I have spent over half of my stay in Zurich and I have some thoughts to share.

People at this office already remember my face and I am one of them. This is a little bit problematic because I can't follow their swiss German too well. That doesn't keep me from attending coffee breaks and trying to understand them. However, I comment and ask in English and sometimes discussion turns to English for a while. I see here two ways. Either learn the language or try to change the language to English. Sometimes people talk me in a simple high German and I am able to have some chat which is pretty nice.

The project I have been working on is not the nicest one. But unfortunately everybody thinks it is somehow horrible. The difference is how people show it. Some are okay with that it is somewhat awkward but they are working without complaining. Then other might complain every day several times about the customer, tools and project. The fact is that we cannot change it too much. But individuals attitude makes big difference. I have had zero motivation days even though I have been involved only a little bit over one month. Both good and bad mood are spreading to your team mates even though you are not thinking about it. That is something I should be more aware.

This has been also a test for myself how well I can work individually. My supervisor and coach had a holiday of two weeks and he comes back on Monday. During that time I avoided asking help without putting some effort solving problem myself. I have to say that kicking your own lazy butt forward is not easy sometimes. I think that it is essential to be able to see the problem from several aspects. Otherwise you will be stuck so easily and you will end up staring the screen forever without any progress. It is also very easy to get distracted from your "productive state". Noise, thinking girlfriend, checking some news, reading email etc. It takes serious effort to get back to that mental state and it is so easy to drop out from it.

I am not going to give a grade to myself here. It has been valuable experience, I have churned out some working code and I have met a lot of interesting people. And I think I have learned something about myself.