Bern, Switzerland (Japanese Couchsurfer)
When I’m home, I like to invite Couchsurfer to my place and let them stay there and explore places with them. This time I was hosting two Japanese boys. They really wanted to taste Swiss cheese. So we got into the shop and bought different types of cheese. Soft and hard one, old and young one. I was amazed by the first cheese degustation I ever had. One of the two really like it. The other one doesn’t like cheese at all. It was a fun experience.
Interlaken, Switzerland (Company Retreat)
Our company got together for two days to talk about the future and do some team building and excursions. We rented a huge house in Interlaken (Switzerland). There we had a couple of workshops. In the evening we went into the town and ate an amazing piece of meat with live music. On the next day, we want up the mountain to learn about a traditional Swiss instrument, the Alphorn. How it’s build and the history.
Geneva, Switzerland (CERN)
I’m from the eastern part of Switzerland. Geneva, on the absolute western part, is not right around the corner for me. Nevertheless, I got on the train and spend a weekend in the city of Geneva. The weather was beautiful.
In Geneva, a lot of international organisations are headquartered, such as the Red Cross or the UNO. There is also the CERN, a European research organisation, with a lot of impacts. They have a huge particle accelerator for atmos to do groundbreaking research in physics. A lot of people don’t know for example that the World Wide Web was also invented there by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. I got an appointment there and was very excited to get on a tour by a scientist which told us very interesting facts.
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (exploring with a Couchsurfer)
In April I didn’t have international travelling plans. So it made sure travellers are coming to my place. First, there was Jacob from the US. With him, I went into the mountains close by the capital of Switzerland. I’ve never been to those places like Lauterbrunnen or Mürren because they’re very touristy and locals normally don’t go there. Nevertheless, it was a nice day trip and we both enjoyed it very much.
On the last day of Jakob’s stay, another Couchsurfer from Russia joined us in the apartment. A very international and crowded apartment of mine during those days.
My third Couchsurfer in this month was a girl from Vietnam. Because the weather wasn’t that great during her stay, we just made a tour in the city of Berne.
Montreux, Switzerland (Train Tour)
It’s spring. Everyone wants to go out. The weather is just nice and finally, it’s getting warm. So I took another day trip to the western part of Switzerland. This time to the canton of Valais and Montreux. Montreux is famous for the Jazz Festival they host every year and Freddy Mercury. The location is very nice. Close to the mountains and next to the lake of Geneva.
Bern, Switzerland (Meeting cousin with friends)
I had special guests. My cousin asked me if I’m able to host her Guestmother from New Zealand during her stay in Bern. I agreed. At the same time also my girlfriend was visiting me here. So my apartment was full once again. We had a great time. In the evening we went to a very special place (Kornhauskeller) for a drink and to my surprise, my uncle was also joining us since he was for business reasons in the city.
On the next day, my guests went into the Swiss Alps by car and my girlfriend was also joining them. They had a blast. I needed to stay home since I was working.
Locarno, Switzerland (Camping in the canton of Tessin)
In March the nights can still be around 0 degree which isn’t very nice to sleep in a tent. But in April the nights are starting to get less cold. I decided with a friend to grab our camping gear and drive into the southern part of Switzerland to explore a little. Sadly there was a lot of rain on the days before, which also meant that the temperature dropped. Our plans to go up the mountain burst. We decided to stay down in the valley and took it easy. We checked in at a camping side and took the weekend very relaxed. It was still fun.
Lugano, Switzerland
Before we arrived in the canton of Ticino I visited the city of Lucerne. It was a very rainy day and we got soaking wet. Sadly that was not optimal to sleep in a tent during a cold night. So we decided to book a hotel when we arrived in Lugano.
On the next day, we met my friend with his girlfriend. We explored the city of Lugano. Went on a boat and got some nice Italian food.
Brün, Switzerland (Mountain hut in the Swiss Alps)
After the stressful travelling, I wanted to relax a couple of days. Since I own a mountain hut in a tiny village up in the mountains of the Swiss Alps, I wanted to spend time there. My girlfriend joined me there and we enjoyed the silence away from the people and the next bigger town.
We went for a hike to the Schlüechtli (2283 meter above sea level), the closest and higher peak from the house. For my girlfriend, which was growing up in Indonesia, it was her first bigger hike ever and also her first sunburn. The second one is maybe a little strange since she’s got way darker skin than me. The sun in the mountains is different and can be pretty strong and also that day it was foggy in the morning which reflects the sun even more.
Putri wrote an article about her days with me up in the Swiss mountains. Check it out.
We also went to some other places closeby. To the Caumasee, a very famous and special lake in the mountain or Ill Spir, a viewing platform.
In the evening we went down to the city where I used to work for my former company. We organize every second month a Meetup for local developers. This time we tried a new format. We called this edition it “WebDev Fiirobigsbier”. Having a beer and talking instead of listening to prepared talks.
Right after the meetup, I went for a date night with my girlfriend. Going to my favourite Lebanese restaurant in the city and order shawarma. Since she is Asian I wanted to test here how much spices she can handle. I was really surprised — a lot, way too much for me to imagine.
Brigels, Switzerland (Civil service)
My yearly routine in summer is working for one month at a farmer. This year was already my 3rd time there. But this time it was a little special since the farmer was extending the stable. This meant that there’s a lot of other work to do then I was used to. For me, this was pretty interesting and a good change to the normal work. I enjoyed most parts of the work in the stable and could use and learn some other skills.
Bern, Switzerland (Aareböötle)
If you’re not from Switzerland you probably have no idea what that means. A lot of a strange letter in there, right. It means a boot ride down the river Aare. This river flows through Bern, the capital of Switzerland. This is a very famous activity during the weekends in summer. The river is packed with boats, air matrasses or SUPs by then. I haven’t done that before, which is pretty bad since I lived in Bern for almost a year. So I finally did. It was a 4-hour ride floating down the stream. Very relaxing.
The friends I was enjoying the afternoon with were able to sleep in another shared apartment at a friends place. In the evening they threw a home party there and my friends invited me over. Fun fact was that the boyfriend of my cousin was also living there. So when I arrived I already knew a lot of people there. How small the world sometimes is.
Bern, Switzerland (Camping exhibition)
Arrived in Switzerland I went back with to my apartment in Bern. On the next day, my parents came to the city because there was a camping exhibition. They were looking for a van for a couple of years and were interested in the newest trends and products. So I joined them and also was able to see them after my 2 months of travelling.