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国际学生生活指南 < 常用信息

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Staying Healthy:

This is just the beginning of a page on health care for International members of ETH. Please email us (international at aveth.eth.zch) any suggestions (good or bad experiences you've had), and we'll try to combine the information in a useful manner on this page.

Links

House Insurance / Personal Liability:

Besides health insurances, you should also be aware of other insurances which you may wish to have or may be required to have. It's a good idea to have household insurance, which can insure your personal belongings against theft and damage (such as fire). To some extent, it will also insure belongings outside of the house. Some landlords will require that you show proof of having such insurance. Average costs are about Sfr. 150.- per year and up, depending on how much you need to insure and the exact nature of the policy. You are strongly advised to take a Haftpflichtversicherung (personal liability insurance), which costs around Sfr. 100.- per year. This insurance will cover you as well as your guests, in the event that you accidentally cause damages to another person, to yourself, or to yours or someone else's property. It also may cover such liabilities while you are in another country. Keep in mind that some things in Switzerland costs a fortune - getting someone accidentally injured may not just cost you the hospital cost, but you may also be liable for any follow-up cost such as lost incomes of the hurt person. Above the standard coverage, the insurance varies widely by company, so you may want to consult an agent to get the insurance that fits you best.

Bicycle Insurance:

Bike insurance is MANDATORY if you want to ride a bike in Zurich. It covers you for damages and liability in case of an accident with your bike. It is easy to get: most grocery and department stores sell it as a sticker that you buy for around Sfr. 6.00 and stick onto your bike. Ask for the "Velo-Vignette". You need to buy a new one every year.

Language courses at ETH

The ETH recently changed the structure and the variety of its language course offerings. ETH and Uni are now charging a fee for language courses. This applies to Ph.D. students and other "Akademischer Mitarbeiter"; currently listed fees are Sfr. 300.- on average. This includes the beginners' German courses. Your professor might be willing to pay the course for you, though.
Courses offered to ETH Employees, this includes Doctoral students:
http://www.sprachenzentrum.unizh.ch/kurse_staff/index.en.php

Courses offered to Studierende (Diplom level and below)
http://www.sprachenzentrum.unizh.ch/kurse/index.en.php

Other courses and general contact information: http://www.sprachenzentrum.unizh.ch/index.en.html

Language courses elsewhere

Considering that the ETH is now charging for language courses, it is now worth it to look into private options which may have smaller class sizes and better instruction for a reasonable addition in price.

Free Online Translators:

Universal Translator Babelfish

FreeTranslation.com

SYSTRAN Translation

Online Dictionaries:

dict.cc English <-> German Dictionary

LEO English <-> German Dictionary

Merriam-Webster English Dictionary Online

Swiss-German Links:

A humorous introduction to Swiss German.

Garbage and Recycling:

The tax on garbage disposal is a 'pay per use' tax. If you live in the city of Zurich, you will need to buy special garbage bags. You can buy the special taxed bags (coloured white), called 'Züri Sack', from one of the major grocery stores. Usually you will have to ask for them from the cashier. A package of 10 garbage bags, 35 L size (yellow writing), cost about 21 Sfr. Note that other rules will apply to you if you live outside the city limits of Zürich - contact your local municipality for more information on what to do. Any garbage which you throw out HAS to be in one of these bags. You also have to make sure that you throw them out into the dumpster that is assigned to your building. You are also only allowed to throw out your garbage Mon-Sat from 7:00 - 21:00. If you live in a private house, you must put it out only on the morning of city garbage pickup for your area. For recycling, there are a number of things to keep in mind. Somewhere near you is a recycling collection center, which is outdoors and usually consists of about 10 big green plastic containers (see links below). You have to sort your items appropriately, according to glass color and bottle type, and there is also disposal for aluminum, broken glass and used oil. These depots are only to be used from Mon-Sat from 7:00 - 21:00 (check the exact hours written on the containers). For newspaper and cardboard, there is usually one pickup a month. You have to tie them into bundles and leave them in one of the designated areas by the curb - easiest thing is look for a big pile of bundled newspapers when the time comes and drop your stuff there. Another important thing to keep in mind is that it is actually illegal to put recyclable materials into the regular garbage. Items such as used oil, paint, electronics, garden material, also have their own separate disposal protocol so contact your local municipality.

Links

Getting a Swiss License:


You will have only 1 year from the date of your arrival to 'trade-in' your current driver's license for a Swiss driver's license. This involves taking an eye test at a certified location, and going in person to the Strassenverkehrsamt (traffic office) to fill out forms and submit your license. The cost is approximately Sfr. 120.-. If your country that issued your license has an agreement with Switzerland, your original license will be sent back to the country of issue; otherwise your license will be mailed back to you with your Swiss license, with a sticker on it that says 'not valid in Switzerland'. Special rules may apply to you if you come from a country that drives on the other side of the road. Changes of address usually have to be notified within 7-10 days.

Renting a car:


ETH currently has a special agreement with the Europcar rental agency. Everyone who has an ETH employment contract (ie. Doctoranden, Post-Docs) now qualifies for the same level of discount. When you phone to reserve a car, you will need to give them the appropriate Europcar contract number depending on whether the rental is for work or private use. Also, when you go, you will have to bring your student card and a copy of your employment contract with the ETH (if for some reason you don't have a copy, contact your caseworker at the Personalabteilung (personnel office). The details and the various ETH contract numbers can be found on the Finanzabteilung (finance office) site at http://www.fa.ethz.ch/private/reisen/mietwagen.html. You can't generally rent a car with an international license after you've lived here for over a year, so keep that in mind in deciding whether or not to get a Swiss license.

Renting a bike:

During the summer it is possible to rent bikes, skateboards, and similar for free from the city of Zurich. This service is available 7 days a week, 07.30-21.30h, requires the deposit of ID (ie your B-Ausweis) and Sfr. 20.- , and is available at several locations including the Opernhaus and the Hauptbahnhof. More details are available at http://www.zuerirollt.ch/.

Links

Public Transport:

Public transport within Zurich is, well, amazingly actually. Trams are regular and on time; there is a lot of route overlaps so you always have more than one option; it's really cheap for a montly pass; and overall the experience is probably the best you will have for public transit anywhere. A note for newcomers: the doors of the trams don't open unless you push the button - the button is usually either on the handles next to the door, or in the middle of the door itself. This is also similar for rail cars, which either have a button or a handle. Once on board, trams stop at every stop, but buses will only stop if you press the button before the bus reaches your stop. The Regenbogen Pass
If you will be commuting within Zurich city (Zone 10), the best way to go is the monthly pass, the Regenbogen. This costs around Sfr. 70.- for 30 days, and you can even specify the start date (it doesn't have to be the first of the month). If you are 25 years or younger it costs only around Sfr. 50.-. The Regenbogen as well as other tickets can be bought at a variety of locations:

1. Any official office or kiosk of VBZ (the organization that runs public transit): At every major rail station, and at every major tram stop (eg. Bellevue, Central, Hauptbahnhof, Stadelhofen, Oerlikon). The only place to buy on Sunday is inside the Hauptbahnhof.

2. Any kiosk or vendor which displays the blue and white "Hier Tickets" sign.

Usually the vendors only speak Swiss and High German, so might need help the first time you go to buy one. When you go to buy your first monthly pass, ask them also for a free map of the transit system and a plastic cover for the pass. Other Tickets and the Halbtax
At ETH, doctoral students are given a "Halbtax", which means you will receive a picture ID card which will entitle you to half price fares on regular tickets and trains. This has to be shown with the ticket for the half price ticket to be valid. This applies to a number of things, such as regular tickets in Zone 10 (Zurich), buying a train ticket, and buying add-on tickets to a Regenbogen to go to a neighboring zone (such as the airport, which actually qualifies as two zones). If someone is going to visit or if you live close enough that it isn't worth buying a Regenbogen, you can buy a "MultiTageskarte" which lets you buy 6 tickets valid for 24h each and get a discount on the regular price. It is even cheaper if you will use them for yourself and have a halbtax. If you just need one ticket or an add-on to your Regenbogen to cross zones, you can buy these at the ticket vending machines that you see at each stop. These machines can be pretty complicated to the uninitiated, so get someone to show you how to use them.

Links:

VBZ Homepage, with links to maps, schedules, fare info, etc... German only.

Online map of public transit system

VBZ Page with links to information about scheduled interruptions to transit service due to holidays or construction.

Postal Services:

Mail is another one of the good things about Zurich... it is fast and reliable. Getting Mail

In order to receive mail, you need to be 1. officially registered at an address (which you had to do anyway at the Kreisburo, when you came here) and 2. your name needs to appear on the mailbox of the address to which you are registered. If your name is not on your mailbox, your mail will not be delivered but returned to the sender. Mail is delivered to residential areas once a day, Monday to Saturday. Inside the ETH, there are two mail deliveries per day, Monday to Friday. When you move, you can have your mail forwarded by going to the post office, filling out a form, and paying a one time fee of Sfr. 10. Supposedly it will be valid for one year only, but it seems that they 'remember' for even longer. They will go to great lengths to make sure they can deliver a letter to the right address, which is nice. Sending Mail

There are two main ways to send mail in Zurich. Early on, when you are not sure what the rates are or how you want to send your item, it is best to go in person to one of the many post offices. Unfortunately you may find it difficult to find someone who speaks English - it will save you effort if you can get someone to teach you some basic phrases in German. The closest post office to the ETH is in the lower level of the Unispital, which is the hospital across the street from the ETH Hauptgebaude (main building). There are two main categories within Switzerland: A-post (next day) and B-post (2-3 days). The cost depends on the size and weight, but for a standard C5 letter those rates are currently Sfr 1.00 and Sfr 0.80 respectively. Rates to overseas vary according to "Within Europe" and "Outside Europe", and on size and weight. You can also buy stamps at the "Postomat", which are yellow boxes located a number of places around the city. There is one at ETH outside the Kiosk on the corner of Tannenstrasse and Ramistrasse, as well as at major tram and railway stations. Follow the directions on the automat to get the appropriate denomination sticker printed. If you want to send A-post, make sure you write a big "- A -" on the letter (left of the stamp). At some point you may need to send an 'Eingeschriebener Brief' (registered mail), because this is the official way of notifying legal things like termination of contracts, complaints, etc. You will then get a receipt that you have sent the letter to the stated address, which you can later use as a proof. Sending the letter this way can be done by preparing a letter in the same way you would normally, except that you write "Einschreiben" on the top of the letter. You will then have to go in person to the post office, and they will fill out a form and give you a copy of it, which you need to keep for your records as proof. The fee is Sfr 5.

Links:

Homepage of 'Die Post', the federal mail system. This links to the English portal, the site is also available in German, French and Italian.

Telephone, Internet:

Getting a telephone here can unfortunately turn out to be a real experience. Here are a few important tips which can smooth out the process considerably. Telephone installations are done exclusively by Swisscom xxhttp://www.swisscom.ch/xx, which used to run a monopoly on calling as well. The market has since deregulated and recently, even local calling can be made through another provider. However you will still need to deal with them for the installation. To get a telephone line installed into your house, you will need the following things:

  1. As a foreigner, you will need to provide a Sfr. 500 deposit which will be kept by Swisscom until you terminate the phone line. If you are a national of a 'higher risk country', eg. Brazil, this amount goes up to Sfr. 1000. The line will not be installed until they have the deposit.
  2. You need to bring your lease/rental contract, which indicates you as the legal tenant of your apartment. You can have additional names in the phone book for your line, but the line will legally be only under one person's name.
  3. You will need to show your Auslaenderausweis (your immigration permit). Copies or assurances are normally not accepted.
  4. You will need to ask your rental agency or landlord to supply you with the full name and phone number of the person who previously occupied your apartment. (No joke. I still haven't figured out why the phone company doesn't know this better that you.) For similar reasons it also helps to know exactly what your floor and apartment designation is (eg. 2nd floor 'left', or an apartment designation number).

The best way to go about actually getting the line is to go in person with all the above information and the deposit with you as cash, to the Swisscom shop. A good one to try is a main outlet like the Swisscom shop in the Bahnhofstrasse area (Füsslistrasse 6, Zurich). Be prepared to have to wait. Once you finally manage to speak to someone who speaks English, and there are few, you will need to fill out an application form. Get the person to help you. MAKE SURE that you

  1. get a receipt for your deposit and
  2. confirm that they really do have an entry for the previous tenant and they know where to install the line. Otherwise, you will find that out only when you phone them a week later to ask them why you still don't have a phone line.

If you go in person with a cash deposit, and provided that they really do know which apartment to wire, the whole process should take 3-5 days. If you do it by mail, pay a blue slip for the deposit, or have other problems such as the outlet in your apartment not being physically wired, the process can take a month and cost you another few hundred francs. The Swiss have a different view of personal privacy than most English-speaking westerners. They not only list themselves in the phonebook, they often put their career titles and other information. You may or may not choose to do this. If you would like to be unlisted, there are several options to choose from. Ask for the form when you apply for the line, and it will be mailed to you shortly. A common compromise option is the 'liste noire' (black list), which means that your number is completely unlisted from all directories but that your number and name still appear on people's 'Caller ID' service. Other options such as voice mail, mobile services etc are available from Swisscom as well as other companies, should you choose to have another service provider. Ask the company for details and fees.

Additional Notes:

1. Make sure you have a look at the time periods for calling charges. There are up to 7 different time periods a day in terms of the rates. Have a look at the chart at the front of the phone book.

2. ISDN / ASDL lines and other services are also available.

3. Swisscom sells an American RJ-11 plug to Swiss plug adapter which works - useful for computer modems.

4. If you have your cell phone and home line through the same provider, you only need one deposit.

5. The monthly fee for a telephone line is currently about Sfr. 25.00, which you have to pay regardless of whom your local and long distance providers are.

Links:

Swisscom homepage

Long-Distance Telephoning:

As a foreigner, chances are high that you will be phoning countries other than Switzerland. Fees of the main telephone company Swisscom) have greatly improved since the deregulation of the market, but there is still plenty of opportunity to get better prices. There are a number of other service providers now available. A non-exhaustive list of links is provided below.

Some important points to keep in mind:

1. The countries you need to call.

2. What time periods you will be calling in.

3. Do you want a service provider for "on-access use" ie. dialing a prefix, or hard-wired service? Do you want only a long-distance service or do you want local and voice mail services through the company as well?

4. What languages do you want to be able to deal with the companies in?

5. Who will be your cell phone provider?

Make sure and read the fine print! Some companies ask a starting fee per phonecall, which can get relatively expensive if you call often but short.

See also our information about prepaid phone cards.

Links:

  • Swisscom
  • Sunrise
  • Orange
  • Tele2

    Payphones:

    What's up with the music in there? (Once you've been in one, you'll know what I mean).

    But seriously, there are a few things that you should know about payphones in Zurich.

    1. Most of them don't seem to take coins. You need to go to any Kiosk and buy a "Telefonkarte" from Swisscom, which comes in various amounts. It's credit card sized and has a 'smart card' chip on it. It's good to keep a Sfr. 5 card in your wallet for that evening when you really need to use the phone, and can't.

    2. There is a free electronic directory in there, which can come in handy. AND it has an english language option. Unfortunately they are starting to switch over the directory to being pay per use...

    3. You can send faxes using the directory computer, if you have a phonecard.

    4. The rates for calling a cell phone number (usually with a prefix like 078 or 079) are really high compared to a regular phone line.

    Prepaid Phone Cards:

    What do you do when you first arrive, if you don't have a phone at home, if you are travelling, and you need to make long-distance phone calls? The best way to deal with this is to buy prepaid phone cards. There is currently a huge number of companies that offer long-distance service, usually at extremely variable prices, service and quality. The easiest thing is if you can ask other people you know who phone the same countries you do. Many of the more obscure companies are often the cheapest, with reasonable quality - however there are also some bad apples so ask around. A few examples of companies are Swisscom, Orange, diAX, Tele2, Gnanam, the list goes on, and who offers the best rates to a particular companies varies almost by the week. Cards are usually purchased either at one of the Kiosks or at a designated outlet or reseller for the company. Apparently it is possible now to buy more effectively from the Post Office. you can go to the post office, tell them which country you would like a prepaid calling card for, and they will tell you which card is currently the cheapest for that country and the cost per minute.

    Phonebooks:

    Swisscom WhitePages and YellowPages (note: you need to have all cookies enabled).

    ETH Staff Phonebook

    ETH email directory

    List of emergency phone numbers for ETH

    Internet Access:

    There are a lot of ways to get onto the Internet. A few options are listed below. Sadly, most sites are in German.

    Dial-In:

    * ETH Zürich Only telephone costs for ETH Students and Employees

    * Uni Zürich Only telephone costs for Uni Students

    * Overview Site (containing information and lists on free Internet in Switzerland)

    Broadband:

    * Cablecom at ETH Zürich , apply at http://www.cablecom.ethz.ch

    * Nice overview provided by the Uni Zürich, sadly no own initiatives

    * Overview of ADSL Providers

    * Cablecom HiSpeed Cable Internet Provider, overview of offers

    • Radio and Television Tax:

    Everyone in Switzerland who owns a radio and/or television is required to pay a tax. The tax is by 'household' (address) and not per person. This is separate from the charges for cable services and installation. "Do I really have to pay the tax?". Not surprisingly, a frequent question. The short answer to that question is YES. Particularly if you have a telephone, they will eventually track you down and start sending you scary letters informing you that you had better register. Eventually, if you keep avoiding it, city officials will show up on your doorstep to search your house, and can give you a fine of up to Sfr. 5000.- for avoidance of a federal tax if they find a TV or radio. If you buy a radio or television (even a clock or car radio), you need to register with the Swiss organization that administrates this tax. They are called BillAG and they have an online registration in English at . They will mail you forms that you will have to fill out and return. Payments are made in quarterly installments (4 times a year). If you have both a radio and TV (and they aren't going to believe you have only one of the two), the cost is currently Sfr. 112.60 per quarter, or Sfr. 450.40 per year. BillAG now has a very detailed question and answer page in English about the tax and its purposes. This can be viewed at http://www.billag.com/ratv/en/fragenantworten/index.php. To summarize, "yes, you have to pay the tax!" :) The central homepage of BillAG is http://www.billag.ch

    Fun things to do Zurich:

    Zurich offers a wide range of cultural activities, museums, events and soaring nightlife. To get you started we included a certainly not complete list of links below.

    Links:

    Movie/Cinema listings (Monday is cheap night)

    Museums (take a look at www.museumspass.ch, too)

    Opernhaus (can buy last minute tickets very cheap with student ID)

    Sports in Zurich

    Tourist sites to see Zoo

    ZürichCard - the all-in-one card to see Zürich!

    Original information submitted by J. Cox, updated by Arthur Jansen and Rik Harbers

    Last modified: 17:03:11 Mon 02 Mar 2009