Home Sweet (beautiful) Home

This past summer, while I was still in Kentucky, I spent a while looking into housing possibilities in Lausanne. Finding housing anywhere unfamiliar can be tricky, but this? It was downright impossible. Between residence permits, visas, rental agencies, and not understanding French, I soon learned that finding a Swiss apartment from the States was simply not going to happen.

Instead, I simply booked a temporary furnished place for one month, and hoped that a better option would present itself once Ben and I were able to view apartments in person. The temporary apartment was rented through a company called OK Logements, which translates to “O.K. Housing.” The company named itself well, because our apartment was just that:  okay.  It was kind of small, had a bizarre layout, and while the window did offer a glimpse at the lake, at night it was often cold and noisy. It worked, but it was nothing special. In a word, it was, well….”okay.”

Fortunately, however, my new, more permanent home is more than just okay. Although it took a lot of searching—dozens of emails, phone calls, and trying to decipher housing ads in French—we finally found it:  the most perfect little apartment in the world. 

walking home after a long day of research at l'EPFL.
the restaurant I live over is on the left, l'eglise
de saint-sulpice is on the right. 

the charming restaurant we live over. 

my desk.

adorable living room- I can't wait to have friends over for
dinner and games!

we have a balcony!

garden adjacent to the restaurant (taken off our balcony)

view from the window above my desk on a nice, clear day.

snapped from my balcony. I am so lucky to live here!

No longer homeless

We have housing!

At around 11:30 this morning, Ben and I signed the lease for our new Swiss home, and will be moving in a couple of weeks!

We first visited on Thursday, and we both liked it immediately.  The apartment is located in St. Sulpice, the commune adjacent to Lausanne where the EPFL is. On pretty days, we’ll be able to walk to class or work, something we both really liked.  To be honest, I’m pretty much in love our new home, but I’m a little hesitant to jabber on about it or post photos until I have the keys in my hand. That, and I like building suspense. Trust me--  the pictures will be worth the wait.

After we signed the lease, I came back to our current apartment to eat a much-needed lunch and take a nap. I’ve manage to catch a cold from Ben that he caught from our flight to Geneva, so I’ve been rather sniffly and lethargic lately. Hopefully, a good amount of sleep and some orange juice can remedy that.

they were giving these away in the train staion as a sort of promotion.
it's kind of like carbonated orange juice, and I really like it, although I'm
afraid the added bubbles and sugars might cancel out any nutritional benefits.
(source) 

world's best grilled cheese: bread that doesn't come pre-sliced
and cheese that's made about 40 miles away. yum-tastic!

bonne appetit!

Since today ended up being an absolutely gorgeous, bright sunny day, after I woke up, Ben and I decided to take a nice walk through Lausanne before coming back to our apartment and catching up on reading, writing, and research. 

st. francois, downtown lausanne.

stopping to enjoy a nuttela crepe.

one of lausanne's many, many fountains.
good for splashing and impromtu physics
lessons. 

zen-like public garden.

lausanne: a city that appreciates greenery so much, they
will even plant a garden on top of the metro office. 

french alps, lac leman, and city of lausanne from the
notre dame cathedral. 

French word of the day: vélo = bicycle (they have them for rent outside the EPFL- perhaps Ben and I will be able biking to work next month!) 

Foam Walls

Today was productive.

Well, sort of. I accomplished a lot, but it wasn’t exactly efficient. I was often lost, turning my maps upside and sideways, trying to determine which building was which and silently yelling at the City of Lausanne for not posting street signs. 

In addition, I kept running into what I’ve started to call “Foam Walls.”  Foam Walls are sort of like the proverbial “Brick Wall”—and obstacle in your way, an unexpected occurrence impeding forward motion. Unlike Brick Walls, however, Foam Walls don’t completely stop you in your tracks. They don’t require a total revision of plans—they simply cause you to slow down. Foam Walls can be a misreading of a map, a train running late, a misinterpreted instruction. Or, in my case, all of the above.

foam walls are a little easier. (source)

To be fair, my day started with a rather ambitious to-do list:

          -Attend Lab Meeting
          -Obtain EPFL student card, papers, etc.
          -Obtain Swiss Residence Permit
          -Read articles related to research project
          -Sign a housing lease (?)

It went something like this:

Attend Lab Meeting
For my first lab meeting, Amanda, the PhD student I’ll be working with this year, agreed to meet me at the metro stop.  When I met Amanda, I liked her immediately. Our metro ride passed quickly as she told me about her recent road trip to Brussels and her upcoming field hockey game. While on the metro, I was shocked to run into an old friend , Dino, I met at the EPFL two years ago—and , was even more shocked to learn that he was in the same lab as Amanda and me! Together, Amanda and Dino ensured me that my new lab was young, lively, and, as they put it, “The best lab at the EPFL.”

The lab meeting went well. I enjoyed meeting everyone, and thought the research presented was particularly interesting.  After the meeting, I met with the lab secretary, Ingrid. Ingrid was incredibly helpful, walking me through how to get my student card, register for classes, and obtain a Swiss residence permit. She armed me with directions and maps, and I set off.

Obtain EPFL Card: Student and Lab
Although the directions to the EPFL student center were straight forward, once inside, I was shuffled around,  office to office, no one being certain where exactly exchange students were supposed to go. I finally ended up back at the main desk (go figure…) where I finally got my student card and certificate of enrollment. I’m now officially enrolled at the EPFL!

wandering around the epfl.

Obtain Swiss Residence Permit
This was easily one of the most difficult items on my to-do list. Before coming to Switzerland, I had no idea what I residence permit even was. I had a visa, and I assumed that was enough. However, after arriving, I quickly discovered that a residence permit is crucial, required to rent almost all apartments, open a bank account, or even sign a cell phone contract. Obtaining a residence permit is also, as I learned today, required by Swiss Law.

Knowing this, I set off for the permit office, armed with a city map, my passport, a few passport-style photos of myself, and a slew of papers confirming that I really am supposed to be here. After a few wrong turns, I finally showed up at the office, only to discover that it was closed until 1 pm. Fortunately, Lausanne is speckled is lovely parks and there was a particularly nice one directly adjacent to the office.

where I read, waiting for the office to open. 

An hour later I returned, waited a half-hour in line, and gave the officer my materials.  She took a while, scanning my visa and EPFL enrollment certificate, before finally saying that everything was good to go except for one small problem: In my photos, I was smiling.

Yesterday, Ben and I faced a similar predicament. We had decided to get transportation passes, but in order to do so, we needed passport-style photos, something neither of us had brought. We were at a bit of a loss, not knowing where to find a Walgreens or CVS equivalent, until a metro officer pointed us in the direction of a photobooth in the main train station.  It was the type of booth you sometimes see in malls or movie theatres in the US- one of those where you receive a strip of photos, each with a different (often funny) face.  It wasn’t what I pictured when I thought “passport photo”, but it was a solution, and, at only 2 francs per sheet, a surprisingly cheap one.  Now, I was headed back to that same photobooth, taking my second set of photos, this time taking care not to smile.

I returned to the permit office, waited another half-hour, and present my materials-- this time including an  unhappy (but correct!) set of photos.  Everything was accepted and in a month I should be receiving my Swiss Residence Permit!

Read Articles related to research project
After the residence permit ordeal, I was fairly zonked. I went back to campus and met up with Ben. We headed to “The Wave”, EPFL’s enormous and insanely  awesome new library/resource center/student center.  I was too tired to get through the dense jargon of more than one article, but I did manage to walk around and take photographs of the amazing architecture.

"the wave" from a distance. 

under the building, surrounded by concrete curves.

unique sculpture underneath the building.

inside the building, ben lounging on a chair he fashioned
out of the many colorful beanbags.

Sign a housing lease
Although Ben and I have spent the past couple of days viewing several promising apartments, we are, alas, still homeless after the month of September.

French word of the day: Lunnettes = Glasses (your asked to remove then when taking your passport photo)

The Great Apartment Search

Despite having flown across the Atlantic, trekked through Lausanne carrying approximately 9 billion pounds of luggage, and stayed awake for nearly 30 hours, Ben and I found ourselves wide awake last night (I blame it on nerves and coffee). Rather than fall asleep and give my body some much-needed rest, I stayed up well past midnight, reading articles and combing through housing ads.

Ben and I both woke up around noon today, which quickly eliminated the plans I had made last night to spend the morning taking care of logistics at the EPFL.  Ravenous, we decided instead to head to the local grocery story, Coop, where I made the expensive mistake of grocery stopping hungry.  I wanted to buy every warm loaf of bread, every block of new-to-me cheese, and more fruits and vegetables than I can carry! Ben was a bit more practical however, and we ended up with the makings for scrambled eggs and rice.

scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers, and onions.
bonne appetit!

We spent the afternoon viewing apartment after apartment after apartment. As I mentioned before, our flat right now is nice, but is only meant to be temporary lodging as it is much, much, much too small and much, much, much too expensive. It does however, have a wonderfully inspiring view.

the first thing I saw when i woke up this morning. 

front of our current apartment building.

The first apartment we visited was, in a word, charming. It was in a beautiful part of the city, where older buildings had wrought-iron balconies covered in pots of colorful flowers. Many areas of Lausanne have more modern (and in my opinion, considerably less attractive) architecture, but this apartment was surrounded by old-world beauty. The inside was lovely as well, with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Size-wise it isn’t that much bigger than what we have now, but what extra square feet it did have made a huge difference in how the apartment felt. I could easily see myself living there.

We never actually made it inside the second apartment! I found the listing on anibis, a sort of Swiss Craig’s list, and apparently, so did a lot of other people- there was a long line just to get in! Despite the lucrative description (fireplace, lake view, and triple the square feet we currently have for half the price) it was clear that, as non-Swiss citizens, there was no way we would be serious contenders for such a popular spot.

The third apartment was located a bit outside of Lausanne, in a quiet neighborhood perched on a hill. The falling sun combined the neighborhood's height made for incredible views of the lake and mountains at every turn. The apartment itself was great—two bedrooms, a small balcony, and a wonderful kitchen (it even had a dishwasher!). It didn’t quite have the same elusive charm as apartment number one, but the size, price, quality, and location were great. 

The final apartment was both the smallest, most expensive, farthest away…and most beautiful. It was in the romantic village of Cully, a short train ride from Lausanne and a bit closer to the lake. The apartment itself faced a old church, complete with beautiful crumbling stones and a gorgeous fountain. Inside, the apartment had wonderful wooden ceiling beams and counter tops, a spacious kitchen, and lovely stone counter tops —although it almost reminded me more of a beautiful hotel room than a place I would actually live. Despite the apartment’s beauty, Ben and I decided it didn’t make the cut. That, and it was directly over an opera singer’s instructional studio, which could make for an…interesting… alarm clock.

waiting for the train to cully at sunset.

Finally, the view Lausanne photos I do have, were a bit unfortunately, taken with Ben’s  camera—mine, no matter how much I charge it, refuses to turn on.

French phrase of the day: Bonne journee! (spoken by the check-out lady at Coop)