[EPFL-Student-Guide] Shopping and Travel Arrangements

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

Shopping and travel- I did the shopping in hyderabad. The following guide can be a useful reference for your shopping. If you are for phd, almost everything can be purchased in swiss, but obviously for cost reasons purchasing in India is preferred.

1. Leather jacket with cap (it should be able to sustain negative temps also). Palem Leathers, Near Central, Punjagutta is the right place for it. The price is above 3k INR. Ask him specifically for one to be used in negative temps. When I bought mine, he said it would sustain up to -20C and i didn't find any problems with it. A very good one in swiss may cost nearly 100chf to 200chf i guess.
2. Thermals- full hands preferred, of course anything might be fine. Last year, I did not get a chance to use them as the temps were not that low. I bought one in Chermas, Chandana Bros in Ameerpet. Even little costly, buy the woolen ones (they are available in Chermas- Ameerpet ONLY- cost around 1k+ for both shirt and pant). Non-woolen ones are much cheaper, but my exp says they are almost useless.
3. Sufficient number of underwear- u get a chance to wash once per week depending on the available slots for the washing machine
4. Jeans, T- shirts, and normal wear, belt
5. Since summers are hot (not like in India for sure!!), all wear shorts and T-shirts. Bring few good quality shorts..they are very expensive (30 to 50chf). !
6. Shoes- sports, leather- Soxes (Buy few woolen ones for sure--u get them in Chermas, Ameerpet). Normal soxes wont suffice for winter.
7. Chappals 1 pair preferred for summer, Slippers too if u can.
8. Blanket (optional if too heavy for luggage..), towels
9. Of course any important clothing stuff that is not mentioned above
10. Get mobile if you have one. Anyway cheap mobiles are really cheaper than india and u can grab one here too. If u bring urs from india, u may find problems with the plugs if it is motorola, Nokia works fine. You can look at wikipedia for the used plug sockets in Swiss. http://www.m-budget-mobile.ch/ should give you an idea.
    
11. I brought my moto fone C168 which has 3 pin charger and making it charged was a nightmare for me!! I spent a 10chf for a socket converter and it was useless. Finally with the help of my administrator, I did something!! When I came to india recently, the first thing i did is to grab my bro's Nokia!! Mobile rates can be found on migros.ch, mobilezone.ch
12. Kitchen items
• pressure cooker MUST for rice or dal (get a prestige 3L one).
  
• Electric rice cooker can be bought here at almost same or even cheaper prices, if u bring from india, u have to bear additional 15 to 40 chf for the converter!!)
• some basic utensils which one needs for cooking (ask ur mom!), spoons must small and big, plates, glasses, some stuff for maing Tea if u r a tea lover (of course u can manage Tea without them also!)
• all basic food items- masalas, chilli power and ....(of course u get all of them in Indian shop here, if u have space in luggage, prefer to bring them)
  
13. Bags- one for laptop (anyway they give one for free if u r a phd!), one for local journeys, one for carrying shopping stuff if u wish
14. A cap, umbrella (MUST)..of course, u can buy them here (10chf each)
15. Get a good quality headphones for listening to music or calling to india (they r around 10- normal junk ones to 30chf)
16. Cold creams, bryl cream (if u r int'd), coconut oil, comb, mirror
17. Get a universal adapter if u can find one there, it is around 40chf here.
18. TT stuff if u luv the game (u can buy here too but the best is available at cheaper prices in india only)
19. Basic tools for repairing bicycles if u want to buy a bicycle here (u may want to of course). U hardly need 2-3 tools to fix the flat tyres, so good idea to bring them from there (including the gum, few tube patches). A basic tool kit costs 15 to 30chf here.

If u remember something more and want to know whether it is needed or not, u can ping me. It gives me a chance to update this article too.

There is a FAQ doc that may be of great help to you. Mail me for the doc.