Okay, well we made it 2 weeks ago, and I am just now getting to this! It's been pretty busy, but we now have a bank account, health insurance, a post account, and are registered with the canton of Zurich. We have taken the trams and buses all over the place and a map of Zurich finally makes some sense to me!
It's nice here. There's a river that flows through the city, just like in Portland, but this one comes from a HUUUUGE lake right in the center of town. It's really beautiful. You can also see the Alps! It's been sunny and clear so we've been doing lots of exploring.
Our temporary apartment might extend into the realm of "semi-permanent". There's a shortage of housing around here, and it's nice enough that we can stay there until we find something we really love. It's only a 5 minute tram ride to the city center and all of the essentials are within walking distance. But it's definitely one of the parts of town where "people live". I've always only been to the cool city centers and old towns when travelling before and wondered " this is so great, but how can people afford to live here???" Well, I learned they don't live there. They live where we are living... in the dirtier, less interesting, completely normal and boring outskirts. But it's still awesome!
So, we had been under the impression that Switzerland was super safe. It definitely seems that way. You see 5-year olds taking the public transportation to school by themselves. People just leave their bags and coats on community coat racks in a big room at the university. Bikes are just leaned up against walls on busy streets unattended. So, we were really disappointed when Eric's pride and joy (no not me) was stolen from right outside his office. His bike that he cherishes and babies - GONE! It was a sad day of filing reports and posting signs. There were a few beers and lots of reminiscing. We somehow got through the night. THIS MORNING: I came into work with Eric and as we walked through campus, we looked through all of the bike racks scattered around and low and behold.............................. his bright orange Lemond Poprad was tucked away among the other bicycles... not visible from the path, but there it was, unlocked. So, WE STOLE IT BACK!
