On the Way to Switzerland

As most of you will know, in December I agreed to begin a PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute WSL in Birmensdorf, Switzerland beginning in March. A healthy combination of procrastination and actually being busy prevented me from posting a bit of background info prior to my departure. I'll try to work in some of that as I go. Basically, the idea for this blog is to provide an overview of my experiences as I spend 3 years in Europe. I'm sure the post will be fast and furious to begin with, but I'll do my best to ensure they don't taper off (wouldn't want anyone back home in Canada to forget me...).

The last three days were hectic to say the least. Monday was spent in relative relaxation as I went with Emily to get my last ski experience in before hitting the Alps. Monday night and most of Tuesday were spent arranging last minute stuff with the bank and packing. Wednesday was busy, but surprisingly calm. My journy began with a flight from Ottawa to Toronto that left at 3 PM on Wednesday, March 4th. Coincidentally, the same time as the NHL trade deadline, so TSN was providing a nice live countdown to Greg in Switzerland on the ticker. Having never left North America before now, it was my first time in the international terminal in Pearson. Nice place. As I had an hour and a bit to kill before boarding the Toronto to Zurich leg of the trip, I managed to fit in a last bit of Canadiana by purchasing a couple of donuts from Tim's. I suppose that would have been the chance to roll up the rim, but I'm not a coffee drinker at the best of times and I figured downing one just before flying wasn't a great idea. I also purused the duty-free where you can name your vice and it's sure to be found, but deiced against anything this time around. The plane was the largest I had ever been on and first class had these nice personal pods, of course I was in economy. The flight was decent, with 2 meals served (food not as good as Canadian North) and I was able to watch Slumdog Millionaire and catch a few winks. I arrived in Zurich at about 8 AM and waltzed through customs with no problems at all (perhaps all these years of US travel has me paranoid). The airport wasn't busy at all and my luggage all arrived. I met my ride and we were off to my temporary abode in Birmensdorf and then the WSL. I have yet to buy a convertor for my latop so this is all I can write today, but I will post some more updates tomorrow perhaps.

GK