here. I just got in from swimming in Lake Zurich, my dad has a little beach area out there with a table and some chairs. The water is incredibly clean, you can see right to the bottom, it's like swimming in the Caribbean. There's virtually no pollution here. I was just swimming in the water and a swan literally came right up to me. It was a little freaky! I got a picture of it though...

I've been keeping busy. Yesterday I went to the art museum, which was pretty cool. There was this amazing exhibit that I just sat and watched for 20 minutes. Can't even describe it to do it justice.

Today I met with a guy at the IP office at a Zurich university, mixing a little business with pleasure. I figured it would look good to my bosses if I made the effort to meet with some IP people here to prepare for covering European IP from London. It was a good talk actually, I learned a lot and the guy was very helpful.

Photos from Zurich

So far, Zurich has not been disappointing. I'm sitting here out on my dad's balcony overlooking Lake Zurich, watching the boats go by. Kind of like Roosevelt Island, except...so not. What a gorgeous city, if a little small.

I haven't slept since Monday night, so I should probably get to bed soon but I wanted to post some pictures of my trip so far. Up above is a picture I took today from the steeple of the Grossmunster cathedral, which affords a great aerial view of the city. I spent the day just walking around and exploring the city, trying to get my bearings. It actually reminds me a lot of Prague, especially the narrow, winding pedestrian streets. Very picturesque.

Leaving the country

Well tomorrow’s the big day, I fly out to Zurich late tomorrow afternoon to visit my family, who just moved there two weeks ago. I haven’t even begun to think about packing, although I tend to usually do that at the last minute. Still, I should probably get on that seeing as I’ll be there for a few weeks. I’ve set up a few business meetings there too so I have to bring a suit.

I’m not bringing my laptop because there would be no way to charge it there, but my family already has their computer set up at the house so I’ll be online pretty frequently I imagine, aside from when I’m traveling. I’ll write updates in here regularly and regale you with my tales of Swiss life. There will be pictures, anecdotes, witty banter, you name it. I’m looking forward to it, it will be great to see the house and my brother’s school, etc. And I can help them with the things they’ve been having trouble with. Next weekend we’re driving through the Swiss Alps to Bern, Lausanne and Geneva. Should be amazing.

All in all this trip couldn’t be coming at a better time. I recently realized I’ve been at this job for 7 months and have not yet taken a vacation. Funny, I’ve now been at this job longer than I was at Medialink, the company I worked for the year after I graduated college. It doesn’t seem like that at all, but there it is.

When I get back, it will be time to make a decision about whether or not I’m going to move to London. I think this trip should help me decide. So much of the reason I want to move to London is because I just want to move to Europe, as I have this powerful obsession with the continent. Spending a few weeks there again (I haven’t been to Europe except a few trips to the UK since I left Prague) should help me decide if it’s really what I want to do.

Family in Zurich

So my dad and brother moved to Switzerland on Wednesday. They're off to a bit of a rocky start. Obviously it's a bit overwhelming for them, they're having a lot of trouble setting up basic things like phone service, internet and cable. All of the instructions are in German, and they don't speak a word. They'd like to get this stuff set up as soon as possible to set up some semblance of normalcy. My brother starts school tomorrow, hopefully being with some English-speaking kids will help him feel more comfortable. He sounded pretty unhappy when I talked to him on the phone today.

I've had an incredibly difficult time getting ahold of them since they moved over there. I actually wasn't able to reach them until today, which has made it really dawn on my how weird this is going to be. It's a six hour time difference, so it's going to be hard to find convenient times to talk to them even when they do get all the phone stuff sorted out. I'm pretty worried about them, I know this has to be really hard. So it's been driving me crazy that I haven't been able to get ahold of them.

I know there's going to be inevitable difficulties adjusting to this new situation at first, both for them and for the rest of my family too. I think going out there next week and staying with them will help the situation. I can help them out with the things they still have to figure out, and it'll be comforting to actually be able to picture where they are when I talk to them.

Moving to Switzerland?

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written. The reason is I’ve been incredibly busy at work, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. It tends to be feast or famine here, the feast (of work, or famine of free time, depending on how you look at it) comes around deadline time, and then after deadline passes it relaxes again. That sounded remarkably gastrointestinal.

Interesting side note, my friend Alison just got hired as a new reporter here. I’m officially recruiting people for my publication. Go me.

In other interesting news, my family is moving to Switzerland. Strange eh? Not my entire family to be precise. My father and 16-year-old brother are moving there. My parents are divorced and my mom lives in Connecticut with her husband.

The city they're moving to is Zurich, Switzerland's largest city in the Northwest of the country near the border with Germany. I actually just wrote an article last month about how the city was just named the best in the world for quality of life (Geneva was second). My dad was going to have to move to Zurich eventually, he works for a Swiss company in an executive position and has moved up over the years to the point where he should really be operating out of the company’s headquarters in Zurich. But, he had convinced them to allow him to work out of his Connecticut office until my brother, who lives with my dad, graduated high school. About a month ago they changed their mind, and said he had to come to Zurich. So they’re going to do it.