Just some good ole happiness reading

One of my latest hobbies has been reading books on happiness. I just finished The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt and am now starting The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. This hobby is certainly not motivated by a lack of happiness on my part. In fact, I would say I am happier than your average person (although The Happiness Hypothesis has informed me that most people feel this way). Most countries, in fact, average a happiness rating of 6 to 8 (on a scale of 1 to 10), according to The Geography of Bliss.

I find these books fascinating. There might be some life-learning-about-self here. Granted, I was a math and philosophy major. My mathematical interests lie in social statistics- where numbers meet people. And philosophy is constantly striving for answers to what is good and what constitutes the good life. So my interest in scientific, numerical data on happiness and the good life and various factors leading to the good life? Right up my alley!

I’ve only started The Geography of Bliss, but the process of writing this book would probably be my dream life. Eric Weiner goes on a search to find the happiest place in the world. He starts in the Netherlands, where the World Database of Happiness is located. Lots and lots of data on happiness. Have I found my happiest place in the world? Probably! (Ironically enough, this chapter mentions only two universities, one being Claremont Graduate University for their MA and PhD program in positive psychology! Sign? I think so!)

At this database, Eric is able to find factors correlated with happiness. However, it is unclear whether these things make people happy or if happier people do these things. Various factors towards happiness include being married, being an extrovert, being an optimist, being a Republican, or attending religious services. There is no difference in happiness between having children and not or being male or female (well, females have a larger emotional range but the average is the same). Interestingly, people with advanced degrees are less happy than people with just a bachelors (but people with bachelors degrees are happier than people with no college education). [Possible argument for Jon to return home??? J]

But the really exciting chapter that motivated this blog post (and my extreme jealousy of Jon in his current location) was chapter two, on Switzerland. Here are some interesting tidbits and quotes about Switzerland and happiness (but just Switzerland in some cases). Jon will have to let us know how much truth there is to these facts!

· “Susan [the author’s friend who lives in Geneva but is from NY] complains that the Swiss are ‘culturally constipated’ and ‘stingy with information.’ Even if that information is vital, such as ‘your train is leaving now’ or ‘your clothing is on fire,’ the Swiss will say nothing. To speak out would be considered insulting, since it assumes ignorance on the part of another person.”
· “Geneva has been called a great place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit. There is some truth to that. The Swiss consider Geneva boring, and if the Swiss consider someplace boring, you know it is very boring indeed.”
· “Everything works. Switzerland is a highly functional society, and while that may not be a source of joy or even happiness, it eliminates a lot of the reasons to be unhappy.”
· “Dieter [Swiss man, married to an American woman] tells me that ‘if a train is twenty minute slate, people get very anxious.’ A few years ago, he says, the entire rail system broke down for eighteen hours, hurling the nation into a period of deep existential doubt.” [I think I’ve found my people. A world that RELIES on schedules for individual’s sanity and feelings of self worth? Please, please, please send me there.]
· Swiss find envy to be very problematic and do anything to avoid provoking it. Swiss will not talk about money (many will try to even avoid saying the word). Showing over your wealth (le nouveau riche) is extremely abhorrent in Switzerland. But, your neighbors know everything about you, so they know how wealthy you are. “The Swiss hate to talk about money. They would rather talk about their genital warts than reveal how much they earn.”
· On boredom/contentment with doing nothing: “The Swiss have done for boredom what the French did for wine and the Germans for peer: perfected it, mass-perfected it.” [Possibly not my people then… I suck at boredom]
· “A Swiss would never describe something as awesome or super, but only c’est pas mal, not bad…The Swiss are on to something. Better to live in this middle range than to constantly swing between great highs and terrible lows.”
· “The Swiss are as fond of rules as the Dutch are of marijuana and prostitution.” [Okay… maybe they are my people? It’s very confusing.]
· A British woman living in Switzerland told the author how she once had people over for a few drinks. The next morning, she found a note on her door- “Please, no laughing after midnight.”
· Similarly, “Leave your car dirty in Switzerland and someone will pin a note to it saying ‘Please wash your car.’ Not a cute ‘Wash me’ sign that an American might scrawl on it. The Swiss, lacking any detectable sense of irony, mean what they say…This isn’t just a nanny state. It’s a supernanny state.”
· Supposedly, in the 17^th century, Basel made laughing illegal. Supposedly it is still illegal to mow the lawn on Sundays or hang laundry from your balcony. Also, it seems to be illegal to flush your toilet after 10 PM. [Jon, you may want to look into this one. I don’t want you getting your visa revoked because you flushed a toilet too late!]
· “Everything is regimented in Switzerland, even anarchy. Once a year, on the May Day holiday, the anarchists break a few shop windows, but it’s always exactly at the same time.”
· Swiss people are very connected with nature. The author hypothesizes that this is one cause of why the Swiss are so happy. There was also a study done in a hospital with patients recovering from gallbladder surgery where some had windows facing trees and others had windows facing brick walls. The patients facing trees recovered significantly faster than those facing brick walls. The tree-facing patients also had fewer complications. Interesting… strong argument for living someplace with nature nearby!
· Switzerland also has a very liberal euthanasia law.
· In the US, the “cocktail-party question” is “What do you do?” In Switzerland, it is “Where are you from?” Swiss passports also show the name of an individual’s ancestral town (even if the person has never been there). Swiss feel more tied to their local area than their country.
· Swiss are also very trusting. You can book a hotel room without providing a credit card. You can pump gas before paying. Trust has a strong correlation with happiness.
· Bern is described as “quaint in the extreme.” Einstein lived there. The author hypothesizes that the “boredom” that permeates Swiss life helped give Einstein the time and ability to come up with his famous theories.
· Quote from Bertrand Russell (a mathematician and philosopher I studied in college)- “A certain amount of boredom is…essential to a happy life.” The author also pointed out that boredom is a decision. You don’t like the way things are and they aren’t interesting enough for you so you decide you are bored. True and very interesting.
· “The Swiss are wealthy and patient, a rare combination. They know how to linger. Indeed, I’ve been in Switzerland for two weeks now and not a single person has looked at his or her watch—that perfectly synchronized, gold-plated Swiss watch—and said ‘I have to go’ or ‘I really should be getting back to work.’” [Maybe not my people. Not looking at a watch? Not feeling like I have to get somewhere? I’m too American for that!]
· Chocolate consumption is correlated with happiness and the Swiss consume a lot of chocolate. However, experts estimate that you would have to consume “several kilos” of chocolate to feel this effect.
· Swiss people vote six to seven times a year, as it is a direct democracy. Sometimes this does not have the best decisions- Switzerland didn’t give women the right to vote until 1971, with one canton not granting women voting rights until 1991.
· In true hilariousness of this direct democracy though, one member of Swiss parliament put forth a vote on not having a Swiss army in 1989- it received 35% approval, shocking Switzerland. The army was thus cut significantly. The author also points out that this sort of person in the US would be considered someone crazy from Berkeley but in Switzerland he’s a “distinguished parliamentarian who nearly abolished the entire Swiss army. More proof that the Swiss aren’t so boring after all.”
· The question was posed to people from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland about choosing between two ice cream parlors- one with 10 flavors and one with 51 flavors. Only the Americans preferred the ice cream parlors with more flavors. Seems Americans have a different opinion than Europeans on choice, which is interesting in relation to Switzerland’s direct democracy.
· The author ultimate conclusion is that the Swiss are more than content but less than full-on joy. He calls it “conjoyment.”
· “I go to the [train] dining car. This is not Amtrak. The menu, in four languages, informs me of my choices: penne with fresh mushrooms or a risotto with fresh asparagus. I am in heaven.” [Okay, definitive answer, these are my people.]

My conclusion? I’m insanely jealous. Switzerland definitely is very “me.” There are so many elements of the country that make it seem like the sort of place that I would greatly enjoy spending significant amounts of time in. Really, the only thing I don’t like about Switzerland is their visa laws.

Well, I’m sure I’ll end up with some other interesting tidbits on happiness- I still have Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britain, India, and the US ahead of me. But for now, keep smiling!

When life gives you lemons

I've been living in Lausanne for 2 weeks now, and so far, I haven't had the adventure I had planned to have.  The two big reasons for this are that I'm newly committed to living on a shoestring budget, and that getting out of the apartment and doing things is a lot more fun with a buddy.  By now, given that I have absolutely nothing to do every day until September 21, I should have visited a few nearby towns and attractions, but without someone to share the experiences, I don't feel like it's worth the $40-$70 dollars.  Depressing, but true.  Despite this, I'm headed to Brussels next week, where I'll suck it up and enjoy some Belgian brew alone when I'm not hanging with my CouchSurfing host.

There have been a few other bright spots, too, in my short time here.  For one, I've bonded with one of my roommates, Vincent.  It's really nice having a friend already.  I had forgotten that the thing I enjoyed most about my first several weeks in Budapest was having an immediate friend in a roommate, Yuan.  Vince and I have eaten several meals together, watched lots of dubbed-over CSI together, and tried to help each other with English/French.  We haven't taken any epic trips or anything, but we've each enjoyed these last few weeks a lot.  (However, he *may* have failed out of his first year and may be leaving UNIL for good.  Which would send me back to square one.)

I've also started running again.  Almost every day, in fact.  I'm slow and fat now, but I'm committed to keeping up the good effort.  The thought of running a 10K or half-marathon somewhere in Europe has even crossed my mind.  Who knows?  It'd be kind of cool to take a trip to, say, Paris to run an event.

And with that, I've been trying to eat less.  Which hasn't been quite as easy - the bread here is so good!  But I'm trying.

My point in all this is, even when you abandon your girlfriend and head to a foreign place where you have absolutely nothing to do all day, every day, you can make the best of it.  Sure, I still have a ton of downtime, and I wish I had the extra cash to spend on an afternoon at a café or a train ride to Geneva, but at least I'm not losing my mind.  When I'm not running or hanging with Vince, I sometimes do math, read a book, study for the GRE.  It's not all bad.  And knowing that time's winding down to both the start of school and Rachael's visit, my (mostly) lonely days become progressively easier.

Fabulous Foodie Day at the Eat Real Festival!

Today, I went with my parents and Priyanka to the Eat Real food festival in Oakland. It was one of the first times I'd done something really fun since Jon left. There were a bunch of restaurants and food companies selling 3 different types of $3-5 food sample plates. The festival was intended to promote "real" food: fast food that doesn't compromise on quality. As a total foodie, of course I was excited when my mom suggested we go to this.

We wandered around at first, overwhelmed about what to eat. There had to literally be over a hundred different tents to choose from! Priyanka, my dad, and I all ended up eating Mediterranean wraps (I just can't say no if it says "Mediterranean" in the name!). Mine was carrot and hazelnut pate with beets and feta cheese. Priyanka and my dad has one with chicken, onions, and carrots. Both were great. They look almost as good as they tasted!

After this, we went to watch some demonstrations. Now the demonstrations were where things got interesting. We had sadly missed the ricota cheese demonstration, but arrived just in time for the goat butchering. Remember, I don't eat red meat, and thus was a little apprehensive.

The butchering, however, was very interesting! This demonstration was done by 3 females and a male from Avenada, a butcher shop located in Bernal Heights. Avenada was opened by the females on a spur of the moment decision- they were all in the restaurant industry and wanted to try something new and decided to open a butcher shop together. The male joined the team later. He had been a butcher earlier in life, got fed up with it and moved to Germany where he taught yoga for 3 years, then moved back to the US and continued being a butchery (but promotes being healthy and eating good food but not too much of it!). Crazy life storying!

Here, the butcher is breaking the vertebrae of the goat to separate it into manageable pieces.

Yes, indeed, the butcher is sawing the head of the goat in half here...

Interesting fact of the day: goat is the most eaten meat in the world, but in the US we rarely eat it!

After the goat butchering, we saw a demonstration by the owner of Blue Bottle Coffee about roasting coffee beans in your oven at home (a hobby my dad partakes in). I've had Blue Bottle Coffee before and wasn't very impressed but granted I'm not a big coffee drinker so it might have just been too strong for me. He ended up getting into coffee after being a professional clarinet player ("It involves a lot of driving," he said). He used to take his own coffee beans and French press on flights with him and would ask the stewardess for water because he had to brew coffee his own way. Thus, he opened a coffee shop to his likings.

The presentation was fairly interesting. Before it started, an old man came over to us and asked what we were about to watch. Here is how that convo went:

Man: What are you guys waiting to watch?

Mom: Someone demonstrate how to roast your own coffee beans.

Man: What?!

Mom: Someone demonstrate on roasting your own coffee beans at home.

Man: Are you trying to trick me?

Mom: No... it's a presentation on roasting coffee beans.

Man: Why would you do that?

Mom: To learn?

Man: I have some grass growing in my back yard. Do you want to come watch it grow?

At this point, the man's relatives dragged him off. Pretty funny...

After the presentations, we wandered around the festival some more. As if we hadn't seen enough meat already, we wandered over to a pork BBQ place. They had pretty much a whole pig that they planned to cook for 20 hours! Talk about slow cooking!

We sampled a plate of all things pickled- red and regular onion, mushrooms, cauliflower, carrots, and cucumbers (aka regular pickles).

We also tried some flavored roasted nuts (rosemary almond, some sort of Indian flavor cashews, coconut chili macadamia nuts, and spiced pecans). As will often happen in my life, it turned out the nut guy was Israeli so he and my dad started speaking Hebrew. The my mom told him about how she works for Hillel and they networked about him catering future Hillel events. Just a day in the life as a Jew...

We also wandered over to a section where beer brewing was being demonstrated. Below, a giant vat of beer being made.

Finally, I got to see what hops look like. I've been wondering for a while!

There was so much food available to sample at this event. Below, a giant vat of paella (with sailboats in the background!). I didn't actually try any paella, but when I walked past the same stand a few hours later, this vat was empty. They also had 3 more vats of paella, all of similar size.

We also tried some of Laloo's goat milk's ice cream. Goat milk's ice cream has less calories and doesn't cause problems for people who are lactose intolerant. It tasted almost just like regular ice cream, but with the mint flavor I could taste a slight hint of... something that made me think of goat cheese. Not in a weird way at all, though. It was very good!

All in all, it was a great day to embrace my inner foodie. Personally, I would prefer a festival where you can try small portions of more things for $1 (rather than a normal portion for $5), but this festival was more affordable than other similar ones I've been to. I'll definitely have to keep my eyes peeled for more events like this one!

Ode to Communication Technology

Ironically, at the end of a successful first week with international long distance, Google integrated gchat with Google Voice, allowing users to make free calls to the US and Canada (and cheap international calls) from within gchat. This is pretty perfect for Jon- he can now make free calls from his computer to US phone numbers.

The speed at which technology improves communication is amazing. Just over two years ago when we were studying abroad in Budapest, I remember one of the biggest frustrations being able to communicate with my parents back at home. I could only talk to them if we were both sitting at our computers.

Now, Jon can

• call my phone through gchat or Skype
• text my phone through AIM
• IM my phone through the gchat app
• Email my gmail account or my work email address

Best of all, every single one of these communication methods is free (excluding my phone bill, which I would incur either way). The Skype app, on Verizon anyway, only uses data. All of these apps (gchat, gmail plug-in, and Skype) are free.

Communication to Jon isn't quite as easy as Jon doesn't have a phone in Switzerland. He still has to be either at his computer or on a wifi network with his iPod touch. We're hoping to make the iPod touch a little more useful with headphones with a built in microphone so that Jon can use the Skype app anywhere there is wifi.

All in all, I think there are three communication technologies that are completely essential to me in making this whole international long distance relationship thing work!

1. The obvious one- Skype. Being able to hear Jon's voice and see his face is so important to me while we're apart. His smile is contagious to me and Skype allows me to continue to see it! I've heard of some long distance couples that don't use Skype; this is unfathomable to me!
2. Smartphones. These are of course not always a possibility as they are not free, like most of my other favorite communication tools. I happen to have one through my job and will never go back to a regular old feature phone! Through my phone, I am able to communicate with Jon anywhere I am. Thanks to Skype's app and gchat's new calling feature, Jon and I can even talk on the phone for free anywhere. One problem with long distance, particularly with a huge time difference, can be a feeling like you are tied to being home and free at a certain time to be able to talk. But with my phone, if I'm out and about but that's when Jon can talk, I can call him for 20 minutes no problem. I can talk with him on Skype while I'm walking or driving to work (with a hands-free headset, of course!).
3. An oldie (for me anyways) but a goodie- email. The great benefit of email for me actually comes due to the time difference. Jon is asleep from around 3 or 4 until 10 or 11 my time. Sometimes, I think of things I want to tell him or get myself freaked out about something. Being able to email him makes me feel like he's still around and I can still communicate with him. Even though he won't reply until hours later, it makes me feel closer to him. The time difference becomes slightly less relevant since I can always email him.

Honestly, I can't even imagine a long distance relationship without an internet connection that enables all of these communication technologies. Long distance relationships seem to be becoming more common. While this is probably due in part to my generations likelihood to relocate so frequently, I'm sure the technological advances in communication play a part. For me, as long as I am in a long distance relationship, I will be thanking the creators of Skype, AIM, gchat, and all the other communication technology gods!

Sometimes when I'm idling, I flash back to experiences that have stuck with me, for one reason or another. Today, I flashed back to a funny (and frustrating) experience Rachael and I had with AT&T not long after we purchased an internet package from them. I remembered that I had saved the amusing transcript of my discussing my issue with AT&T's online tech support. In the hope of offering a few laughs, here it is. I know it's not well formatted - this is how AT&T logged it - but it's still funny! And notice how patient and nice I was trying to be with their tech support, even though I knew he was on the wrong track the entire conversation (eventually, a different AT&T representative helped us fix the issue).

System

Welcome Mr. Jonathan Swenson.

System

Connecting to server. Please wait...

System

Connection with server established.

You

Technical Support Topic: U-verse High Speed Internet

System

rr156q(REINAN) has joined this session!

System

Connected with rr156q(REINAN)

rr156q(REINAN)

Hello Mr. Jonathan Swenson Thank you for contacting AT&T U-verse Member Support, my name is rr156q(REINAN) , May I please have the telephone number or account number associated with your account? Mr. Jonathan Swenson if by chance we are disconnected from this chat session, I would like for you to re-enter our chat service line, and ask for rr156q(REINAN) .

You

Hi, my account number is **********.

rr156q(REINAN)

##########,would this be a good call back number in case we need to do a follow up?

You

the number is actually ##########.

rr156q(REINAN)

Am I chatting with the account holder?

You

Yes, Jon Swenson

rr156q(REINAN)

Thank you for those information. How can I make you a very satisfied member today Mr. Swenson?

You

My problem is that it appears AT&T has blocked my access to www.ipage.com, www.sparksofgold.com, and perhaps a couple other sites.

You

I am not sure why I am blocked from those sites.

You

I can access those sites on other networks, but not on my AT&T U-Verse connection

rr156q(REINAN)

I'm sorry to hear that. Rest assured that I will do my best here to resolve this issue in a quick manner.

You

Okay, thank you.

rr156q(REINAN)

Are getting any error messages while trying to access those sites?

rr156q(REINAN)

You are most welcome.

You

Usually, when I go to one of those sites, my browser will try for 60 seconds to make a connection, and then it will time out, saying something like "Connection to server could not be established"

You

And I have checked, these sites are certainly up and running, because I can access them from other networks.

rr156q(REINAN)

I see> let us check the browser setting of your computer.

You

ok

rr156q(REINAN)

What is the Operating System of your computer. ( the computer cannot access those website).

You

Mac OSX

rr156q(REINAN)

Thank you since when you this kind of problem?

rr156q(REINAN)

when you have this*

rr156q(REINAN)

sorry wrong type.

You

since about 2 hours ago

You

I was able to access the site all day long before then

rr156q(REINAN)

I see. have you tried to clear cache?

You

yes

You

I would guess that for some reason, AT&T thought I was doing something on those sites that I shouldn't have been doing, but that is not the case

rr156q(REINAN)

I see. Is this Mac OSX Tiger?

You

Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Mac OS X Tiger on my other computer

rr156q(REINAN)

Do you mind waiting, while I research this issue, it may take a couple of minutes.

You

I can wait, thank you.

rr156q(REINAN)

Thank you for waiting, I will be with you momentarily with the resolution to your issue. Thank you for your patience.

You

Thank you.

rr156q(REINAN)

Can we try to "PING" to your MAC OSX Tiger.

rr156q(REINAN)

Go to " Apple Menu" select preference.

You

Can you ping Mac OS X Snow Leopard?

You

Okay, I am in my preferences.

You

What next?

rr156q(REINAN)

What are those option in your screen?

You

Is there something I should be looking for in particular? There are quite a few icons to select...

rr156q(REINAN)

What are those tabs?

You

Personal, Hardware, Internet&Wireless, System, Other

You

Hello?

rr156q(REINAN)

I see, By the way are you using wireless or hardwired?

You

I have tried both, and I cannot connect either way.

rr156q(REINAN)

Have you tried to reboot your computer?

You

I know exactly what the problem is. AT&T has blocked my access to specific sites, including www.ipage.com and www.sparksofgold.com

You

I need AT&T to unblock these sites so I can continue to access them.

You

Who can I talk to to get this problem resolved?

rr156q(REINAN)

Let us try to resolve this one for you. Let me have a research for this issue.

You

Well, I have done a considerable amount of research on this issue by myself this afternoon. Now, I just need to find someone who can unblock those sites so I can access them on my AT&T network.

You

I can access a lot of sites, like google.com, yahoo.com, att.com, and lots more.

You

But, there are VERY SPECIFIC SITES that I cannot access.

rr156q(REINAN)

I can do a line test in my end.

You

It appears that AT&T has blocked my access to these sites.

rr156q(REINAN)

Just give me 3-5 minutes while I'm doing a research and line test in my end.

You

Okay.

rr156q(REINAN)

Thank you for waiting. The first thing we need to do is launch the Terminal application so we can work on the command line.

You

Okay, I can do that.

rr156q(REINAN)

To do this, navigate to and open the 'Applications' folder that is on your hard drive.

You

I am already there, actually. I have a Terminal session open.

rr156q(REINAN)

Then scroll down and open the 'Utilities' folder that is contained within the 'Applications' folder.

You

Yes, I have Terminal open.

rr156q(REINAN)

Run the Terminal application by double clicking its icon.

rr156q(REINAN)

You should now have a new Terminal window open. Make sure it's selected so that you see the word 'Terminal' in the top left menu of your desktop.

You

Yes, I have Terminal open.

You

Now what do I do next?

rr156q(REINAN)

Before making any changes to system files it's always good practice to make a backup of the original file. Do that now by typing the following command in Terminal.

rr156q(REINAN)

sudo /bin/cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.backup

rr156q(REINAN)

Hit 'Enter' and type in your password

You

okay

rr156q(REINAN)

Now. just exit all the window

rr156q(REINAN)

and try to reboot your computer.

You

Okay, I rebooted it.

rr156q(REINAN)

And try to open your browser and access the website.

You

Let me get this straight. You just told me to copy a file so I have a backup, and then I didn't even change the original hosts file.

You

At any rate, my hosts file is fine. I am POSITIVE that this is not the problem.

You

AT&T has blocked my access to TWO VERY SPECIFIC SITES.

You

I need someone at AT&T to go into the system, wherever you have to go, and UNBLOCK THESE SITES ON MY NETWORK.

rr156q(REINAN)

Because I do aline test in my end but there is no problem in you IP Address. Let me try to change your IP channel. One moment please

You

Okay.

-- END --

Just so we're all on the same page...

Countdowns

Some things I've noticed

Now that I'm abroad, I feel it's important to keep Rachael updated on what life is like. I don't want her just wondering and wondering about how her boyfriend's life is like in Switzerland. Just like I know how her quotidian life is back home in San Francisco, I want her to know mine. Without further ado, I'll leave a few observations here about Switzerland.

• Almost everything is closed on Sundays. In fact, if you look at the business hours on the door of a restaurant, grocery store, barber shop, or whatever, you won't even see Sunday mentioned. Usually, there is a note next to Saturday (Samedi) saying "fermé" (closed), but Sunday hours aren't even listed. It seems to be assumed that only a very few places should do business on Sundays.
• Along with the first point, almost every business has the same hours: 8 to 5, with a long lunch break from either 12 to 2, or 12 to 3, Monday through Friday. Some businesses (e.g., cafés, large grocery chains) are open on Saturday, but a strikingly large number of businesses are only open Monday through Friday. This makes it difficult to find time to run errands. I suppose that's what an extended lunch could be used for...
• Switzerland is not as clean as you thought it was. In my opinion, the United States is cleaner, in general.
• Lausanne is cute and has nice architecture, but many of its suburbs' buildings are plain, boxy, cement structures. Really, really ugly.
• Most people smoke. This is the general impression we have of Europeans, but I thought the Swiss would be different, given the uber-high regard the rest of the world seems to have for the Swiss.
• Apartments are almost always marked with a no-smoking sign (or so I hear). Despite this, one of my roommates lit up in our kitchen the other day, and I learned somewhere that most Swiss disregard these no-smoking policies.
• Lausanne's metropolitan area is actually rather large, despite its population of a mere 130,000. The metro system is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, and it extends about 20 miles outside of downtown Lausanne.
• Switzerland is hot in the summer. Yesterday, temperatures reached about 85 Fahrenheit. There is also a lot of humidity in the air. In short, the summer weather is very Midwestern.
• You weigh your own produce at the store and print out a sticker with the price and a barcode, which the cashier scans when you check out. (This is typical throughout Europe.)
• Swiss students study a lot more than American students. At least, this is what I've gathered from one of my roommates. He said that during the school year, if he's not in class and he's not asleep, he's in the library, just like everyone else. In contrast, I studied and did homework for an average of 10 hours a week in college. I never knew someone who studied anywhere close to 40 hours a week, as Europeans apparently do. (This makes me nervous!)
• Most course exams are oral, not written. (I still have no idea how course grades are broken down: How much does homework count for?, Is there even a midterm?, etc.)
• American music seems to be played in a lot of places. My roommate loves American music (on rappers: "mais je ne comprends jamais les paroles... ils chantent trop vite"). I just heard "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel at the Coop Pronto (a grocery store that's actually open on Sundays!).
• French is spoken faster than it is in high school French class.
• Most things are more expensive than they are in the States. In particular, meat is extremely expensive: it costs approximately 2.5 to 3 times as much as it does in the States. I wonder why this is...
• A train from Geneva to Lausanne will run you about $25. The ride is 35 minutes. In contrast, an hour-long ride from Barrington to Chicago will cost you $5.50.
• EPFL math PhD students make 48000 CHF a year - that's $46,400 a year! Math PhD's in the United States make about half that.
• Follow-up: In general, the Swiss earn very high salaries, and this is probably why prices are higher here. I imagine that a typical Swiss worker is able to save a larger percentage of his take-home pay than a typical US worker, in spite of the higher taxes in Switzerland, though I don't know this for sure.
• The Swiss are 9 hours ahead of US Pacific time, or 6 hours ahead of US Eastern time.
• Last but not least, my favorite point. Europeans are very family-oriented. One of my roommates lives an hour and a half away in France and visits his family once a week. Another of my roommates, who is Tunisian, calls his family every afternoon. When they found out I was an American who ditched his family and home for Europe, and I had no really good explanation as to why, they seemed perplexed, even a little judgmental. (Can't blame them for that!)

I'm sure I'll write many more posts like this. Stay tuned, Rachael! :)

You don't know what you got till it's gone

It's been a while since I made my first post, because since then, a lot has been going on. I was on an Alaskan cruise with my family, which turned out to be a lot of fun and a solid family memory, despite its downs. Then, I was back in Barrington for a few days, catching up with old friends while packing for Switzerland. And finally, two days ago, I arrived at what will be my new home near EPFL, just outside Lausanne, Switzerland.

Everything up to my arrival in Switzerland was fun. Yes, Rachael and I were apart, but things were bearable for me - no, even great - as I was in the constant company of friends and family, touring the beautiful coast of Alaska, drinking beer, and the like. I even enjoyed the plane ride to Switzerland - what great anticipation I had for my exciting life in a beautiful country doing what I thought I loved most: math!

As I walked jauntily into my apartment for the very first time, the big smile on my face vanished almost immediately. Right upon opening the door, my mind rushed back to my real home (even though I'll never see it again), the Nob Hill apartment I shared with Rachael. I cried. I pined for Rachael. As I checked out the new apartment, I was upset at its apparently not being well cared for, which just made me miss the old apartment even more.

I missed it all. Hard. And I still very much miss it all, and will continue to for the rest of the year. Rachael, San Francisco, our cute apartment in a great neighborhood in a world-class city. But mostly just Rachael. From February 14 until August, I was the happiest I've ever been. Sure, my jobs weren't great, and I was excited to get back to math sooner rather than later. But in retrospect, I would take the life where everything is perfect except my job, over the life where my job is perfect and I'm apart from Rachael.

Over the last few days, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on things with Rachael. I didn't know it till I was gone, but things were perfect with Rachael before Switzerland. We slept in the same bed, we walked to work together down Clay, we often ate lunch together, we snuggled close to each other even when each of us was reading or surfing the internet, we traveled together (and we traveled well), we shared an interest in food. Neither of us was too happy with our job, but in hindsight, that now seems to be a small price to pay for so much else. Yes, things were as perfect as they'd ever been, for me and for Rachael.

Two days after my arrival in Switzerland, I can honestly say that I've spent over 80% of my waking hours thinking of Rachael, talking to Rachael, scheming about how I can be with Rachael. All this thinking has led to a new plan. Essentially, I'll be at EPFL this year. (By the way, my course load is not going to be easy - 6 math courses in the second semester!) By a year from now, I hope to have completed a significant portion of the work involved in my master's thesis, which will allow me to spend that third semester in the United States with Rachael. So, rather than 1.5 years apart, it's 1. And, truthfully, it's closer to 6 months apart, as Rachael will be moving out to Europe next spring, and we'll see each other over vacations and breaks. (Still, that's 6 months I now wish I were spending with her...)

Sure, I've only been really dwelling on my relationship with Rachael for two days. But for me, that's a serious amount of time to dwell. The "moral of the story" I've drawn from all my ruminating is that, when you start long-distance, each party will soon realize that the relationship will sink or swim. You'll only survive together if you both feel resolutely that the relationship will work out and that you're both willing to do the work. No doubt Rachael and I feel committed to growing in our relationship. We're both willing to spend odd hours on the phone, keeping this blog going, sending each other songs that remind us of one another, and re-mapping the next couple years of our lives so that we're together (which has proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be, by the way). We're doing the work.

And for the first time in my life, I'm happy to do the work. I'm finally happy to make sacrifices, because a lifetime of happiness is worth it.

Jon's Last Day in the US aka Rachael has Gum Surgery

In a case of what was probably not the best planning in the world, I had a gum grafting procedure yesterday on Jon's last full day in the US. So while Jon spent his last day dealing with visas and then hanging out with pretty much all his friends from HS, I spent my day freaking out about my surgery, having my surgery, and then starting to recover from my surgery!

A bit of advice for anyone who knows someone about to have any sort of medical procedure: when you hear about the procedure, a response of "Ouch!" or "Oh, I had the worst complications with a similar procedure!" is really not very helpful. In the last few weeks, most people who've heard about this gum grafting procedure have responded with something along those lines. I would pass along great wisdom teeth horror stories, but I actually did a pretty good job blocking out this (extremely unhelpful) information.

Another tip: don't google around for advice. When you search "gum grafting," the second link you get is to The Procedure From Hell. I have been smart enough not to read this website but... people really seem to prefer to post horror stories than happy endings.

The good news, though, is my story really does seem to be a happy ending! I got to the periodontist office where I immediately had to turn over way more money than I would have liked (this was probably the most painful part of the procedure). It became really clear that I was having this surgery done close to wine country when the periodontist, in his post-op food instructions, informed me that when drinking wine, I could drink a central coast light wine like a chardonnay but nothing too heavy! After that, they gave me some ibuprofen and a sedation. Okay, the only part that didn't go so well for me was the sedation. An hour and a half after the sedation should have set in, someone came to gave me novocaine and informed me that I was more conscious than she wanted me to be! This was really good for my nerves. At this point, I become really anxious and sadly this feeling did not leave until after the procedure was over. She also asked me how I was going to have kids if I thought the novocaine shot hurt. Ya... she was not my favorite person...

The procedure itself wasn't bad at all, beyond my anxiety. I didn't feel anything and the one time I said I could start to feel something they immediately gave me more novocaine. Apparently, my mouth is very small and my jaw bone is shaped such that it was difficult to get to the area the periodontist needed to get to. This did result in a little bit more tension in their voices and pulling on my mouth than I would have liked. All in all, it really wasn't bad, it was just scary because I didn't know what to expect and people kept telling me I was more alert than I should be.

The only thing I'll change next time is asking for 2 sedation pills!

So far, my recovery seems to be going pretty well. I'm supposed to keep my talking to a minimum (the only bad part about doing this the day Jon leaves is I'm not supposed to talk on the phone!). Eating is difficult: it took me an hour to eat about 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese yesterday. But I feel quite fine, just a little tired. I'm sure all the food limitations will be a pain as I'm supposed to keep them in place for about 3 weeks, but no pain makes me very happy!

All in all, though, I still think Jon had a better day yesterday than I did!