I am very happy and grateful to have received the opportunity to do a semester exchange at the University of Zurich in Switzerland for the Spring Semester of 2017. I will be leaving the sunshine and blue skies of my home town, Cape Town in search of knowledge in a land currently made up of ice and snow. I have booked my flight with Emirates airlines who are extremely generous as they have given me a total 46kg check in luggage with a regular economy ticket.
Tag: Switzerland
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Mardu at the University of Zurich & ETH, Switzerland
Pre-departure:
Most of the important preparations are coordinated by the exchange office at UZH. The preparations does take a lot of time, and there are a lot of things to be sorted out, but the list of things that you should do and the timeline as to when they should be done is all communicated perfectly to you by various UZH coordinators. The main things to get sorted out as soon as possible is your subjects, visa and accommodation. These aspects does take quite a while to finalize, but it is worth it to put in the extra effort.
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Talitha at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland
PRE-DEPARTURE – OR, THE VERY LONG ADMIN SECTION, NEATLY COMPARTMENTALIZED
Accommodation:
This is probably the most stressful admin matter to sort out before departure. Now, this is not dreadfully stressful in and of itself, except that, if you apply for accommodation through the FMEL, the student accommodation company, you will need to pay a security deposit (+/-1200chf) and the first month’s rent a month or so in advance, and in ZAR, it’s a scarily large amount. With regards to accommodation, the FMEL is definitely the simplest way to go, especially if you don’t have any contacts in Lausanne. The one disadvantage is that you don’t ultimately get to choose in which of the FMEL’s residences you’ll be staying, so you might strike lucky get it cheap (400-600chf per month) or, like me, end up in a more expensive, though slightly more fancy residence (750chf).