Switzerland – first day
Luke Cassar – University of St Gallen from Wollongong.
So its 1am here and i cant sleep, so i thought this would be a great opportunity to make my first post.
So soo far Ive been mostly sleeping but i still have noticed some things about this country. Firstly their public transport is awesome, it may be expensive but sooo good. However on train trip from the airport to St Gallen I accidentally seated myself in the first class seating, and i really couldn’t tell the difference between first class and normal class except the seats were red and had less people in first class. I guess the red makes all the difference ay. Asking people for help is quite easy here, just you have to pick out the ones who can speak english, on the train asking people in business suits work for me hehe. Ok now to buses, which i caught 3 times so far without paying, because of the simple fact i don’t know how to. The machines are in German, the devil inside me wants me to see how long i can act like an innocent tourist, but the angel says im a guest in their country and i should pay, hmm.
As for the weather its not soo bad, snow everywhere but not to cold, apparently I brought the sun out according to university staff. Speaking of the university my fondest moment so far was walking into the exchange office and seeing a post card with wollongong harbour on it. Such a proud gong boy then.
Hmm anyways that’s all for now, hopefully Ill be taking photos soon. And gradually as I get used to wordpress my posts should get better.
Cheers Luke
Oz Students Abroad 
Luke – Shucks, so proud of you. Overcoming the blog posting hiccups despite a few speed bumps.
Inspiring to see all the “doh” moments you are encountering O/S but don’t know how long you can feign innocence and ride for free on the buses. Surely your conscience has to kick in after a few weeks?
Yes, public transport in Europe is a light year ahead of us. Imagine how European visitors must look down their nose at our disgraceful, dirty and graffiti riddled trains?
A “Gong” boy at heart, little thing like pictures & postcards remind you of your roots … a sense of belonging … especially when in a foreign landscape.
Tell us more about Switzerland when you get a chance. A photo would be brilliant.
February 4, 2011 at 4:36 am
That is so cool.. the public transport in LA really sucks unfortunately. I’ve been playing “innocent tourist” for a while but people are starting to recognise me… I don’t think you can do it forever lol.
People here who know of Australian universities love to show off but no one has heard of Wollongong. I try to make them feel bad about that.
February 5, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Well Ive decided, that im going to walk everywhere after discovering everything is so close, like the university being a 10 minute walk away, and by bus you have to catch two, so it really makes sense to walk. For longer journey I intend to pay now though. Yes transport is awesome, however It pricey and id imagine a lot more then LA. For example a one hour train trip from the airport to the university costs 25francs which is about par with AUD. But i shall get this 6 month ticket which halfs all train rides.
Yes i have a New zealand room mate (which is awesome), and he hasnt heard of UOW before and when i tell him how much students we have, he got very surprised.
February 6, 2011 at 3:47 am
I am SO glad you are paying on the bus now! I dont believe the Swiss would take very kindly to the ‘I didn’t know, i am just a foreign student’ argument. Being arrested is NOT the kind of critical incident we want to encourage!
Well done for figuring out the system.
Jan
February 6, 2011 at 4:16 am