Swiss Culturalisms: Part II

Hey guys! Here's another post about Swiss culture intricacies. Enjoy! :-)

• Trash Day: Your first impression is probably, how is trash collecting interesting? This might not be weird for you, but I'm used to having a big black plastic trashcan that I put out on the curb and can continually put trash in during the week. That doesn't happen here. In Switzerland, regular trash is put in a large black trash bag with the drawstrings tied together. That makes no practical sense to me. Why would you choose a trash bag that can be rained in or easily attacked by the dozen cats that wander around here. Also, you have to wait until the actual trash day to collect all of your trash  that at this point is either overflowing in the rooms or collected in a gross pile in the basement. 

• Recycling: this is connected to the previous statement and as confusing for me. Just like there's no trashcan for regular trash, there's no container for recyclables. Instead, people collect paper and plastic containers and carry it to a recycling drop-off place, like at the grocery store, Migros. Also, unlike in Germany, people don't get a Pfand for their bottles which is really annoying when everything is already so expensive here. People are also, compared to Germany, pretty lax about making sure that everything that can be is recycled, mostly because they have to lug the stuff away themselves. 

• Arms on the Table: This really isn't that strange of a cultural tic but it came to my attention after someone saw how I ate at the table. I had one hand on my lap and only used my fork instead of both my fork and knife. Apparently that's a no go in Switzerland. The Swiss expect people to have both arms on the table (no elbows!) and to always use the fork and knife together when eating. 

• Cowbells: Okay, this might be common elsewhere, but I have never heard cowbells before. I've seen plenty of cows. They're not exactly rare in Florida, but I've never seen them with bells on. The bells make the cows look like Heidi is going to jump out from behind them. It's also a surprisingly comforting sound to hear the tinkling of bells as the cows move around pastures and you hear them while walking in a forest. It makes the experience of being in this country feel like a fairy tale. 
  

• Cheese: Have any of you heard the stereotype that the Swiss are obsessed with cheese? Well, I'm here to tell you, it's true. Cheese is everywhere here. Like, everywhere. For someone who's lactose intolerant, it's annoying that most recipes involve cheese or other dairy products. One Swiss meal that heavily focuses on cheese is Raclette. Raclette is the name of the cheese, which is melted on a specific metal pan on a specific mini heating apparatus and typically eaten with potatoes. It's a very simple dish that's usually eaten when it's chilly out and it tastes amazing (I was able to eat some and cursed my lactose intolerance as I did so.) If you have the opportunity to travel to Switzerland, definitely try this dish out. You'll usually see it at a street festival as well. 
  

Homesick

Hey Guys! Today's post is about the things that I miss about home.

     Even though my parents are German I was born in the U.S. and still consider our place in Florida as home. I've been in Europe for about three months now and I'm experiencing pretty strong homesickness and cravings for things I just don't have here. Overall I'm still happy that I have this great opportunity to be in Europe, but that doesn't mean the adjustment hasn't been hard.

• Chipotle: Okay, look, I know what you're probably thinking. "You're in Europe, land of Gourmet food! Why would you be craving American fast food?" Of course I'm thrilled with my food choices in Europe, which are often 10x the quality of food in the U.S. But I am craving Chipotle Guac so hard. It all started when I made myself some guacamole. The whole time I was eating it I was thinking, "This is trash compared to Chipotle." I also miss anything Tex-Mex related, which DOES NOT EXIST HERE. I've really been considering buying a plane ticket just to get a Chipotle veggie bowl with whole wheat rice, black beans, corn salsa, mild salsa, lettuce, cheese, and GUAC!!!!

• English: I'm surprised by this, but I miss hearing English being spoken on a regular basis. This is something you don't realize you'd miss until it's gone. I love learning languages and I'm glad of the opportunity to improve my German, but I miss speaking without stumbling over my words. And Swiss German sounds so different to regular German for me that I can't even associate it with nostalgia of my family. I often watch the British TV channels in order to hear TV shows spoken without German dubbing.

• Staying Hydrated in a Restaurant: Look, I get that it's limiting waste and probably better off for the environment in the long run, a way for people to earn a living, blah, blah, blah. But for the love of God, can't I just have a free refill??? I'm so sick of having to budget my money for eating out mainly based on how many drinks I think I'll need. I also miss my free water. Why is it more expensive than a beer??? And people in Europe, I'm not a freak for wanting ice in my drink. It's fine.

• My Family: I'm blessed to have a family that I love. It's just not the same Skyping instead of seeing them in person. Especially my sibling. I even miss them annoying the crap out of me. Who'd have thought it?

• My Friends: Similar to above but this section is more nuanced. I miss seeing my friends and hanging out with them so bad if I think about it too much I'll start crying. Socially, I'm on my own here, which is difficult for me. I'm someone who needs to have a group of people around me as a source of comfort and happiness. I'm also an introvert and meeting new people not only drains me mentally and physically but also causes me a great deal of anxiety. Ideally, I'd have someone by my side helping me out with socially navigating a new world, but when you're traveling on your own you don't have those resources. And asking someone for help hasn't gone that well. First, people usually tell me that I have to get used to navigating the world on my own so when I ask for help they seem to think I'm asking them to hold my hand. That's not the case. I love being independent, and when my anxiety and past experiences with people doesn't tear my self-confidence to shreds, I love doing things on my own. Unfortunately, I've had a really hard time socializing. And when I know a person is skeptical of my anxiety, I'm not going to ask them further for help. I can't mentally or physically deal with that attitude or opinion towards me. The next section is connected to this.

• Therapy: I've been diagnosed by multiple doctors with generalized and severe social anxiety, accompanied with depression. Without social support and current access to therapy, I'm in a rough mental state right now. And the worse my anxiety and depression get, the less I have the desire to ask for help. It's great being in Europe, but it's hard being here alone when my mental state isn't that great.

     That got deep for the end but it's a large part of what I've been dealing with by adjusting to living in Europe on my own. I have a host family right now, but I either fail to see it or am not having the support I need right now. And it's exhausting to keep on asking for it when you feel that you're annoying people or their solution is to tell me to not let myself get mentally overwhelmed. Like, that'd be great if it was that easy.

     What do you guys miss the most when you're traveling or have moved somewhere new? If you've done it while dealing with anxiety and/or depression, do you have tips for me?

Swiss Culturalisms

Hey Everyone! :)

     This post is going to be a collection of specific things I've observed in Switzerland that makes the country different from the U.S. and Germany. I'm focusing on the Swiss-German culture as that is the culture I have the most contact with currently. (Zurich is kind of like the capital for Swiss-Germans.)

• Don't be late: Swiss people really don't like it if you are ever running late. To them, being on time is already late. If you're five minutes too late, you might as well not go. 

• Stores close early: This annoys me to no end. Most stores usually close around 6:30 p.m. or if you're lucky, 8 p.m. So forget about shopping at your leisure right after work or picking something up at night if you forgot it during the day. Also, I haven't found any 24/7 stores here, something that I find frustrating since I'm used to having at least one shopping option for all hours of the day.

• Swiss-German Dialect: This isn't that surprising, but what I have found to be really interesting is that some people who've spent most of their life in Switzerland and nowhere else would rather speak English to you than High German (if you can't understand Swiss German.) 

• Obsession with brands: This isn't necessarily a specifically Swiss phenomenon, but I've never seen so many people wear the same things and brands. No one here really has their own style either and most people blend in with each other.

• Everything is EXPENSIVE: The rumors are true. It costs sooooo much money to live here. Housing is ridiculously expensive but even stuff at the supermarket cost a lot. For maybe a pound of meat (which is nothing for an average family) will cost you about $13. Produce also costs about that much and products like toothpaste and hand soap usually cost at least $10.

• No Fast Food: This is a bit of an exaggeration, but after living in the U.S. I'm a pretty good expert on what fast food is. That doesn't exist here. You have McDonalds and Burger King but there's no dollar menu and the prices are so high that it makes more sense to just go to a regular restaurant to get some better food. The closest thing they have to fast-food options are Falafel/Kebab stands because there's a large Turkish population here. But a meal from them also costs at least $10. Without a drink.

      That's a good basic list for now. I'll write another post like this later on after I've spent more time here.

P.S. I have a Twitter account now! Check me out and follow me @EuroFrau

P.S.S. Guys, after writing this section, I'm craving a greasy burger and fries for only $5. It's the little things you miss. 

When you travel, what do you miss the most?

Swiss Festivaling!

Hello Everyone! Happy Monday!

       Today's post is about the time I went to an outdoor festival in Zurich. The festival was in honor of an annual Swiss tradition, Knabenschiessen. I went with the mom and one of the sons and his friend to the festival. It was amazing. We did have to walk a bit in the scorching heat to get there but that was fine. It meant I could eat festival treats without having to feel guilty about it!


      Knabenschiessen was established in 1889 (according to Wikipedia.) Basically, a group of 13 to 17 year-olds shoot at a shooting range with a rifle. It used to only be for boys but girls can also participate now. At the end of the event, the Knaben King and Queen are crowned (given to the person with the most accurate shots.) [Knaben is the traditional Swiss word for boys.] I didn't actually see the shooting event but that was fine with me. If I wanted to see children with guns, I could have stayed in the US (yup, that was a shot - pun intended.)


      Going to the festival was a fun experience. Open-air festivals are pretty common in Germany and I've been to a number of them. This one followed the same formula. A street lined with stands selling wares or food that you're willing to sell a kidney for in order to afford the crepes with nutella (it was about $8. Smh.)

        Then there were the rides! There were so many amusement park options! And they all looked terrifying. I'm not a fan of heights and the rides meant for people my age thrust you into the sky. I didn't go on them but watching the people plummet to their potential deaths was fascinating.

     The mom and I ended up buying some food and we found a shady spot on a grassy hill where we could eat, inject much needed fluids, and watch the sweating festival-goers walk by. We bought roasted almonds rolled in sugar and Magen Brot, this delicious baked good that's basically a small spice cake dipped in melted chocolate. A.MAZE.ZING. I ravished them and chased them down with my sprite. (Even though I was dehydrated, I wasn't going to waste $4 on a mineral water.)

Overall, it was an amazing day that made me grateful to be in Europe.

Swiss German

• Greetings:   Hallo vs. Grueezi 

• Goodbye:    Tschuess vs. Ciao

• Thank you: Danke vs. Merci

• Bicycle:       Fahrrad vs. Vello

• Ice Cream:  Eis vs. Glace

Switzerland is made up of a mix of cultures. There is Swiss-German, Swiss-French, Swiss-Italian, and Romansch. In the Zurich region of Switzerland (the part of the country closest to Germany), Swiss-German is spoken. For a native English speaker who has a good grasp of German, for the first few days in Switzerland I had no idea what people were saying to me. As I spend more time here, the language becomes easier to understand but I still have moments where I'm frozen in confusion as someone speaks to me, like a teller at a cash register. Swiss German also utilizes a lot of French words and this is why many common German phrases are said in French instead.

Fortunately, most people here also know high German (official German language without influence from dialects) so I can communicate well with others. I've also been told multiple times that I speak German well, and that is probably one of the best compliments I've ever received, and I was once told by a nun that I should become an actress.

Overall however, I miss listening to Hessich German. I know that the longer I visit here the more I'll understand of Swiss German, but I don't think I'll have the same connection to it as I do with the German dialect I'm used to listening to from my family. But it's interesting to hear how two German dialects can be so different from each other despite deriving from the same language.

I'm still able to speak English though when German gets too frustrating for me. The family that I'm staying with all know English. The younger son usually speaks English with me. His brother mostly speaks German, unless I'm asking a question about something, then he'll answer me in English. Interestingly, the younger son usually speaks high German while his brother speaks mainly Swiss German, even though they both grew up in Switzerland (and were born here). Their parents, who grew up in Germany, speak High German but they have also picked up Swiss-German expressions.

I'll soon be visiting Austria, another country that speaks a specific German dialect. I'll let you know if there are any further differences between high German, Swiss German, and Austrian German!

Tschuess/Ciao!

EuroFrau goes to Switzerland!

Hello followers! Guess where I'm blogging from? SWITZERLAND!

I am currently in Switzerland and staying with family friends. They live about half-an-hour away from Zurich. Guys, this place is beautiful. For instance, from the view in my room I can see mountains, many trees, and idyllic houses in the neighborhood and on the mountain. I'm currently sitting outside in a balcony and the temperature is great right now. It was hot during the day but now there's a cool breeze, just like there is every evening.

Here are some quick things I love about Switzerland so far.
- Free water! (There are beautiful fountains with cold fresh water.)
- People are super friendly here
- Chocolate is available everywhere
- The landscape is gorgeous
- Don't have to pay to use the public bathrooms

I'll keep you guys updated with my experiences here. One of them is my first time ever seeing a live soccer/football game.

First off, one of the sons of the family friends is a professional football player and he plays with FC Wil. He had a game yesterday and I went to see it. Usually, I'm not one for sports, They bore me or I don't understand the rules and have no desire to learn them. But, soccer is one of the most interesting sports for me because I think it's very intense to watch a game where it's likely for there to only be a score of about 1:0. Also, my sibling is a soccer fanatic so I've been exposed to the sport a lot.

My Ticket

Watching the game live was really cool. Not only can you see the players more clearly and hear them shouting to each other, but you get to experience the same moment with hundreds of other people. I always gasped when it looked like the other team was about to score and people would turn around to look at me but then they laughed it off. Also, everything in Switzerland is a lot cleaner, and the stadium was beautiful compared to American football games I've been to. However, I couldn't escape the smoking. Most people smoke here (like they do in Germany) and at the game was no exception. For someone who easily gets headaches from strong smells, that wasn't great but ah well. It was really cool to watch a game where I knew one of the players! The son was really good and he made some amazing moves, like swiftly kicking the ball to fly through an opposing player's legs. I definitely want to go to another live game. As for now, I'm going to go watch one on TV. Go Soccer!

Kassel

Hercules Statue

     Story Time!!! I went with my grandmother to Kassel. To get there, we took a three-hour charter bus ride. The best part? I had to get up at 8 A.M! Yeah, I was basically a zombie during the ride. I also felt really nauseous because I could barely sleep the night before so the ride was three hours of me trying not to throw up.

     Then there were our fellow passengers. Um, well, I was the youngest of the group. By far. By about, fifty years. Yup, I was on a bus ride with a group of retirees. I'm used to taking vacations with my parents, and that can be weird when you'd rather hang out with people your own age. But being in a travel group of only retirees is bizarre. I had nothing to talk about and chilled with my grandma while overhearing people say things like, "When someone is five minutes late, I feel physically ill and my throat closes up."

     We also had a delightful bus driver. He was, in the politest of terms, condescending and rude. Whenever someone asked him a question he acted like they were an idiot and was annoyed that he had to talk to them. H was a bit weird and liked to call out people. Apparently people usually give the driver tips on these kind of outings, but not a single person did so on this trip. My grandma said it was his own fault because he didn't even get out of his seat to say goodbye to people when it was time to go.

     Despite all that, seeing Kassel itself was a nice experience. Like most of the towns I've seen in Germany, it's a combination of idyllic village and industry. Fun fact: the Brothers Grimm lived and worked there as librarians for some time and also collected their stories there. That's what the lady giving us the tour guide mentioned many times. Oh yeah, the trip included a guided bus tour. When we arrived in Kassel a woman boarded the bus and she gave us an audio tour as the bus driver drove around the city. After the tour we had an hour break for lunch and plenty of time to walk around the city, as we were told. Um, no. We had enough time to take a bathroom break and wolf down fish rolls and (for me to drink a coca cola) and then had to head back to the buses.

     








         We then went to a nature park, Bergpark Wilhelmshoehe, known for its man-made and natural water features. And a nude statue of Hercules for some reason. That was interesting. My grandmother and I walked down about 200 steps and had to walk further down a steep hill to get to the main attractions. On our way, we saw natural waterfalls and at the end, the Grosse Fontaine, which is basically a strong jet of water.

Grosse Fontaine

      After our exertion we had, what else? Coffee and cake in a hotel lobby. At this point, after about an hour of physical activity, I was starving and I did not want cake. I wanted real food, like a steak and fries. But that was not meant to be. I tried to swallow the cake, which was apple, (I hate cooked apples), but I gave up after the third bite. Then it was back to the bus for the return 3-hour journey. Ahh, fun times in Germany!

Apology for Monday

Hey guys,

I want to apologize for not posting on Monday. I haven't been feeling well and didn't want to give a badly-written post. You all deserve more than that. I will post on Thursday.

Thanks for understanding!

<3 EuroFrau

Adjustments

Hey guys. So far my posts have been pretty light-hearted and general as I shared with you a small glimpse into German life from a German-American perspective. But I wanted to have a more serious talk about the reality of adjusting to a new place.

It's scary being in a country I didn't grow up in. Even if I think I know some of the culture and have a pretty good grasp on the language, that's not enough to prepare me for living in a new world. I have to adapt in ways I really didn't think of, like getting used to shopping in a new supermarket or remembering that people won’t always smile to you on the street. I’ve had to get used to a new climate and being looked at strangely when I don’t know where the checkout line is in a store. I don’t completely know all of the social rules yet so usually end up standing mute at a social function, and then people back home ask me if I’ve made any friends.

One of the worst things is being homesick. Not necessarily for things like 24-hour open stores or complementary iced water at restaurants, but for the people I left. I knew I would miss my family and friends a lot, but I wasn’t ready to accept how much. It’s hard when I hear about things they are doing and knowing I’m not going to see them for a while. I was ready to move out of my parent’s house, but it’s another thing not being able to quickly visit them when I need some quick advice or just a hug. I can’t even talk about how much I miss my sibling. And my friends. Thanks to Whatsapp and Skype I can keep in touch with them, but it’s not the same compared to seeing them regularly and knowing that there’s an ocean separating us.

Adapting to a new world is hard. I know in the long run being in Europe is going to be a very positive change on my life, but it’s not going to be an easy adjustment. At least I know this feeling can’t be new to many people my age trying to figure out their next step, especially if that step means being on their own for the first time, away from their support group. In the end, in the moments when the adjustment is the most difficult, we have to believe that the change will be a positive one.