Europe has been full of experiences where I feel like I have had to grow up by 10+ years. However, what’s crazy is that I have only been here for two months. To be brutally honest, moving to this new country has not been the smoothest transition. But I believe that is just one of the things you risk when you are ambitious. I did not plan a lot during the summer since I was not physically in the country. However, a lack of preparedness raised the discomfort bar tenfold. Therefore, today I wanted to talk about discipline and what it has meant and been for me since I arrived in Europe.

I define discipline as having a sense of self-control and holding yourself accountable. I must be very disciplined and sharp nearly every day to live the life I thought of upon my arrival to Switzerland. For those who are not aware, I have been living in Evian-les-bains, France, a whole different country from where I attend school. I commute by ferry AND metro every day, and discipline starts every morning at around 5:50 am when I have to wake up for my commute to school. Every morning I wake up at 5:50 am so I can shower, prepare a full day of food, and pack all my belongings I will need for my classes throughout the day. Also, note that my first class does not begin until 8:00 am or 9:00 am every morning. After doing my morning preparation, I walk to the dock where I board the ferry. Typically, it is pitch black, with the sun not rising for another 30 minutes or so. I purposefully get to the dock early because I can board the ferry sooner. Once the ferry leaves the port at 7:00 am, I usually read a textbook or book for the 35-minute journey. Every morning starts like this, and since I consider myself punctual as well, the actual marathon begins after leaving the ferry.

To help picture the scene, it is around 7:35 am, and I am preparing to take the metro directly to EPFL. However, the commute to EPFL varies on average of about 21 minutes with a standard deviation of +/- 4 [17min, 25min]. This is due to no space on the metro, catching consecutive lines, and other super variable factors. However, since I have class at 8:00 am, I always want to be on the earlier side so I can arrive without being late for class. So as soon as I get off the ferry, I power walk to the metro station, which takes roughly 4 minutes to catch the literal next possible metro. After around five stations from Ouchy to Lausanne Flon, I have to switch metro lines to catch another metro that leads me directly to the school. A part of me always wants to wait for when there is space, but I am not built like that. After getting to EPFL, I have around 3-5 minutes to walk to my classrooms.

Once I arrive at school, I prepare to spend a whole day there. Because my commute back home takes around 3 hours there and back, it does not make sense for me to go home every time I have breaks. However, this is not usually an issue because I have around 8 hours of lectures and sections per day. Therefore this only explains part of the discipline I have to hold myself to every day.

I slightly alluded to having to pack food for a whole day. Though it seems relatively unimportant, it is an essential part of my life as a student. Because I start my days at 5:50 am and do not get home until around 7-8:00 pm, I have to pack my food. Though there are many campus restaurants and grocery stores nearby, I must note that I am financially supporting myself. As someone who has worked during my time as an undergraduate student, you can probably infer that I do not have much savings overall. Therefore, from a financial point of view, I am physically unable to sustain eating out while paying for all the other essentials in my life (rent, groceries, commute passes, etc.). So while all my friends and classmates can eat out daily, I usually bring lunch from home. Nutritiously, my lunch is not great (usually the same sandwich and chips daily), but it is enough to keep me through the day. I sometimes think I can buy food, which is equivalent to accepting defeat. Therefore, I tell myself I must remain disciplined throughout the day and, most likely, throughout the year.

After my evening classes conclude around 6:00 pm, the ferry schedule is not great, with ferries coming every 1hr 20min +/- 15 min. I must leave school immediately to catch the next ferry at 6:40 pm. Usually, boat boarding begins at 6:25 pm, so the earlier, the better. Once I get off the boat at around 7:15 pm, I walk back and arrive at my Airbnb at around 7:30 pm. Once I get home, I shower and then prepare myself dinner. Dinner usually entails pasta, noodles, and rice, and there has not been much diversity in foods besides that. I quickly eat so I can begin homework and read the material we covered in class that day. I usually cut myself off at 11 pm to get roughly six and a half hours of sleep. I set this limit because I used to stay up much later but would be super drowsy at school.

This cycle repeats nearly daily and has been a relatively rough schedule. However, thanks to my discipline, I can repeat these sequences of events every day. I always considered myself hardworking and disciplined, but moving here has shown me a new level to this feat–I am doing well, in any case. I am learning a lot which is great, and I have come to enjoy my daily treks across the 35-minute Lac Leman ferry ride. I guess I knew things would not be easy, but hey, as long as I stay disciplined, which I know I can be, I can make this life work. So thanks for reading!