Hello!
My name is Alina (though probably you know me since you ended up in this blog). Now I live in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, but recently I’ve spent five years in Lausanne, Switzerland where I’ve been doing a PhD in Computer Science at EPFL.
I love travelling and in this blog I write about my travels and my life in a foreign country. As you have already noticed, I write in Russian. I do not have plans to make my blog bilingual, but I have some good photos which you can probably have a look at to estimate whether you would like to visit this or that place (or to go on this or that hike, in case you live in Switzerland as well).
That’s why I have made this table of contents — all the posts are in Russian, but in case you are interested, you might want to know where to look for what.
Switzerland
- Lausanne (I live here)
- Geneva
- French cantons (Romandie)
- Lavaux vineyards, one and two
- Chillon castle
- Grottes de Vallorbe
- Papiliorama (garden with butterflies) and what to see afterwards
- Cailler chocolate factory
- Durnand gorge
- Museum night
- Neuchatel
- Fribourg
- Romont
- Panoramic trains
- Interlaken region
- Schilthorn (mountains in snow and James Bond)
- Jungfrau
- Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken
- Trummelbach waterfall
- Aare gorge
- Reichenbach waterfall (Holmes and Moriarti)
- Ballenberg museum
- Brienz lake
- Thun
- Ticino (italian canton)
- Zurich
- Sankt-Gallen
- Bern
- Luzern
- Pilatus
- Solothurn
- Dinosaurs’s steps
Swiss life
- Some facts about Switzerland
- Мои впечатления от питерских каникул после 4х лет в Швейцарии
- Some facts about my swiss life (2013)
- About swiss medicine (2013)
- You’ve been in Switzerland for a long time, if… (2013)
- About garbage: differential collection и statistics after one year
- 24/7
- prices in swiss supermarkets 2013
- Leman, the Geneva lake currency
- How I was moving
- How to get swiss driving license
- How I sailed a yacht
- How I learned to taste wine
- An untraditional wedding
- Galette des Rois
- Russian shop in Pully
- How I went to movies in Switzerland
- SurfingDinner
- Hang — a swiss musical instrument
- My first four months in Switzerland
About the university
- How I came to Switzerland
- Phd at EPFL
- PhD at EPFL: how it begins
- The candidacy exam
- Teaching Assistance
- How I was teaching С++
- Exams
- How to become a bachelor student at EPFL
- Open House 2014
- Summer school 2013
- Summer school in Marktoberdorf
- The emails we get from our university
- Domino computer in Lugano
- Street-art at EPFL
- The view from my office window
- Christmas 2013
- What EPFL students eat
- About courses and campus
- Dinner conversations. Greeks and olives
- Dinner conversations. How to sleep under bombs
- Lab BBQ
Hiking
- The starry night and dawn in the Alps
- Lavaux vineyards
- Chesières
- Aletsch glacier
- Quille du diable (Les Diablerettes)
- Zermatt
- Along the river in Geniva
- Lavertezzo (Ticino)
- San Salvatore (Ticino)
- Eiger (Interlaken)
- Grammont (hiking with the lab)
- Trift bridge (Interlaken)
- Along the river Doubs
- Broc-Gruyères (simpler)
- Charmey-Gruyères (more diffcult)
- Nendaz
- Basel-Keiseraugst
- Areuse gorge
- The way of pilgrims: Schwarzenburg-Fribourg
- Aargau
- Creux-du-Van
Italy
- Rome
- Toscana
- Florence
- The Magi Chapel in palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
- Lucca, part 1 and part 2.
- Arezzo, the city and the museums
- San-Gimignano
- Veneto
- Turin: the city and the museums
- Campania
- Naples: the catacombs
- Ercolano
- Pompei
- Emilia-Romagna
- Milan: the opera, the cathedral and the Last Supper, the opera and Mark Shagal
- Orvieto
- Civita di Bagnoregio — abandoned city
- Viterbo, the city and the Papal Palace
France
- Evian
- Chamonix — Montblanc
- Annecy
- Paris
- Lyon
- Dijon, one and two
- Strasbourg in spring
- Colmar: the city and shop signs of Oncle Hansi
- Nancy: the city, art nouveau houses and Musée de l’École de Nancy
- Metz
- Rouen
- Reims
- Loire castles
- Bordeaux
- Toulouse
- Côte d’Azur
- Marseille
- Montpellier
- Avignon
- Arles: the city and corrida
- Nimes
Small countries
- San-Marino
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Vatican: see above, Rome
Other Europe
- Germany
- Spain
- United Kingnom
- The Netherlands
- Portugal
- Greece
- Danemark: Copenhagen, one and two
- Norway: Oslo, the city and Vigeland park of sculptures
- Austria: Vienna
- Hungary: Budapest
- Sweden: Stockholm and Uppsala
Near East
- Turkey, Istanbul
Japan
- My first trip to Asia: table of contents
- Day 1: arrival, ocean, evening in Tokyo
- Day 2: Kasamori Kannon temple, Chiba prefecture
- Day 3: Shibuya and Shinjuku
- Day 4: Ueno and Yanaka
- Day 5: Asakusa and museums
- Day 6: Hakome, Mount Fuji!
- Day 7: Nikko
- Day 8: Kamakura, the great Budda
- Days 9-10: Toryo, moving to Kyoto
- Day 11: Kyoto, Arashiama and torii
- Day 12: Nara
- Day 13: rainy Kyoto — Ginkaku-ji and other temples
- Day 14: Kinkaku-ji, Ninomaru, Sanjusangendo
- Day 15: Tokyo, Odaiba
- Japan: overall impressions and results