Field Notes blogs are dispatches from U of C researchers conducting field work around the world. They provide a personal, "behind-the-scenes" look at the fascinating, fun and sometimes frustrating aspects of doing research.
It seemed like a day ago I
was celebrating my birthday in Zurich, and now we have since travelled
through Germany and moved on to our second city in the Netherlands. It
was a three hour bus ride from Rotterdam to Groningen, the biking
capital of the world I believe...at least of Europe for sure.
We finished our tour of the famously-green Vauban and
there were mixed reviews for both that neighborhood as well as the newly developed
Rieselfeld. Personally, I was comparing the two communities to suburbs in
Calgary (which aren’t the best examples of urban sustainable development.
A week has
passed on our field school and finally we have made it to the famous city of Freiburg, Germany. One thing I have noticed with Germany
is how much easier it is to find internet cafes compared to Switzerland. It
is also a lot cheaper, even after considering the conversion from Euro to
Canadian, to find cheap food!
It seems, so far, that our trip to Zurich has gone off without a
hitch.
Flights were on time, everyone got here in one piece and no
luggage was lost (thank God). The weather here has been surprisingly
beautiful, and our group has had a chance to get over our jet
lag and explore the inner city of Zurich.
