Alright, so this week’s post is going to be a bit different – and yes I’m really trying to turn this into a weekly thing.
I will go further back in time to my first travel adventure out of Romania. Well, at least the first non-family related one. This all happened in 2008, during my second year at University. I know, feels like a lifetime ago… So one of my friends and classmates shows up one day talking about a summer camp he found out about. An opportunity for geologist students to go camping in Switzerland, relatively cheaply.
The organization doing this was called EUGEN. Which is a fairly common Romanian name and also happened to be the name of my uncle’s neighbor. Oh but it’s not that Eugen, it’s actually the European Geoscientists Students Network. I guess they left the S out of the acronym because EUGESN doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely as EUGEN.
What is EUGEN about?
Back then I didn’t know anything about them, but as I would find out, they are a German-based organization that had been doing yearly summer camps for geologists and geology enthusiasts for a few years. Each year participants would hold a voting session where they would decide what country would host the next year’s EUGEN event. The whole thing would be fairly cheap and even cheaper for students living in the poorer eastern European countries. The event would last a week during which there would be various field trips one could choose from, social events, lectures and a cultural trip. Oh and a lot, and I mean A LOT of alcohol. All in all it’s an absolute blast of a week. A chance to visit another country, meet new people, make a bunch of friends and have a great time. The best part is that EUGEN continues to date! So what are you waiting for geologically inclined reader? Go! Fly off to Slovenia for a great time this summer!
Alright, so I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but I’m always happy to do some PR for these guys. Shout out to all my EUGEN readers out there!
Back to 2008 and when I first heard about them. This was back when I was piss-poor, so any cost was a high cost for me. Regardless, the opportunity was incredible and my parents were happy to sponsor my trip.
Off we go
It was some time during August, as it usually is, when the event was hosted. We had a fairly large group of Romanians attending that year. Most of which were university classmates of mine. I remember the logistics of getting to the location were quite tricky. Mostly because none of us had cars to drive. There were no easy flights either, so the only option we had really were trains. I think we had to change 4, or 5 different trains in total. I believe it was over a day’s worth of train travel.
The first train was from Alba Iulia, Romania to Vienna, Austria. The second one would cross Austria and take us to around Innsbruck, where I think we had to change to another train that would cross over the Swiss border. Then I know for sure there was at least one, if not two more train changes within Switzerland. This was mostly because the event location was near a tiny little village that nobody outside Switzerland has heard of called Domat/Ems. The village is close to a bigger town that nobody outside Switzerland has heard of called Chur. Chur is actually pronounced Coor, or Cur, like ass in Romanian. Sorry, I just had say that – Gaudenz, I hope you’re reading buddy!
The experience
Now, I won’t go into day by day details of my excursion to Switzerland. Primarily because it’s been such a long time that I can only recall bits and pieces of it. However, I will reserve my next post to go over some of the wonderful places we saw during our field trips.
As for here, I would just like to state that it was a fantastic experience. Not just for myself, but for all of us from Romania that went to EUGEN 2008. The amazing field trips, the great people we met, the evening parties, the incredible food! Oh God, the Italian food night when everyone had like 3 portions and then the toilets couldn’t handle it anymore… The Italians serenading the chefs with live music… What a night! I remain extremely grateful for the organizing team and EUGEN for the opportunity.
Switzerland was/is such a radically different country then Romania that it’s like night and day. A real eye opener to how nice and civilized a country can be. Well, kind of like Norway for those who have read my Norway series. For those who haven’t, well what are you waiting for? It’s right here!
Starting to feel like this post is one big advertisement, eh? Well, you bet your Chur it is!
Hope you’ll stick around for my next post about our Swiss EUGEN adventure! Until then, I bid you farewell.
Odyssian
An adventurous soul in a never ending quest to find home.
