Category Archives: Fun

En bulle i ugnen kan få stora konsekvenser

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 – 20:17

Had my first exam today, in Advanced Parallel Computing with Scientific Applications. I think it went pretty good, though being interrogated by two professors for 45 minutes is quite exhausting. Just six exams to go, the next one takes place on Monday.

We had a little bit of action at the student house at Meierwiesenstrasse today. I was taking a nap when I woke up to the sound of fire klaxons. Seems like someone or something has triggered the fire alarm, so there was nothing else to do than to make your way to the nearest exit. On the way out I instinctively grabbed my always-ready camera bag – I knew the fire brigade was on its way. Photo time! :)

As usual, click on any photo to magnify or to browse the album.

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Within a few minutes two big trucks, including a rescue ladder, arrived to the scene with full speed.

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Nobody was surprised that the cause was inside the kitchen; someone had forgot a piece of bread in the oven. There was a strong burnt smell inside the house, and some smoke was still visible when the firemen arrived.

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Everyone was safe, so the firemen switched the alarm off and returned to their vehicles.

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A little action in the otherwise quite uneventful exam week, and once again I got to practice my photojournalism skills. Always, always keep your camera ready!

Everything had run like clockwork; the fire alarm, fire brigade withing ten minutes, and the housekeeper and a security guard arrived shortly thereafter. The Swiss have done it again. And the unlucky person who forgot bread in the oven might have to pay 2000 CHF for the false alarm. Wow.

“En bulle i ugnen”, as you might say in Swedish…or did I just misunderstand that idiom? :)

Update: A reader pointed out that the expression “en bulle i ugnen” is just as valid in English as “a bun in the oven”. I hadn’t even bothered to check that. The headline thus reads “A bun in the oven can have serious consequences” in English.

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Photos | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Up In The Air

Thursday, May 6, 2010 – 23:59

In April we threw a surprise party for Daniela (first photo), who turned 25. Later in the evning we went out in the dark to launch homemade hot air balloons into the sky.

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It was increadibly dark. The only light sources here were the balloons themselves and a faint streetlight quite far away. I had to push my camera to the limit, further than I had ever had to before. A steady hand and a little luck was needed to pull this off.

When we were finished I suddenly realized that we were in Bassersdorf, which isn’t a perfect place to launch balloons, see why. We did indeed see aircraft en route to Kloten barely 100m over our heads that evening. Luckily, nothing happened. :)

Click on the photos for larger versions.

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in Photos | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Life On Twelve Square Meters

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 – 23:14
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This is where I’ve been spending the last year; Room 338 of Meierwiesenstrasse 62, Zürich, Switzerland. No luxury, but has everything I need. :)

In todays lecture in Quantum Mechanics we discussed the Tunnel Effect and its applications. To demonstrate, the professor had brought a whole ST microscope (a device invented in Zürich, by the way) and used it to scan a graphite surface. You could see individual atoms appear as we zoomed in, and we eventually saw only a 1×1 nm square. At that magnification, the noise level was quite high, as the microscope wasn’t shielded from vibrations such as the ones from the professor standing nearby. That should tell you something about the sensitivity of the microscope.

They’ve really got some toys to play with here at the Physics department, and I think it really improves the teaching to perform experiments during the lecture. The only strange thing was that the atoms on the projected image were yellow. I thought Carbon molecules were black. Hm…can somebody tell me why?  :)

For the sarcasm-impared I should point out the (obvious) fact that color doesn’t make much sense on that scale.
By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Photos | Tagged , | Comments (4)

Chätzli und Hundeli

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 – 00:23

Was watching some news from back home through SVT Play where the weather report commented on the weather in Europe. “Very intense rainfall, Switzerland got 60mm in the last 24 hours.”

Yes, the very fine weather of last week has turned completely upside down. It’s Monday evening here, and except for a few hours today the rain has been pouring down without stopping since Friday. But I didn’t know it was so bad that they had report on it more than 2000 kilometers away from here…

By Jonathan Fors | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Du vet att du bor i Zürich när…

Monday, May 3, 2010 – 00:52
  • Du hann inte med spårvagnen och måste vänta HELA FEM MINUTER tills nästa kommer
  • De offentliga toaletterna är renare än toan hemma. (Och där hemma är toan helt okej, trots att man bor i ett studenthus)
  • Spätzli är det bästa som finns
  • “Blå himmel! Vad har hänt?”
  • Du av ekonomiska skäl har tvingats bli vegetarian
  • Du blir förvånad av att se reklamskyltar (med minst fyra folkomröstningar per år känns det som det ena omgången valplakat avlöser den andra)
  • Du glömmer hur man pratar svenska och börjar varje ord med ett gurglande “Cchhh”…
  • …och ställer din “Chäs-Chüechli” (en typ av schweizisk ostkaka) i “Chuchichästli” (litet köksskåp) bredvid din Müesli.
  • “En skjorta för 60 franc! (~420 kr) Vad billigt!”
  • Du börjar bli nervös om någonting inte blir av inom 30 sekunder efter avtalad tid.
  • “Betong måste vara det snyggaste byggmaterialet någonsin”
  • Du insett att man kan ha ost på nästan allt
  • Du istället för “spårvagn”, “skolmatsal” och “moped” börjat säga “Tram”, “Mensa” och “Töff”
  • En man går på bussen bärandes en automatkarbin, och ingen bryr sig.

Okej, kanske överdriver jag lite på vissa punkter, men i stort sett stämmer allt :)

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in Svenska | Tagged | Comments (6)

International Pillow Fight Day, Zürich 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010 – 00:02

Picture this:

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You are having a nice peaceful walk along the shore on a spring Saturday. The temperature is gentle and the soft breeze from the lake goes by, taking with it all the burdens you have been carrying from the past week. The swans glide past you as you see the passenger ship leaves the quai across the bay…

Then, from nowhere, a hundred people pull out pillows and start hitting each other.

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As the craze spreads more and more people join in. Pillows burst and the air gets saturated by feathers that eventually form a thick layer on the ground.

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This was just what happened today at Bellevue in Zürich (as well as a number of cities around the world), on the International Pillow Fight Day, April 3rd. A flash mob of people of all ages gather to let go of pretenses and just unleash fury and fun upon each other.

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I heard of the event from some friends at the dorm, and decided to participate at the last minute. While the others brought pillows I grabbed my photo bag to get some shots of this fun event. Everyone had been instructed to hide the pillows and not start the fighting until a signal was given. Other people walked by without a clue what would happen in a few seconds, and then suddenly all these people start mashing each other. It was total mayhem with feathers flying all over the place.

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Wanting to get some great shots I put on the ultrawide lens, braced myself and jumped into the crowd. Armed with extra protective filters in front of the lens, I could hardly look down the viewfinder because the camera was hit by misguided pillows. I hadn’t anticipated the feathers; I should probably have avoided wearing black, still trying to remove the feathers…

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What better way to have fun on a Saturday?

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If you click on the photos you’ll be taken to the album where you can see more photos from the event.

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Life, Photos | Tagged | Comments (4)

Someone should get their IQ checked out

Monday, December 14, 2009 – 04:02

Yesterday I sat in my study, working with photos and schoolwork when I got a telephone call. Robin gave me a heads up about a demonstration going on in downtown Zürich, he knows that I like new photography challenges. Without a hesitation I grabbed my camera gear and took the first tram towards the city. When I arrived the protest march was just about to start walking. There had been a rally at the Rathaus, but now it was time to make their way to Paradeplatz, the Swiss capital center and the headquarters of many major banks. Located right at Bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping street, it was full of people shopping for Christmas gifts.

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Why the organizers decided that Paradeplatz was the place to be is really beyond me. The protest was all about the situation at the University of Zürich (that means, unrelated to the ETH at which I am enrolled), and now they wanted to show their disgust…with the banks? And if they didn’t lose enough credibility doing that, there was only one banner about the university issue. The rest was all red flags with stars and logotypes of leftist and communist groups. Talk about a failed protest.

Anyway, I’m not taking any side in the demonstration, my mission was to take photos. And there came a great opportunity, because as the march was just about to enter Paradeplatz several police vans raced to the scene and out jumped fully-equipped and armored riot police. Their intent to block the entry to the financial center was made very clear.

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As a photographer it is important to be observant of what is going on around yourself. Where is the action taking place? Which lens and which angle should I use in the current situation? Getting close to the action is crucial to get the best photos, and I made sure to do just that. In the above photo I stood just a few meters behind the police. Two seconds later I was thrust back into the crowd; I guess I stood in their way. It was alright – I already had my winner photo and was satisfied.

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The demonstration was eventually allowed to continue out to Paradeplatz. Here the left-wing demonstrators really got up to speed, and all I could see were communist slogans and waving red flags. The goal of being at Paradeplatz was apparently to block the trams and poke fun at the banks.

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I don’t think any of that contributed to their cause, upsetting hundreds of commuters (Paradeplatz is one of the most important junction points in the tram network) and requiring the above-mentioned large-scale police response. (It should be added that the demonstration looked peaceful, whether that was its nature or if that only was because of the power demonstration of the police remains unclear)

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So this was what I did to lighten up a grey Saturday afternoon. Among the lessons learned was that one needs more than one camera to document this such large events. One with a wide-angle lens, the other with a powerful zoom. Time spend on changing lenses is time lost. But, being an amateur I can only dream of such purchases and keep on rocking with the handy D80 camera I have.
By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Photos | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Zürich International Tram Party

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 – 01:51

November was surprisingly warm, with temperatures above 15 degrees Celsius. That took an end today as the first snow started to fall on Zürich. Not enough to leave a cover of snow here in the city, but I would expect some serious snow in the Alps. The following photo is to demonstrate how the weather does not look right now:

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I am really beginning to feel like home here, as if this is the obvious place to be. I have less and less trouble speaking to my Swiss friends in their native language, and taking the tram everywhere you go seems just as normal as eating and breathing. In fact, they are a good place to party!

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Yes, we spent two hours riding tram no. 4, partying as we went. Since the “blue four” tram is the one everyone here at Meierwiesenstrasse takes to go downtown, it was the place to be! I think we well exceeded our “international student” stereotypes, doing stuff that natives wouldn’t dream of.

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Of course we had to run out at every stop and take a group photo. I don’t think the driver was too happy about it, since we blocked the doors until everybody could get back in again, thus preventing the tram to leave.

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Our fellow passengers seemed a little confused to as what we really were doing, running in and out of the trams shouting and laughing. This made it even more funny. The only thing we really lacked was music, since the guy with the portable speakers wasn’t able to join us.

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Central (above) is where you get off to get to the universities. We made sure to get a good picture.

Oh, yes, I shouldn’t forget posting another photo from last week’s excursion. This was when it was warm outside:

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By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Life, Photos | Comments (9)

58. Rudermatch Uni-Poly

Thursday, November 19, 2009 – 00:19

Like many other places that have competing universities Zürich sports an academic rowing match. Of course, it is the ETH and the University of Zürich that fight for the prize, and takes place on the Limmat river. The ETH and “Uni” are just across the street to each other, and while the relationship seems friendly that is not the fact during this annual event. :)   I and many others from Meierwiesenstrasse went to Münsterbrücke to get a good view of the competition and, most importantly, to cheer for ETH. There were three classes: Men, Women and Professors, but what of course attracted the most attention was the Men’s class.

The competition starts on the Lake of Zürich, enters the Limmat and goes downstream for a few hundred meters, passing under Quaibrücke and Münsterbrücke before crossing the finish line on the way to Rathausbrücke.

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We knew that ETH (in this race always nicknamed “Poly” after its old name of “Polytechnikum”)  wouldn’t have much of a chance, since the Uni had won for the last eighteen years and were supposed to have a superior rowing team this year as well. Because of this, many people became excited to see that Poly had a large lead over the Uni boat already after Quaibrücke in the first race. We cheered for Poly as they crossed the finish line first, defeating a baffled Uni team. One more win and the challenge prize would hang in the ETH for the first time in almost two decades.

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The Poly Women’s team also did very good, beating the Uni with a good margin. The Uni professors were stronger than their Poly counterparts, though. (Note the very nice view over the lake in the above photo, it’s always nice being able to see the Alps rise at the horizon)

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The second round proved decisive. The Uni professors and the Poly girls secured their respective victories. People were now very excited for the men’s last race, and there was a small delay as the crews were preparing the boat. It was difficult to determine the leader from where we stood when they passed under Quaibrücke, but it soon became apparent that “Poly” was on their way of returning home with the prize this year.

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People were shouting from the bridge and cheering “Poly! Poly! Poly” as the white-and-blue team pulled their final strokes over the finish line.

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Happy and inspired by the event we took the tram back to Meierwiesenstrasse for some Saturday studying.

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in English, Photos | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Under the green bridge

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 – 18:29
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This notice sat on the notice board for almost two weeks. I find it pretty cute that someone would actually put a 20-Franc bill on the wall and nobody seemed to care. Honesty pays off! :)

By Jonathan Fors | Comments (2)