Swiss Election Results As predicted the conservative parties did the best in the Swiss elections.  The 46 seat house of states still has some elections that need runoffs, but the 200 seat house of representatives is decided.  In the house of representatives the most conservative, nationalistic party, The Swiss People’s party, gained the most seats … Continue reading 25 October 2015 – Update →

Today is election day in Switzerland.  As I mentioned in a previous post the campaign ads are a little less in your face here than the U.S. All we’ve seen are posters around town and flyers in the mail. Nothing on the radio or TV, although we only occasionally turn them on. Below I made … Continue reading Swiss election Ads →

We had a visitor! From Sunday October 4th until Tuesday October 6th we were busy exploring Switzerland with Dr. Rachel Levine.  Rachel was a fellow grad student, and former roommate of Melissa’s at the University of Minnesota, who recently received her doctorate in Chemical Engineering.  Being between school and a job, she took the opportunity … Continue reading Rachel’s Visit →

Fall is descending upon Switzerland.  The leaves are changing color, the temperatures have settled into mild 50’s and 60’s, and the grapes are being harvested.  On Wednesday September 23rd we even woke up to see the first snowfall of the year on the Alps across the lake.  The snow is visible in the cover photo … Continue reading 27 September 2015 Update →

In the United States the second of many presidential debates was held last week.  In Switzerland the citizens are also getting ready for an election that only happens once every four years.  Less than a month away, on October 18th,  all the seats in both of Switzerland’s federal legislative houses are up for election  But … Continue reading Swiss Election Season →

As part of Melissa’s job she has to occasionally attend research conferences where the latest discoveries in the field are presented by the researchers who make them.  Months ago she was invited to give a talk at one such conference, called the SuNEC conference.  It was a small conference of around 20 people, and short, … Continue reading Sicily →

Even though Switzerland is surrounded by countries with world famous cuisines, it doesn’t have its own culinary reputation.  For the most part this is because the three main language areas have more in common in the kitchen with the countries they border, than with the other areas of Switzerland.  When Melissa and I hit a food … Continue reading A Week of French Cooking →

It’s been nine months since we moved to Switzerland, and I still haven’t written a post about the reason we moved here in the first place… Melissa’s job. Melissa works as a post doc researcher at the Federal Polytechnic University of Lausanne, in French, “École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne” (EPFL).  EPFL is one of two universities in … Continue reading Melissa’s Job →

On Saturday August 22nd Melissa and I journeyed to the very scenic mountain town of Interlaken, Switzerland.  It had been a few weeks since we did a sight-seeing trip, so we thought it would be a great place to test out our new camera.  After a two hour train ride from our apartment, we stepped out of the … Continue reading Interlaken →

What have we been up to since returning from America? Gardening: I am happy to report that none of our plants died while we were away.  My water bottle watering system worked well enough, although the basil was a little wilty, and there was still some water left over.  The only thing I would change, … Continue reading 23 August 2015 Update →