Gerard at the University of Zurich, Switzerland

Pre-departure:

SU International has an excellent preparatory programme for all the exchange students. A meet-and-greet session allowed the exchange candidates to meet other students going abroad and it was there where I met students who would be travelling to the same country and institutions as I was. This helped to lay the foundation for some great friendships before leaving abroad. This event was proceeded by a short departure workshop which was full of useful information and insight into the life and mind-set of an exchange student and was highly beneficial.

Following these events, myself and a few other students coordinated our flights as well as started planning short weekend trips during the semester. The contacts I made with the other Zurich exchange students from Stellenbosch was also highly beneficial during the entire application process to ensure we were all kept up to date with information from both SU and UZH.

The exchange office at UZH was in constant communication with their candidates, every step of the way. They responded to any queries I had and assisted in helping me acquire my VISA as well as with my WOKO student accommodation application. They always kept me informed on all the important deadlines and documents that were required by providing all their candidates with a checklist of all the relevant due dates. They also informed the candidates about the medical aid requirements in advance in the event that any of the candidates already have a medical aid scheme in South Africa that provides the required converge while abroad. The documentation does take a bit of time to prepare and finalise but there is sufficient time and the deadlines are spaced apart so I could keep up with my studies while preparing for my trip. By keeping on top of the required documentation and regularly checking the deadlines, I managed to prepare for my trip without any major hiccups. It is important to keep checking the Gmail spam folder as communication where the subject is in a foreign language as well as some automated replies end up there, and are cleared every month, which nearly resulted in me losing some important documentation. I suggest backing up all important documentation such as copies of ID/passport, plane tickets, proof of enrolment and any information regarding accommodation to a cloud service (Dropbox or Google drive).

Experience at the Host University:

I had a rather unique set-up with regards to academics while abroad. I was enrolled at UZH, but attended ETH in order to take part in their engineering programme and receive supervision while completing my masters. I began the semester with the intensive German language course which takes place two weeks before the semester begins. It was a fantastic course and I learnt a great deal. However, one should note that the course teaches “High German” which has its differences to that of the local dialect of Swiss German. The course was very fast paced and demanding so if you would rather travel before the semester starts then I would suggest giving this a miss as there won’t be time for both. The course did allow me to also meet new people at the university, which I kept in touch with throughout the semester which was really nice.

It was great to see from an academic perspective that University life in Zurich was a lot similar to that of Stellenbosch University. I did not enrol in any faculty related courses, but I was able to browse through the various faculties subject choices on offer by both UZH and the engineering faculty at ETH. The modules available to students are extensive and the facilities are exceptional. Some of the postgraduate subjects available are extremely specific to a certain field which is great if you want to specialise and is something I find is not always available at Stellenbosch in some fields of studies as the modules are still very broad. I continued research on my master’s thesis while in Zurich and had some of the best High Performance Computing hardware available to run some of my simulations on. This would not have been accessible in Stellenbosch and helped me to speed up my progress and reduce the lead time on some of my experiments.

There are a lot of various support structures in place for students as well as plenty of functions, workshops and seminars in which students can engage with peers, academics as well as industry. Overall the quality of education was everything I expected it to be.  Students could also use the university gym for free as well as enrol in additional sports courses or events, some of which additional payment was required. I enrolled in a fantastic snowboarding weekend away with the Sports organisation and stayed in a ski hostel with other university students. This was definitely a highlight of my trip as I had never snowboarded in my life and I had so much fun with other students from the university.

I received my accommodation through the WOKO student organisation and stayed at Bahnhaldenstrasse 11. The accommodation was ideally located within Zurich and a mere walking distance from the train, bus and tram station. I lived with a mixture of full-time students as well as exchange students. This allowed for a greater exchange experience as I could learn more about the Swiss culture as well as meet other exchange students going through the same process as me. The bedroom was a nice size and came fitted with a single bed, desk, clothing cupboard and shelf space. The kitchen was fully stocked with all the required cooking utensils, cutlery and cooking equipment. This saved me a lot of money and made my life a lot easier. My flatmates, fortunately, were some of the nicest people that I had the pleasure of meeting during my time at Zurich and living with them was an absolute pleasure. The rent at WOKO apartments are the most cost effective compared to renting privately in Zurich, which really helped me stretch my allowance and ultimately make this trip possible from a financial aspect.

During my time abroad I had the idea to try to go to a different neighbouring countries once a month over weekends and travel locally for the other remaining weekends. I managed to visit Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy as well as many different local places in Switzerland. Zurich offers so much for foreign students whether it be winter sports at some of the most beautiful ski resorts, to hiking outdoors and swimming in fresh water lakes, it truly has something for everyone if you willing to get out the house and do something active. However, tourist activities are pricey and a smart monthly budget can make all the difference.  It is also very central to other major European countries, making a weekend trip away to a foreign country a reality. A central goal to my exchange trip was to not only explore the beautiful country of Switzerland but neighbouring countries as well. At times it was tough to balance academics, sleep, exercising regularly, socialising and travel, as well as sticking to a budget, but it’s the type of problem I would say I was fortunate to have.

Return to Stellenbosch:

In the remaining weeks before returning to South Africa I had to visit the Stadthaus to inform the authorities of Zurich that I will no longer be a temporary resident, in which they issued me with a certificate of departure. I needed this certificate to close any accounts such as my medical aid account and it acts as a proof of departure from the canton and country as a whole. As my departure date approached I became excited to return to South Africa and to see my family, friends and girlfriend again after 5 months and be reunited with fellow South Africans in general. It was nice to be home and share some of the many stories of my travels and arrange events to catch up with everyone. Some were interested in what I had to say others a little less so.  It was great to be paying South African prices again whilst doing grocery shopping, as well as indulging on my favourite local specialities such a wine, biltong and boerewors. I found myself having to try to cut the word BBQ out of my vocabulary and replace it with South African friendly term, “braai”. I had to remember to be conservative with my water usage and limit the time spent in the shower due to the current water crisis in the Western Cape which is a major contrast to the abundance of available water in the forms of rivers and lakes in Switzerland.

After being back for a couple of days and catching up with everyone again the excitement began to fade slightly as the familiarity of being home set in. I realised how much safer I felt during my stay at Switzerland and how it was weird to think we seldom locked our doors at night compared to my Stellenbosch flat in which you have to lock the outside gate, the security gate as well as the front door. The total lack of poverty was also something that was so surreal and it only made me that much more aware of the low standard of living and quality of life that many South Africans have to live with on a daily basis.

After two weeks of being back I found myself sliding back to my usual university routine that I had before I left for Switzerland with everything slowly returning to normal. Suddenly there is no more adventures and traveling to look forward to on the weekends. I have started to miss my old flatmates and friends that I made during my time abroad and have come to terms with the fact that I may possibly never see them again. I decided that the only remedy for this wanderlust is to start planning my next adventure. I have started exploring options for traveling abroad again at the conclusion of my master’s programme at Stellenbosch as well as potentially looking for jobs abroad in the future.

With all that being said, it is important to state that I am as proud as ever to be a South African, I love my beautiful and diverse country and even if life may take me to various destinations I will always look to come back in the end. After my trip I feel that I am even more patriotic and I feel as South Africans we are unique people and have so much to offer the world.