Beyond Chocolates: Our Experiences in Switzerland and more...

"Hello..Gruezi.. Bon Giourino..Bon Jour "

After much deliberation of trying to compile our adventures in a small article, I finally decided to start writing! Honestly, this blog may not do justice to the fabulous experiences that we have had in the past weeks, but atleast, it does give an ideaof our time in Switzerland!

We lived in St Gallen, Switzerland for 10 full weeks under the MBA student exchange program with 'Universitat Sankt Gallen'.These 10 weeks were the most exciting, intriguing, enriching,exhausting (sometimes) and above all, memorable weeks of our lives.Touring Europe as a tourist and involving in Exchange with a European University by representing a US University are two absolutely opposite ways to see Europe.We are fortunate to have been a part of the latter way.

After initial natural challenges of settling in new alien place, with different societies, culture, norms,weather etc, we no longer felt alien after first two weeks.Swiss Germans are wonderful people and although much is written and said about them, knowing them by living among them defies all pre concieved notions.Swiss are very particular about timings and we remembered that from day one! They are introvert initially, but once bonded, believe in life long relationships.We have been helped at every step.Simple things like garbage disposal are really important in Swiss land (no wonder its sooo clean!) Learning German was another cherishing experience, since a new language opens doors to a new culture.We both were excited and thrilled to be able to converse with the locals in their language, which , though for me were just expressions in few words :) Life couldnt get better...Also now we know, that Swiss Chocolates and cheeses have a reason to be so popular!:) Swiss Cheese fondue is probably one of the best "family" dinner I have had!

Switzerland is one of the few places which is beautiful in both seasons-winter and summer.We got a direct view of Snow clad Alps from our fourth floor apartment! The weather overall was not that cold, with a little snow for couple of weeks (my first time!!)

Travel was one of our main considerations for choosing Switzerland and we managed to fulfill that quite well.We visited France, Italy,Monaco, Germany, Austria and most of Switzerland.Our idea of choosing places was to take the unconventional routes, and visit smaller, less known towns, which give us a glimse of local life and culture, though not missing the major attractions.Even though, by the end of 9th week, I was sick and exhausted of a "backpackers" life, I must admit that travel was the BEST part of our trip.We learnt a little about Austrian Germans,German Germans, French and Italian cultures.Food was another adventure, since Chandradev and I love to try new cuisines and hence we absolutely enjoyed every bit of it!


Shopping was fun as always! Apart from cheeses and chocolates, as souvenirs of each place we visited, we collected many things like stamps, coins, postcards, and even some art work!

Europe is fascinating.Even after visiting tons of magnificent churches, castles, museums, concerts,palaces/fortresses, fountains, parks, gardens, cafe shops, pizzerias, and piazzas, we still have more than half of Europe remaining to visit! Europe has astounding amount of culture, art and history to offer to the rest of the world and we are indeed fortunate to get even a glimpse of the magnificent past, through these places.


I have to mention some of our memorable experiences without which this article wouldnt be complete: Swiss Chocolate factory tour (free chocolate tasting!!), Seeing Swiss Cheese making in traditional village of Switzerland, Walking along the Cote d' Azur (French Riviera), Venice Winter Carnivale (mask parades and bollywood blast!), Sunday mass in presence of Pope/ Musee Vaticano in Roma (breath taking!), Spanish Horses performance show in Vienna(most popular and rarest breed of horses in world), New Year's eve in Zurich (rocking nite:)), Lunch cruise on lake Lucerne-surrounding the Swiss alps (absolutely beautiful), changing of guard ceremony of Palace of Prince of Monaco in Montecarlo(its supposed to be pretty popular) and driving in Montecarlo on Formula-1 race track (was just awesome!) and finally, the BMW factory tour in Munich(seeing all those cool machines be made from start to finish!)

Hence, all in all, looking back, we are absolutely delighted about our decision of going on an exchange study program.While life is back to normal here in US,after returning from the trip, we feel rejuvenated and enriched after such valuable experiences, and perhaps ready to travel the eastern Europe some time soon! :)

PS: Feel free to have a look at the fun times we have had by these pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/khyatiandCD

"Thank you...Danke schon....Grazie.....Merci"

Rome was not built in a day!!!!!

That Rome was not built in a day, was evident to us in the first half of the day of our trip to Rome.While I am pretty late in writing my experiences about Rome Trip, however, this experience is something I HAD to write! Rome is absolutely enchanting! This one sentence summarizes it character!
A little sunshine after bitter cold of north of Switzerland was enough to cheer and excite us, when we landed in Rome. To top it all, there are these amazing piazzas in every corner of the street, that come as a very pleasant surprise to each visitor!! And these are not ordinary structures-but magnificent and amazing art work standing for centuries! Rome is breathtaking..
Vatican was on top of our list to visit, though Rome offers tons of other equally majestic sites for any tourist.We had to queque up 2 hours before the Vatican Museums open at 9, so that meant 7-9am line, in unusually cold morning! We were 5 of us, 10th in the line at 7am,freezing, yet excited to be able to make it on time.Because as the daylight spread, huge crowds of people lined up for miles to enter the Vatican!! It was becoming one of our most memorable time, even before entering the museums! However, our first encounter with majestic artistic walls, paintings, artwork, motifs etc in the first museum was enough to make us dumbfounded!! I dont have words to describe our experience there..Sunday mass was at 12am and huge crowds gathered in the St Peter's square, where Pope was going to make an appearance.Meanwhile, we decided to witness the ceremony, from top of the Vatican dome, one of the biggest in the world!! After all, the wait, winter and all other challenges were so much worth this view!!

We saw Colosseum,Piazza Navona and many other popular and not so popular monuments..We then went to Florence, another beautiful city of bridges, where we enjoyed a leisure time! One of our friends literally fell in love with David, the famous sculpture by Michael Angelo, made in Florence, supposed to be the best piece of art in all times.

Milan was our final destination.A paradise for shoppers, city of glamour and so vibrant-we just loved it! My husband was very close to fulfilling his long dream of getting an Armani suit from Armani store in Milan, but alas! he could not find the right size!

"When in Rome, do as Romans" proved to be true for us!We heard all types of warnings about pick-pocketeers in Rome/Italy, bus no. 64 being notorious etc...so we were very careful with our belongings.However, we returned home not only safely, but with life long memories of a beautiful cities of Italy !!!

Musuems in Switzerland ! (Part 2)

We are living a life of nomads currently ! Every weekend, we pack our bags and venture out to quest our thirst for new experiences, new cultures and new places ! :)

We went to some of the Zurich museums last week.Even St Gallen has 4-5 big museums on 'Museumstrasse' . What makes me wonder is the interest of swiss people in the preservation of art and culture. We saw 700 years old mummy in Abbey library and thousands of years old manuscripts, all perfectly legible and well preserved ! Zurich has the National Museum of Switzerland-a huge 3 floor building covering the art, history, culture/society, geology, media and money areas.Yeah, it also has a "money musuem" which houses age old coins and their origins.Visiting the national museum is a fascinating experience in itself. Honestly, I am not an artist and hence, do not hold much interest in art or history.I always thought that museums are informative, but never imagined them to be this interesting.Each stone, each frame or each piece of artwork, and the small description below makes you reflect a lot about its past relevance and many other things...I was highly impressed indeed..Its also interesting to observe the fellow visitors in the museum...There were young students, sitting in front of an age old statue, observing it and making notes, maybe for academic purposes.Then there were visitors from China or Japan, who were busy capturing the moment by taking pictures. It was indeed a wonderful experience.

We then went to a "watch museum" on Bahnofstrasse, Zurich.This museum houses clocks from the time when Time originated.Right from a clock gauging solar movements, to the cuckoo clocks, to the historical rare valuable watches, they had every model possible !! My husband is really interested in watches, esp old ones, and hence he loved this museum.:)

Museums in St Gallen are also wonderful. There is a wildlife museum, art and history museum and a natural museum..We have been to all of them...I loved the wildlife museum the best, since it has lovely models of small organisms, birds, animals and insects! Very beautiful !

What is Europe, without museums after all ?? We are going to travel in Geneva , Munich and Italy and Rome next weekend and the popular musuems are on our iteranary ! :) Hence I wont be surprised if I add on this blog, with some of the better and bigger speciality museums as well !! :) Till then, I might rest for the week, before we start packing again ! :)

Switzerland Experience......Part 1:)

I am NOT a morning person and its about 7 am right now...I dont know why I just started typing on this blog........But our first week of encounter with Switzerland calls for a very interesting story!

We arrived on 12/27/06 to St Gallen, a small town on the north-eastern part of Switzerland, the German speaking part.After about 8 hrs of flight from US, we took the 1 hr train from Zurich and reached our appartment.I recall the first impressions of the city-old historic buildings, amazing architecture and very clean roads.The signs looks alien (they were in German!), people were different and I was indeed intimidated.The apartment was a typical swiss apartment-wooden floors, old yet classy furniture, everything was small, including the refrigerator! We were excited at the thought of being able to sleep!!! We rested for a day and started exploring the place.

St Gallen has two UNESCO World Historic sites-The Cathedral and The Abbey library.We visited both in the first week itself and it was breath-taking !!! Unbelievably beautiful architecture, paintings and motifs!! I dont even have words to describe its magnificence.It was in Abbey library that we saw a real mummy preserved for 700 years!! This one room library is famous across the world not only for its beautiful architecture, motifs on the roof, paintings etc, but also because it is the only library in the world that houses 2000 year old original manuscripts.It was incredibly wonderful experience for us to visit such places!

Our favourite hangout place in St Gallen is the Marktplatz in old town-Very hip and happening market place, with modern stores, small decorative streets, a cozy starbucks outlet right in the heart of the market, and most popular eateries and restaurants. Its pretty much the only place in St Gallen where you mostly find youngsters and tourists.We also once saw a team of people playing foosball live! It was so much fun!We have visited most museums, shopping malls and monuments in St Gallen by now.

I cant help but notice some stark differences between life in US and Europe.Everything here is small, including very small cars, small buildings, small food packets everything.I found it unusual when you have to buy a carry on grocery bag in a grocery store-no, it doesnt come free when you buy products even if worth 500 CHF !! Even the carts in stores have to be paid for.Most residential buildings dont have elevator and they are usually about 5 floors tall.Water is very expensive here and restaurants dont offer you water for free.Most of the population we have seen, of any age or sex, is not fat or obese-everyone is a great walker, and hence have thin and proportionate bodies :) Lot of walking everywhere, but public transportation is great.Swiss are very very hardworking and diligent people.They are also very very PARTICULAR ABOUT TIMINGS and I am not kidding !! (the bus/train to be leaving at 5.09 WILL leave at 5.09 and not 5.10 or 5.08!!! )

So our first week wasnt bad after all.However, we had our downs as well.The Swiss take Garbage disposal system very very seriously and there are heavy fines for anyone who does not abide by the laid rules.We were not only surprised by the 2 hr formal presentation on garbage disposal by the University, but confused when the professors and elite members of the welcome group also emphasised it.The process was complicated and difficult to understand.We somehow managed to follow the instructions.

Apart from that, communication was a major hassle for us.You are lucky if you find anyone who understands English.Hardly anyone spoke, or understood English.And we had no idea about German Language.Everything was in German-the signs for directions, the products in the grocery store, the instructions to instal internet and phone at home, laundry, telephone cards etc etc...It was due to this that we remained disconnected with our outside world for about a week or so.But gradually, we picked German and ofcourse,we were thrilled to learn German from the classes at the University!

Its been about 3 weeks and we have seen half of Switzerland.I remember a friend in US who is from Switzerland, told me when I asked her about this place "Expect the unexpected and be prepared for your breath to be taken away"!!!! It cant be more true!! We are awed by the beauty of Switzerland and do not have words to express the majestic views it offers.We took a scenic train which goes through Swiss Alps-my most memorable travel exprerience so far ! Incredibly beautiful !! The swiss cheese and chocolates have a reason to be popular all across the world-I have never tasted such delicious chocolates and flavorful cheese, anytime before !! A chocolate factory tour and free chocolates were enough for us to be indulgent in swiss chocolates!!!! I am looking forward to many more such trips where we get an insight into traditional Switzerland.

So as we firm up our travel plans for the coming weeks, I am sure this laptop will come handy to me on one of such mornings, when I am in a mood to write, sipping hot coffee and viewing Swiss Alps from our fourth floor apartment !!!!!

Notes about nothing-Trip to Switzerland

After a long long time......as the festive season sets in, the writer in me has urged myself to write today!! I am glad I did though:)

We are getting ready for a special vacation of lifetime- an exchange program for 3 months to University of St Gallen,Switzerland.What makes it unique or special is for two reasons-one, we will represent Duke under the student exchange program, hence we will be the part of the University community in St Gallen, rather than just tourists, which should be an amazingly rich experience in itself.The second and more important reason for me, is that we will be having sort of second honeymoon, or good quality time for each other, before my husband starts his really hectic and demanding career in I-banking (those who know about I-banking can relate to what I mean!) What better place to vacation,as well as learn about global business, by being an Indian, studying in US and travelling to Europe?? This vacation comes in our life as a much needed breather in our currently busy lives !

Since I am better at typing than writing, I thought of keeping this blog as a journal/memoirs of our trip to Europe.So while everyone is busy celebrating Christmas and planning for the New Year party, we will wish Santa in US and groove to the music at the New Year Party in Zurich!!Boy am I lucky or what? :)

Meanwhile, ho ho ho......jingle bells....carols....I think it will take a while for me to sink in the festivities here, at home as well !:) Merry Christmas!

Gratitude ...

Its been quiet a while that I posted on this blog....But I had to write today-I experienced something unusual recently...and soon realised that we are lucky that God made us capable enough to enjoy our each moment of life...

I happened to visit a special game of bowling with mentally challenged people...Those people could not talk properly, acted a little weird, some had tilted face, seemed like they were kids, though they looked pretty much like one amongst us!! Their eyes did the talking, though most of them, could not really express anything that clearly. This experience left me thinking for almost 2-3 days...It was overwhelming, at the same time, disturbing...I suddenly felt like the luckiest human being on this planet! I suddenly saw world with a very different perspective..I stopped complaining and grumbling about small things and started valuing the big things that life has offered me!

I am reminded of that saying "I was crying for new shoes until I saw a child without legs"..God's ways are unimaginable...I think each one of us have our share of happiness and sorrows..but more importantly, each of us is privileged to have what we have! Its not easy. I cant even imagine what would I have done even if I dint have one of my senses!

I am few of those, who can hardly see positive things in life-I mean, I am working on it,but just cant help whining and complaining sometimes about whatever goes wrong with me! Thats me.But that mood only lasts for a while, I dont cry over the spilt milk.But still, after that day, I felt, I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING WORTH COMPLAINING ABOUT! What more does one want in life???Well, its always something more!

This one goes to all those who are challenged physically or mentally-you guys are just the greatest warriors I can ever imagine-the winners if I may say so.To conquer the "inner world", despite the natural limitations is indeed very very brave! Thanks God, for giving me all the happiness in life and thanks to all those wonderful people who make my life soooooo colourfull!:)

Am I a misfit here??

Its been about 9 months, precisely, since I have moved to America.An Indian citizen, first time visitor to US,first time traveller outside my home country, these were enough reasons to give me chills down my spine, the first time I landed in this foreign country..

It is reasonable to assume that you adopt the culture of the place you were born, grown up, educated, had fun, travelled etc.That way, I am Indian, by heart, by soul,by nature!However, as I spend my significant years in US, I gradually want to live with feeling of homeliness, warmth and brotherhood, in this country as well.US is an ever-embracing country for people from all other parts of the world.What amuses me is the fact that no matter how much strong one's culture is, US definitely gets u once you live here for a substantial period of time.

I often feel I am a total misfit here..I mean, I am not used be on my own, all the time,not being able to knock to neighbours,for a chitchat, wishing 'nice to see you's everytime I meet someone..etc etc.Nevertheless, overall, I find it very challenging and exciting sometimes, to gel with the crowd here, and as they say 'When in Rome, do as Romans'!

I encounter the cultural difference day in and day out, throughout my stay in US...Its like, 'ohh ok, this is the way it works here, lemme try it'.I have come to realise that unlearning something is much more than difficult than learning something new...To learn about a culture is different from adopting it and living with it...US is great!No restrictions whatsoever, on anyone who wants to become a part of this wonderful culture.

I feel, bottom line is-you live your character, you enjoy!No matter what cultural, social or any other differences one may have, its all about being good, enjoying life and embracing new learning.I love US, I love my country India too!While I get used to celebrating Halloween,baking cookies and enjoy the snow, I also miss my good old days back in India!There's no regrets, no looking back though....