The second semester in Berkeley was maybe the hardest in my life. I took more classes than required, as I wanted to be done with classes after the second semester in order to start research in my second year. Now that the semester is over, I am really happy. However, during the semester I was asking myself quite often if this was a wise decision. However, although I spent a lot of time studying, there are still some highlights I would like to tell you more about.
Swiss dinner at my apartment (February 3, 2008)
In February it is very rainy and quite cold in Berkeley. It's time for a Swiss dinner! From Switzerland I brought some cheese fondue such that my friends in Berkeley could taste a real Swiss dish. I decorated the apartment with Swiss flags and balloons and soon everything was smelling from cheese. My friend Joseph from Trinidad had already eaten before as he could not imagine that one could eat only bread and cheese for dinner. However, he seemed to like the fondue, but was quite cack-handed with his fork... He lost his bread in the cheese pot several times and so as a punishment he had to sing the Trinidadian national hymn. The film will be uploaded soon... I had a really fun evening together with my friends in Berkeley. Let's end this story with Garvesh's statement: "I didn't know that bread and cheese could tast so good!" :-)
Have a look at the pictures!
Enrichment seminar in Washington (February 20-24, 2008)
Similar to the Gateway in New York, this time I was invited by Fulbright to an enrichment seminar in Washington. I always wanted to visit Washington and now I even got a free trip there. I was so excited!!
We were about 140 students from all over the world studying in the US all sorts of subjects. I knew that I would experience four unforgettable days.
On the first day we went on a bus tour through Washington. It was freezing cold and even snowing. I was very happy that I brought my winter jacket from Switzerland. Due to the upcoming elections, the theme of these four days in Washington was "Politics in the US". So there were various talks presenting the political system in the US and at the end we had to play the election. So everybody got a role and had to prepare for this game. Fortunately, I was just a state inhabitant and therefore didn't have to prepare anything. So every night, I could go out with the Fulbrighters from all over the world. We went out dancing or to bars and when they closed, we continued chatting in the lobby of our hotel. Once back home I had to make up for a lot of sleep... ;-)
These were four awesome days where I made wonderful friends. Many thanks to Fulbright for making this possible!!
Click here to see the pictures I took during these unforgettable days.
My first birthday in the US (April 22, 2008)
The semester is ending soon and so we are all very stressed with our studies. So I would never have expected my birthday to be one of my nicest birthdays ever.
It actually began the evening before, when Nancy came by my apartment and brought me a wonderful purple orchid for my birthday. She knows me so well, I love the orchid! And it's in my favorite color! The next day I walk to university and meet some friends on my way. Thanks to facebook everyone knows about my birthday and wishes me a happy birthday. This is really very unusual! At university I meet Anna and I can't believe my eyes when I see her with the same identical orchid I received from Nancy the day before. It was sooo funny, but I first didn't tell Anna... The chance of such an event is tiny... they both must know me really well... I love their present!! :-)
Anna then asked me, if we wanted to go out for dinner that night. I liked the idea and so I started inviting my friends. However, this was not what Anna had in mind, but I didn't realize. When Nancy said that she couldn't come for dinner tonight and she didn't tell me why, it felt really strange. However, I still didn't suspect anything. So finally, we were about 20 people having dinner at a Thai restaurant in Berkeley. With Meromit, a good friend from Israel, I was planning to go out to another place for desserts afterwords. I didn't understand the world anymore as at the end everyone wanted to go home and even Meromit felt too tired for desserts. In addition, Anna asked me to accompany her to some random bar. Quite unhappy, I went with her. In this bar I met some other friends who were having dinner there and so we chatted for quite a while. However, Anna could not find her friend in the bar. She told me, that she must have understood the name of the bar wrongly. After everyone had finished dinner, we walked back and met another friend on the street. He was really confused about meeting us and was talking about the three pizzas he ate today. I didn't understand a word, but I was still not expecting anything. Finally, we bought a cake in a coffee shop and Anna urged me to eat the cake together in my apartment. This sounded strange, too. But she always had some good excuses. This time she argued that the coffee shop was too crowded and that we could drink a nice warm tea together with the cake in my apartment. So about one hour after dinner we walked back home and when I got into the apartment everything was dark. I thought that Laura was watching a DVD with a friend. But then all my friends stood up behind the sofas in the living room and shouted: Happy Birthday!! And also Nancy was there!! Finally I understood why Nancy could not come with us for dinner, why everyone had to go home after dinner and why Anna wanted me to come with her to that bar. Because I started to organize a dinner for my birthday, I complicated their plans a lot... in addition, everyone had to wait for more than an hour in my apartment because I met these friends in that bar...
I was soo happy to have all my friends around me for my birthday. This was a wonderful surprise!!! And the chocolate cake was delicious!!! Thank you so much Nancy, Anna and Laura for organizing this amazing surprise!!!
As usual, Joseph also this evening took a lot of pictures. After waiting for the photos for six months and blackmailing him with the following letter ;-) I received the pictures. Here they are. Thank you so much, Joseph!
Anna had organized a booklet, where everyone wrote, where they see me in 10 years. You are all sooo cute! Thank you all very much for coming and making this a wonderful day! That day I again realized how many wonderful friends I found in Berkeley and how much I am enjoying my time her. I am very much looking forward to the next 3 or 4 years with you guys!!!
Final dinner (May 25, 2008)
Finally, we have all our exams behind us. For everyone, it was a period of stress and a lot of studying. Before everyone leaves for the summer holidays, it is time for a last dinner in my apartment. I have some cheese fondue left. Because I know that, unbelievably (!!!) some of my friends do not like this delicious fondue that much, I also have some homemade Lasagne as second dish. :-) Although Nancy, Anna, Aleks and Meromit had already gone home or on a trip, it was again a really fun night and a good end of my first year in Berkeley.
Have a look at the pictures I took during this evening and at some last pictures of Berkeley!
Enrichment seminar in San Francisco (May 31-June 3, 2008)
I was very lucky to have the opportunity to participate in two enrichment seminars. This time, Fulbright invited all Science and Technology Award winners to a seminar in San Francisco. We were a smaller group than in the two seminars before. About 25 students pursuing a PhD in science came together for four days. Unlike the other seminars, we did not have a main theme for the four days. It was all about us students and we got a lot of time to get to know each other better, to talk about our research and to find common research interests and possible collaborations.
The first day we were free to visit San Francisco by our own. Being viewed as a local there, I led a group of Fulbrighters to an Italian restaurant, in my opinion the best Italian restaurant in the city. The food was delicious, even in the eyes of the Italian Fulbrighters. We then ended our first evening in an Irish Pub, before the Fulbrighters from Boston had to return to the hotel. Due to the jetlag they were too tired...
The following day we went on a 6 hours bus tour through San Francisco. I was really curious about what we would see, as some friends will be visiting me in August and so I'll have to play tour guide. We even went to two places in San Francisco I had never seen before. That was interesting!
The next day took place in Stanford. It was dedicated to our research and to a visit of the beautiful campus in Stanford. Finally, it got really warm again and so we all enjoyed the time strolling around the campus. After dinner, the Nobel Price winner Robert Laughlin gave a talk, in my opinion quite disappointing. He received a Nobel Price for his amazing findings in 1983, but for some reasons his talk was quite confused...
For me participating in this Fulbright seminar was again an unforgettable experience, where I made friends from all over the world. I am very much looking forward to meeting all of you again latest in one year at the next Science and Technology seminar!
Have a look at the pictures form this seminar!
This seminar represented a great end of my first year in the US. I am very happy that I made the decision to come to the US to pursue my Ph.D. This was one of the nicest years of my life and I am very much looking forward to spending 3 or 4 more years here!
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