Meeting other exchange students, Bowling Night and Lucerne trip (wow!)

Buddy System Group of the University of St.Gallen had done a great job planning interesting things for the exchange students. The idea was to help us get an introduction to the university and the culture of St.Gallen and Switzerland.

So, here we were. About 140-150 people from all continents of the world. Some easy to talk to. Some who seem reluctant to interact (At least in the beginning)

Over the course of these events I met a lot of people from across the world and had a great time. Since I live alone, I don't have room mates and a lot of these guys knew each other because they share apartments. I know them now too but it would have been easier I think if I was sharing an apartment. Lot of interesting things happened during these outings. But I think its important to respect people's privacy and I won't share particular conversations or events here. Maybe some insights which I may share here and some definitely on www.ankit9doshi.com Just want to say that students in other countries work really hard. Probably harder than people in India and are much more independent(no insight here!). A lot of these guys were using their own money for this exchange programme or were on scholarship. Unlike a lot of Indians here, they were here to study and for the experience.

I didnt take my camera to the first small party they organised nor to the Bowling night. Have posted pictures of all those places where I did.

The University has its own student's bar run by the students themselves. It's called 'The Meeting Point' and thats where they took us the first day. Since we were in the happy hour, people had to play stone,paper, scissor game with the bartender and if you win you either get a 50% discount or a free drink. Not too many people got drunk and it was great chatting with people. Almost everyone seemed to be complaining about how expensive Switzerland was! This is also where I first met the 2 guys from IIM A and 1 from IIM B.

The bowling night was a lot of fun and I think this is where the ice really broke and people really started interacting. Our lane was represented by Switzerland, USA, Colombia,China and of course India. They had booked the whole place for us and we played for about 3 hours non-stop. Damages:10 CHF

There was a St.Gallen city tour the next day and we were like about 85 students moving around St.Gallen in a group. Too much crowd in one place for Switzerland I think :P St.Gallen has a lot of interesting history around it(for e.g. the meeting of St.Gallen and the bear..) and one of the most beautiful cathedrals ever. I didn't have a camera then and also pictures weren't allowed at some places. But I will click pictures and post them for sure. The library here is amazing and it has original texts some dating more than 1000 years ago. They have the oldest German dictionary as well. At one point of time, St.Gallen was so influential that kings from across Europe would come there for ceremonies,conferences and consultation. It was a cradle of knowledge and they have texts on almost all disciplines. A lot of research was done over the centuries in St.Gallen.

The Lucerne trip was memorable. We were lucky with excellent weather and the buddy system guys ensured that we used almost all forms of transport :P Bus to Lucerne, Boat to the foot of Mt.Pilatus, World's steepest cog wheel rail on the way up and Cable car and Gondola's on the way down. Let pictures do the talking now!

And another slideshow of the same trip (pardon, the pics are not in order)

First few days in my new country

Every writer needs some motivation to write. For me, readership is important. I am one of those who write because someone will read what they write.

I need to thank Anuj Gosalia,Prasid S and Alpesh Patel. I know that they are definitely going to read (not only look at pictures!) whatever I write :P during this European expedition of mine. They have encouraged me at different times to write. I know people don’t like text heavy posts. But what the heck! I’ll do what I feel like. This post is text heavy. A little less than 1000 words.

Anyway, my first few days in St.Gallen were eventful yet in an extremely anti-climatic vein following my London trip. It all started with British Airways losing my baggage. I had two bags and lost one of them. It had a few essentials that vegetarians like me need, and some warm clothing which everyone needs in Europe in winter! Also I lost some very Indian cool stuff which I had thought I would gift interesting people whom I meet on this trip. Lost all of that L

Suddenly, I was in unfamiliar territory. Reason: Language. Suddenly it was all German. Announcements on rail platform at Zurich. Sign boards. Conversations in the background. At least in London, English made sure I was comfortable. There was a weird sort of uneasiness. I felt a little helpless as I felt I wasn’t comprehending the world as efficiently as I was a few hours back. Strange feeling!

Took a train from Zurich to St.Gallen. Double decker train and the great weather made sure there were awesome scenes throughout the journey. Both sides of the train, I just saw lush green meadows, gigantic trees and cattle eating merrily. Welcome to Switzerland!

So I got to the university, met 2 bachelor Swedish students who had come on exchange(they were also struggling with the german), got my welcome package and my room keys. Luckily my room is close to the station. So close that its bang opposite! But not to worry! Swiss trains make as much noise as earthworms do when they wriggle. The room is nice and I’m alone. So I get a lot of time with myself. So much time that it can become boring! But I’m paying a princely sum as rent for this place. So I better make good use of it :P

Now comes the tough part. No baggage. No essential items. No food. So began the tough job of figuring out where to go to buy stuff. What was even tougher was to explain people what I needed. Being a veggie, you can’t blindly pick up things. I spend painful amounts of time reading things here at the back of every food product in a supermarket trying to make some sense of the letters written. Some observer may feel I’m some illiterate simpleton from Asia who has landed in Switzerland. Well, I was actually illiterate in German a week ago!

I have never had so much problem communicating with people! I really admire all the people in the world who know multiple foreign languages well. Also, those people who settle in completely unfamiliar environments and adapt. I mean all those people who left India in the 70s and the 80s and have flourishing businesses in so many countries – hats off to them! I know necessity forces everyone to do stuff but still one has to DO it. I mean we have the internet and the mobile phones and various medium of information and communication. I wonder how they managed in those days. Settling in new environments must have been definitely tougher then. No Google translator, no GPS, No Google Maps, No Wikipedia, No Youtube, No facebook......

St.Gallen is beautiful city. It has rich heritage and the cathedral is a UNESCO heritage site. It is known as the knowledge city and it was a cradle of knowledge for centuries. However, St.Gallen is a quiet city. Definitely quieter than Mumbai and London – 2 cities I have been to in the last month! I am a people loving person and to see no one on the road on Sunday (5^th September) was just weird! I mean I saw a few cars and a dad playing with his kid. It’s just different. Not that I have never been to quiet cities before but to suddenly see this after 10 days of people heavy London was striking. I did venture into a park where I saw a few people enjoying their Sunday and a few kids playing fussball (football in german). I also entered the tent of a visiting theatre group. There was stand-up comedy that night but they advised me not to waste my money as it was all in German.

The fight with British Airways and the weather just made me grumpy. It was an uncomfortable environment and I was not particularly liking it. I mean how can there be cities without people: P Everything shuts early in St.Gallen and for that matter everywhere in Switzerland. Only the bars and the restaurants are open. You almost feel no one works in Switzerland! Also, everything is mechanised.

The initial few days were also bad because of lack of good food. My happiness is totally dependent on whether I get good food :P One good thing that is happening is the discovery of the cook in me. Since I lost most of the basic veggie food I had got from India (thanks again to BA), I had to innovate. I had taken directions from my mom when in India and luckily I had the compact pressure cooker in this bag. Called up my Mom again and conformed the process.

So it all started with Pasta and then I made Paneer Makhani using Vanilla Yoghurt, and then Potata-Onion vegetable and some really fancy bread items. I mean all you need is Bread , Cheese, Mayonnaise, Chilli Sauce, Olives and Sun dried tomatoes! And I love Bread! I’m sure the creative side will take over and I shall discover new vegetarian recipes. I have to ensure though that I am not bored of it soon. I have a problem – Get bored with anything very soon. (Let’s see how much I write!)

Soon, things became much brighter and much more interesting. Met people and started discovering new things. So many parts in St.Gallen which I had not seen yet. As you shall see in the next post I have really started enjoying St.Gallen and Switzerland!

Day 10 - Last day - The actual 'Ashes' urn, BME again and goodbye London

Though I had watched the Test at Lords, I still had to do the Lords Cricket Ground tour. There's a lot of trivia around the 'Mecca' of Cricket. Sometime in the 19th century, the owner Thomas Lords wanted to sell off the ground for real estate development so that he could live his retired life merrily until some gentleman whose name I can't recollect bought it from him so that Cricket continued to be played on it. If it was not for this guy, we would not be talking about this historic venue. The guides on the cricket tour were Cricket fanatics and they were steeped into history as is the case with most cricket fanatics.

The highlights of this tour were seeing the actual Ashes urn(yes the 150 yr old!), the new Lords Media centre and for me specially touching the Lords turf. I have promised myself to come back here and play soon.

We also went to the MCC room where the laws of cricket are decided. Though ICC looks after the player regulations, the laws of Cricket are still governed by MCC. So for example,the law of LBW is still governed by MCC. They take a call whether the switch hit (used by K.Pieterson) is legal. ICC looks after stuff like Power plays and UDRs etc.

There is a global committee of ex-players formed by the MCC who give recommendations on various aspects of Cricket. Its called the MCC World Cricket Committee. They have 2 of the best possible Indian players on it : Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble (click on the MCC link for names of players from other countries.) It has some big names and its interesting to read the stuff they talk about.

Membership of the MCC has a waiting of about 25 years. I don't think I need to say anything beyond this.

The view from the Media Centre is awesome and its state of art. No one has yet hit a six at the Media Centre. Even if someone does it has to be at a speed of higher then 75 miles per hour to break the glass. I can go on and on. After all, its cricket!

Let me stop here. We had great lunch at the O2 arena at a restaurant called The Slug and Lettuce.

The last 10 days have been amazing and the London trip will remain as one of the most memorable of my life. I did a lot of things I always wanted to do. I am in love with London and feel extremely sad on leaving it. Maybe its not all that great for people who live here but for visitors like me it seems like an awesome place to be at. I have a feeling I am going to come back and come back very soon too. Maybe, I'll keep coming back!

And now, to Switzerland!............ and Europe!

Day 9 - Chelsea FC ,the London Bridge experience and the Tombs, HMS Belfast and another play at the Globe!

We were at Sound(night club) the night before and hence had decided to stay in London itself. We stayed at Hotel Goodwood in central London for about 30 pounds per person(incl breakfast) which I think is reasonable. Hence, travelling next morning was less and fast.

The morning of Day 9 was dedicated to one person - Kunal Shah. One of my best friends at IIM Indore who passed away in a tragic accident about a month back. He loved Chelsea FC. I had told him a lot of times this term how I was going to make him jealous by calling him from Stamford Bridge. I was at Stamford Bridge alright. But there was no one to call.

The slide show below is self-explanatory. Alpesh accompanied me as he was on a 3 day holiday taken specially for me.



He then had to go to college for a presentation and I went for the London Bridge Experience and the Tombs. It has been voted as UK's scariest attraction. I went here as I had nothing to do in the afternoon and it was covered in my London Pass. After the dungeons, I was tuned to this format. It was still very good although the novelty factor had gone out for me. I would reiterate. Umang FA committees should visit these attractions. They are just so brilliantly done. The tombs are really well done. It will definitely scare 7 in 10 people.

I then proceeded towards HMS Belfast. It was one of the warships used during the World War II. Since, the Britishers excel at monetising history they had done a great job with this as well. I have never been on ship of this size even in India and the exhibits on HMS Belfast were so real you almost feel you are in those times and are living in the ship. It was eye-opening for me as I have no clue about the navy and life on a ship. Imagine life on a war ship in the 1930s or the 1960s. Slideshow below should help:


The evening was spent near Hays Galleria at the Queen's walk on the bank of River Thames. Suddenly, Alpesh felt like visiting the Shakespeare's globe as he had never been there. The play was ' The Comedy of Errors' and it was sold out. But, we've never returned from a play/movie theatre without actually watching it. No matter when it was sold out. The record is intact in London too. We got tickets which were returned - 4 standing and 1 sitting. So we saw another play. 2 actors were playing a double role in this one and the play was extremely hilarious. All the actors did a tremendous job but you have to specially commend the 2 who were playing double roles.

So I watched 2 comedies at the globe in 2 weeks and I couldn't be happier! Sadly, the next day this memorable trip was drawing to a close.

Day 8 - Oxford City and University

Anyone who is reading this post or even watching the slideshow, I have only one thing to say to you - If you ever plan to study further, please try and get into Oxford University. It is unlike anything you have seen before. It's an entire city of students. It is a place which has produced people whose actions have impacted mankind for the last 100 years at least.

If you cannot see the slideshow click on the picture below:

From Oxford

Alpesh had a day off and he accompanied me to Oxford. it's about 2 hours from London and about 1.5 hours from Guildford. On reaching Oxford we decided to check out 2-3 colleges because thats all we would have time for.

It is a beautiful city. Very modern yet deep rooted in history, tradition and culture. I think I would love to study in a city like Oxford if I ever got an opportunity.

Since the new academic year starts in October with the 'Michaelmas' term, there were fewer students in the city and on campuses. I would love to come back(hopefully as a student :P ) when student activities are in full flow. I think this place would be something else.

Again, I was just overwhelmed by space. I have hardly studied in campuses which are more than a building and 1 open ground at most. I saw college campuses at least 100 times the size of my school and college. Though IIM Indore campus is big it cannot match these campuses either in size or in substance (not at present  at least..maybe over time).

Final message - 'Bada game khelo'....we in India have very poor expectations and even poor benchmarks of university education. A visit to oxford can be an eye-opener. If you think you can make it, go ahead and apply. Go to Oxford. Please do.

Day 7 - Wimbledon - The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

What a beautiful day and what beautiful town. I want to live in Wimbeldon!

Now for the real thing : The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

Centre Court : The Theatre of Tennis Dreams

Mr. Ankit Doshi - after winning Wimbeldon 2xxx men's singles title

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For more pictures and trivia see the slideshow below, if you cant view it please click on it, if you still cant leave comment :

I spent the rest of my day at Wimbledon park......it is a beautiful place.....for a person born and brought up in Mumbai, places like Wimbledon park are alien concepts. I have craved for space all my life. The sheer enormity of the place and beauty around was breathtaking...The park led into a lake and there were private golf courses beyond. All day walking around that area I saw rich(seemed rich) Brits indulging in Golfing as it was a bank holiday. Those pictures will come soon.

A satisfying day and also inspiring.....I hope you visit the town of Wimbledon. I strongly recommend it.

Day 6 - 'Waimbleee' (Wembley) and British Music experience at the O2

The next 2 days' posts i'll try something different.... Day 6 was a visit to Wembley on request of Mr.Priyank Mahajan. There was a special Indian buffet at Sakoni's that was to not to be missed.

You enter Wembley. First 5 mins your mind says - Welcome to India (in a queer sort of way)......5 more mins in there it says Welcome to Gujarat (again in a very queer sort of way)

As soon as you get out of Wembley station you read big signboards on walls that says- ' Spitting pan on the walls is unhealthy and anti-social. It is a public offence with a fine of .....'

(Picture coming soon...parth sarda has to email....update: emailed and put up here)

Meena Bazaar!

ICICI Bank - Wembley Branch and Krishna Sarees

You will find names of shops based on famous hindi movie names like Raj, Chandni and also television names like Tulsi! For more pictures and captions, click on the slideshow below:

All said and done one must admire the adaptability and entrepreneurial spirit. Some of them are really doing well. For e.g. Sakoni's. The food was quite good and I also saw the 'goras' eating there. The restaurant is run ekdum indian style with more seats in less space to cater to more people. The buffet caters to all Indian tastes and the waiter takes ala carte orders on a PDA! Gujjubhai owner himself was managing the waiting area and booking tables. The entire system was being run really systematically. There's a reason why Mr.Mahajan never leaves from London for Leeds without paying a visit to Sakonis. He gets that homely Indian food and the feeling ....

Next we bade goodybye to Mr.Mahajan and left for North Greenwich for the British Music experience at the O2 arena. The planned engineering works on the London Underground made sure we used 3 forms of transport to reach there but it was all worth it. No photography is allowed(and rightly so) there so I have no photos and I don't want to tell you what it exactly is. Just that a person even remotely interested in music must go here. One can spend hours here. I had a brilliant time!

If you're really inquisitive you can google the - 'The British Music experience, O2'

Thats about it...we used the Thames Clippers to come to London Eye pier. Its a very well organised service - the water transport(especially Thames Clippers) in London. Just a little expensive thats it :P Like most things in London!