And the Swiss days go by.

Downhill.

This photo just won me a new, very Swiss, Swatch.

*dramatic pause*

Okay. It’s nothing much really. Just part of this little photography competition organized by the USI international office for the exchange students. Part of the theme was to (obviously) feature something about Lugano that was especially poignant to us.

This was one of the first photos I shot when we got here, and it was taken on this cobblestone street that leads down to the city centre from the train station. Little did I know then how many times we would scale up and down these steps, backpacks and all, early in the morning and dead in the night as we made our trips to and fro Lugano… just to save CHF$1.10 that we didn’t want to spend taking the funicular up/down to and from the station. So we walked.

Anyhow there aren’t many of us exchange students here, and I don’t know how many people even sent in their photos… but well I’m still happy I have a new Swatch.

(My red Casio’s battery died here by the way, I is sad. But at least I still have my Fossil and now this nice spanking red Swatch.)

Nice red Swatch! The buckle reads ‘Swiss Pavilion’. Hm. Shanghai Expo edition?

It’s preeeetty. And I’d forgotten how loud Swatches tick. It’s sitting in my drawer but when the room is quiet enough I can hear it even when my music is playing. (Okay, given it is a very small room. And I am relatively near the drawer.)

I also have new shoes. Okay. Actually, I have a lot of new many things because I shop quite a fair bit. But today we went to warehouse sale of sorts and I got some nice new shoes for pretty cheap. Shoes were something I hadn’t managed to get since coming here even though I got myself all sorts of other new clothes… till now at least.

CHF$19

CHF$25

Yes I bought heels. But they are grey (officially my new favourite fashion color) and they are very pretty.

Shoes in these parts tend to be REALLY expensive… but the quality is pretty awesome. These are the cheap ones so I’m not expecting a lot from them. After all there’s a reason why Camper shoes cost 99 euros and they definitely walk like they’re worth 99 euros.

Okay, 1am here and we’ve school tomorrow. Toodles.

Crumpler Europe.

So online shopping isn’t something you’d want to do very much in Switzerland. (The VAT fees are crazy, don’t get me started.)

But while Crumpler Europe doesn’t have shops in Switzerland, they do have a distributor here. Which means yay, I can buy Crumpler Europe bags.

But after many temptations, I’ve still not purchased one for myself.

HOWEVER, I have made my first Crumpler Europe purchase for a friend of Jason’s back in Singapore. And the bags arrived today in full, yummy, Crumpler glory.

Crumpler Europe Messenger Boy 3000 Limited Stripes (Deep Black)

I bought him the wrong color by accident. He wanted Charcoal. I hope he’ll be fine with this which is actually about 10 times prettier but he wanted a plain design. But it’s so gorgeously designed and the strap is so much softer than the Crumpler we have in Singapore, which means it won’t cause as much friction against your clothes and ruin them faster. And also the strip has a lovely padding. And gosh the design is so much prettier and subtle.

And in case you’re wondering what’s so special about this bag. It’s a CAMERA BAG. Yes. It’s not your regular-joe Crumpler. That baby is padded for your camera body and two extra lenses at least.

Now you know why I’m fluffing over it.

Crumpler Europe Cheesy Toy 15″ Limited Edition

The other bag he wanted, it’s one of those limited edition Crumplers. Lots of compartments! And of course meant for a 15″ Mac in it’s full glory AND still has space for loads of other stuff without looking too chunky.

Limited ed piece!

Okay this was just an entry to fluff about the Crumplers (that are not mine).
I would have been so totally tempted by the camera range if not for the fact that I largely just carry my camera around in normal bags these days.

My Kata looks shamefully fugly next to these Crumpler beauties.
Though actually I have managed to acquire for myself a new bag too since I’ve got here. (We’ve been shopping a LOT this month.)

It’s from H&M Men. But I really like it and it’s a really ‘me’ sort of bag. And it’s next to my new scarf and my new zip hoodie (and my slightly mangled bible).

Okay. Back to doing powerpoint slides for our presentation next week. We have school every day next week! (Payback for not having any school this week)

Ciao!