Neuchatel

Well I am slowly learning my way around my new town. Neuchatel is quite a lovely little town with a fantastic lake. The weather here is very misty and as we are surrounded by hills we are nicely protected from the wind. It has been clear enough on a couple of occasions to catch a wee glimps of the alps which are the back drop to the lake!! Can't wait for the clear days of summer, it is going to look fantastic. It has been a little difficult to adjusting to the new ways, shops here are pretty much all closed on Sundays and Monday mornings and only stay open till 6.30pm except thursdays which is 8.30pm. For retailers I think this is fantastic and once you get yourself organised and make sure you have already bought something for sunday night dinner it works just fine. The bakery next to Champreveyres where I live is open from 6.30am till 6.30pm weekdays and is open Sunday morning so every day we pop in there on the way to school and pick up a yummy fresh baguette for lunch.

It has been snowing off and on here since I arrived but it melts again pretty quick which is nice because while the snow is fun it does make it harder to get around. Last week we had a morning where it poored with snow, it was so fun I laughed all the way to school, getting snow in your eyes really hurts! Saw my first squirel in Switzerland the other morning also on the way to school which was fun, it was the first time John (class mate) has seen a squirel so it was pretty exciting. The sun has been out today and took my first walk down the lake edge, it was really nice but I didn't stay long because the temperature was still -1 and it was quite windy so after an hour you can not feel your fingers through your gloves anymore.

I have finally got off my backside and been for a couple of runs over the last couple of weeks which has been really nice and refreshing, great for the sanity. But it is nice to be finally settling into a routine. School is still really great, have had a very taxing week this week. Really bloodshot eyes friday morning and felt like I had been hit by a bus, we have been working on escapements this weeks which requires alot of concentration and microscope work so after six days at school today has been a definate god send to just chill out and have walk made even nicer by the beautiful sun that has been shining all day!!

Besides school there has also been time for a little bit of leisure. Last weekend I went to Robert and Anna's place for cheese fondue (Robert is doing a different course at school) which was the first cheese fondue experience for me. The couple of bottles of wine that accompanied it were also nice and then we headed into Cafe de Cerf in the city which is a bar where alot of watchmakers hang out. Then this weekend it was Hasan's (he is doing 2 year course at WOSTEP with Robert and also lives at Champreveyres) birthday so friday night he had hired out the Champreveyre dinning room and we all had a few drinks, nibbles and listened to some music. Did get to bed not long after midnight though as I spent a few hours saturday afternoon at school.

Off to Le Loche on friday to visit Bergeon (tool supplier) and a private museum collection instead of going to class so this should be a blast! We are now at the end of week 5, quater the way through! Man time flys when you are having fun. Next exam not for another 3 weeks yet, I have been trying not to live life from exam to exam but it is proving to be a little difficult.