I understand why people like Europe so much. My flight landed this morning at 7:45AM and feeling slightly intrepid, began the process of getting my bags and moving out. I took the train to Zurich's downtown (Zurich HB) not knowing what awaited me. Boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise. Zurich is a beautiful city situated between a mountain range and a lake, making for an extremely beautiful natural setting. (I'm still getting an understanding of the history and geography so forgive me for the lack of specificity)

My airbnb won't be ready until later in the day, so I've been strolling around with my one piece of luggage, and funny enough I'm not at all out of place. There are a ton of tourists just like me carrying around pieces of luggage throughout the city. Surprisingly, Zurich is more metropolitan than I would have ever thought. Even then, there is this feeling of "togetherness". I think maybe it's the "collectivist" vibe that I'm getting which allows for everyone to co-exist together. People are more open and receptive to each other.

I also had the good fortune of getting my flight transferred last minute to a direct flight from Toronto to Zurich, which gave me the chance to fly on the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. (Omg, what a beautiful plane!) For all the aviation enthusiasts out there you will already know this, but the 787 is a state of the art plane with amazing interior space, is far more fuel efficient (yay, environmental friendliness) and has an amazing all-digital cockpit (which translates into baby butt smooth landings :D)

I have included some pictures below for you to peruse as per your liking.

Remember: This is only the first afternoon, much more to come very soon!

I'm currently sitting in Toronto's Pearson Airport typing this small reflection piece out, before I embark on my 10 day solo backpack tour through Europe. I couldn’t help but look back at how much has happened in one year and feel excited for what's to come.

I was asked "how I felt" on the train ride over to the airport and it was quite honestly such a mixed bag of feelings. It's the full range from feeling slightly sad all the way to feeling giddy and excited. As this summer comes to a close, it marks a few things;

I've finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto
I will be packing up and moving to a smaller city in Ontario called Waterloo to pursue a new job opportunity
I've had the pleasure of meeting so many new and awesome people this summer who have made it one of the most memorable (yet again)

I am looking forward to what's on the horizon. For the next 10 days, I will be blogging and taking pictures of the cities I will be visiting. I invite you to follow along as I start off in Zurich, make my way to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Berlin, then go west to Amsterdam and finally finish off in London.

If you have any suggestions as to where and what I should check out feel free to send me a message at chinmayamadan@gmail.com!

Zurich…Day 1

Cheers…to a new adventure