And Before I Knew It, Exchange Was Over

I landed back in Detroit last Tuesday evening, after almost 24 hours of travel. It is incredible to believe that almost a year ago, I received my letter from the International Business department saying that I would be spending my spring semester at the University of St Gallen. And now that semester is over. After all the planning, all the packing, I went to Switzerland, traveled Europe, and am now home. 

Before going to Switzerland back in February, I had never been out of the United States. Not even to Canada, which is just across the Detroit River from me. The US and American culture was all I really knew. So imagine just how bizarre it was to me when I could pick out who was American and who was European on my flight to Chicago just by how they were dressed and how they behaved. 

During my four months, I visited a total of 8 countries and 12 cities. I met people from all over the world, from my roommate from Vancouver to a guy from South Korea who was traveling by himself throughout Europe for six months. It was difficult saying good bye to all my friends, knowing that for some, I don't know when I'll see them again. Everyone who lived in my building really became a family, all of us thrown together in an unfamiliar country, and it was hard knowing that, after living together for four months, we'll probably never all be together again. 

But enough of the sappiness; I kept it together saying my goodbyes in St Gallen and I am going to keep it together now as well. So I'm going to address a few of the questions I've been getting since I got home.

What did you like most about Switzerland?

Definitely the Swiss efficiency. I could immediately tell once I landed in the Chicago airport that I certainly wasn't in Switzerland anymore just by the lack of efficiency I saw. For example, in Switzerland, it is very unusual for public transportation to be late. A lot of things are automated as well. When I flew out of Zurich last Tuesday, I checked in at the airport at a kiosk. This kiosk printed my boarding tickets as well as the tag for my checked bag. I selected my seats for all my flights here too. I then went up to the counter and just gave them my bag. This was an extremely quick process, much faster than checking in at any other airport I've been to. In Chicago, I had to wait for the train between terminals. Not only did I have to wait more than 5 minutes for it, but there also was not screen saying when the next train was coming.

What did you like least about Switzerland?

The fact that everything closed at 7pm on Mondays-Fridays. And at 5pm on Saturdays. And nothing was open on Sundays. I'm used to running errands (and by running errands, I mean going to the grocery store) on Sundays. Since most of my classes ended after the grocery store had already closed, I had to make sure I got there in the morning if I wanted food to eat the next day.

What was your favorite place you went?

This is a hard question to answer. Everywhere I traveled was cool for a different reason. Munich was unlike anything I could have imagined. London reminded me of the US. It was surreal seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I could talk to everyone in Madrid because of my Spanish minor. I ate my way through Rome, and Easter at the Vatican was a once in a lifetime experience. However, I think my favorite place was Lugano, Switzerland. Lugano is a small town in Switzerland right by the Italian border. It's like being in Italy (the food was, again, delicious) while still being in Switzerland and having the Swiss efficiency. Part of the reason why it was my favorite place could have been due to the fact that it had been raining and cold in St Gallen for about ten days before we went to Lugano, and it was 72 and sunny in Lugano. 

What do you wish you had known before you went?

It seems like everywhere else in the world, other than the United States, puts chips in their credit cards. My bank (which I had issues with anyway while I was abroad) conveniently forgot to mention this fact. I was unable to use my credit/debit cards in quite a few places because I didn't have a chip in my card. I wasn't planning on using my cards a lot, since I got an international charge on every purchase, and it was more common to pay in cash there anyway, but it would have been nice to have the option to use my cards at places other than the ATM. 

I truly believe that the University of St Gallen is USC's best partner school, simply due to its rankings. Here is a link to the rankings listed on the university website: HSG Rankings. According to a study conducted by the New York Times, HSG is ranked #18 among schools in 20 countries based on the employability of graduates (New York Times Study). And if these rankings don't make you want to spend an exchange semester at HSG, maybe these pictures of Switzerland will: Switzerland Pictures. I will definitely miss seeing this view everyday from school! 

Accomplishing Big Things Over Here

Ok I'm only being kind of sarcastic. But I think my biggest accomplishment while being here is being able to convince the locals that I speak Swiss-German. And by the locals, I mean the cashiers at stores or in the school cafeteria. Fake it 'til you make it, right?

I went to Migros (the local Swiss grocery store) on Thursday to pick up a few things with Sim. The cashiers always ask the same thing, so it's gotten pretty easy to pretend to understand what they're saying. (On the other hand, I had to get garbage bags last week, which are behind the register, meaning I had to go back to English and try to get the cashier to understand me.) Here's my typical conversation with a cashier:

Cashier: Grüezi (hello)

Me: Grüezi (hello)

Cashier: (finishes scanning my items) Cumulus? (this is some sort of rewards program)

Me: Nein (no)

Cashier: (says the total in Swiss German which I totally don't understand so I just read the number off the screen next to her)

Me: (hand over the money and quickly do the math in my head while she counts out my change-again, in Swiss German) Danke!

Cashier: Tschüss! (bye)

Me: Tschüss! (bye)

Look at me go! If I'm at a store, they'll also ask me if I need a bag. Which I couldn't tell you how to say. I typically respond "nein" (no) whenever anyone asks me something. Which could be bad, but it's always worked out. 

Today, I went to City Hall to deregister as a resident of St Gallen (so sad). Typically in these sorts of instances (also when I buy train tickets at the train station), I'll say hello in Swiss-German and then automatically go to English, since they all understand it there (not so much in the grocery store or shops). So I go to City Hall, say grüezi to the woman helping me, and pass her my form to deregister, saying "I have this...?" Apparently she doesn't hear my mumbled English because she takes my form, looks up my name in the system, and says my local address to me in Swiss-German (to confirm that she found the right Kristi Sutherland in the system). Luckily I understood her saying my street name (Ruhsitzstrasse-try saying that five times fast), and have picked up enough numbers to realize she said 22 (our house number) as well. So I respond "ja," she stamps the form, and passes it back to me with a bright "alvederzein!" To which I say "alvederzein" right back and continue on my way, with her none the wiser that I understand hardly any German. 

In other adventures, Marina, Giovanna, Sim, and I have been going to Pilates classes at the school gym since they're free to students. The classes are in German though so that's fun...this is how I really started learning my numbers. As you're holding a stretch, sweating, praying it to be over quickly, you quickly learn to realize when the instructor is counting down "five...four...three...two...one..."

My friend Salim, who is from New Zealand, actually speaks Swiss-German. We joke that the only reason we're friends with him is so he can be our translator. I told him at the beginning of the semester that I tried learning a little Swiss-German before coming to St Gallen. He seems to think I understand more than I actually do (not quite sure why). A bunch of us were walking around town Wednesday when Salim made a comment about how I could speak a bit of Swiss-German. So of course I whip out one of the few phrases I know: "A bit, but I don't understand Swiss-German well." It was pretty funny to watch some of my other friends' jaws drop as they heard me easily say the phrase. 

Time to Get Down to Business

Finals are coming. Thankfully, I only have three finals, all three of which count for 100% of my grade in my classes. So lately I've been studying. A lot.

Last Saturday, after our trip to Prague didn't happen, Marina, Giovanna, Sim, and I decided to go to Lugano for the day. Lugano is a small town in the Italian part of Switzerland about fours hours away from St Gallen by train. I had actually gone through Lugano on my way to Rome a few weeks ago. 

Lugano is by far my favorite place in Switzerland. Part of that could be due to the fact that it had been raining for over a week in St Gallen, and it was 72 and sunny in Lugano. It is very obvious that Lugano is Italian-the architecture, the food, the people, all seem very Italian.  Like in Geneva, the #1 spot in Lugano on TripAdvisor is the lake. Which was gorgeous. 

You could rent out paddle boats to take out on the lake. We figured that with our luck, we'd end up in the lake, so we didn't rent any, but tons of people did. There were also a lot of people out sailing. From what I could tell, the majority of the boats were sunfish, which I can easily sail. So I was very jealous of everyone out on the water. 

We found an Italian restaurant for lunch, and walked through the park along the lake eating gelato. There was a small beach, filled with people sunbathing. We sat with our feet in the sand for almost an hour, just soaking up the sun we all had missed in St Gallen. 

Like I said, Lugano is easily my favorite place in Switzerland. It might even be my favorite place in Europe. It was just so pretty, none of us could get over the views. 

On Sunday, we went to an FC St Gallen game. FC St Gallen isn't very good. From what I've heard, none of the Swiss teams are very good. We played FC Basel, the best team in Switzerland. And lost 3-0. The game was definitely an experience. We were in the standing area, behind one of the goals, where all the really intense fans are. There were two guys leading cheers and chants for the crowd (well, our section), and I certainly learned a few new curse words in German.

At one point during the second half, about a dozen flares went off in our section. They're not allowed in the stadium, so the people with the flares all had masks on. The picture I got of the flares looks like I'm at a riot. The game was definitely crazier than any American football game I've gone to. 

I've spent the past week at the university studying. And I plan to spend this upcoming weekend studying too. It's crazy how fast this semester has flown by. I'm looking forward to being done with finals, but I'm not looking forward to leaving some great friends. 

Why Not to Book with Eurolines: A Case Study

A few weeks ago, two of my friends attempted to go to Prague. I say attempted because they never got to Prague. They booked an overnight bus from St Gallen to Prague, with a return on the overnight bus the following night through the company Eurolines. The bus is supposed to depart from St Gallen at 11pm. My friends waited until midnight before giving up on it. They emailed the company the following day saying the bus never showed up. Apparently it did show up--at 12:30am. They were able to get a refund though, and since they hadn't booked a hostel, they weren't out anything other than the experience. 

More recently, Giovanna, Sim, and I decided we wanted to go to Prague the first weekend in May. We looked into a variety of companies that have overnight buses, since that was our cheapest option. Unfortunately, the only company with available seats on their buses on dates that worked for us was Eurolines. So we booked the tickets, booked our hostel, packed, and met up at 10:45pm, ready to catch our bus to Prague.

And we waited. And waited. And waited. We knew from our friends' experience that the bus was probably late. It finally showed up at approximately 12:15am. We were so excited that, after waiting an hour and a half, the bus had finally come. The driver gets out, we pull out our tickets, and the driver gives us the bad news: there are no seats on the bus. Seriously?! We ask him how this could happen when we booked tickets for that bus. He got on the phone with his boss, said something to her, and handed the phone over to Giovanna, who quickly passed it off to me. The woman on the phone just kept repeating that she was sorry the bus was full, but if we called in the morning they could book us on another bus to Prague. I told her that was not an option for us, as we had a hostel booked for the following night. Due to the quickly approaching end of the semester, there are simply no other dates when we can go to Prague either. Unfortunately, she did not speak enough English for us to truly have a conversation, and apparently nobody else in the office spoke English (I asked). Since Eurolines screwed up our trip, I informed her that not only would they be refunding us the price of our bus tickets, but they would also be refunding us the price of the hostel in Prague. I eventually got off the phone with her, and the bus continued on without us.

That night, we emailed Eurolines to demand our refund. Fortunately, they will be refunding us everything; the bus tickets and the hostel. Apparently there were passengers on the bus who did not have a ticket. Which is what I simply do not understand. There is one door to get on and off the bus, and everyone has to go past the driver, who should be checking tickets. So there is no possible way that anyone should be on the bus if they do not have a ticket. It is a very simple concept. 

So I am writing this from St Gallen and not Prague, unfortunately. I have some additional time now to study for my upcoming finals, work on a paper, and go to the gym, but it was still extremely disappointing unpacking my backpack this morning in Switzerland and not in Prague.

Geneva

I couldn't go to Switzerland and not go to Geneva. So I convinced Kelsey to go with me for a day. It's a four hour train ride (one way), but we decided to deal with the 8 hours on the train for a wonderful 8 hours in beautiful Geneva.

Our train left at 6:45am. We picked a train that went straight there, meaning we did not have to change in Zurich, Basel, Bern, etc. The plan was to sleep on the train, but we ended up chatting the whole way there. We pulled into Geneva at about 10:45am and immediately set out to find the United Nations Palace of Nations.

We toured the UN at noon. Instead of finding a map and taking the most direct route there, we decided to stroll in the general direction of the Palace of Nations by way of the lake. Lake Geneva is the number one attraction for Geneva on TripAdvisor and I now understand and 100% agree with this ranking. Although it was cloudy when we first got to Geneva, the clouds eventually broke up, leaving us with a gorgeous, sunny day.

The UN was very cool. The tour was only about an hour, so very quick. But for this history nerd, who knew exactly when the UN was founded when asked by the tour guide (1945 in case anyone was wondering), it was amazing. We toured both the new building, built in the 1970s, and the original Palace of Nations, built in the 1930s. Both Kelsey and I were surprised at how modern and new the Palace of Nations looked. We realized that although the 1930s is relatively old from an American perspective, from a European perspective it is in fact quite new. 

The Human Rights Conference Room set up for a conference beginning Monday! We were one of the last tour groups able to see it, since it will be closed during the conference.

The League of Nations symbol is on all the doors in the Palace of Nations. Say hi to my reflection in the glass door!

After the UN, we went to an Ethiopian/Indian restaurant for lunch. I was able to have some delicious Indian food, something I've been missing from the US. 

After lunch, we just wandered throughout the city with no real plan. It was very nice, especially since the weather was so beautiful. We walked into a few churches, some stores, and sat by the lake. If I lived in Geneva, I would be at the lake all the time. It was absolutely breathtaking, especially with the Alps as a backdrop. The beauty of it won't show up in pictures, so you'll just have to trust me that it was wonderful. Apparently, on clear days, you can see Mont Blanc from Geneva. It is the tallest peak in the Alps, and technically in France. It wasn't quite clear enough to see it when we were there, but at least I was able to see it from my plane from Madrid back to Basel over Spring Break. I will never get tired of seeing the Swiss Alps, whether it's from across Lake Geneva, from a train window, or from the top of the tallest University of St Gallen building. 

There was a regatta going on when we were there. I wish that I could have hopped on a boat and joined them!

We grabbed sandwiches from Migros (a Swiss grocery store) and ate them on the train back to St Gallen. Again, we were able to find a train that went all the way to St Gallen and didn't require any connections. When we stopped in Fribourg, Switzerland, however, they made an announcement stating that we all had to get off the train. Nobody knew what was going on. Kelsey and I checked the other trains coming through Fribourg to see if we could take another one to a bigger city/train station and connect there, but it didn't look like we had many options. About five minutes after we were told to get off the train, they told us to all get back on, and we continued on with no other incidents. It was odd, but at least we made it back to St Gallen!

It's Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies

95% of the time, I absolutely love studying abroad. I love meeting new people, traveling, studying at a new university, everything. Yes, I miss my friends and family from back home, using my car instead of public transportation, and USC, but I love it here as well. The biggest obstacle I have faced in my semester here has to do with my bank.

Before leaving the US, I made sure to inform my bank and credit card that I would be spending the semester in Europe and traveling a lot so that they would not put a fraud alert on my cards and turn them off. I was told that the note on my credit card would only be good for 90 days, so I would have to call the collect number in mid-May to let them know that I was still in Europe. My debit card, however, was set for the semester. Or so I was told.

In mid-March, as I was booking flights for Spring Break and my train tickets for Rome, my credit and debit cards suddenly stopped working. My parents received a call at home that there was a fraud alert on my account due to "unusual spending on travel in Europe." It took me about two days to finally figure out how to get through to my bank. I had to first call the AT&T Switzerland operator and then have them put me through to my bank. Once I got through, it was relatively easy to take the hold off my cards. My parents can't call and speak to the bank for me since I am the only name on the account.

Friday, as I was booking my train ticket to Geneva, my debit card again did not work. I was able to book it with my credit card, but I was angry that, again, my debit card had been shut off due to fraud alert (I knew this because my parents had gotten a call from the bank again). I called through to the operator and they put me through to the bank's number (the same number I had called in March). Calling an operator is odd. I can hear the conversation between the bank employee and the operator, with the operator asking the bank if they will receive my collect call. To my shock, my bank does not accept my collect call. Except this is the exact same number I called collect back in March. I am absolutely livid. I could deal without my credit card for my final month in Europe; the only time I ever really use it is to book travel and that is already booked for the rest of the semester. My debit card is another problem, considering that's how I get money out of the ATM. So I have 200CHF left from the last time I withdrew money, my bank will not accept my call to tell them to turn my card back on, and my parents can't call because their names aren't on the account. So I then tried calling the number on the back of my credit card, even though my credit card is still working fine. This is the number that specifically says it is for collect calls from outside the US. Again, they do not accept my collect call. I cannot even to begin to describe how angry I am at this point. Both my parents are livid too. 

The only option we can see to get through to the bank is for me to turn my iPhone back on and use that (as opposed to my Swiss phone that I had been using) to call the 800 number (and spend who knows how much money making an international call). I finally got through, they verified my charges, and stated that there had never been a hold on my card since there was a note that I was traveling. To which I asked, my voice dripping with all my pent up anger, then why had my card stopped working?

I am praying that my debit card works when I try to withdraw money tomorrow. According to the woman I spoke to on the phone, it should. Regardless, I have decided to leave my bank when I get home. It's a relatively small bank, only in a few states, not including South Carolina. I don't know where I'll end up after graduation, but chances are my bank won't be there anyway. And after dealing with this mess, I don't think there is anything they could do to get me to stay.

Easter in Rome

This past weekend, I went to Rome with my friend Shannon from USC! My journey to and from Rome was an adventure in itself and could constitute its own blog post so bear with me as I take y'all with me on this journey...

Shannon is currently studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain. She is currently on her Spring Break and is touring Italy with her mom. They arrived in Rome on Wednesday; however since I had class, I didn't get to Rome until Friday afternoon. I looked into flights, but they were all expensive and at inconvenient times so, with the help of my Italian roommate, I booked trains instead.

My first train from St Gallen to Lugano left at 6:05am on Friday. I figured that my train would go directly to Lugano, but instead I ended up having to transfer twice (so three trains total). The third train I was on continued to Milan, but I had a ticket for a train that went between Lugano and Milan about an hour later, so I had to get off and transfer trains again. Once I got to Milan, I again transferred trains. Also, I really shouldn't have been surprised to see the mini mall that was the Milan train station...but I digress. The train between Milan and Rome was the coolest train I've been on. It was obvious that the train was relatively new; it was very spacious and we all had big, leather seats. It also went up to 300km/hour, so it only took 3 hours to travel between Milan and Rome. It was on this train that I decided I was going to love Italy. Unlike every other train I've been on, three men immediately reached to help me put my luggage in the overhead storage. There was also wifi on the train, a first for me.

I met Shannon and her mom at the hostel. We went out to explore some piazzas and fountains and eventually stopped to eat at this fabulous restaurant. Maybe it was because it was the first food I ate in Italy, but that was my favorite pizza of the weekend. Employees stand outside the restaurants and try to get people to come in. We had two different restaurants, right next to each other, fighting for our business. One man said that the other restaurant's pizza was frozen, which made the lady from the other restaurant angry (understandably).

After dinner, we headed to the Pantheon. It was very cool seeing it all lit up at night.

We then went to the Trevi Fountain. You can hear the fountain before you get to it. There were so many people there! I went back to the Trevi Fountain a few more times just to see it again and again. We flipped coins into the fountain, meaning I will return to Rome eventually. 

The next day, we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It rained on and off all day, but that certainly didn't stop us from exploring. Ancient Roman buildings and structures are interspersed all throughout Rome, and it's odd to see the juxtaposition of the modern buildings with structures dating back to the first century. For example, as soon as you get off the metro, you see the Colosseum. Casual.

We went to the Roman Forum next. This is Ancient Rome. The city burned a few times throughout history and was rebuilt on top of the previous structures, so you can see in the ruins the different time periods based on how the structure is built. Some of the ruins date back to B.C.

Not quite sure what exactly this says, except that it's about Caesar

After lunch, we saw the Spanish Steps and the Vatican. I wasn't able to go into St Peter's Basilica or the Sistine Chapel since they were closed on Easter and Easter Monday. Simply being in Vatican City, however, was amazing enough. 

Spanish Steps

St Peter's Basilica

Easter morning, we left the hostel at 6:50am because we went to Easter mass at the Vatican! This was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life. The mass didn't officially start until 10:15, but at about 10, they began to say the rosary (in Latin). I expected the mass to be in either Italian or Latin, but they actually gave it in many different languages. The first reading, for example, was in Spanish, the second was in English, and the gospel reading was in different languages, including German, Chinese, Japanese, and many more. Pope Francis blessed the host in Latin. The songs were in Latin too. 

After the mass, Pope Francis rode through the crowd, waving to everyone, which is how I got this fantastic picture. 

He then went up into his balcony and spoke to the crowd. I couldn't tell you what he said since he read it in Italian and Latin, neither of which I understand. It was still cool though.

Shannon and her mom had to leave about halfway through the mass for their train. We had a mixup and I didn't realize that they were leaving Sunday instead of Monday like I was. However, some of Shannon's friends from Bilbao happened to be in Rome too. One of them hung out with us on Saturday, so we made plans to hang out. Although I wouldn't recommend traveling alone, in my opinion, this is the best way to randomly meet cool people from all over. We walked around Sunday night, and while at the Colosseum, we met David, a 25-year-old Korean who is traveling Europe by himself for 2 1/2 months. We talked to him for a long time about both of our trips, and I believe they planned to meet up with him again Monday night after I left. 

We hung out again Monday, just exploring the city. We stumbled upon a parade, filled with people dressed like gladiators. We're not sure what exactly it was for, but it was cool. I left them after lunch because I had to catch my train back to St Gallen.

I left Rome at 3:20pm and didn't get back to St Gallen until 1:25am. On the train from Milan to Zurich, I sat with three people about my age, two Chinese PhD candidates studying biology in Zurich and an Italian PhD candidate studying control engineering in Zurich. We chatted the entire trip about movies, school, Italy, and anything else we could think of.

I had an absolute blast in Rome. Even though I was nervous about being in the city by myself, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and I have learned so much about myself. Although I certainly prefer traveling with others, I feel like a much stronger and more confident person knowing that I can travel and survive in a foreign city, without even speaking the language, all by myself.