Tomorrow

I still need to pack. I have written down instructions telling me how to get to the rooms I'm going to look at. I have discovered that Swiss plugs might be different to how I thought they would be. Most importantly, though: there's a Vapiano in Basel!

Planning and Money

I guess not that much will be going on on here until I actually get to Switzerland, but today M and I sorted out some more stuff for our little sojourn to Basel on Sunday. We've printed out our tickets and boarding passes etc. and got some money changed over. Francs are very gaudy. My housemate described it as the "messiest currency I have ever seen". I don't know what I think about it...

Wohnungsjagd

I'm not really one to sleep on the streets and have decided that it would be best to start looking for a room in Basel. Emails have been sent. Emails have been recieved. I have talked on Skype to people... and yesterday M and I booked to go to the city for four days from the 27th of June so I can hunt around in person. Exciting times!

It'll be good to have a big of a look around the city, too. The only think we have decided to do (aside from look at rooms, obviously) is to swing by the zoo. They have three types of penguins! And snow leopards! And porcupines and lizards and jelly fish and llamas...

I also picked up the new edition of The Rough Guide to Switzerland today, too. The first thing listed as one of the "twenty-three things not to miss" is accompanied by a picture of a cow in a field... this might be a funny old year.

Introductions

So it seems that I have found myself almost at the end of my degree and I am about to face the world armed with a command of German (useful), Dutch (quite useful) and a rather in-depth knowledge of German literature since the Enlightenment (not very useful, but interesting nonetheless).

So what does one do armed with this and the previous experiences of living abroad limited to the North German Plain and a city that's a stone's throw from the Wadden Sea? One throws caution to the wind and takes up residence in the much more southern Cantons of Switzerland...

... this is what happens.