Studying Abroad: Adventures in Switzerland (Switzerland, 2023)

Hallo! Welcome to Switzerland, where I’m not sure what the best part is…but the flag is a big plus! I studied abroad in Zürich for 4 months, so this is going to be a loonnggg post. I will separate the sections into the various daytrip excursions I did in Switzerland that were not in Zürich proper.

Table of Contents

Feburary 11: Mt. Titlus and Engelberg
March 4: Arosa
March 7: Davos
March 11: St. Gallen
March 25: Andermatt
March 26: Lucerne
May 4: Pilatus
May 5: Bern
May 20: Geneva
May 22: Oeschinensee
May 25: Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls
June 3: Rigi

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Feburary 11: Mt. Titlis and Engelberg

We, a group of ~15, set off from Zürich HB, and headed to Engelberg and Mt. Titlis. After some confusion with the ski passes (we didn’t want to ski but some of us had bought the pass), we made our way to the 360-degree rotating cable car and were treated with picturesque views all the way up to the top. I grabbed a gipfeli at the cafe (a top 5 German word) and we headed outside to explore. All the South Asians in our group did the rite of passage and took pictures with the DDLG poster (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a Bollywood classic). I hadn’t seen too many South Asians in Switzerland, but the concentration at the top of this mountain made me feel like I stepped into a portal to India. The surrounding views were breathtaking, and while I’d seen snow-capped mountains before in Colorado and Andorra, this was definitely the most snow I’d seen on a summit.

After taking approximately 1000 pictures (shoutout to Iris for her camera) in 100 different poses, including a 6-person human pyramid, we checked out the wobbly suspension bridge. It felt like the fight scene from Kung Fu Panda with Tai Lung. Frolicking in the snow for a couple hours really works up an appetite, so we all had lunch at this self-serve restaurant in the central building on the mountain (high quantity, decent quality, not really any other alternatives when you’re 10K feet up). Working our way down from the top, we explored the glacier cave: really cool but reminded me a lottttt of Gaylord Texan’s ICE exhibition every year. The views from every window and every angle were breathtaking and I felt like I was inside of an advent calendar.

We took the rotating cable car back down to the sledding area (which was free and included in the summit ticket, a rarity in this country), and had an amazing time ridding plastic sleds down a snowy hill. Given our big group, we played around and tried to go in a horizontal line, a vertical line, having arms interlocked, and so on. Each time, someone always ended up with snow on their face but it was a great time for everyone. Once, the worker came up to us, and I was worried he was going to tell us to stop since we were endangering the kids (which we definitely were), but he just wanted song recommendations!

At this point, most of us were covered in snow and exhausted, so we grabbed coffee at this hotel cafe and ended up having to sprint to make our train. Miraculously, our entire group made it on the train and we headed to Luzern. The train ride itself was also gorgeous, with views of the mountains and sunset. Plan A was to explore Luzern and then have dinner, but given it was already dark and people were at their limit, we ended up just doing dinner at an Indian place, aptly named Indian Restaurant Luzern (really solid 9/10, even gave us sliced raw onion on the side!). Some of us split up for dinner and got raclette, a traditional Swiss dish with cheese, potatoes, and meat. They also stayed behind to explore the city, but the rest of us head back to Zürich and called it a night.

Takeaways

• Mount Titlis is absolutely gorgeous, even if you don’t ski. Definitely worth a day trip
• If you go with Bollywood fans, be prepared to be their personal photographer in front of the DDLG poster and of them hitting Shah Rukh Khan poses on the mountaintop
• Sledding is a must-do and don’t be afraid to be the only adults on the slope (but try not to crash into any kids, though)

March 4: Skiing in Arosa

I would be a finalist in a competition for the world’s worst skier, but when in Rome (or in this case, the Swiss Alps)! After a hearty breakfast at Burger King in Zürich HB, a group of 8 of us (consisting of 4 beginners, 3 intermediates, and 1 non-skier) set off to Chur and then Arosa. The train from Chur to Arosa took us on a mountainside route covered in snow and trees and was absolutely gorgeous. I recommend the route (with the snow25 pass!) to anyone, even non-skiers.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Pizza & Kebab (filling, affordable, and a wide variety of sauces—solid all around) and were treated to views of horses, a frozen lake, and gorgeous mountains. We grabbed our ski rentals (~67 CHF for skis, a helmet, and boots at Intersport) and it definitely took a while to get used to walking around in the boots. The 8 of us went up to Mittelstation (2013 meters high) and the 3 more experienced skiers taught a 10-minute crash course to us beginners on skiing. A crash course to avoid crashing, if you will. They zoomed off to tackle some blues and reds while we practiced on the bunny slopes 5-6 times for an hour.

Lulled into a false sense of confidence, 3 of us decided to tackle a blue slope: 15 and 15a. Me being the brave soul I am, I went first. I experienced blazing-fast speeds (upon video review it was not blazing fast) for about 15 seconds until tragically falling and doing several barrel rolls down the first hill. After 2-3 falls and semi-successful restarts, a German dad took pity on me and taught me the basics of skiing on a hill (ex. putting your skis perpendicular to the fall line when getting back up, skiing in permanent “pizza” formation to control speed better, not looking down, etc.). Funny enough, he was clearly drinking and apologized for it, but his tipsy ski skills were 10000000% better than mine at full concentration and I was and will be eternally grateful for him. It was at this point one of my friends caught up to me, and we learned our 3rd friend saw our misfortune and called it quits. After about 10 minutes, the dad went with his kids and told me the rest of the route isn’t too far down.

That was a f***ing lie. After about 30 minutes of slowly (and I mean slowly) descending down the hill, I entered a shaded section covered with a layer of ice and began employing a strategy of pre-emptively falling to make sure I don’t slip into the forested area on the side. It was at this point that I was lapped by the cool German dad and his family (including several children under age 5). After another grueling hour, likely one of the hardest of my life, I finally finished the 274m decline in elevation and arrived at the final slope back to the ski rental (which I fell on). I went back up to the ski area but ultimately came back down because the resort was closing (yes, I really did take that long). I met up with the other blue slope survivor and the other smart ones who enjoyed the bunny slopes. Jokes aside, I am very glad I decided to do the blue slope and still feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for getting down it.

The intermediate skiers had their own adventure on the other side of the mountain. Two of them were able to get back in time, but one of them (Harry) somehow wound up in the next town over! We met up with him in Chur to get his battery back to him, and we grabbed dinner while he went back to Arosa to drop off his gear. In Chur, we split up for dinner and I finally got to try the fabled Swiss McDonald’s where a single McChicken will run you 6.99CHF. We met up with the others who tried a Thai place and returned back to Zürich together (with Harry returning an hour after us).

Takeaways

• If you’re a beginner, maybe splurge on ski lessons before tackling a blue slope
• This experience proved yet again that drunk Germans are the gem of the Earth
• Sometimes your friends will ski into the next town by accident: make sure everyone has fully charged phones with enough battery!

March 7: Davos

This trip was sponsored by ETH Zürich. And viewers, like you. Thank you.

No, actually though, it was part of a field trip from my class called “Snow and Avalanches: Processes and Risk Management”. The class itself was really unique and I learned a lot about how predicting and analyzing avalanches/snow loads require a lot of advanced materials science, computation, and physics. Unlike American field trips, we were expected to get our own transportation to Davos and arrive before noon and they would reimburse us for transport costs. So, I hopped on a 7:30 train from Zürich HB to Davos Dorf via Landquart. I met up with David, a friend from Penn who was also studying abroad at ETH and taking the class with me. A group of 25 students all converged on the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), a global leader in snow and avalanche research around 10 AM.

After a free(!) breakfast and a cool introductory video on the institute’s work, we broke up into groups to analyze the snowpack next to a cross-country ski course. Being linguistically handicapped, all of us Americans go to go with Professor Jürg Schweizer because he was most comfortable with English. The snow consisted mostly of “sugar snow” with low cohesion and the snow cover itself was quite low from an exceptionally snow-less winter. We looked at snow crystals under a magnifying glass to classify them, made several measurements using piezoelectric crystals (to measure hardness at various layers in the snowpack), and even dug huge pits to measure crack formation and elongation. Despite advances in technology, the best method to measure crack elongation was for the professor to jump onto a 30 cm x 200cm prism of snow from the hill above us with his skis. A lack of proper snow boots meant my toes were freezing and I was genuinely concerned about frostbite, but luckily our group was first to finish because we had the professor himself assisting us. We head back to the institute to thaw out.

I enjoyed a Brezelkönig sandwich (basically fast food for soft pretzels) during lunch and got reimbursed for my expenses, which was just the professor handing me 56 CHF cash. At Penn, not only would the field trip be self-funded, but any reimbursement process would take 10 online forms and a three-month delay. I was ready for a nap, but next on the agenda was a 2-hour walking tour of Davos to explore avalanche danger zones and historic avalanche areas. Stefan Margreth led us on a great course with incredible views, and it was cool to see the precautions and guidelines in effect to prevent future disasters (i.e. a covered tunnel with overhangs, houses fortified with stone walls, etc.). Some of the fascination and enthusiasm was lost on me, though, given that I don’t really do any winter sports (see my post on Arosa for more details). I was just enjoying the views and free trip. As we walked around Davos, we got a great view of the Davos Congress Centre, the meeting place of the World Economic Forum.

Our last leg of the trip was to watch a presentation from Chris Visscher, a member of the Rescue Service at Jakobshorn, a nearby mountain and ski resort. He had long blonde hair and was nonchalant about the fact that he routinely carries explosive charges in his backpack and throws them off a mountain to trigger artificial avalanches to control the snowpack—a true Alpine snowboarder. I already had a lot of respect for search and rescue times, but after hearing about the frequency at which they run into gruesome injuries (multiple times a day) and trigger intentional avalanches (several times a season), I was impressed.

That wrapped up our Davos trip and our group hopped on a 4PM train back to Landquart and Zürich.

Takeaways

• Digging in the snow is always fun, no matter if you’re 2 years old or 20
• Analyzing snowfall and avalanche risk involves a mix of advanced technologies and snow professors jumping up and down on the snow
• Having a career doing ski search and rescue and triggering artificial avalanches is the coolest thing ever

March 11: St. Gallen

Sankt Gallen! I never felt more American than when I assumed that the “St.” in St. Gallen was short for “Saint” and not “Sankt.” So, if you did too, you’re not alone.

As kind of a last-minute trip, 7 of us left from Zürich HB to St. Gallen on a snowy day. Upon arrival, we took a bus to the Stein area to see the Appenzeller Schaukäserei, which was a cheese factory and museum. As a true Texan, I was awestruck by the snow on the rural Swiss landscape and we ended up playing on a snow-covered playground and had some snowball fights before entering cheese paradise. For 15CHF, we got to taste 5 cubes of cheese and got access to 2 different museums. In the first one, we saw the history of the Appenzell area and learned about the cheesemaking process from cows all the way to packaged products. They had a viewing space to see the cheese being made and aged, and there was an area to make your own herbal blend to take home. Funnily enough, they call their cheese “spicy” because of the herbs they use, but I think they mean “spiced” because there was not an ounce of spiciness in the cheese.

All that cheese made us hungry for, well, cheese. After buying some wedges to take home (I got the one aged 9 months, yum), we got lunch in the factory restaurant. I got a nice glass of cold milk, which was super creamy and rich, followed by some classic fondue. The second museum was about the history of the local farmers and the residents of the Appenzell area over the past several hundred years. Their traditional outfits and overalls reminded me of The Sound of Music, which I learned is from Salzburg (and not Switzerland as I had thought). My favorite part of any museum is the 10-to-15 minute informational film in those mini theaters, and the one in this museum turned out to be the perfect place for a post-fondue cheese coma.

The coma lasted about 10 minutes before we got back on the bus heading to St. Gallen proper, which we were able to find with the help of a really nice local. After a quick pit stop at Migros, we headed to the famous Abbey Library, AKA the Stiftsbibliothek. I knew this library was going to be amazing when they made us put on protective coverings over our shoes and said no photography (we definitely snuck in a few photos anyway, shh). The library was absolutely gorgeous and was a textbook dark academia vibe, complete with Greco-Roman literature (like Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which contains the myth of Narcissus), an old globe, and even a mummy on display, which seemed a little disrespectful to the body. The abbey closed at 5, and it was about 4:30 at this point, so we had to do a speedrun of the next exhibit, the Vaulted Cellar, which had some architectural history about the Abbey. In the nick of time, we exited and head to the St. Gallen cathedral. I’ve seen countless cathedrals during my study abroad experience, but each time I’m always blown away by the grandeur and ornateness of each one. This one had amazing highlights of purple and gold near the front, and we even joined in on a service (it was in German, though, so not sure what was said).

As the sun set, we walked around the city and soaked in the vibe of the city, including some cool sculptures and buildings. Part of our group was headed to Munich for a St. Patrick’s day parade, but some others and I head back to Zürich on a quick 90-minute train. To cap off the trip, Harry (the Korean dude) and I made some Dak-bokkeum-tang, a traditional Korean dish made with chicken, potatoes, vegetables, noodles, and a delicious spicy sauce. This wasn’t part of the trip, but it was so good that it deserved a mention.

Takeaways

• If you’re a cheese enthusiast, the Appenzeller factory is an absolute must-visit item, even if it’s just for the samples, store, and restaurant
• Europe (and especially St. Gallen!!) is THE place for dark academia and beautiful cathedrals
• If you decide to mummify yourself, make sure you don’t get put on display in a random rich person’s library in 2000 years
• Never be afraid to unleash your inner child and play in the snow

March 25: Andermatt

Our second skiing adventure! The weather wasn’t great, but it was the end of the ski season and we set off to Andermatt as a group of 6 (including a special visitor from Barcelona, Valeria).

I got Brezelkönig (as usual), but misspoke in German and accidentally got 3 pretzels. The ride there was pretzel-filled and had gorgeous views, and once we got there, I ran into more minor mishaps. I had to rent gloves for 15CHF since I forgot mine, and then we went to rent ski gear, I picked up the wrong gear while walking out the door. Tashya, Walter, and I did a ski lesson from 10 to 12 in the morning, and the instructor was incredibly helpful. We went over skiing straight, stopping, climbing up a hill, turning, and finished with a slalom course. Compared to my Arosa adventure, it was a pleasant experience and I felt truly confident in my skills. Halfway through the lesson, some friends who stayed down with Audrey (who wasn’t feeling too hot) went back to the rental store and realized I had the wrong gear. The employee was apparently flabbergasted and was super worried about me falling, but luckily I’m a skiing pro and hadn’t fallen yet. They made their way up with my real skis, and we had a hostage exchange between my old and my rightful ski gear.

After wrapping up our lesson, we grabbed lunch at the restaurant on the mountain. All those 2 mile-per-hour (3.2 kmph for those who don’t like freedom) turns really worked up an appetite, and I had a delicious soup with chicken nuggets. I had wanted to do a blue slope with my newly discovered skiing skills, but my friends convinced me successfully weaving 2 cones is not enough to go alone in snowy conditions.

So, I settled for skiing down the last 1/10 of the slope from the restaurant to the ski lift. My cheerleader friends supported me from the sidelines as if I was an Olympic champion. There was also an EDM concert going on near the slope, so the heavy thumps of the 808s punctuated my thoughts (which were “turn right turn right turn right holy sh- go straight okay you did it speed up wow this fun”).

This whole time, we were at the intermediate station, and we just had to get to the top. There was so much snow and wind that the visibility was 1 meter and we ascended in a completely white landscape devoid of all signs of life. In such conditions, the view from the top was a little underwhelming. We went back down into the white void and our gondola suddenly stopped, much to Valeria’s joy. Luckily, we survived and made it to the gear rental place. There, we meet this Australian dude named David who was studying mathematics in Mannheim. Together, we chatted with the super friendly worker there about his experiences moving to Switzerland and what it was like growing up in Jamaica. That’s a pretty good way to live life: the first half in a Carribean paradise and the second half in a mountainous paradise.

David was going back to Zürich, so the 7 of us headed back altogether. He was traveling with no data plan and just relying on others telling him where to go—pretty brave. The snow had cleared up and the views on the train ride back were, as the Aussie put it, “SO MENTAL MATE!” Since most of the day was spent in whiteout conditions, a majority of the pictures below are from the train home.

When we got back to beautiful Zürich, Walter and I showed David around ETH Zentrum, Polyterasse, and Einstein’s locker before grabbing dinner at Culmann. We got the deal for unlimited pizza and spent 3 hours eating pizza and chatting about life and quantitative finance (the natural course of conversation when a math major meets a CS student). After a walk to the lake, we dropped him off at the train station as we wrapped up a fun but incredibly exhausting day.

Takeaways

• Don’t underestimate the power of a skiing lesson. I went from falling every 10 seconds to not falling once the whole day
• Skis are fitted to your exact specifications, but as long as you’re as good at skiing as I am, feel free to grab anyone’s gear before hitting the slopes
• If it starts snowing on the slopes, might as well close your eyes because visibility is almost zero
• Australian quant finance students can eat a LOT of pizza

March 26: Lucerne

After only getting to eat dinner in Luzern (Swiss spelling) during our Titlus adventure, we finally got around to visiting this city during the day. I got the coveted plus-one invite from Valeria.

Tashya, Vale, and I set out in the afternoon. As soon as we got to the city, we were in awe of its beauty. We walked along the lake, took plenty of pictures, and eventually found a playground. I loved swinging and seesawing with a gorgeous view of Lake Lucerne and the mountains behind it. Next, we wandered up a hill into the residential district and eventually made it into the old city. It was the beginning of bloom season, so there were some gorgeous flowers to accent the city. We explored a church with a really old graveyard, some cool buildings, and the famous Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge). The bridge was really cool and had religious inscriptions, art, and sculptures all along it. The weather was cloudy and drizzly, but it was a vibe in such an old city (dark academia vibes!).

Tashya realized some of our friends were at a hotel on a hill, and there were some great views from there. I love me a good overlook, so we set off to Hotel Château Gütsch. We planned to take a funicular, but in trying to find it, we accidentally climbed the hill on foot and made it to the top. It also started raining when we got near the top and I realized I had an umbrella a litttttle too late because we were already soaked.

We chatted with the 4 girls already there, making us a group of 7 (me being the only guy). I got a locally brewed beer (very manly of me) and enjoyed the view of the city, even if it was a little overcast. I highly recommend stopping by for a drink—they’re not too expensive and the views are unmatched. Eventually, all of us headed down via funicular and made our way to the station. We split up to grab some snacks and some food, but I was still full from my unlimited pizza dinner the night before (see Andermatt).

We head back to Zürich. Being the only dude with a group of girls made for some interesting conversation, but it wasn’t the first time I’d found myself in such a situation. I always got along with girls in my youth (I know I know, I’m still in my youth), and the train ride was a throwback to all those birthday parties where I was the only dude there.

Takeaways

• Always say yes to a last-minute invite to go see a new city!
• Luzern is like a prettier Zürich because the mountains are visible from the city. Highly recommend Hotel Château Gütsch to see it all!
• If you have the foresight to pack an umbrella, remember it exists!

May 4: Pilatus

As the weather warmed, it was time to start tackling some of the hikes on my Swiss bucket list. Pilatus is about 2 hours from Zürich by train and proved to be an excellent choice for a solo hike. After fueling up at Brezelkönig (huge shoutout to Brezelkönig for being there with some delicious pretzels and sandwiches) at Zürich HB, I headed to Lucerne (same one as above!).

After a quick bus ride to Kriens Busschleife, I walked to Pilatus-Bahnen and started my trek upwards from a quiet suburb next to the mountain. I decided to hike to Fräkmüntegg and then cable car the rest of the way, since the trail from Fräkmüntegg to the top wasn’t open. At first, I saw a lot of farm animals, which quickly changed into a forest-like environment. It then became quite steep with lots of switchbacks. The views were ethereally beautiful, though, with Lucerne and Lake Lucerne in the distance. I took a couple breaks along the way and made it to Krienseregg.

From Krienseregg to Fräkmüntegg, it was up and down at first, followed by a whole lot of up. After some more steep ascent, I made it to Fräkmuntegg. The signage at the bottom of the mountain said the route would take 2 hours and 50 minutes, and I had scoffed at the signage, thinking I could make it up in 2 hours. However, at Fräkmüntegg, I checked my watch and saw that it was almost exactly 2 hours and 50 minutes after starting. The Swiss really know how to predict times!

I snapped a lot of pictures at Fräkmüntegg because I was quite proud of myself for solo trekking such a steep climb (still ranked as a mild hike for Swiss standards). It was also a nice outpost, complete with a ropes course and some food options. I took a cable car up to the peak, Pilatus Kulm, and was treated to some breathtaking panoramic views. On one side was a snow-covered mountain range, and on the other, a green-and-blue spackled landscape of lakes, fields, and settlements. If I’m being honest, though, I liked my views during the hike more. At the top, I called Vale (the same one from the Lucerne trip!) to show her the view, met a group of welders from Maryland, and ate my pretzel. There was also an art installation of COVID masks, but I didn’t really get it. The summit also had one of those signs that shows directions to different cities around the world with distance markers, and the only US city was San Diego. I thought it was hilarious that San Diego was the most popular city for Swiss people on a snowy mountain. Eventually, the cold was too much for my Texas body, so I headed inside and got a latte and some Toblerone ice cream.

After a quick cable car ride back down, I treated myself to some bubble tea at Karma bubble tea. It was the first time I had seen a boba shop in Switzerland! One bus ride and train ride later, I was back in Zürich.

Takeaways

• Pilatus is a great hike with no dangerous segments (as is the case with many popular Swiss hikes)
• The views are breathtaking, and are even better if you hike to it!
• Remember to treat yourself! A $5 ice cream buy can indeed buy happiness after a grueling 3-hour hike

May 5: Bern

Feel the Bern! That was my goal with my quick stint in the nation’s capital before heading to Nice. After arriving to the city from Zürich, I first took a walk to the Parliament building and the Swiss National Bank (Schweizerische Nationalbank). Along the way, I passed by streets lined with red-and-yellow flags with a bear on them (the coat of arms of Bern).

I asked the guards, but was unable to get inside the building. So, I headed to my next stop: old city. It was a charming, bustling part of the city, complete with a famous astronomical clock tower, the Zytglogge. Just like Prague but with 1/100 the crowd! The entire Old City is actually a UNESCO heritage site because of its rich history. One of these streets even featured Albert Einstein’s old apartment and the place where he developed his theory of relativity. It was a stroke of luck for me to stumble into it.

Next, I passed by the famous Cathedral of Bern, known as the Bern Minster, which is the tallest church spire in the country. The carvings and paintings inside and even on the exterior were stunning—the attention to detail was second-to-none. I love taking rest at these massive, ornate European churches and taking some time to appreciate the giants whose shoulders we stand on.

I took a quick stroll to Münsterplattform, which is this greenery-filled platform overlooking the river and other parts of Bern. It was absolutely gorgeous and the sunkissed park had lots of couples enjoying a date, kids eating ice cream and running around, and people just taking in the vibe (like me!). It was a great atmosphere and I could have spent an eternity there. Unfortunately, I was on a tight schedule and made my way to Rosengarten, one of Bern’s most famous areas.

This rose garden was similar to the Münsterplattform, but was much higher up and located on the other side of the Aare River. From this vantage point, you can see the bright blue waters of the river, the lush grass and plants of the city, and the architecture of the old city (but very few roses, maybe due to the weather). I snagged lots of pictures and thought to myself, Imagine being a government official and this is where you get to work. Maybe one day that’ll be me!

But, for the time being, it was time to hop on a bus back to the main station. Before heading out, I decided to get some Thai food from one of Bern’s highest rated restaurants (at least on Reddit), Thai Take Away Seav. For reference, that was the name on Google Maps but it had a different name in real life and took some time to find. The food was decent for European standards of Asian food, but the Thai food in the US outshines this location. After a day of walking and a belly full of Thai food, I was ready to spend a couple hours on the train to Geneva and my Bern adventure came to a close.

Takeaways

• Bern is perhaps the most beautiful national capital and definitely worth a day trip
• Life would be so much better if everyone could live life like they did on the Münsterplattform
• If you’re a Thai foodie, check out New York City instead (or any other American city)

May 20: Geneva

With only a couple weeks left in paradise, I had to cross off some bucket list items. One of these items was CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, home of the Large Hadron Collider), in Geneva, and so I took a quick day trip to Geneva to check out this particle physics mecca.

I took an incredibly early train to Genève and hopped on a tram to get to CERN at around 10:45 AM. CERN doesn’t take reservations and instead grants slots to people who are there 1 hour before the tour time. I was trying to tour at 1 PM, so I figured getting there just before 11 would be good enough for the 1 PM tour. I figured wrong. There was such a huge line that I almost didn’t get a tour slot! Because of the line, they started assigning people to tour groups >1 hour in advance, up to 1:45. This South Asian man at the front was being very strict about tour timings, and at first I didn’t get a slot for the last tour of the afternoon at 1:45. Luckily, at 11:45, someone who got the 1:45 slot left and I was granted the last spot for this guided tour.

God was really looking out for me, and I happily spent my time watching the informational video and visiting the globe across the street for some information and history of CERN. I got super emotional and even teary-eyed knowing that I was at such an important site, which just goes to show how nerdy I am. The tour itself involved showing us an old particle accelerator, the synchotron, and Atlas Control Room for their current experiments. It’s forbidden to go underground due to radiation from the accelerator, so I was a little dissapointed, but it was still super cool just being there. One of the employees mentioned that it is possible to do underground tours during the winter sometimes, because the accelerator is turned off for cold weather. Something to ponder…

I’m not one to buy lots of merch, but the CERN merch was so nice that I got for myself and others before I head back into the city for lunch at Asia Garden. As you can tell by now, Swiss cuisine is not the best and I opt for Asian food quite often (and for good reason—Asia Garden was delicious!)

It was getting late, so I took a tram over to the Red Cross Museum, since some of my friends (Harsh and Walter) had recommended it to me. I only had ~1 hour in the museum before it closed, and I wish I had more time because the exhibits were really interesting and emotional too. After seeing as much as I could, I left and walked past the UN building (tours were fully booked sadly) and even saw the giant, famous Broken Chair statue. I took another tram back to the main station and walked to the waterfront. While the famous jet of water was turned off, I passed an open-air French comedy show. I didn’t get any of the jokes, but I bet it was hilarious to Francophones. With that, I turned back and head back to the main station for a long train ride back to Zürich.

Takeaways

• CERN is such a cool place, and even if you can’t see the active accelerator, it is worth a visit if you’re interested in science (but leave 4-5 hours for this!)
• The Red Cross Museum will pull at your heartstrings and is one of Geneva’s best attractions
• Zürich > Geneva and it isn’t close! GOOO ZÜRICHHHHHHHHH

May 22: Oeschinensee

As warmer weather arrived, more and more hiking trails opened up and lakes thawed out. This made it a great time to take another solo hiking trip to Lake Oeschinen, or Oeschinensee. Out of all the rich nature in Switzerland, I rank Oeschinensee to be #1, so listen up!

After a ride from Zürich to Kandersteg, I took a short scenic walk to the cable car entrance point. After a quick conversation with the lady about the hiking trials (the famous panoramaweg was still sadly closed due to snow and ice), I decided to take a cable car up and then hike the steep trail down. Because I was a little late, she recommended not hiking up because the cable car closed early and I would have to either have to hike down or make my trip short.

The cable car dropped us off about 30 minutes away from the main lake. That 30 minute hike featured one of the most scenic views I had ever seen: blue skies, tall and icy mountains, and bright green trees all around us! The breathtaking views continued as I got to the lake, whcih was a deep teal color with a backdrop of rocky, snow-covered mountains.

I cannot overstate how beautiful this place was. I took a walk around half the lake (at least the part of the trail that was open) and then headed back on a different trail. This other trail curved upwards and I got to experience the lake from different vantage points. I even met a German-speaking lady who I took pictures for and communicated with entirely in German. I was quite proud of myself and got some good pictures too!

After looping back around, I decided to check out the neraby waterfall that was feeding into the lake. I sat behind the waterfall and ate my protein bar while taking in the view and romanticizing every element of my life. I snapped a bunch of pictures before heading to the lakeshore, dipping my feet in the icy water, and taking the trek back to the cable car area. There was an alpine coaster nearby, which is a manual single-person roller coaster powered completely by gravity. I was scared at first, but it ended up being a lot of fun and nothing to worry about. To treat myself, I had some ice cream and sat on a picnic bench to enjoy the view of the mountains.

It was time to start heading down, so I started carefully making the descent. The trail downwards passed through some grading pastures, and some cows crossed my path! I had to a double take, but there were indeed fluffy cows on the trail. I had the time of my life petting some of their cute heads, getting licked, and listening to the music of their cowbells. Compared to cows on American farms, these cows were living the life, complete with a showstopping view of the mountains. Eventually, I continued heading downwards and finally made it to the train station and back to Zürich.

May 25: Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls

I was able to convince Harry to come with me to cross some another item off my Swiss bucket list: Aare Gorge. I saw approximately 23849234892 TikToks about this place, so I really wanted to pay it a visit.

We took several trains from Zürich to Lucern to Meiringen and finally to Aareschlucht Ost (which was in a cave!). Harry and I then walked to the gorge and walked through the gorge from the East. It was a beautiful, scenic walk through complex rock formations. It reminded me a bit of pictures from Antelope Canyon in the US. There were a lot of caves, waterfalls, and unique rocks. We also were in front of a field trip group of elementary school-age kids. It must be nice to be a student in Switzerland—the field trips must be out of this world. The gorge was really pretty but also got slippery at times.

The gorge was cool, don’t get me wrong, but I like the mountain aesthetic over the canyon aesthetic. Lucky for us, after leaving the gorge, we could see mountains behind us and green fields in front of us. We even found a playground, and Harry and I happily played on the swings and zip line, much to the chagrin of the school children. We then took a walk along the river and passed some sheep-like llama animals. They were very cute but also very loud with their bleating. We took plenty of pics and videos and I really wish I could have taken one home. The scene looked like something out of a storybook.

Soon, we reached the base of Reichenbach Falls and took a funicular up. Harry informed me that this waterfall is famous for being the site of Sherlock Holmes’s final fight to the death with Professor Moriarty. The author of Sherlock, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was impressed by the torrential waterfall while on a Swiss holiday. There was a small informative exhibit about Sherlock and a telescope to see the site of the fight and fall. It was also quite wet and misty next to the falls, and it was hard not to slip.

The area was connected to some trails, and we hiked around for a little bit in the nearby forested areas. We made it to the top of the falls, and the views were spectular: a rainbow from the mist, a torrential waterfall, green fields, and huge, rocky mountains. It almost looked AI generated. We made our way back down via funicular and walked to Meirengen to catch the train back.

Takeaways

• Aare Gorge might be slightly overrated, but the surrounding Meirengen area is beautiful and the Falls are stunning
• Swiss llama sheep (or whatever they are called) are adorable and would make the perfect pet
• Sherlock chose a great spot to die. It’s no suprise Arthur Doyle was enamored with this waterfall

June 3: Rigi

One last huzzah! I’m sad to report that this is my last day trip adventure because I left Switzerland the next day. Luckily, it was not wasted.

Harsh, Walter, Harry, and I took a train from Zürich to Arth-Goldau. We then got a railway ticket on the funicular, but got off halfway to catch a cable car to Scheidegg. The views at this intermediate stop were stunning and featured a large Swiss flag waving in the air. There were even some paragliders taking off from this area. We set off on our hike, which was first downhill and then a LOT of uphill climb. We could see other peaks and incredibly green fields in nearly every direction. In one direction, though, there was a deep blue lake.

As the walk continued, the views only got better. Eventually, we reached a ridge hike portion of the trail. It lasted about a kilometer and had a flat section before turning into a steep descent. The view was stunning and almost dreamlike. On one side, there were an infinite expanse of bright green fields on a hill. On the other side, there was a large lake and a piece of land sticking up, all faintly covered by some misty clouds.

It was the perfect opportunity to eat a banana and a protein bar. The walk continued, and we ran into people of all ages absolutely killing it on the trail. We saw a dad and a very young daughter, who was treating the steep climbs as her personal playground. We saw a 75-year old hiker who told us about his stories about summiting Pilatus a few years back. I felt very out-of-shape watching these people hike faster than us, but that is a standard experience in Switzerland: everyone can hike and ski!

Eventually, it was time for lunch and we found a spot about 80% of the way to the peak. The place, Bärenstube, served traditional food next to pastures of mooing cows and a view of the surrounding pastures. I had some delicious alpine macaroni and cheese and can still taste it if I think about it for too long. I could have really used a nap, but we had to trek onwards.

After a final push, the peak was in sight. There was a lot of stickers, and we were looking for a Nett Hier sticker (if you know you know), but we couldn’t find one. There were some breathtaking views of Lucerne, Lake Lucerne, and surrounding cities and mountains (like Pilatus!) Personally, though, I liked the views on the hike much more than the summit view. This seems to be a theme, and so let it be a lesson to always take the hike!

While at the summit, we saw a bird that appeared to be completely frozen in the air. Its wings were spread and it was gliding, but the wind was pushing it backwards. The result was a completely unmoving bird that seemingly defied the laws of physics. It was one of the most peculiar things I’d ever seen, and I was so sad when it flew away.

It was time to go back down, and we opted to take the funicular back down. Note that there were two different funicular lines, one that goes to each side of the mountain, and so we had to be careful to pick the right one. On the funicular down, I actually ran into an old friend from HS: Will Otte! I didn’t recognize him at first, but Walter confirmed that it was indeed him. It was nice chatting with him and his family about his travels and life. What a coincidence that 3 Plano Senior graduates were on the same Swiss mountain at the same time.

We made all the way down and took a train back to Zürich. There’s still so many hikes left to do on my bucket list, but this was a great final day trip for the semester.

Takeaways

• If you can, definitely consider the structure we did for the hike of cable car + hike up and then funicular down. It provided the best views
• Switzerland has the best hikes, hands-down. Every single outdoor adventure has been life-changing
• Mac ‘n’ cheese tastes 100x better when the cows providing the milk are eating right next to you!
• Birds are probably government drones and we saw a glitch in the matrix. Trust no one.