Page 31 - Luce 2023

S tudent Voice

An Exciting Swiss Exchange

Experience

It was the end of the European summer when I arrived
in Zürich for my semester exchange at Eidgenössische
Technische Hochschule, aka ETH. Here is a snapshot of my
experience living and studying in Switzerland.

Life in general
In Switzerland, multilingualism is the default. People generally
converse in Swiss German (which is difficult to understand
even for Germans), read and write in High German, and learn
French and English in school. Once, I had to politely interrupt
someone mid-sentence when they started speaking to me in a
mixture of Mandarin, English and German!

Swiss people love their cheese fondues and raclettes. To be
fair, the irresistible deliciousness of melted cheese cannot be
overstated. Despite the abundance of cheeses and chocolates
here, I missed Melbourne’s huge variety of affordable
restaurants and cafes. Dining out in Zürich was also expensive
– eating at a restaurant would cost on average 25-30 Francs
($40-50)! Wendy, surrounded by artistic inspiration

On the weekends, trains take carriages full of hikers and skiers I was in Architecture Studio Meteora, a studio about Artificial
out from the city towards forests and mountains – nature Intelligence and Architecture. Using AI search tools, we
seems to be embedded in the Swiss blood. In the city of wrote text, collated images, and designed architecture that
Zürich, there are even forested mountains where one can reflects today’s world of technology and information. Studio
hike, picnic, and forage for delicious wild mushrooms. was scheduled over two consecutive days each week (14
hours), compared to two 3-hour sessions at Melbourne
University Life University. We were able to have much longer feedback and
The ETH architecture student’s life is spent on Hönggerberg, discussion sessions with the tutors, and really get to know
a small mountain where the architecture and physics faculties one another. Sometimes we engaged in rigorous architectural
are situated. Students, professors, and even the general public conversations; sometimes we joked about engaging in
here are actively engaged in contemporary architectural, rigorous architectural conversations; most of the time we just
environmental, and political discourse. Furthermore, there are told stories. I found the studio extremely thought-provoking in
always lectures, talks, book launches, and exhibitions being terms of its theories and perspectives relating to contemporary
held every week. It reminded me of the whiteboard calendar architectural theory. The process of writing, collating, and
at JCH that is packed with exciting sporting, artistic, and designing using AI was, surprisingly, liberating. Feel free to
cultural events. check out my group project ‘Fabulous Fungal Fermenting
Foundation’ as well as those of my peers on the studio
Wendy, skiing with friends in Switzerland website: https://www.meteora.ch/.

Apart from Studio, through numerous seminars and
workshops we covered an amazing range of topics: mixed
reality, compression, and encryption of information; we
analysed and designed bridge structures in terms of graphic
statics; we examined key 18th century texts that discuss the
phenomenon of architectural ‘caractère’; programmed a
robotic arm to deposit sand according to musical frequencies
and experimented with rammed earth construction.

All in all, during my semester abroad there was such an
overwhelming number of people I met, buildings I saw,
hikes I completed, and train delays I endured that it is simply
impossible to recount them all. In summary, I would say
that this Swiss exchange was one of the most fulfilling and
formative experiences I have had, and I am excited for more
adventures to come.

Wendy Lin (2019)
Bachelor of Design (Architecture) and Diploma of Computing
at the University of Melbourne

J anet Clarke Hall 31