Organised Events
In the 2020 spring semester, we organised the following events:
- Ski Weekend
- Hiking Weekend
- Soft Skill Training: Stay productive & Motivated
- several online & offline gatherings (meetings, game evenings; Wikiday, BBQs, volleyball)
Local Activities
The semester started as usual with a ski weekend. We were in Davos from 21 to 23 February. We spent the day on the piste in fantastic weather and spent the evening nailing at the après-ski. (We’re already looking forward to when we can finally nail at the AMIV.) However, this weekend, also known as the “Organised Annual Skiing Madness”, was much more than just an ordinary ski weekend. It was carnival time in Lucerne at the same time, which is why you suddenly saw unicorns and aloha girls on the piste. There were also two other EESTEC events at the same time. To find out which event was the best, there was a two-hour competition between the events where you had to complete various challenges. Thanks to the relentless efforts of our youngest generation, we were able to beat the events in Bucharest (Romania) and St. Petersburg (Russia) and crown Zurich’s event as the winner.
We also updated our pages on the AMIV wiki, where all authors were rewarded with raclette.
Then came COVID-19 and our semester started to get turbulent…
It started with the fact that we had to postpone the planned hackathon, the EESTech Challenge with this year’s theme Human-Computer Interaction. A short time later, we also had to cancel our international workshop.
We were hit twice as hard. Neither local nor international events could be organised. We therefore had to adapt to the situation as best we could. From now on, meetings and additional game evenings were held online, sometimes with international students. Although this was entertaining, it could not replace what EESTEC actually is. We were therefore highly motivated to become active again as soon as the federal government allowed us to do so.
In the meantime, we organised a soft skills training on how to stay motivated & productive in these times. This was open to all AMIVers & VISers and conducted by our own trainers.
With the start of the (actual) learning phase, the time had come: the association decided to relax and we started to meet more often in person again: Barbecuing and playing volleyball together became almost a tradition and made our learning phase more social than the whole semester.
Very motivated members organised a small hiking weekend “Ferie Under Tolle Zürcher” from 10 to 12 July on the Rigi. We had limited luck with the weather. Hiking up and down to the holiday hut was fine, but on Saturday it was overcast. Nevertheless, almost everyone was on the Rigi on Saturday and enjoyed the view of the large and small Nebelhorn. Another highlight of the weekend was the “Intercantonal night”, where everyone brought specialities from their home canton. After enjoying the evening with all the delicious specialities and having hiked a lot, there was only one thing missing this semester, namely the unforgettable “Malle O’Riginal” party.
In July, we held our board elections to elect our next board. This board is determined to offer the next generation of students some student life, even despite COVID-19.
Events (almost) Visited Abroad
As the pandemic made travelling impossible, all international events were cancelled from March onwards. Only the Spring Congress (=General Assembly of EESTEC) was held online. As a result, the list of international events is particularly small this year: (The number of participants from LC Zurich is shown in brackets).
- Autumn Congress OC After meeting (1, just the weekend before the borders were closed)
- Game of Blocks, Cryptocurrency Workshop in Banja Luka (1, cancelled)
- Call of Perreo IMW in Madrid (6, cancelled)
- 3rd IT Sprint in Trieste (1, cancelled)
- Working Hard On Regional Exchange in Ljubljana (2, cancelled)
- Spring Congress in Novi Sad (together with other EESTECers from the comfort of a living room, online)
- MW in Krakow (3)
Plans for the Next Semester
Due to the Corona situation, we cannot plan any definite events at the moment (August). However, we are determined to do as much as possible locally! To achieve this we need your help!
How to Join
Are you confident and do you like talking to companies at eye level to raise sponsorship money? Or are you creative and keen to contribute your ideas to our planning? Or do you like coming up with unusual ideas for parties? Or are you simply cosmopolitan and would like to give our European guests the best impression of Switzerland after the pandemic?
Of course, you can also visit one of the many events abroad free of charge. You can always find the latest information at eestec.net/events. Why don’t you come to one of our fortnightly meetings and ask your questions to contact@eestec.ethz.ch or directly to us if you see one of us walking around in our bright red T-shirts/hoodies. 😉
Selim Naji
Chairperson EESTEC LC Zurich
chairman@eestec.ethz.ch