ADVENTURES AT FRANKLIN

Welcome back or welcome to Adventures at Franklin! It is midterms week at Franklin University Switzerland. Obviously this week has been a difficult one, and I am planning to write about everything that's transpired, but for now the show must go on. We still have midterms to take, and this week is high-paced and stressful for everyone. Our time and energy are luxuries, so here are some tips that may help provide an idea for where to allocate our time and energy, and culminate in success (hopefully!). 1. Review and revise. This tip is pretty obvious. For most of us, in life and at Franklin, if you put the time and effort into preparation, you can succeed. If the reason why you did not succeed, is that you did not prepare well enough and tried to shove everything in your head 10 minutes before the exam, that is no excuse. People often say that success is about the process and less about the results. I still think the results are important, but if your process is successful, the...

Welcome back (or welcome) to  Adventures at Franklin! A blog about the comings and goings of Franklin University Switzerland, written and curated by students. My name's Asa and I'm the new writer of this blog. If you wanna know more about me, then check out my first post: http://adventuresatfranklin.fus.edu/2020/02/the-adventures-return.html This past Friday, there were no classes due to the annual February break (not sure why we have a February break but I will gladly accept it). We are in the midst of a long weekend currently, and as you have read from the title, I will offer a few ideas for what to do during long weekends (at Franklin University Switzerland). I have Franklin University Switzerland in brackets because most of this list can really apply to any long weekend anywhere. What's ironic is that most Franklin students are not around campus during long weekends. So that leads to the first thing to do during a long weekend. 1. Travel . The majority of FUS stu...

Being in Switzerland, one of the most sustainable countries in the world, it is difficult to not catch the sustainability bug. Reducing, reusing, and recycling quickly become a way of life here on the Franklin campus. There are several ways that I have become a more sustainable human being in the four years at FUS, and I’ll list some of the most notable ones below; afterward, I’ll discuss some of the sustainable initiatives we have here on campus.      Public Transportation When I lived at home in California, I used to drive everywhere: school, friend’s houses, grocery stores – everywhere. When I am at FUS I walk everywhere, not because I have to, but because I want to. The Lugano hills might seem a bit intimidating at first, but eventually you learn to love them – especially because it means you don’t have to hit the gym as frequently. All of my friends live within a five or ten-minute walk from my door, and the 15 or 20-minute journey downtown goes by q...

February is an exciting time to be on Franklin's beautiful campus, not too far from the historic city of Bellinzona,  the capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland, famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000 . Yes, it is always nice to be within a 20 minute train ride of a beautiful medieval city full of castles, and February is a particularly exciting time because of the city's carnival festivities.    Every year, the capital of Ticino practically shuts down and welcomes its "doors" to 150,000 guests from other parts of Switzerland and Italy.  Friends and I at Bellinzona's Castelgrande during the Street Food Festival last semester Most people have heard of the carnival festivals in Venice and Rio de Janeiro, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The celebration in Bellinzona is similar to these events; however, it simply has not acquired the same international fame. This par...