Welcome to EPFL!

I had a fantastic first week here at EPFL, Despite attending a whopping 10 hours a class on Tuesday! And I have discovered three important things during this first week. Here they are:

Exhibit A

1. The Swiss really, really, really like identification cards! There is a card for everything here! We have student ID cards, cards for the metro, cards for taking the train, cards for doing laundry, cards just for being an exchange student, you name it and you can bet they make a card for it!  And, of course, each one requires a passport photo of you pretty face, and if you lost your photos (like I did) you have to get new pictures taken at a sketchy booth in the metro station with horrible lighting that makes you look like you just got home from the drunk tank.

EPFL

2. There will be no studying this semester... okay, maybe a little (or a lot right before the exam session begins!) But in general, the difference between courses here and back home in the good 'ol USA is that, here, homework doesn't really exist. At first thought, this is amazing! I'm abroad, with no homework, the world in my oyster! But this also means that you have to have the willpower to study on your own so you don't fail the exam that decides the fate of your GPA. This could be a bit problematic, especially with all of the fun events that the study abroad association has planned for us!

Fondue with new friends

3. The third, and probably most important lesson I learned this week, was how to eat Swiss fondue. The other newbies and I were even given a brief presentation on the art of eating this cheesy Swiss delicacy. Here, I will relay some of the finer points: don't just dip, stir! It is important to soak up as much cheese as possible with you bread, and the stirring keeps the cheese smooth and evenly heated. Step 2: do not drink cold beverages with your cheese fondue. It is tradition to drink tea or white wine with the meal. Other beverages are thought to cause the cheese to harden in the stomach and wreak havoc on your digestive system. It sounds a bit like an old wive's tale, but do you really want to risk it? And lastly, it is very important to vigorously scrape the bottom of the fondue pot in order to retrieve the coveted religieuse, which is the French term for the crusty cheese that remains when you finish your cheese!



With love, from Lausanne
Mindy