A day in Lausanne

Yesterday had gone to get my residency permit, but got lost on the way and reached
after 4:30, which is when the office closes. So, went today again, and spent 95 CHF,
and some time in filling up a form, getting photo done and stuff like that. I needed
the residency permit to go out of the country, as I only had a single-entry visa. So,
I cannot use my Schengen visa else and go to visit France and Austria as I had planned.
Normally, they dont give for less than 3 months, but the accepted my request, or so
it seems.
On lieu of that, i visited some parts of the city centre - Place de Francis - and nearby.
Very old building..cobble-stoned streets...and lots of ups and downs. Kept getting lost
in the maze of lanes and bylanes, even with a map in my hand.

Found a Indian grocery at the back of the rail station (CFF, they call) and bought
some maggi and paratha - which will soon become my staple diet here it seems. The
guy sitting in the store was a bengali babu, actually from bangladesh. looked like one
- all in his 5 foot glory. :-) He chose me some phone cards for calling India too.
Actually, last time I had come to Lausanne at a conference 2 years back, I had stayed
very close to this shop at the back of the station. So, for some strange reason felt
nice visiting and then remembering a place you had come earlier. And it had happened
to me earlier too when visiting EPFL.

Planete Bleue

I was introduced to many etudients staying in my apartment home on sunday evening
itself by the manager, hery. But, got to talk with them properly on tonight. Most
are Europeans, specially French or Swiss. But, quite a few are half-something else,
like Moroccan or Lebanese, etc. A very friendly lot. Most study at EPFL or UNIL.
Many of them are having their year-end exams now, so very busy. Some are visiting
like me. When they are in a group, they talk in French, of course. sometimes was
feeling a little stupid at not knowing french. They were very apologetic for their
bad English, which made me even more guilty.
many people here have a fascination for america. maybe for the riches...maybe something
else. many of them want to spend sometime there as an exchange visitor.
When the topic of war came up, the swiss did not seem so neutral at all. most of them
are horrified at what Bush is doing. And told me that they too call british the 51st
state of America. they are not proper Europeans in their words. The rage against Bush
seems pervasive - I saw a lot of wall graffiti in the city with "Fuk Bush" or something
of that sort written.

One of roommates is Clara, and is from Paris. She is doing Chemistry at EPFL, and might
switch to Chemical - well, those subjects are close as I always had imagined. but,
in IIT chemical was similar to mechanical. maybe, because engineering rules in India.
donno...Anyway, she was having her exam week and has something like 11 subject exams
in next 2 weeks..that's some load these people have here. You have to study very hard,
if you are at EPFL it seems.

The first day

Because of jet lag got up pretty early at 4 am. After commiting the morning ablutions,
I tried to connect to this weak wireless signal I was getting from vd.ch. But, of course
I could not, needs a registration. Went to EPFL early and found that I could easily
navigate my way through the campus to reach Informatique department (yeah, that is what
the French say for Computer Science). I am real glad I took a little French earlier, and
atleast can recognize some words. everything is in French. That surprised me a bit, as I
had thought that the medium of education was in English. But, that was only true for
graduates, I learnt. And as in every university campus throughout the world, undergrads
rule. :-)

Had my meeting with Prof. Le Boudec, who had invited me over. He told me what was to be
done. Europeans are very strong in maths and basic sciences - a fact I can confirm. We
then had a group meeting at noon (every monday at noon), where I was introduced. Did
some stuff to get registered in the academic section and all. And then after having
got a wireless internet account, settled down in the library for reading and catching
up on communications.

The first night

Reaching on a sunday evening in Switzerland is not such a good idea, or do I found out.
After landing up in the place I was going to stay - Planete Bleue - I went out after a
while in search of some food. After walking around for more than an hour, I finally found
a Chinese restaurant open late. Most were closed for some reason, or that is normal as
I was to find later. Meal cost 31 CHF - the last day I am eating out, I think. :-)

Apartments pretty nice - 4 BR and 2 bath within a community of other apartments inhabited
by EPFL and UNIL students. I have my own room. The room is even duplex - with the
"second" floor being my bedroom. Here rooms don't have any a/c or fan, but does have a
heater. With such pleasant beautiful climate, you don't need any a/c though.

A European Summer

Enough of war blogging. I need to realize that is not going to make the world a better place. But, it was a good vent for my frustations.

So, my european summer begins. very excited. right now, sitting at schiphol airport at amsterdam feeling a little lost though. enroute to genera, and on to lausanne, where I will be visiting EPFL for a couple of months. so some research, get ideas, create contacts, immerse myself in the european way of life and do lots of turismo in general - that's my plan.

signing off ffor now. more blogging after reaching lausanne.

Bush Quick Facts

Some quick facts about Bush - link
He has the distinction of making America from the most admired to the most despised country in the world in such a short time even Hitler could not achieve.
And the current flag of USA

Salute to Michael Moore

Discovered Michael Moore's website today. Really amazing guy. Atleast Americans will now get to see fahrenheit 911. And hopefully it will open their eyes and minds to see the self-destructive attitude of their government.
The main website is down right now - denial of service attack by conservatives? I wonder..
Anyway, it is available from themovieblog