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
After reaching swiss- This is very very important. Some of the suggestions may save u lot of money! Zurich is the favored destination if you are coming from hyd, because most airlines run flights to Zurich and not to Geneva. Of course Geneva is the closest airport to Lausanne. If you want to know about fares- Zurich to Lausanne is 2 and half hours in train and costs 35chf, Geneva to Lausanne costs 12chf and 30mins journey). This price info may be useful to decide whether u wish to fly to Zurich or Geneva. I assume that u fly to Zurich. You follow your co-passengers!! and a train comes to pick you to another building where your immigration check is done and your luggage can be picked. Follow the same gang and you will come out of the airport. Cross the road and continue to the adjacent building where a big shopping complex is situated. The train counter is in 1 floor downstairs and the platform is still one more down. BUY HALF FARE CARD HERE ITSELF WHICH SAVES MORE THAN 30chf RIGHT AWAY. Half fare card costs 150chf per year and if you are a PhD student, you will be reimbursed (epfl issues a new card and u have to surrender the old card to get the money back). Even if u r not a phd, haf fare card is a must, i feel. It gives 50 percent discount on all ur journeys in swiss. You need a photograph to take the card. They issue a temporary card and you have to give your residential address to get the permanent card which is shipped in next 2 weeks. If u do not have any address, you can ask them whether u can give ur friend's address and if yes, give my address!! Mail me for my current address. Buy ticket to Lausanne (if u don't know the pronunciation, give them the spelling!!, because there is another Luzern which sounds almost the same!!). If you want to convey your parents about your safe arrival, you can do so using one of the Swisscom booths around you. You need to have a telephone card to do that. I dont know where you can buy them in Zurich. If you want it for sure, mail me so that i can buy one in Lausanne and mail you the PIN and number. It costs 10chf. Risk:- you have to trust me that i didnt use that PIN for myself!! and i have to trust you that you pay me the 10chf once you are in Lausanne!!! Now relax peacefully in the train to Lausanne and enjoy two hours of breath taking sceneries!! Bad luck if you come in night or you are too tired and want to sleep! If you are a first time international traveler, i suggest you to pack some food from India which may help you if you are too hungry. Once you arrive in Lausanne, it will be easy to reach your residence if you already did little home work. Try to locate your place on map.search.ch and find out the nearest bus to your place. You have to somehow reach the nearest bus stop of that bus from Lausanne-CFF. Mostly one of the buses from CFF will have a common stop with your required bus. You can mail me for exact map and buses you may need to take. You can also depend on me for any help you might need to take the luggage to your room.
Probably the very next thing you have to do is get a metro pass for local travel in Lausanne, you need it for daily commute to epfl. You can get it for 58chf per month (580chf per year if you pay at once, initially go for one month only as you may later want to use bicycle for your daily commute). The official counters are there in epfl (epfl-SBB office) and one in Place Chaudreon. I guess you can take it in Lausanne CFF itself (where you got down the train from Zurich).
Once you are in epfl, finish off all admin stuff (take laptop!! find ur office room, meet other fans, get epfl student card, .....). With in 1 week, you should register yourself with the commune for the work permit. We can discuss about it once you are here. Ping me for any info you may want.
After reaching swiss- This is very very important. Some of the suggestions may save u lot of money! Zurich is the favored destination if you are coming from hyd, because most airlines run flights to Zurich and not to Geneva. Of course Geneva is the closest airport to Lausanne. If you want to know about fares- Zurich to Lausanne is 2 and half hours in train and costs 35chf, Geneva to Lausanne costs 12chf and 30mins journey). This price info may be useful to decide whether u wish to fly to Zurich or Geneva. I assume that u fly to Zurich. You follow your co-passengers!! and a train comes to pick you to another building where your immigration check is done and your luggage can be picked. Follow the same gang and you will come out of the airport. Cross the road and continue to the adjacent building where a big shopping complex is situated. The train counter is in 1 floor downstairs and the platform is still one more down. BUY HALF FARE CARD HERE ITSELF WHICH SAVES MORE THAN 30chf RIGHT AWAY. Half fare card costs 150chf per year and if you are a PhD student, you will be reimbursed (epfl issues a new card and u have to surrender the old card to get the money back). Even if u r not a phd, haf fare card is a must, i feel. It gives 50 percent discount on all ur journeys in swiss. You need a photograph to take the card. They issue a temporary card and you have to give your residential address to get the permanent card which is shipped in next 2 weeks. If u do not have any address, you can ask them whether u can give ur friend's address and if yes, give my address!! Mail me for my current address. Buy ticket to Lausanne (if u don't know the pronunciation, give them the spelling!!, because there is another Luzern which sounds almost the same!!). If you want to convey your parents about your safe arrival, you can do so using one of the Swisscom booths around you. You need to have a telephone card to do that. I dont know where you can buy them in Zurich. If you want it for sure, mail me so that i can buy one in Lausanne and mail you the PIN and number. It costs 10chf. Risk:- you have to trust me that i didnt use that PIN for myself!! and i have to trust you that you pay me the 10chf once you are in Lausanne!!! Now relax peacefully in the train to Lausanne and enjoy two hours of breath taking sceneries!! Bad luck if you come in night or you are too tired and want to sleep! If you are a first time international traveler, i suggest you to pack some food from India which may help you if you are too hungry. Once you arrive in Lausanne, it will be easy to reach your residence if you already did little home work. Try to locate your place on map.search.ch and find out the nearest bus to your place. You have to somehow reach the nearest bus stop of that bus from Lausanne-CFF. Mostly one of the buses from CFF will have a common stop with your required bus. You can mail me for exact map and buses you may need to take. You can also depend on me for any help you might need to take the luggage to your room.
Probably the very next thing you have to do is get a metro pass for local travel in Lausanne, you need it for daily commute to epfl. You can get it for 58chf per month (580chf per year if you pay at once, initially go for one month only as you may later want to use bicycle for your daily commute). The official counters are there in epfl (epfl-SBB office) and one in Place Chaudreon. I guess you can take it in Lausanne CFF itself (where you got down the train from Zurich).
Once you are in epfl, finish off all admin stuff (take laptop!! find ur office room, meet other fans, get epfl student card, .....). With in 1 week, you should register yourself with the commune for the work permit. We can discuss about it once you are here. Ping me for any info you may want.
1 comment:
hey wat do u mean by " take laptop !! " Do u mean EPFL gives u a free lappy or are u asking us to take a laptop to the office so dat it helps in the admin stuff..
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