What have I done in 2 months in Switzerland? A lot. Part 2

After the first few weeks of getting settled in, I started my PhD (is it work, or student life, I don't know it's in the middle) at EPFL in the IMAC group (applied computing and mechanics). I got to finally see the tensegrity bridge that I'll be doing experiments on for my work (tensegrity is a structure make up of sticks and cables that can support itself). For my individual project, I'm taking over for a PhD and there's also currently a post doc on the project, but in terms of the lab group, we're about 10 ish people, a nice size. I got to meet many of them the night before I started at a dinner party at Gaudenz's place, which certainly helped to break the ice (though the timing was completely happenstance).

At this point I had been searching for an apartment and emailing people basically since I arrived, and I had a meet up with another Quebequoise to meet and see if we'd work well together. Things went great and I got to see the flat (and its resident kitty), and from then on it was a done deal. From from Montréal but living in Lausanne for the past 10 years, she was knowledgeable about local things, but still had lots of things from back home (accent included :D). A few days before I officially moved in, there was a whisky tasting event in Lausanne and I decided I had to be there. Having a fun time tasting and talking to people, I run into Julie, my to-be flatmate. So we thought ya, this is definitely going to work out :).

Bern had their monthly DJed balboa night, Balberna, to which Cedric and Nadja joined as well. We made it a dance weekend by also checking out Zürich's dancing on the Saturday night. During the day on Saturday, Nadja took us around to show up Bern (including the bears, the icon of Bern) and they were nice and fuzzy.

The next weekend was the next monthly lindy event in Bern, but reason told me to skip it because I had the Lausanne 1/2 Marathon the next morning. Surprisingly it started at 2pm, so a really laidback schedule. I had been training with Gaudenz, Romain, Stephanie, and Yves at lunches (though the 15 km after work were always poorly timed for trying to do errands after work :P). It was a gorgeous day for running (if I was going to be picky I would say it was a tad warm) but I really enjoyed it, the view, and the energy. Finished in 1:50:44.

I believe it was the weekend after where soupaggedon started (what Gilad, Glen, and I called it) when cooler temperatures prompt for preserves of soup, chilli, jambalaya, and other such things. Potato leek, ginger carrot, onion soup, and jambalaya mmmm (oh yes and a few rounds of hummus).

Writing this weekend because for the past 2 weekends I haven't even been in Lausanne. 2 weekends ago I was in Grenoble with Mathieu and Florence for the Grenoble Swing Dance Festival, a huge lindy hop event that I had no idea about (and they registered back in July). I tried finding a space in the lessons, but failing that, I explored Grenoble (went up to the Bastille via les bulles gondola) during the day, and went to the parties at night. I have to admit it's been a while since my last huge lindy hop event, it reminded me that I've been mainly doing balboa and that there are some things I'd like to go back and revisit. But I had excellent dances with wonderful people from all over France, Switzerland, Spain, and Poland.

The next weekend was Rocky Balberna with Javier and Heather from the states. Nadja was (again) the best hostess we could ever hope for and fed us until we were (too?) full. The classes were fun with focus on both partners (thinking about this especially after Bobby's article about the proactive follower on Swungover). I was super impressed with the mean level of balboa at the events, and that's only from Switzerland! The band on Saturday night was super cute and played a great variety of all danceable songs. I have to say, the Sunday afternoon was one of favourite parts because the coffee shop in downtown Bern was open just for us to eat/drink/dance. It was really nice and cozy, very fika.

Photo credit: Balboa in Bern

As for what's up next? Well this week was continuing to write/finishing my draft literature review for my comp that'll be sometime in June? This week is a trad jazz night where I'm teaching a balboa crash course to allow people a way to dance to that flying fast music (the Lausanne swing scene is most comfortable in the 120 bpm to 150 bpm range). So far the musicians have really enjoyed having the dancers there (this'll be the 3rd event where the dancers show up). I'm off to Zürich next weekend for balboa and actually visiting the city in the daytime. 

December 2nd is the Lausanne Swing Kids (university swing group)'s first party. Intended to get 1) people out dancing and 2) support for the university to allow us to be an official club, we're hosting it at Tech a Break, an independent establishment on EPFL campus who has been super welcoming and accommodating for us. Teaching and DJing, it'll be great! Ah yes, and all of our events can be for the city-wide scene, unlike the troubles we had with the University of Waterloo Campus Rec rules. Speaking of the club, I just got done the logo this week (hand drawn and digitized). Needs work still, but it's a work in progress.

There's a trad jazz festival Dec 10 - 13 in Flon (downtown Lausanne), which I should start making more noise about. After that, it's the IMAC Christmas dinner and then home to Canada. I'll be around from the 19th to the 26th and then I'm off to the Snowball in Stockholm for a week :D

As for future dance plans? There's definitely bal in the future, dancers coming to visit (yay!), and seeing where the Lausanne Swing Kids takes us next term.


tl;dr I haven't been deported yet and have assimilated myself into their culture enough to have been provided shelter and work.

My first half marathon

Halfway through the summer I decided I was running long enough and frequently enough (3 times a week at 8-10km each?) that a half marathon would be totally feasible this season. So! I signed up for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon on October 20th. 21.1 km, I was going to run all those kilometres.

Admittedly, due to my schedule in the two months prior to the race, I started to get a little nervous about if I'd get enough practice time. There had already been one trip out to Montreal in September and another planned for right after the race to Brossard to do instrumentation on the Daigneault Creek Bridge. The TA position had lots of lab marking to do and I was to try and polish/practice my presentation for the INALCO aluminium conference that was the day after the race. I figured out that the schedule would be tight after I signed up for the race since the date triggered something in my mind; six months ago I waved it off figuring I'd just come up with a solution, which I did, where I just had to sacrifice sleep. I was able to increase my confidence on my running when I completed a 17 km run the Saturday before the race and it felt good.

Unfortunately for out-of-towners, race packet pick-up could not be done the day of the race since there were 25,000 people signed up for the event (8,000 marathoners, 10,000 half-marathoners, 7,000 5 km runners). My dad was awesome and drove me out to Toronto on Friday night for the racing bib and then again on Sunday morning for the race. Having only the option to leave Waterloo around 5pm, I'd say we got a medium level of rush hour traffic, so we still got there before the event closed. The runner's expo was held around the CNE buildings where there were booths for sports fuel, drinks, clothes, magazines, and charities; it was huge. At this point I changed my corral colour from the 1:50 - 2:00 pace group to the 2:00 - 2:09 since my pacing was pretty slow on my longer Saturday run. I was also starting to get pretty darn nervous.

Saturday was a quiet day where I had to pack for my conference, field work, and CCX swing exchange in Montreal for the entirety of the next week. Luckily, I could give Pampa and Patrick a bunch of the supplies and clothes I needed for the field work so I didn't have to pack them in my carry on. This was also a day where I was careful what I ate because I didn't want to have to make pitstops that can be so easy while running past the university. I went to bed early-ish, it wasn't a super exciting day but I needed to relax. The biggest event of the day was that I found Hello Kitty ductape at Rona on sale.

Sunday was race day! I woke up at 5:30am in order to get picked up at 6:00 am and Tim a few minutes later. I slept vicariously through him because he sleeps so wonderfully in moving vehicles when he's a passenger. Approaching Toronto was when reality started to hit; I saw road closure signs, officials on Lakeshore Blvd setting up barriers, and people walking down Queen St. in colourful runners and leggings. Oh yes, and it was also something like 2°C in the morning so I brought everything from t-shirt to my winter running jacket. At the starting line, music was blaring, crowds were warming up and stretching, it was such high and positive energy. Keeping my coat and pants on as long as possible, Tim and my parents keep me distracted until the first group left. As the national anthem was being played, I was stepping side to side to keep moving and warm, and I reminded myself of nearly every hockey player in the NHL. Councillor Doug Ford sounded the horn for each corral, people clapped, and the guy next to me cheekily said if we're allowed to boo. I asked if him and his brother are running as well. As the horn sounded for my group, we walked forward for some time until we approached the starting gate.

My run felt light and easy, which was welcomed; starting off the race well. Figuring I wouldn't push it just yet, I kept that pace, but then I realized the 2:00 half-marathon pace bunny that was well ahead of me at the start was now at my side. Needless to say, that was a comforting thought. The race started at Nathan Philips Square, up University, west on Bloor, south on Bathurst, out west on Lakeshore to High Park area, back on Lakeshore up to Bay and back to City Hall. The full marathon extended on the other side out towards the beaches which my starting line neighbour told me is a nice section of the race.

A few things I noticed; there were way more onlookers and supporters than I ever imagined, being in a huge running group was a new and awesome feeling, and the 13 km mark was the biggest slog for myself and everyone else who I asked ran the half marathon. People with posters had everything from "Go random stranger" to "You're running better than the government". As for that 13 km mark, I wouldn't say I struggled, I just felt less peppy; it was out at the extreme end of the Lakeshore section, so either the fact that you're the farthest from the finish line or the grade, it just wasn't the happiest for people. Past the half way mark, I was starting to look forward to seeing the kilometre marker signs, not that I was ailing, but more like a mental count down. As for normally singing songs in my head, I had less of that because there were so many new stimuli that I was just watching. I did actually start practicing my conference talk around the 13 km mark, maybe that's why it wasn't as easy! Towards the end I was singing Nyan Cat to the beat of my cadence. I developed a good technique for drinking those water/Gatorade cups by 1) making a mess of myself the first time (which I only took advantage of around the 10 km mark) 2) stealing the idea from a guy ahead of me. Pinching the cup to make a V-shape funnel makes for a more effective drinking. Now you know.

People had made a big deal about the hill at the end of the race up from Lakeshore to City Hall on the race site forums, but it really wasn't bad if you're used to Waterloo. I'd say it was equivalent to heading north on King from University to Columbia. Having the last kilometre marked out every 100 m, I began sprinting at 300 m so that I know I ended strong. I was pretty darn happy. Took me a while to find my parents and Tim again because apparently a full marathoner came at about the same time as I did and everyone was going nuts because he broke the record. That's great and all but I broke my own record, 1:56:15, so...there. :P I got lots of hugs once I did find my awesome cheering squad, which was the best feeling of the day :)