So on Christmas Eve, I have been in Switzerland for 4 months. So now it's the perfect time to tell you about this amazing country im living in. I feel like Americans don't have the slighest clue about Switzerland othe than they have really good choclate and cheese. Some people don't even know this country exists becuase it's so tiny and you can barely find it on the map of Europe. When I told most of my friends I was leaving they always told me to have fun in Sweden. I still have no idea how they came up with that one. But, it was the funniest when my dad told me that. Since he clearly knew where I was going.
To start off ill tell you a little about the country and history and then go into some fun and interesting facts that im sure you would love to know. Well as I said before Switzerland is a very small country. It is located between Germany, Austria, France and Italy. Because of the bordering countries, they have 4 main languages spoken, German, French, Italian and Romanish. Switzerland has 26 cantons. Cantons are equal to states that we have in the US. In schools in the german speaking part they learn german from Germany but they speak swiss german. Every kanton speaks a different dialect of swiss german. Sometimes this means only some of the words are differnt but most of the times it's just the way it sounds when someone talks, like an accent. Also, equivalent to the US. Like in TX and CA, they sound a little differnt then PA. The most interesting part of this whole dialect thing for me is that sometimes the swiss people can't understand people from another canton. But I don't blame them becuase I sure as hell can't either. I just barely understand St.Gallen deutsch. Well enough with the stuff im sure you find boring, now off to the interseting stuff. Well Switzerland has a very good public transportation system with trains and busses that are always punctual. People are always on a time schedule. There is no such thing as a personal space bubble. People will squeeze in between you and your friend just to get by. Or run into you without ever saying sorry, just becuase they know they will never see you again. Most houses are very modern but the cities look old, the streets are paved with cobblestone and the buildings have paintings and art on them. Everything is extremely clean. The Swiss flag is everwhere. You will never loose track of time becuase there is a clock almost everywhere you go. Everything is extremely expencive. The swiss use any reason to party from getting a good grade in school to an anniversary of friendship. You have to be 18 to drive, 16 to drink beer and wine and 18 to drink liquor. The swiss are very open and friendly to talk anytime. Almost everyone can speak a little english. School is very demanding. It's normal to come home from school for lunch. Dinner is bread and meat and cheese, only on weekends a hot meal is prepared. Swiss people will go out of there way to help someone. If you are obsessed with VW R32 you deff. came to the right place, I see about 3 a day on average (; Boys are flirts but would never talk to a girl first. All the rumors you hear about swiss choclate being the best in the world is absolutely true. I've meet more americans this past week than my whole time here. Maybe americans like to come here for the holidays, no idea. Newspaper, Movies and school work, is all done in german. The only time people write in swiss german is to their friends in a text or facebook. To legally have a dog you have to go through an agility course. Dogs are allowed in trains and bussed but have to have a special ticket. It is extremly cold here in winter. The weather is like a pregnant person, one second it's raining and the next second it's snowing. The mountains are absolutely breath taking. Swiss cows are the most cared for in the world in my opinion. They always have fresh pastures to graze on, not cooped up in stalls, and are milked by hand. Family is the most important part of their hectic and stressful days. Everyone loves america and it's their dream to come here. Their always rocking shoes or scarfs with the american flag. It's normal for people to wear clothing for two days because swiss washing mashines are 'soo good'. Most of the music is in every language but german. Zurich, is the most epencive city in all of the world. Swiss people love to talk but they would never talk about their feelings. People smoke alot. Jobs are the only thing young people are focused on. People never say like, they say love. You most likely will never hear of a prison here. If you don't have a pencil case you are considered uncool. It's normal for you to get a list from your class of everyone's address and number. When you are introduced to someone they always ask where you live. Huge scarfs are 'in'. Girls dress to impress not based on the weather. Kebab is the best food in the world, im truely addicted. There are alot of immagrants here from Turkey. Switzerland is amazing. Come here and see for yourself (: I'm clearly in love!