Day 2: Zürich

Today will probably be our last day on which we have absolutely nothing to do, so as the title suggests, we went to Zürich. But my day started earlier than the others.

I met my parents and went to the airport with them to change my Euros (€) into Swiss Francs (CHF), as that's one of the very few places where that can be done around here.
When they dropped me off at the apartment, they had to drive all the way back to Oostduinkerke, so I had to wave them goodbye. Though I didn't burst into tears, I have to admit it gave me chills, knowing I won't be seeing them again until December. Even just thinking about it now, makes me a bit emotional... (Sorry mom, if this makes you cry :-/)

Right after we had separated, I got a telephone from the other group asking when and where we would meet to go to Zürich. As we hadn't seen their apartment yet, we decided first to go there, have a look and then all head together to the Dübendorf Bahnhof.
Though the exterior of their apartment seemed a bit ugly (scaffolding and such), the interior was as nice or perhaps even nicer than our apartment. A large living room, a separated kitchen (with broken oven), 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

With about half an hour of delay as Lars still had to take a shower, we walked to the train station which took us another 25 minutes and were forced to buy tickets. Our first encounter with the Swiss fares. Even though Dübendorf - Zurich HB is only about 10 minutes, it cost us CHF 12.40 (€9.25) for a two zone-ticket.

Once in Zürich, we had another encounter with the high prices. Nearly nowhere were we able to find a place where you could eat a decent meal for less then CHF 20,- (unless you're into fast food). Eventually we went into a place where prices seemed somewhat fair and ended up eating pizza or kebab. Not a really healthy alternative for fast-food but it had to do, given the prices.

After eating, we went through a shopping street and saw prices we couldn't even imagine. There was a small statue (only 30 cm in height or so and made in bronze or copper) of a man's torso, or at least we think that was it, going for the modest price of only CHF 1,880. We were already getting out our wallets when we noticed the shop was closed. Too bad. :-(
A bit later, we saw a jacket going for only CHF 4,500 and a coat for CHF 3,500 and they weren't even that nice...

Going back home, we all bought ourselves a Swiss SIM-card (my new Swiss number is 0041 76 737 3755, by the way and I won't be using my Belgian number anymore in Switzerland) in the train station of Zürich. Even though prices in Switzerland are as high as the mountains, these SIM-cards actually allow us to send text messages around the globe for only CHF 0.10 (€0.07) and call and text each other for only CHF 0.05 (€0.04).

We went back to the apartment, had dinner - Thanks for making up for yesterday, Jen. The pasta was lovely. (I CAN be nice to you as well, you see?) - and then I decided to get to my room, do some ATC'ing on IVAO one last time before I get to the real thing tomorrow and go to bed.

Tomorrow we'll have our first day at Skyguide. I'm a bit nervous how it's going to be actually. A whole new world will open to me. Hopefully I like the scenery. :-)