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![\"Zurich](\"\/phil\/zurich_05_31_08\/downhill_gray.jpg\")
<\/a>\nA hillside picture of Zurich I took today.<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n
I realized this week that it hasn’t really sunk in that I’ve moved here. I’m currently in a temporary apartment. Since I don’t start work until Monday, I haven’t yet gone to work. And with all the travel I’ve done in the last 4 months, this feels very much like just another vacation. I don’t think it will really sink in that I’ve moved until I have all my stuff moved into a real apartment and I have made myself a real home here.<\/p>\n
Speaking of apartments, on Friday I signed a lease for an apartment! As of July, I’ll officially have an apartment! This is really big; it can often take people months to get an apartment here due to the competition. Once I have the place, I will of course post pictures. My stuff won’t get here until late July or early August, unfortunately, but at least I’ll have a place to have it delivered to!<\/p>\n
What about my list of things I miss? Well, it’s changed a bit.<\/p>\n
First of all, I need to take creamy peanut butter off the list. As I mentioned, I can now get this.<\/p>\n
Grape jelly is still on the list, but I’m modifying the entry a bit to just be “jelly.” The jelly you get here is more accurately called jam. Jam’s nice, but I’m missing jelly. Grape would be fantastic, but even a real strawberry jelly would be fine.<\/p>\n
But I’m adding a new, and more important item to the list. It’s now at the very top of the list: good sandwich bread. The thing that makes my sandwiches here much less satisfying than they ought to be, I figured out, is not the peanut butter or the jelly. It’s the bread. It’s hard. It’s just not good bread. What California bread is to New York bread (NY bread being way better), Swiss bread is to California bread. Now, mind you, this is only sliced sandwich bread I speak of. Loaves of French bread or rolls or other breads that you get here are great. But sliced sandwich bread of any size or brand that I’ve found is just significantly sub-par. It’s my only complaint<\/em> on the list. The other things are simply adjustments I’m making… this one is a complaint. But one complaint isn’t so bad.<\/p>\n Mountain Dew is still on the list. Though, I have a comment about this. My original assumption was that they only got the major types of soda from each brand out here – probably due in part to shipping costs, and perhaps less overall interest in soda. Well, in addition to Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite (and the Pepsi equivalents), they also have Coke Zero! And as you look, you will occasionally see other soda items here and there. Thus, I now think even more firmly that Mtn. Dew should be included in the available sodas.<\/p>\n Cheese is still included, but now at the bottom and with a chance of being pulled off of the list altogether. As I mentioned, I found pseudo-American cheese. It doesn’t taste quite the same on its own, but it’s fairly indistinguishable when melted on something else. And without Mtn. Dew, I can’t have my favorite kraft-singles-and-dew snack anyway, so no huge deal. Additionally, I’ve seen various restaurants with cheddar on something on the menu, so I’m assuming cheddar is around once I know where to look for it. Thus, cheese may soon fall off of the list.<\/p>\n