24th, October, 2013
I finally made my decision. I’m not going to Hamburg nor Czech republic, I’m heading to Zurich where I can meet my one of oldest friends, Verena. She and I have known a long time, approximately 5 years or even longer. We used to study in a spanish class in Malaga, it was a pretty short time and our spanish was completely limited, nevertheless being in there and studying in Malaga was brilliant.
I always knew Switzerland is a very expensive country when it comes to traveling through trains, eating out and dwelling expense, but not like this. Once I arrived in Basel and heading to Zurich right away, I was asked to pay almost 40-45 euros for a train transfer. Wow, unbelievable. It didn’t even take too long if I remember it right.
But good thing is that I’m going to meet her and spend a couple of days in her outstanding apartment. Running into old friends is always worth, no doubts.
As hard as it sounds, being left alone without wifi in Zurich central station was a source of anxiety. It was definitely my bad, I could have checked my e-mail or facebook account before my arrival. Okay, I have no choice. I asked to a local girl just next to me and luckily she let me use her phone and contact Verena.
And finally we made it. I can’t even describe how I felt like. I think it was kind of an accidental encounter, or something like that, I never expected to meet somebody I met in Spain in another countries, especially not in Switzerland.
Verena : Hello! Welcome to Zurich!
Me : Hello, Verena. It is nice but weird to see you here.
She immediately took me to her university where she’s adapting to. It was incredible how beautiful the campus is, so envious of the students studying and having a fun live over there. But she told me some unamusing ones too, like swiss people don’t really welcome germans just like the treatment turkish get in Germany, more or less, that made it harder for her to get a good apartment and then it took a while, she felt thankful for her current apartment, which is really a friendly student one.
Unfortunately Verena was working as a bar girl for Octoberfest and couldn’t adjust as much time as she wanted to. I get it, studying and working ass off is definitely a rough one, so that I just tried to explore by myself and spend some times with her and with her flat mates and also her family when they visited her.
Zurich was awesome, very clean, friendly people, well organized municipal administration and brilliant weather as well. I got a bit depressed by Berlin’s glooming weather, but apparently Zurich really liked me and wanted to welcome me according to Verena, just the week before I got there, it was raining all the time. 😀 Lucky!!
Not many people notice that Zurich is not Switzerland’s capital. Bern is. But Zurich is definitely the economic capital.
I love Zurich’s old town.
One other day, I made it to a flea market outside of the city with my friend Arno.
Oh, he is my another swiss friend who’s an expert of asian culture and languages. He visited Seoul in 2009 and lived in Japan for a pretty long time.
Me and Arno.
Cool to be here in Zurich.
Its awesome night view.
People waiting for iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.
Verena got an 5S shortly thereafter.
My favorite pic.
Gosh, have you ever spent your birthday abroad with your friends? It’s pretty amazing, I strongly recommend it. I still feel so much thankful for making it so special. Being 23 in Zurich was awesome, not too old yet I hope.
@ My 23rd b-day party, not really a party but whatever.
Verena and her amazing friends celebrated my b-day. How do I describe this feeling? so amazing, great and thankful.
Verena, Julian from Berlin, Michael, Christian, Adina, Simon and some others that aren’t in the pic.
Some days later, Verena’s parents visited their daughter. Where they live in Germany isn’t really too far from Zurich, I think that’s why they visit her frequently. And they’re really nice people, warm, caring and generous. I really lucked out to be invited to their lunch and family gather. Her dad, Wilheim, mother Eva, Verena and I had lunch in the very center of Zurich.
Verena and Eva getting ready to eat 🙂
Never imagined eating such luxury food in Zurich.
So thankful for this.
While having lunch, we had a bunch of funny conversations that just crossed my mind, like the name of Hitler’s woman and how her surname got changed, the joy of drinking a beer while watching some interesting football games (not dumb or lame ones). Verena’s father, Wilheim is such a big fan of football, so he knows everything about football.
So happy to meet and get to know them.
julianheyrman 