Melissa's first day at work

This is Melissa speaking, since Eric didn't want to take dictation about my first day of work at EAWAG.

It was a good day, and I'm very tired. The people are extremely friendly, which was surprising to me since everybody told me that the Swiss are reserved.  My new bosses Johny and Michi (short for Michael) are so effusive that they could be Italian if they had different accents; they are great.  Johny is actually Dr. Alfred Wuest, a world-class scientist and physicist in the area of surface water bodies.  Michi is the technician for his research group, which means he is brilliant and knows how to use/fix just about any equipment used for water research. 

I met many, many people today with all sorts of accents (including American), and it will be a challenge tomorrow to remember names.  I've only been here 1 day and I'm already a member of a biking team for the national Swiss Bike to Work Day event, and of a "cooking group" - 5 people who take turns cooking lunch for the other 4, which will be interesting since the grocery stores most decidedly do NOT have English subtitles on anything.  Any easy suggestions for stovetop cooking for 5?

Everybody kept apologizing for my desk being in the library, but it's awesome - my desk is enormous, I have a computer and a friendly IT guy next door, and a huge window overlooking a vineyard.  Really.  Across the road is the lake and a beach, where apparently everyone goes swimming (!) in the summer over their lunch breaks.  Also, there is an espresso machine in the cafeteria.  Life is good, even if I do still feel very self-conscious about communicating with people and plunging into large groups of strangers. 

Everybody technically speaks English, but it's still not super easy most of the time - Switzerland has 3 languages (German, French, & Italian) and none of them is English, so conversation is still stilted with most people.  Actually, though, the least friendly people I met today were two Americans, so I'll work on getting better at understanding people's accents & idioms.

I don't have any pictures yet, other than the one they took of me and e-mailed to EVERYBODY in a Welcome to EAWAG, Melissa! message.  These people are hardcore about welcoming.

I feel a little underwater as far as my research - I have a lot to learn, fast.  But I also have a regulated schedule and nice environment to read papers.  Johny kept telling me today to ask people questions, but I don't even know what questions to ask yet.  I suppose I'll get there - Johny gave me two textbooks and about 10 papers today to read, so my work is cut out for me.  The resources this institute has at its disposal are awesome, so I need to take as much advantage as I can of their excellent libraries and abundant experimental equipment.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the bike ride to/from work.  It's seriously breathtaking, along the shore of Lake Lucerne the whole way with Mt. Pilatus on the other side.  I'll post pictures sometime soon, I promise.  OK goodnight, I am tired - post your questions about anything you want to see/hear about.