Day trip to Geneva and the World Cup Final

This weekend I spent the day at Geneva with a small group of friends (a Canadian and an Irishman that I met through IAESTE, and Google intern from Romania that studies in Boston).

Geneva is the second biggest city in Switzerland, and it is located in the south west corner, jutting into France. It is probably the most famous of the French speaking cities in Switzerland. It is also a center for diplomacy and peace. The headquarters of the Red Cross, and of many of the agencies of the United Nations are located here. They are also famous for the signing of the Geneva conventions regarding prisoners of war.

We started the day walking around Lac Léman, where they have a huge water spout sitting in the middle of the lake, Then we walked around the old downtown, which was very pretty (but quite similar to Zürich). Then we went on to visit the United Nations. This part was really cool! I had been to the UN headquarters in New York City, and it is one of those places that when you leave you are left with feeling that there might (just might) be hope for mankind. At the end of the day we stumbled across some sort of crazy 'clubbing' parade, with lots of interesting characters!

On Sunday I went to Google to watch the World Cup final with a bunch of other interns. It was a super violent game, but luckily at the end Spain won!! It was an interesting World Cup, with lots of unexpected surprises. Great job South Africa for hosting it, and showcasing your beautiful country (vuvuzelas and all). Not so good a job from the refs, who in this day and age should start using the instant replay to avoid mistakes.

The water spout in Lac Léman:


In a park in Geneva:


Michael, Emmett and I:


Statue commemorating when the canton joined Switzerland:


Cathedral:


The old downtown:


The canton's flag:


Emmett, Ana and I:


The Rhône river:


The UN:


The UN (the old art deco wing)


The UN flag and the Armillary Sphere:


A crazy ceiling (created by Miquel Barcelo) inside one of the meeting rooms. It is meant to look like the ocean floor:


The 'clubbing' parade:


Lots of interesting characters... I think she might have posed for this picture:

Way too expensive!

This is a short post, I just need to complain about how ridiculously expensive Zürich is!
According to Wikipedia, Zürich is the 6th most expensive city in world (Tokyo is 1st, New York is 9th, Chicago is 50th and San Jose is 132nd).

Prices here are just absurd! A beer at Zurich Fest was 9 francs. I got a haircut today (there is a hairdresser that comes to Google a couple of times a weeks) and after the Google discount it was 40 francs! - I could have gone 3 times to Supercuts. I went to a Lebanese restaurant with a couple of colleagues and it was 70 francs per person! – at least it was really good food...

The upside of this situation is that people earn even more ridiculous salaries here! I had never seen so many Porshes, Ferraris, Maseratis, and Lamborghinis – actually come to think of it, some of these cars I had never seen before in person!

Züri Fäscht (Zürich Fest)

Once every three years, the city hosts Züri Fäscht (http://www.zuerifaescht.ch/), a massive weekend long festival along the lake and the river. The whole of downtown Zúrich becomes a carnival, with games, rides, food and merchant stands, music stages, air shows, performing arts, and a ton of people!

They have perhaps the most impressive fireworks show that I have ever seen. They do the fireworks both on Friday night and Saturday night, they each last 30 minutes, and they are synchronized with music. The one on Saturday was really big, they even had helicopters flying around and throwing fireworks!

On Saturday, after spending the afternoon watching pathetic football games and playing guitar hero and board games, a group of us interns went out to watch the fireworks and hit the festival. The level of the crowd was comparable to that of the Taste of Chicago – you could barely walk! Despite the crowds and the little bit of rain, it was quite fun; we went on the ferris wheel, the bumper cars, and walked around everywhere.

On Sunday I decided to treat myself and went to the festival for dinner. I choose an Indian stand and had chicken tikka masala, a samosa, a bottle of water. For dessert I bought a nutella crepe. It was pretty good, except for the price: 32 francs for carnival food!! (1 franc is approx 1 dollar)

The sad part of the weekend (besides the fact that the 3 of Latin American teams got kicked out of the World Cup), was that I missed going to Shadia and Doug's wedding with my sweetie... I miss you!

Google Summerfest

This Friday we had the Google Summerfest, a yearly party that Google throws for its employees and their families.

The party included about 900 people, 1200 sausages, 1792 bottles of beer, 300 liters of draft, 150 bottles of sparkling wine, paella, corn on the cob, chicken nuggets, a stinky cheese thing that they eat here in Switzerland, and tons of other snacks. It was full of activities, such as: streaming of the football games, karaoke (were we killed a version of 'We will Rock you'), a Zoogler band, giant Jenga, a really good cover band (www.pauldaspausenbrot.ch), sack races, two swiss dudes blowing the Alpenhorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphorn), stuffed animals, inflatable balls, toilet paper, and a few other random things.

Needless to say it was very fun!

Me @ Google:


Lucia, Marco, Hani, Hugues, Gabor


Hani, a stuffed tiger and Lucia during the cover band concert


The terrace where the cover band played:


The cover band Paul das Pausenbrot:


Ana & Hani:


Ivo, Hani, Lucia and Andrei singing 'We will survive':


The kareoke crowd:


The Zoogler Band:


The grounds at Google:


The Alpenhorn dudes:


The interns:
Andrei, Me, Lucia, Hugues, Hani & Marco

Where are you from? I am from Costa Rica but live in the US...

The other day, over a few beers and a nice discussion about countries and culture, someone pointed out that I used the word 'home' to refer to both Costa Rica and Chicago. This seemingly simple observation about the overload of the term 'home' struck a chord with me.

Over the course of this trip I have found myself representing and explaining things about both Costa Rica and the US. I've lived in the US for 5 years now, and in a way I'm identifying with their way of life a bit more everyday. Don't get me wrong, I am and always will be a Tico (and proud to be one!), but I can't help the cultural assimilation. I got my graduate education in the US, married a beautiful girl from the Iowa, I bought a house in Chicago, and our kids will probably be little gringuitos!

Obviously this is from a cultural perspective, as any immigration officer will quickly point out that I am Non-Resident Alien, but nonetheless this cultural duality is interesting and seemingly unavoidable. It allows me to play both parts – from speaking Spanish and hanging out with the Latinos, to switching to English and 'fitting in' with the native speakers The simple fact that I am writing this blog in English is a concrete example of this phenomenon.

I remember that during the Fulbright orientation, they told us that we had to become 'dual ambassadors', representing Costa Rica when in the US, and the US when in Costa Rica. I guess this is what they had in mind.

International Zürich weekend.

This weekend I attended another of IASTE's events: the International Zürich weekend. About 90 or so trainees from all over the world came to Zürich for fun activities. On Saturday we did a rally around the city. It was very fun they had us doing all kinds of silly things, and I got to see some new places that I hadn't been to. We then had a BBQ along the lake. The night ended with a party at ETH (one of the local universities). The only downside of the day is that when I got home I realized that I didn't have my wallet – which had all my Ids and cards! I freaked out, called the banks and canceled all the cards. Luckily, when I got the party someone had found it at the BBQ place! So for the next few days I will be without any bank cards... I also learned that in Zürich they charge you 50 francs to get a new card.

On Sunday we did a short trip to Üetliberg, which is the tallest mountain in Zürich. From here you get a great view of the city and the lake.

Having slept only four hours, and a still little hung over, I came home early in the afternoon. I was craving Costa Rican food, so I made myself arroz, frijoles molidos con Salza Lizano, and pollo en salsa. This is was only the second time I've cooked since I came here (no need to since Google feeds us). I must say I miss cooking, I also noticed that maybe (just maybe) I've become a bit of a cooking snob.. The cheap IKEA pans, a crappy serrated knife, and a stove you have to light with a match aren't exactly the same as our All-Clad pans, and professional German knives at home :)

Again a pretty cool weekend here in Switzerland.

Swiss Flag:


On top of Üetliberg:


View from Üetliberg:

Yo! (city and the lake in the background)


Zürich from above:


At the BBQ:


Lake Zürich:



BBQ:


One of the stops in the rally:


The city rally team (we didn't win, but we had fun!)

Google Interns

Here are some pics of the other interns and nooglers. The silly hat is because last Friday was our official presentation, so they made us slide down to the cafeteria, they gave us the silly hats, and showed a slide of fun facts about us!