So, my mom came to visit me last week. I was very glad to see her, although it was not very simple between us. Since I live in a studio, there is no place there for 2 persons (in my opinion) and I deeply need some personal space for at least 20 min per day. I slept on the floor, in the sleeping-bag, which by the third night was already ok. But I found it quite difficult to be criticized all over when you sleep 6 hours and try to work every free second. According to her, I don't clean enough, don't dress as a girl and don't date. Well, that might be true in some sense but it all can be explained by EPFL :)))). Once we figured that out (and to do that, I had a quick beer at Sat on Friday night) we got along quite good. She even admitted that she was impressed by the job I've done during last year and told me she should have come here to support me in the very beginning. Well, I guess we never grow up for our parents. And when we get independent it gets sometimes even harder for them. But we love each other and this is the most important.


I gave her one of my T-shirts Alinghi bought on sale last week. She loved it but said: "Last year, before leaving for Switzerland you told me that you are not gonna wear only jeans and T-shirts!". LOL.

oh, those russians

I was sleeping (almost) as a baby today at 9a.m. when my friend called my cell. She was in Frankfurt, heading to Philadelphia to pass a very important exam. I haven't heard her for a long time since her internet connection is very bad to use skype, we usually googletalk. So, her first phrase was: "I'm in Frankfurt and everybody is staring at me and I don't know why". It didn't take me a lot of time to figure out why - she was wearing a skirt! (and high heels of course, she does not have other shoes). LOL. I can understand her surprise, she hasn't been abroad for a while, especially in Germany. But we did have a very nice conversation (with her company paying for her expenses) and I can hardly wait for her feedback from US - we both were there 5 years ago. And with her constant business-looking it's gonna be so much fun :)

Bon, j'avoue...

I'm a geek... and not afraid to admit it. Already in the 7th grade of the school I was discussing computer games instead of knitting (or whatever). I may spend sometimes my precious pauses in Sat talking about parameter integration and I argue about MATLAB code during lunch with my friends from computer science. And there is nothing wrong about that, we are not nerds who have no other interest in life, we simply like it))). That's why we're from EPFL and not UNIL. And that's why working at Poseidon rocks :)))).

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

Somehow reading the Krem's blog about food and poetry made me think about one of few poems in English that I know by heart.I always think about the "Four Weddings and A Funeral" (God, at first I wrote Four Funerals and a Wedding:))) which we were watching with our high school English prof Cherloglazov, he was fond of british movies, he even made us learn by heart little piece of Romeo and Juliet with british accent which we hated.But I like that piece. It's touching. And since I'm sick, I'm suddenly very emotional))).

Well, no posts from Russia, maybe some other day... But being back to Switzerland has suddenly become an unpleasant surprise for me. Not taking into account the usual absence of information concerning the "renouvellement du permis" thing, I found out (after I finally took the necessary paper to the police office which took me 2 times) that my new permis will be valid exactly till the end of my Master's project. Not a single day after. And, by the way, due to some delay in Lausanne (je pense que les gents qui travaillent au contrôle des habitants ont bien profité de ses vacances d'été) I have to wait for the new permis a couple of MONTHS! Not weeks, like last year. People, do you get what it means for me, a Russian citizen? I am not a US, or EU citizen who can go to Spain for the weekend or to Oktoberfest simply because they want it. I am stuck here, I cannot even go to freaking France officially, because I need to apply for Schengen visa before. Not to mention that the simple idea of being in the center of Europe and not being able to travel just a bit really sucks. And my planned visit to France to my brother had to be cancelled. And even if I get a new permis earlier, for the visa I have to take an appointment at Geneva french consulate for which one has to wait 1 month approx., by which time there will be no (cheap) tickets. So I am stuck here, while all the people around planning their weekends. I am not even sure whether I can plan the Xmas holidays although it's 3 months from now. But this is just one part of my funny story.

The other consists in future graduation. I got an internship in Geneva for 3 months. I wanted to do it this fall, postponing the master's project. But according to the rules of EPFL (which I don't get at all), one can not take a pause right before the Master's project (after having completed all the credits). So I had to postpone my internship till the february which was not simple by the way. But now I am in the situation that I won't have any permis for the internship. I wrote to the responsible person, they will help me. But the idea itself is completely stupid - how come I don't get at least one month after the graduation to look for a job or just decide what to do next. They expect us to pack the luggage the day of defense and leave the next day. I wonder if they understand what it takes to do that? Not only foreign students (EU including) do not get any help from EPFL when arriving concerning the accomodation, integration etc, EPFL kicks us out right away after the the Master's project. OK, the latter does not concerne the EU/Canada/USA/etc citizens, they can stay here as tourists. Nathan, for example, does not even know the date of expiration of his permis because he never uses it, he just enters Switzerland every time with his american passport. And I have wait, pay every time for all the visas (I don't know whether starting from 2008 we will be able to enter EU countries with swiss permis only). By the way, did I mention that my russian friend who have a french and german student permis can enter switzerland without a swiss visa? Isn't it ridiculous since Switzerland is the country for which it's much more difficult to get a visa. Doesn't the fact that I have (so far, helas) a swiss permis signify that I satisfy the conditions to be able to enter Germany, France or whatever EU country???

The more I think about it, the more I get annoyed by this situation. I am not an immigrant living on the social money, I don't think that I ask a lot. Since I've been studying in this country at the higher education institution for some time AND paying the taxes, I simply ask for some respect. Why being a Russian leaves me no chance in finding a job or maybe taking a week off after a semester of a hard work ion my diploma? I am not sure what to do after - to look for a job or to do a PHD but I know for sure that I don't want to make a decision based on the necessity to get a permis asap. If I even can look for a job... since most of announcements in switzerland specify the necessity of work permis for the applicant. All this makes impossible for me even to apply. It is ridiculous and crazy. And, frankly speaking, leaves me no intention to stay here. Well, UDC will be for sure happy, one foreigner less.

Last 10 days were very weird and intensive: coming back from Turkey, going to Germany, returning to Lausanne for less than 48 hours and tonight I'm heading to Zürich Flughafen to spend a night there.5 hours in the train on thursday, 6 hours in the train yesterday (Lausanne-Zürich-Lausanne) and another 3 hours in the train await me today. Can't say I can't wait for that:). Have no mood to go to Russia, one of my best friends is in Moscow right now and I won't be seeing her much. My parents will stay there only till 4th, so alone again for my birthday. Not that I would care much about that. Instead of celebrating I intend to go for a weekend on the yoga-seminar of Faeq Biria, the head guru from Paris. That will be amazing but I have to work a lot before that to regain a bit the necessary physical condition. I really hope that I will manage to bring my cat to Lausanne, that will also require a lot of struggling with authorities))).I've looked up the weather forecasts for St.Petersburg... well... as usual.))) Maybe they won't work as the ones in Switzerland? :)Humm, I am just tired, I guess. And far away from the place where I really want to be and am going even further. But it's interesting to visit Russia after 8 months non-stop here. I'm gonna miss the montains, although. And fresh water and air as well.The person I've met recently made me realise how much opportunities we have around us, for self-cultivating and experiencing the life. I almost forgot about that because the amount of work I had during past year. But this is not an excuse. I just hope to meet him someday (somewhere).Impressions from Russia coming...

I decided to create another blog, in addition to my russian one. For multiple reasons. Sometimes I just don't feel like expressing all I'm about to only in russian. So the writing languages here will be english, french and german, depending on the occasion and on the mood.