21 September 2007

The Swiss seen from abroad

Since I found out in Budapest that making connections to Swiss institutions means another way of fruitful contacts, I also follow this track here in Estonia. The first contact was an already set one: I was assumed to work in the Swiss reading room of the national library. It is still a fortress of Matterhorn and Basel-Rhine-with-cathedrale-posters and red mouse pads with white crosses on it, but in earlier times its looks were even more spooky. The librarians were told to use only red pens and pencils. Luckily, that printing paper was by its nature white. Nowadays it still looks like a fair stand of OSEC, the Swiss export-concerning organisation. In the middle of the glas dividers a red ribbon with white crosses is prominently displayed (danke Leo für die Übersetzung).
I have the honour to attend the opening of the second Swiss reading room in the university city Tartu. I have kept happy memories of the receptions of the Swiss embassy in Budapest, so I am looking forward to more such things.
Germans also still try to invade Switzerland. Under the students' section in the well-received website of political weekly Spiegel (danke Judith) you can check if you understand Swiss terms. Well done! And what do they want to tell us with that in the bottom line?

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