hallo from the land of the swiss!
SWITZERLAND | Sunday, 22 October 2006 | Views [322]
i've made it through my first 10 days in Switzerland, and i thought i would drop you all a little hello and update.
i
finally arrived in Basel after almost a month of delay in the states
(because of my visa) and a seven hour delay in Frankfurt (because of
foggy conditions). Novartis arranged for a relocation assistant to
pick me up at the airport, which was helpful given my nearly 150 pounds
of luggage. she dropped me off at a hotel right in the middle of
downtown Basel, which is where i stayed until my "apartment" was ready
for me this past tuesday. i checked in with my boss, John, who asked
if i would come in and meet some people...i was inclined to say no,
given the fact that i'd been traveling for about 20 hours, but didn't
think that would be a good opening move. so i hopped in the shower,
had the concierge point me in the right direction, and headed to
Novartis. John picked me up at the gate and we walked to the building
where i now work...which (long story short) has an art display on the
front that's the height of an entire floor and basically consists of a
ticker with sayings written by the artist (Jenny Holzer, in case you
were curious) scrolling across it 24 hours a day. my favorite that i
have actually seen is: when you throw your spear at an elephant, make
sure you don't miss. my favorite that i have not personally seen but
have heard about is: what is your hand doing in my pocket? and
surprisingly, i'm not making this up.
i met a couple of people i work with that afternoon, but met
more on my first full day (friday). i was a little exhausted, but
managed to get through it just fine. John got on the train with me to
head home, and we ran into a couple of people he knew...and (long story
short) got me invited out with them that night. i decided i could go
out, have dinner, meet some other Novartis people, and call it a
night. i did eventually call it a night, then spent the rest of the
weekend sleeping off my jet lag and walking Basel to get the lay of the
land. it's a cute little city, and most of the people seem friendly
(though it's hard to tell when i keep offering french and they keep
responding in german...). the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, so
i've been exploring a lot on foot. because the last two sundays have
been so nice, the paths along the river (which i have been frequenting)
have been packed. there is also a distinct lack of things to do on
sundays, because everything is closed. i can appreciate that, but when
the weather cools down i'm going to need somewhere to go that's indoors
to get out of my apartment.
speaking of my apartment...i moved in on tuesday. it's...petite. but it has a really convenient combination
kitchen/shower that i'm getting used to, and the location couldn't
really be better. it's at least starting to look like i live here
(stuff everywhere and lots of pictures on the wall...some things remain
the same on both sides of the atlantic). and my landlady left me a box
of lindt truffles when i moved in, so she pretty much won me over
instantly. ;o)
i really am enjoying work, though everyone tells me that
feeling will wear off shortly. i'm learning a lot, meeting a lot of
people, and have quite a few interesting projects that i'm juggling. there are people in my office from 3 continents, and any one of 4
languages could be used in my vicinity at any given moment.
personally, i think that's great. :o) i'm no longer going to russia (my
boss actually left a couple of days ago already) because i arrived so
much later than originally thought. it's ok, though, this place would
really be a disaster if i had left 2 days after moving in to go on a
week-long jaunt to st. petersburg.
for the sake of brevity, i'm going to cut if off
there. email me and let me know the state of things where you are
(e-town, chicago, cali, the cities, germany, new hampshire, texas, and
who knows where else...)
miss you all, hope to hear from you soon!
Tags: Everyday adventures
