Friday, November 12, 2010

MAD!


This week has been a good one. It started out with me not passing my test for my class where we read newspapers and learn about the Swiss government. I can do something to make up the points I missed so I can pass but it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world if I failed the test. We are required to pass the test to receive a final grade but I really could care less about that class so I didn’t ruin my week at all by not passing.

I DID pass my test for my grammar course, which I’m happy about because I have been struggling a bit in that class. I got a 4. The grading system is out of 6 here so a 4 is like getting a D in the US. I was only a half point away from a 4.5, or a C in the US, so I’m happy about that. I don’t think my actual grades will transfer back to the US, just the credit for the class, which is great!

And then came Wednesday, the normal day of the week for the pub nights except this week the pub night was organized at MAD! club.  The locals here say that MAD! is the best club in the city so I was happy to be able to go there. Someone even told me I needed to go there before I leave. It was different this time because it was open to everyone at the university and not just exchange students, like most pub nights. The theme for the night was Bad at MAD! the idea was to dress in stuff that doesn’t go together, basically creating bad associations. I didn’t have much of an idea of what to do so I just decided to go all out. I thought it might be dangerous if other people didn’t do the same but I thought it would be better if I stayed to the theme. Starting with the top, I wore a button up blue stripped shirt with a scarf, for bottoms, I decided to wear a swim suit, for shoes, I wore wool socks pulled all the way up and my Teva sandals.
Some of my flat mates saw me before leaving and one reminded me Halloween was last week so I had to explain the get-up to him. When I met my friends before leaving one told me I looked German with the socks and sandals (she’s German).  They were all dressed pretty ridiculously too. I actually sort of matched since my swimsuit is blue as well as my shirt. I was happy to have only paid 10 CHF for a ticket to the club because I guess on most nights it costs 25 CHF to enter the club.

The club was pretty cool. It had si-fi looking décor everywhere and was 3 or 4 floors, although they only had the first floor opened to us, which was all we needed. They had a bar in each corner of the place! They also had some DJ there who I guess is somewhat famous and he did indeed play some good music unlike some places. Oh and I forgot to mention everyone else dressed according to the theme so it was perfect! I thought I looked pretty ridiculous but I definitely was not the craziest. There were two guys who wore Borat type thongs with the shoulder straps and gold skin-tight stretch pants and no shirt. I definitely wasn’t dressed the craziest.

I was the only guy in the group of about 8 people that went together so I definitely felt like a stud. It was a bit funny to see all of these dudes coming over and trying to hit on the girls. After a bit a strange guy came over and would not leave! He would not stop trying to touch and dance with the girls and in general be creepy. They didn’t want to leave where we were because there wasn’t really anywhere else to go so that’s when I decided something needed to be done. I started off by just getting between the girls and the creeper as a sort of creeper-barrier. It however wasn’t enough and creeper found ways around the barrier.  Finally after trying a few different things to keep him away I decided it was time to dance… with the creeper. But not to worry, it was nothing serious, just to distract the guy and to give everyone around me a good laugh. I knew at that point he wouldn’t understand anyway. It worked for a bit and then he went back to creepin’ so I decided to dance with creeper again. This time he touched my back and continued to move his hand down to my ass. I immediately stopped and kept him at bay with my arm and told him No a few times and that it wasn’t cool. The girls finally decided to move and the creeper couldn’t find us for a while. At one point I remember someone even told him to “piss off” but he didn’t get it. Someone said they thought he was on drugs but I think he had some mental problems. Whenever he’d come around I’d employ one of my tactics to keep him at bay. We finally got back at 4:00. I had fun. It was an epic night. I remembered I had some work that was due for my first class at 10:00 so I worked until 6:30 on the assignment only to find out that we weren’t handing it in! Great! But that’s ok. It builds character right?

Today I tried to get a membership with the sports center here but no one was at the reception desk. I’ve been meaning to get one for a while because they have some free dance classes and ski weekends so I need to take advantage of that! I went to a bookstore for the first time and bought a French Bible and “The Sun Also Rises” translated in French. Tomorrow I’m planning on exploring the city and taking lots of pictures! It’s going to be a nice relaxing weekend! I'm glad I went to Zurich last weekend, it's changed me to not be so lame anymore and to get out and enjoy myself!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Zurich

            I definitely need to be updating this more, as here from my parents each week so I will make an effort to do this.  Yesterday, I finally broke out of my shell of being cooped up in the city and being lame and not traveling and made an excursion to Zurich! I didn’t spend much time there because I was there for one purpose… to buy a snowboard! Which I did. I went to the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and spent 2 hours there, although I should have spent longer. I was super tired and just wanted to go check out the snowboard so I didn’t care all that much that I didn’t spend too much time at the museum or see much of the city. I tried to go on a self-guided walking tour in my Rick Steves’ Switzerland book but I somehow managed to get lost even with a map in the book.  That’s what I get for taking a short cut. I’m sure I’ll go back so I’m not too worried.
            My first legit train experience was quite pleasant, although it cost 75 CHF just go travel to Zurich and back!! That was even WITH my half fare ticket so the lesson to be learned again, if you didn’t already know: Switzerland is expensive.  It would have cost 150 CHF without the card.  It’s weird because the trains are nice since you don’t have to worry about driving or anything, only getting off at the right stop, but I think I would have preferred to drive.  I got a little tired of being on the train after about 1.5 hours. Maybe it’s because because you can’t accelerate in a train the same way as you can in a car to pass the old people.
            I need to start planning what I will do over winter break because I have no less than 2 months to do whatever I wish! Which will probably include a lot of snowboarding.
            I caught a wild hedgehog the other day! I kept her in a box for about 10 minutes while I made sure they are native to Switzerland and she wasn’t someone’s pet before releasing her.  I wanted to take some pictures with her but after I picked her up all the bugs that we’re hang out on her decided they want to hang out with me!


No Shave November is now in full swing, as is my beard! I’m starting to wonder if this was a good idea…