Tag Archives: Switzerland

65 Days in Switzerland

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Hello friends!

I apologize for the very late update but during the past weeks I’ve been so busy with school and travelling to different places that the time to write was non-existent.

Since my last post I’ve been:

  • Skiing and drinking hot chocolate by the slopes

  • Organizing a welcome party for all new and returning students in one of the bars of the school

  • On a trip to Milan. It took us about three hours to drive there from school. We checked in at the Nhow Hotel, went to brunch, walked around the city centre and looked at all the nice shops. We went for dinner, drinks and dancing and drove back the next day. A very short but intense trip and I can’t wait to go back when the weather is a bit nicer
  • On another trip to a place called Blatten where I got to experience the Swiss carnival and go sledging down a mountain in the pitch dark (so scary!)

 

  • Travelling to London for a weekend to celebrate a friend’s birthday
  • Enjoying the sun in parks, on a balcony, and during the “après ski”

  • Hanging out with my family who came to visit for a week
  • Booking a flight home to Sweden for Easter break

But I’ve also been…

  • Finishing a huge project involving six different subjects
  • Writing seven out of nine mid-term exams
  • Preparing three presentations
  • On many interviews and presentations with many hotel companies

I’m enjoying my time here in Switzerland a lot and time flies by so fast it’s hard to believe we are even past the half point. In three to four months I’ll be living and working in a city, but I have no idea where…That’s the beauty of the hotel industry–you have no idea where life (or work) will take you.

X Filippa

The final countdown has begun!

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Just one week left now until my arrival at Les Roches and I couldn’t be more excited! I really can’t wait to meet everyone, to start studying again and to be in such an amazing place!

My Christmas/New Year holidays were a perfect way to relax and prepare myself for this final week and for the start of school. I made immense progress with the recovery of my ankle during my time away – going from having to use crutches and a huge ankle brace when I left home – to returning home without needing the crutches at all and even wearing two shoes! This being a big deal for me as I have not had a normal shoe on my left foot for about 3 months! This progress I was able to make with my ankle has seriously boosted my confidence, meaning I am feeling much better about arriving on campus knowing that I have an ankle that works!

Seeing as I went to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for my holidays, I thought I would just quickly share with you my hotel experiences during my stay. In Abu Dhabi we stayed in the ‘Yas Island Viceroy Hotel’ – a stunningly interesting hotel to look at from the outside, as it is covered with an LED dome which changes colour constantly, making it very visible from a distance, and it even displayed the words ‘Happy New Year’ on new years eve.

Then in Dubai we stayed in the ‘Raffles Hotel’ – again another amazing looking building from the outside as it is shaped like a pyramid! The grand entrance is very inviting and the facilities are great. But for me what really makes this hotel, is the amazing level of customer service. From the second that we stepped through the Egyptian themed sliding doors the staff were incredible in making us feel welcome and giving us any assistance and information we needed. The concierge desk was particularly impressive. At this point I was still using my crutches and was wearing my giant ski boot of an ankle brace, and the concierge (even though I had not asked him anything, I was simply walking past his desk) came out of his way to say hello and ask me how my leg was. Then whenever I saw him he would wave and smile a big smile even if he was busy, and he would always come over and joke that I should go and play football with him, he gave me tips on how to relax my ankle, and he even helped me get comfortable on a sofa in the lounge so that I could eat whilst keeping my ankle up!

I have seen good customer service before, but this to me was the “going the extra mile” bit that makes all the difference with the level of satisfaction of the customer. I couldn’t help but think, if every hotel had staff like this, then everyone would be able to enjoy a great hotel experience, and it made me even more excited about learning about this industry!

Returning home was quite a climate shock, leaving behind the sun, shorts and 26 degree weather – coming home to a typical Swiss winter of snow covered Jura and 3 degree weather! Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining – I love winter in Switzerland, I’m just saying it was quite a big change in one day.

Now that I am back home the serious preparations have begun. Sorting out clothes, planning where and when to go shopping to get the last bits and pieces and of course, my favourite – making lists! There are only a few things that I am missing now, one of them being shoes. I am having a bit of a dilemma finding shoes due to my ankle, but I know I will find a solution, even if I do end up wearing black trainers to go with my suits!

I’m finding it a bit hard to believe that there is only one week left until we will all be arriving on campus. I’ve been waiting for this for months and months and it is so exciting to have it so close to actually happening!! Of course there are a few nerves and worries, the usual what if’s and so on, but these are easily forgotten by the thought that I will soon be studying in such an amazing place. I absolutely adore being in the mountains and I seriously can’t wait to be surrounded by incredible views and people!!

Another thing that I am looking forward to is meeting everyone! I have to say that the Les Roches Facebook page for new students has been an excellent source of information for any questions and queries, as well as being a great place to get to know a little bit about new classmates!

I hope that everyone’s last week of preparations go well and that your journeys to Les Roches go smoothly! I guess I better get on with my packing now.. So see you all next week!!

Samantha

Final Countdown

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The final countdown to arrive in Les Roches started!! One month more and all of us will be in beautiful Bluche!! The snow arrived in Les Roches and I am too excited about that. I am huge fan of winter sports and Crans – Montana is a perfect location for skiing and other winter activities.

Melomakarona and Kourampiedes traditional homemade desserts

Also one more week and it is Christmas time!!! Christmas is my favorite part of winter. The whole city of Athens is decorated with Christmas lights and the scenery in the city center of Athens is magnificent. The shops also are in the mood of Christmas, decorated in an artistic way each one. Believe me, besides summer, Christmas in Greece is also a memorable experience for every visitor. You can see carousels around the main squares of the town with kids having fun, decorated trees all around the city and don’t get surprised if you see somewhere decorated small boats.

Traditional decorated Christmas boat

From the ancient years Greece’s economy was based on the sea, as a matter of fact a big part of the total population used to decorate small boats the last decades… unfortunately, today it is a very rare phenomenon due to globalization and modern trends. Also worth a mention is the local cuisine with special desserts made and traditional foods in order to welcome the New Year!!

But for me, this Christmas will have a special meaning. To begin with, packing and shopping will take a serious amount of time from my everyday life, I want to be well prepared for my journey to Switzerland. All accepted students receive a big pre arrival book which includes information about things to have upon arrival on campus, general information for Switzerland, the campus, and finally a list of clothes that are mandatory for our studies, like suits, polished shoes etc. During classes and until 5.30pm we need to wear business attire so suits will become part of our life. I have to say that I really like the idea and I can’t wait to see a whole campus wearing suits. I am sure that the companies coming for interviews every year are impressed from that approach. Furthermore, I have to buy warm clothes because the temperature during winter in Switzerland is really cold.

On the other hand, a few days ago I was researching about Bluche and Crans – Montana and I read that Les Roches is located in the sunniest area in Switzerland. It is really amazing that we can have access during the winter in Crans Montana for skiing and during the spring to have fun outside enjoying the sun. So I have to pack also several t shirts, swimsuits etc.

I have to say that my biggest doubt is where I will find some area in my bag to pack all that stuff!! Les Roches advise us not to bring too many clothes but I am not sure that I will follow that!

Also I booked my tickets; it is a 2.30 hour flight from Athens to Zurich and then another 45 minutes roughly to Geneva airport. I booked them 1 month before the flight and the price of the tickets was much better; this is a good action for the upcoming students to follow.
My feelings so far are really controversial, this Christmas I want to focus more on my family and my friends because maybe this is the last Christmas that we are going to be all together. On the other hand, I am really excited and I was waiting for the final month to come a long time ago. Everything happens in our life for a reason and I am sure that Les Roches is going to be for the best.

In my next article I am going to write you about the final packing and some useful stuff before arrival to Les Roches!I am open to any possible question that you have!!!

Looking forward to seeing you all guys

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Leandros

 

The Foehn and Spring

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It is absolutely amazing to me that two weeks ago there was endless snow in the mountains and we were still in the throes of winter. Now the snow is melting and the evenings have become lighter and all of a sudden spring is here. The birds are waking up and the temperatures are slowly rising. For someone who is used to having pretty much one season for the whole year this has been quite an experience. The other thing is that the cows are all out in their pastures again.

“Some people imagine that Switzerland is as cold as Alaska, but this is far from the truth. In the plain, temperatures can rise to 30ºC (86ºF) in the summer, and even in the mountains the sun is hot. In the winter, temperatures rarely drop below minus 5ºC (41ºF) in the entire country, save the mountaintops.

The mountainous character of Switzerland is responsible for spectacular differences in the weather among different regions. It is very common to move from a cold, cloudy and rainy landscape to a beautiful clear blue sky with hot sun in just a few minutes.

The warmest parts of the country are Montreux (where palm trees line the lake-side), Ticino and Valais. In Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton South of the Alps, there are over 298 sunny days a year and daily mean temperature in July are over 26ºC (79ºF). In Valais, kiwis, peaches, figs and tomatoes are grown in orchards and tiny scorpions can be found.” From – Climate in Switzerland

I also learned why we were having such warm, windy weather. It is due to a weather pattern called the Foehn winds. It is defined as warm dry wind coming off the lee slopes of a mountain range, especially off the northern slopes of the Alps. The past few days have been very sunny but very windy, feeling almost like tropical winds from home but slightly drier.

The winds are created by the rain shadow of the Alps. Strangely enough they are even cited as the cause of some mental illnesses that show up at this time of the year.

Football !!

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This past weekend a few of us went to a football match and for a few hours immersed ourselves fully in Swiss football culture.

The match was between the Zurich Grasshopper Club and the FC Sion team at the Sion Stadium on Saturday the 26th of February.

There was singing and shouting and cheering for a solid 2 hours. But of course it went on after the match as well. Even though we could not understand a word of what the fans were singing we went along with it and sang as well.

My friends and I were on the Zurich side supporting GCZ and after the match we found out that we had some other Les Roches students supporting Sion so now there is some friendly rivalry in the halls at school. Needless to say Sion won 2 to 0, but this is not the end as there is another match in Zurich coming up.

www.gcz.ch www.fc-sion.ch

Week 4- My First Trip in Switzerland

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This past weekend while some of the students took a trip to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne a few friends and I took a trip to Zurich. The drive took about 3 hours and 15 minutes and then we took the train to a small town outside of the city called Zumikon where we stayed.

View of the old town from Lindenhof

‘As a lifestyle capital on the water, Zürich offers the unique mix of discovery, pleasure, nature and culture. The finest culinary highlights, unlimited shopping pleasure, over 50 museums and more than 100 galleries, Switzerland’s liveliest nightlife, numerous events and countless green oases in the center of the city tempt guests to linger and enjoy.‘  www.zuerich.com

Grossmuenster (Protestant Church with a history including Huldrych Zwingli a leader in the Reformation)

The most famous street in Zurich is Bahnhofstrasse where we spent our Saturday. Here there are many name brand shops and places to eat. It also holds the financial centre of Zurich the square is called the Paradeplatz. Legend has it the gold of Switzerland is buried beneath what has become an area famous for its banks. We also spent some time taking in the view of the lake and the city.

Lake Zurich

Zurich also has a happening night life. We had a great time with some new friends and managed to do some salsa dancing as well.

On Sunday we made our way back to Bluche.

Had we not driven the transport system in Switzerland is amazing. From Bluche you take the funi down to Sierre where you can get trains to most of Switzerland and of course connections to Italy, Germany and France. In most Swiss cities there are either trams or the bus (which run late as well).
Photos by Travis Odegard

Olympic Museum – Lausanne
The Sports and Activities department organizes a trip to the Olympic museum each year. The students travel as a group in a big bus and spend the day in Lausanne taking in the Museum, the lake, some shopping and in general the beautiful city.

Trip to Lausanne

Sports Activity and Lausanne Marathon

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Besides the general academic activities in Les Roches, we also have the Sports and Activities Department which is always inviting and encouraging students to attend to basketball or volleyball games, badminton, tennis, trekking, Yoga lessons, or any other seasonal sports and activities. During these past months, a lot of these activities have taken place and any student can become a member of these sport teams. In the winter time, other activities such as skiing and snowboarding are encouraged by this department as they are a must-try while studying at Les Roches!

During the last month, students were encouraged to take part in the annual Marathon in Lausanne that took place this past weekend.  Here, not only the students but also faculty of Les Roches did a great performance representing Les Roches as well! The marathon was organized to give runners the best conditions. To make a path for the marathon, streets were closed to vehicles from the lakeside in Lausanne, through the green hillsides of the city, making it easy for runners to stay focused on the race. This annual event gathers participants from everywhere. It’s a race for everyone, from professionals to amateurs. Every runner matters and everyone gets a medal!

Congratulations to all of you who went there! Keep it up!


Here there is a compilation of some pictures from this day,  a special thanks to Janet Ling for providing these to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSsyU4vdNWM

Sports, activities and hiking around Les Roches

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Switzerland is famous for its Swiss Army knives, fabulous chocolate and top-quality watches. To travelers from around the world, Switzerland is most famous for its Alpine beauty and majestic landscapes.

I must say that we are lucky to be surrounded here in Les Roches by such natural scenery. I find myself looking at the mountains quite often since the views from the campus are so beautiful. When I need a break in between classes, I find it really refreshing to go outside for a while.  The weather is constantly changing.  In just one day we see different types of weather including rain, sun, and wind, typical of Switzerland by the way.

Recently, you can feel Winter slowly approaching and the temperature dropping, especially at night! However, we have been told to look forward to the winter as well!

During this season, when there are still sunny days, you can take advantage of the good weather and go out for a walk or plan a trekking route to admire the lakes, waterfalls and very nice paths of the area, you can always check out this webpage with more information: www.valais.ch

Its great to take in the scenery through activity, rather than just sightseeing: skiing, hiking, hang-gliding and rafting are only a number of the outstanding opportunities. These pictures are of a group of students reaching a departure point by car and taking one of the routes towards one waterfall.

Thank you Luis for providing information about this and the pictures!!

Traveling in Switzerland

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Before coming to Les Roches, I had heard a lot about all of the advantages of living and studying in Switzerland.  Its geographical central position and the well-developed transportation system make Switzerland very accessible for everyone who wants to travel both within the country and to other European cities.

I have mentioned several times before about the beauty of the area where the school is, but my first trip out of Valais to a big city was really amazing. First of all, I had to start by visiting somewhere important in Switzerland that I had cherished for a long time…  Zurich!  I had heard so much about the city and had actually met so many people from there in the past that I could not believe it when I actually got there.

From Les Roches in Bluche, it only takes approximately 2 hours to get to Zurich by train if the times you pick have precise connections, and in fact most of them do. This is something that I need to highlight because the organization makes it so easy to travel by train, also the school highly recommends in the beginning of the semester that  every student gets either a half price card or/and an “after 7” card. Accordingly, these cards allow students to pay half-price fares in all the funicular, train and bus transportation, and the advantage of having the “after 7 card” is that you don’t pay anything for any rides taken after 7pm at night! This makes the travelling a lot cheaper, no matter where you go within La Suisse.

Although the city of Bern is the capital, Zurich is the largest and it is also recognized for having one of the world’s largest financial centers.

When my sister and I got there, the weather was amazing.  We were able to take a walk along the main station street, “Bahnhofstrasse” and visit several stores.  One of which I loved because it has the best Swiss handmade chocolate!

The old town in Zurich is so charming, lots of beautiful architecture, several churches and their cobblestoned, car-free walking streets add a pleasant touch to this part of the city.

There is a main river that sort of divides the city and its bridges in between are wonderful with very interesting buildings and houses on each side.  Also different brasseries and restaurants with international food can be found throughout the entire city, and you can go by foot everywhere.

Also, here the transportation within the city is mainly by trams that drive around all over and are quite regular too. Thanks to these trams, you can get from one place to another in almost no time.  One part that you shouldn’t miss is of course the Zurich lake, it is pretty large and people get together here for swimming when there is good weather or taking long walks along the lake.

During the weekend that we were there we really felt like we needed more time to see everything else,  and we cant wait to come back! I look forward to the rest of cities in Switzerland, after this experience it will just get easier to travel next time!

Getting ready!

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Finally! Only a few more day and I will be on a plane to Switzerland.  Well, many of us will be! I have been waiting for this day with so much anticipation that waiting only for two more days seems like an eternity. Packing has taken a long time too. In fact, in the beginning, I thought I would be packing a lot less than what I have packed now; every time there was something else that I wanted to bring with me and I was saying to myself, “it doesn´t weigh too much” but now I am prepared to pay for overweight at the airport!  In my case, it is a 13 hour flight from Ecuador to Spain, and then a shorter flight from Madrid to Geneva.  I booked my flights some time in advance and I am relieved that I got a flight out of Madrid only a few hours after my flight from Ecuador, so that I do not have to wait too long for the connection flight and with so much luggage.

I also received an e-mail from Les Roches that reminded me of a few more things, so I highly recommend you to read through the pre-arrival list, even if you have done it some time ago, do it again to double check. I was very sure of all the things I had to bring with me but there are always some last minute things that could come to mind and that you might be forgetting about.

Something that I had totally forgot about was the plug adapters that I will need in Switzerland while using some of my electronics. Europe and most other countries in the world use a voltage which is twice that of the US. It is between 220 and 240 volts, whereas in Japan and in most of the Americas the voltage is between 100 and 127 volts.  Switzerland has its own standard of socket type and you can compare it to the one used in your country on this website.  So make sure to bring a couple of plug adapters with you otherwise you might not be able to use your electronics right away, and maybe you might even need a convertor, it depends on the type of electronic appliance. You can switch the voltage in some of them like in the hair drier, or the iron. Check this out

It might be, for some of you, the first time you travel with all of your stuff.  I have been thinking about all of the things that I need to bring and I want to get everything ready so that I can spend some more time with friends and family before leaving but the whole fact about leaving and the anticipation is so huge that I feel a little overwhelmed.

Thanks to the Facebook page of Les Roches I have been able to talk to some of the future students and some have shared their thoughts with me, so I know that many of us are feeling the same kind of nervousness. Probably once you get to the airport and say goodbye to your friends and family you might get emotional but it is totally normal to feel this way. Some of us come from very far away and not having our relatives or friends around will always delay the adjustment process to this new environment; however, it is great to hear all of the comments about Les Roches being more like a family for the students, and although I haven´t actually visited the campus before, it already seems like Les Roches is a very welcoming institution.

I feel it from the way the recruitment team has been with me and the support I have received by the people I have talked to online. And there are always things to look forward to like the fact that all of us will be making many new friends too!

Look forward to seeing all of you soon!

Happy Packing!!