Some information on FMEL Marcolet 🏠

If you are here, you are probably a student trying to find out a bit more about the FMEL residences. What does it look like? Where is it located? How is it? What’s nearby? I am writing this from the perspective of an exchange student, who I think is more likely to stumble upon this than a local student, but hopefully it is helpful either way!

Some other sources:

I found this blog from a while ago (2015) that has some information and pictures too on the place, so feel free to check it out too for more thoughts.

What the room looks like (YouTube video from FMEL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIyWhZjIAc4

General things

You officially live in Crissier (the name of the municipality), but it is close to many other municipalities that you can walk to, such as Renens and Écublens. Renens is a more “major” municipality, and so in general most things there can be considered pretty close!

The place

I think the blog I linked earlier has a few more pictures of the place (which literally look the same as mine), but I will include three photos here of the room, kitchen and bathroom. Note that there can be slight variations, for instance my flat was on the ground floor, while others might be on a higher floor.

Bathroom	Kitchen	Room

From some of the other FMEL buildings I have visited, the rooms seem to be a bit bigger than the other ones, which is nice. My flat was shared between 4 people, so we had 2 people per bathroom, but I think there are also flats with 3 or 5 people as well, so that may be different.

In terms of kitchen equipment, a lot of things will be there already when you arrive since it is a flatshare (pots and pans, cutlery and utensils, dishware, etc.), and I was really lucky to find a rice cooker too! But if there is anything missing, you can always visit IKEA 😉. I find that the fridge is much smaller than the ones we have in Canada, particularly when you share between 4 people, but it is manageable (might have to do visit the grocery store more than once a week.)

Laundry

When you move in for the first time, they will give you a plastic card that can be loaded with money in one of the laundry rooms. One use of the washer costs 2.50 CHF, and the dryers are free. I was always able to find an available washing machine/drying machine, but then again I chose times to do laundry when I thought there wouldn’t be that many people, which was usually Thursday afternoons or Wednesday mornings during the year.

Other stuff

Some other things that could be useful:

• There are two bike storage places, you just need to let the intendant (house manager) know so they don’t remove your bike
• You can borrow cleaning equipment from the house manager, but only at specific times when their in-person office is open
• They are supposed to check the cleanliness of the flat every month or so, but I think during this year I was only checked two or three times (they also only check the common areas, so kitchen and bathroom, not your room.) They will email you beforehand to notify you when they will come in to check.
• To use the stove, you have to press a button to “start” the stove, and it is a timer that will turn off automatically after 30 minutes. So just keep that in mind if you are cooking anything longer than 30 minutes!

Groceries

Brief overview of grocery stores:

The closest grocery store is Coop, at the Léman Centre Crissier (around a 6-7 min walk.) It is one of the bigger Coop’s that I have seen around, and it is part of a “mall” complex, complete with (small) food court, various stores, other Coop-group businesses (flowers, pharmacy, restaurant), etc. What’s good about this store is that they might have more selection in general and bigger sized portions, particularly with their Prix Garantie line (budget-friendly line).

However, around in April, I realized that the Migros in Renens (specifically the one at Rue de la Mèbre 9, 1020 Renens) has a lot more discounts than the Coop I live near to, so I have been going there more often. There is also a Denner in that same building, and a Coop right across.

In terms of prices, Coop and Migros are more of a “standard” grocery store which also have their own product lines of budget-friendly, normal, organic/”bio”, etc. at varying pricepoints. Denner, Lidl, and Aldi are more like discount grocery stores, so their items tend to be cheaper. There is also an Aligro store which is kind of like a Swiss Costco, but if you are one person then chances are that won’t be particularly useful for you.

• I think Migros is slightly cheaper than Coop in general

If you are coming from campus, there is a Migros and Denner at the EPFL metro stop which has slightly longer hours than normal ones, so it can be convenient to grab something quick there on the way home, or in the morning when you arrive. Prices seem to be the same across all their stores, so you don’t really save money at a particular location. The exception to this is if you are going to one of the convenience-store-esque versions of the grocery store, like Coop Pronto or Migrolino, where their hours are much longer and are typically found in/right beside the train station—their prices will be more than the normal stores.

In terms of budgeting, it seems to be doable to still eat meat (you don’t have to become a vegetarian!), but just keep an eye out for discounts, collecting points through their point systems (Migros and Coop have), etc. Meat is more expensive here compared to Toronto, but keep in mind what a price to eat out in Switzerland might be (average eating out would be 20-30 CHF, cheaper options around 10-20 CHF). Cooking a meal (with meat) for under 5 CHF with your own groceries is very doable; I would say that you could even get to a price around 3-4 CHF. You may not want to buy their most expensive organic-bio-free-range-whatever-else chicken though! 😂 A healthy breakfast would probably be in the 2-3 CHF range per meal. So you can do the math and do an approximate budget cost for food.

If you also opt for the more budget-friendly lines (M-Budget at Migros and Prix Garantie at Coop), typically for meat the cost per kg is much cheaper than the other price points, but they will give you a lot more quantity. So for example their chicken leg/thigh at Coop only comes in a pack of 6 at the Prix Garantie price, whereas the others only come in packs of 2.

Some examples of recent costs:

Some items from Migros:

• Pork Belly (19.00 CHF per kg) - they sell them in pack of approximately 250g, which is ~5 CHF
• Onions (2.30 CHF per kg)
• Red Peppers (4.20 CHF per kg)

Some items from Coop:

• 1L Pasteurized milk - 1.80 CHF
• Minced meat (pork/beef) - 5.95 CHF for 500g (Prix Garantie line- budget line)
• garlic- 0.50 CHF each

Overall, the food situation will work out 👍

I have also heard of people getting things from the app ToGoodToGo, though there aren’t too many places close to FMEL Marcolet for that (many are in Lausanne city centre.) Could be worth checking out though.

Transportation

Google Maps is very helpful!

If trying to get to the school (EPFL), I would walk to the Epenex metro station and then take it down to the EPFL metro station. Walking to Epenex can take 7-8 mins if you walk at a brisk pace and something like 10-12 mins at a normal pace (though if it is leisurely I would budget up to 15 mins)

You are also within walking distance to the train station in Renens, so taking trains to other places in Switzerland (or coming back home) is very useful. I would say you can also speed-walk it in 8 minutes, though that’s pretty tight. I would give it around 12 minutes for a normal pace, but budgeting like 12-15 mins.

Even though the times look the same, Epenex is slightly closer than Renens to take the metro to EPFL.

There are also buses (36 and 54) that go to a stop called “Crissier, Marcolet” which is a bit north of where the FMEL buildings are. If you happen to be at Renens when it comes, feel free to take it, but it isn’t necessary since it is a walkable distance home.

There is also bus 32 that stops at Noutes, which is a bus stop further away than the 36/54 one but could be an option if you are coming from another road from Renens. Only been on it a handful of times, and also again because it happened to pass by in Renens so I took it. But not sure where it goes to.

Can you walk to EPFL? No idea, haven’t tried, but I’m sure there are people that run there or something.

Bikes? Yes quite a few people bike there; it is downhill from Marcolet but uphill on the way back. The route should be relatively straightforward, basically the same one that the metro takes.

What about PubliBike? So for PubliBike, the bike sharing system in Switzerland, there is a station north of where we live, but it is as bit farther away, so I haven’t used it.

Mail

Your mailing address would be:

Quartier Pré-Fontaine XX
Chambre XXX
1023 Crissier
Switzerland

Where the first XX is your block number (so flat number, you’d share this number with your roommates) and the second XXX is your room number, so the mailpeople can deliver the mail to the right mailbox, which are all located in block 52.

If you want to order stuff online, Switzerland doesn’t have Amazon so you will have to buy/ship things from Amazon Germany (amazon.de). Within Switzerland, they have their own “Amazon” which is called Galaxus (galaxus.ch). In the mail area, I have seen people order things from both, or have packages delivered to the mail area (which sit around), but you can also send packages to one of the post offices and pick it up (this is what I have done, so that the package doesn’t randomly vanish or something if it arrives at home.) This service by Swiss Post is free and is called “PickPost”—you can Google it to read how it works.

Concluding Thoughts

I think I have covered the most important points, though having been here for a while it can be hard to think what information I might have missed since it seems “ordinary”. If there is anything though that you think I should include, let me know and I will add a section in for it!

Hope you have a great time here 😄