Studying @ETH: The Dopamine Detox

Hello everyone,

at the beginning of the semester, around a month ago, I wrote down my impressions from transfer to ETH Zurich. Since then, I have gathered more observations about the student life here, so I thought it is time to jot them down once again. I have finally washed off the first impressions (got a bit used to everything being so clean and expensive), so maybe now its time to share my take on what it is really like here.

What is more, some of my friends are applying for master admissions for next year (fingers crossed for all of you guys!), so I hope it could maybe also help them to get a more detailed image of the experience. However, nothing is like experiencing it of course, and everybody sees things differently (so I absolutely reserve the right to be wrong and biased). Now without further ado, let’s get down to the business.

Study Life

Now that I have submitted a few assignments and survived a couple of boring lectures (and many interesting ones!), spends some days in the library, I can share my experience with studying here. Cause that is what I came here for, so how is it?

It is a huge dopamine detox. Coming from the Netherlands, I was used to the fast pace of a semester half-sliced into blocks, each of which had its own set of exams. The exam session in the Netherlands has already passed, and here we are only slowly moving past a half of the semester, with exams coming up at the end of January, after the Christmas break. That also means, that so far I have no results. No ECTS credits in the system, no passed courses, nothing I could make my parents (and myself) proud of. This is tough for motivation. I have to learn to keep going despite that.

What is more, I have not received a single grade yet. All the homework that I am submitting will be graded at the end of term. For some pass/fail assignments I know that I have made it, but apart from that I cannot tell if they were 55% correct or 95% correct. This adds to the previously stated effect of dopamine deprivation.

And a little note on exams, I do not even know when I will have them. Even though they are going to happen only in around two months. At the time of writing, the dates have not been announced. This makes it really difficult to plan. With the latest possible date of exams being 14th of February and the start of the Spring semester on the 17th, there is not much breathing space left for us to get any rest. At least ETH guarantees that your exams will not overlap, no matter the courses you chose. I guess they are running some HUGE optimization in the background to figure out how to align the sessions now… :)

Okay, all this trouble aside. Most important question, am I learning anything?

I would say so. I actually came to realize that I enjoy this slower pace of the semester. Although I might say different things in two months, now I feel that although I do not have my dopamine rush, I have more time to dive in into material before the course is over. This gives me more time to appreciate what I am learning. So, yes, I think so. But as noted, I have no way of verifying now without an exam.

Also the style of teaching here relies more on self-learning, it is expected that we cover the ground ourselves, as there are no small group tutorials where we could discuss the material with the TAs as there was in Groningen. However, with LLMs being a free service, one can get pretty far with self-studying. Big respect for the generation of my parents, I cannot imagine studying without internet!

Campus Life

Sadly, as of 2024 it is not possible for the human body to work 24 hours a day. This means that apart from studying, one ends up doing also other things and chatting to people. And that is where the nice parts come in…

The Mensa, also known as the canteen in other countries, is the most remarkable place on campus. My favorite is Untere Mensa of UZH where one can get a meal for 6.10 every day. Lately, I have unlocked the power of asking for ‘a big portion, please’, which the cooks for some reason accept as a challenge to fill the plate so much that it is almost impossible to finish. (And I do not complain.) What is more, getting lunch is a great social activity, during which many people take 40 minutes to an hour to catch up with their peers. Absolute highlights of the week for me!

Bars in the city of course have Swiss prices, which is something I might allow myself to experience in the far far future. However, after studying is done, one can head to student bar bQm, located conveniently right at the terrace of ETH to continue the conversations from lunch at Mensa. Overall a very welcoming atmosphere. Complements the hard studying culture at ETH pretty well.

In comparison with the Netherlands transportation is not that easy. Many people live quite far from the campus, which incurs long travelling times (30-40 minutes for most people). I used to commute like this during my high school too, but in the Netherlands I just stopped being used to it. Also public transport is less frequent at the end of the day. A consequence of this is that people leave earlier for home, but maybe it is also the fact that we are all a few years older now and value sleep a bit more.

Personal Life

Apart of studying, we are all people. Since being outside of Czechia, I haven’t stopped enjoying hearing stories of people with international backgrounds. As many Master’s have now a bachelor behind their back, some even including an exchange, anyone I talk to has a great story to share.

What is more, we are slowly moving to the age of having serious relationships. Around a week or two ago, it was ‘visiting time’ for many of us. Many of my friends (me included) had their significant ones visit them here in Zürich.

For me it has been an opportunity to break away from the daily hustle and do something different, take a few strolls around the city and recall random bits of the history of the city that I remember. More importantly, however, I took a bit of time to slow down and relax. That week I have slept like a baby, and my levels of stress (according to my watch) were at all time low. Even though the backlog has piled up massively, I am happy to have taken the time to spend that time with her. Writing about this now it makes me realize how much I miss her every day :(

Let’s turn the page, when it comes to social life, I can also happily announce I have got to know a couple of people at the uni here. This has the nice effect of giving many hugs/handshakes/high-fives/fist-bombs to people on the corridors of our department building. It is something that I was really missing, and it took some time to build. But it is back, and I am loving it. That small ‘hi’ and a smile during a break can really make a difference.

Mental Life

I have to admit I had quite a rough time these last few months, moving to a new place and figuring out everything. I sometimes have a feeling like if you follow some people studying on social media, that they make it seem like plain sailing. Just enough coffee and you will pull through. But I want to be vocal about the fact that I do not find it easy. Moving to a new country, establishing a new network of friends, getting lost in a new city. It has its challenges.

Recently I have been doing better, but I have certainly went through a lot of doubt and personal crises. Yesterday, I have just randomly watched an interview of Elon Musk done by Jordan Peterson, where he talks about his life crises. Not that I admire Elon (I find him stupid and genius at the same time), but now I am trying to gaslight myself into thinking that having doubts is a sign of greatness. It is all about transforming the doubts into motivation, so produce something meaningful (?).

With that being said, I am super grateful if you had time to checkout this post. Let me know if you agree, or disagree, or you do not care. And I wish we get to chat about this soon!