The Landlocked Island: What I Did in Switzerland
Learning French and German from scratch at the same time is one of the smarter mistakes I've ever made. On some level, I wanted to learn more languages because I assumed I was good at it and because most people take college electives with little to show for it; there's a visible (audible?) result if you successfully take a foreign language class. I just didn't expect to start two different languages at the same time. That really came about from the majority of communications courses I wanted going into Year Two filling up quickly and me not knowing any better; more ignorance than confidence, if I'm to be honest. And with two years of both European languages under my belt, I decided to follow up my Costa Rican study abroad the previous summer with a similar study abroad trip to Switzerland. Now, I was starting to get cocky.
By the end of Year Three, my grasp on French and German had basically stabilized. I came out the gate strong with German; the learning curve is a lot less steep than French, at least until you start learning different cases and declensions which permeate through the entire language not unlike Latin and that's where I was starting to struggle a bit. French was the opposite: It's not a phonetic language like Spanish, German, or Korean which was new and it has the most pronounced flow of any language I've encountered (though Italian comes very close); the way the words in a single phrase blend into each other like a musical stanza or a Chasse to take it back to French in dance terms. Once you get that rhythm down, the language becomes considerably easier but it took me the better part of a year to get even remotely comfortable with it. I remember sitting in class towards the end of that second semester frustrated as hell it still wasn't really clicking when suddenly I had that lightning bolt moment when it did and excitedly started yammering in French; the pacing and grammatical forms finally making sense. So I wasn't particularly intimidated to go to Switzerland but I knew I was still a novice when it came to getting around.
Switzerland is one of those countries that gets reduced to its industries (Cheese, chocolate, watches, utility knives, banking) because being situated between Germany, France, and Italy leaves a lot of comparison where its bigger neighbors get recognized more for those shared cultural elements than the mountain-locked nation. Even the observation that Switzerland is neutral is kind of a vanilla assessment, right? The cool thing about the Swiss is that they don't give a shit.
One of the provisos of the Treat of Westphalia bringing about the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 was that Switzerland, a country known for its formidable mercenary force (So badass they were officially tasked with guarding Vatican City in 1506 which they still do to this day), would have a diplomatically imposed neutrality. The Swiss took that and ran with it, taking advantage of its natural borders formed by the Alps to become a more insular, exclusive nation. There's a national pride in not being a full member of the European Union and not becoming a full member of the United Nations until 2002. That permeates to the day-to-day culture where you get the sense that the Swiss are certainly welcoming to a degree but I immediately got the feeling their guard was up; that affects how you go about something as simple as casual conversation. I think that isolation informs a sense that the Swiss know just how cool they are but they won't necessarily dismiss you and definitely won't rub your nose in it but there is that slight divide. That's fine, I'm just visiting; your house, your rules.
I took a redeye out of Richmond landing in Zurich right around dawn with this weird mix of being half-awake from not being able to sleep at all on the flight and being incredibly excited that I was on the road again traveling to a new place; that feeling you get on stage of where you're physically exhausted but you don't want it to ever end. And even though it was summer, we were still up in the Alps so it was relatively cool; light jacket weather the entire time really. And it was a good gateway into continental Europe; I had previously been all over the United Kingdom but now the safety net of that common native language was out and I was fending for myself especially as the only student on this trip that had studied German at all and I quickly found out Swiss German is a lot different from the Bavarian-tinged dialect I employed. Fortunately, I took to it all very quickly with the warm coffee shops, musty old bookstores, and open markets set up in train stations on the weekends.
Zurich itself I think is a good representation of the country as a whole both architecturally and in terms of geography. Surrounded by mountains and divided right down the middle by this gorgeous lake; finding your way through the city late at night all revolved around where you were in relation to Lake Zurich. Architecturally, you would get the old stone buildings and cobblestone streets dating back centuries but you would also stumble into a district with postmodern styles, a blend of new and old. And, in direct contrast to the tropical high adventure of Costa Rica, studies were a bit more serious in Switzerland taking the tram up to the University of Zurich and discussing the current state of politics back home with the head of the American Studies program there in honestly some of the most intellectually stimulating conversations I had had up to that time.
Bern, the Swiss capital, was a bit more of a relaxed portion of the tour a bit with a stay that mixed the politics and cultural studies a bit more evenly. We would visit the government buildings and discuss the finer points of the Helvetic Confederation but also spend a lot of times in art museums too. Bern was easily my favorite of the German-speaking cities we stayed in and I think a lot of that was informed by the fact that it leaned more classical in embracing its medieval architecture but also it was bustling with students and tourists from all over the world. Bern was where the action was and every night you would be hanging out drinking and dancing with people from all over Europe. I found this place that was perpetually stuck in the 90s with Eurobeat standards like Ace of Base and Real McCoy which quickly became my favorite nightspot really in the country sipping on pastis and absinthe out on the street before coming in to dance on cheap black and white tile.
The next stretch of days was spent in Geneva, the first French-speaking city on the trip and I was little bit more comfortable; my French competence was already starting to outpace my German and Swiss French translates a lot better than Swiss German. While Bern was the more vibrant city, Geneva proved to be the busiest with considerably more foot traffic, cars and scooters zipping along the roads, and trams and trains running regularly. It also boasted some of the most important stops of the trip with full tours of the European United Nations headquarters (Formerly, the headquarters of the short-lived League of Nations) and the base of operations for the International Red Cross. But, it was the quieter moments in Geneva that I really liked, walking the streets after dark or having lunch during the day in parks.
Other than the obvious difference in primary language, I think the big thing that separated the French-speaking cities from the German was the cuisine. German food is heavier, heartier, and is designed to sustain with all that starch and meat; I remember digging into schnitzel and spaetzle with big stereotypical steins full of frothy lager in beer halls all over Zurich and Bern. French cuisine is rich, heavy on cream, butter, and sugar; it's about passionately living in the now, damn the consequences of all those more savory ingredients. I think the most observable comparison is this: Germans take their coffee black, the French take theirs au lait; one direct and to serve its purpose, the other with flavor and flair. Never did find a decent croque monsieur on that trip though. Had to wait a couple years later until a spur of the moment trip to Paris. I'm going deep on tangents again. Moving on!
The last French-centric city on this voyage was Lausanne and it was the most relaxing bit of that study abroad. I would either quietly read by Lake Geneva or outside on the front patio of a cafe; by then, the summer was starting to creep into the country and I could take in the sunshine. The pace of the course had slowed down too: The lectures were still there but fewer and farther in between, the professors wanting to just enjoy their time in Switzerland too. With the increased free time, I would take day trips from cheap ferries across the lake to France for pastries and coffee to skycars up to the Alps and hike along breathing in that clean, alpine air that would reinvigorate you with every breath.
The last stop was the Swiss-German city of Lucerne right there on the eponymous lake and priding itself in its medieval architecture. We were deeper and higher into the mountains and things were getting chilly again. And honestly, after weeks of running around the country, we were starting to feel exhausted; what started out as hanging out in bars and nightclubs until the wee hours of the morning had become a couple quiet drinks in unassuming cafes and railway stations with that last bit of people-watching.
Costa Rica was the most adventurous study abroad trip and I think the more exotic locale really lending itself to that. I was also a bit more confident and reckless on that trip because my grasp on the local language was better and it was all new. Switzerland was a little more studious and you would have to make your own adventure within the proceedings which I think succeeded at and my German and French certainly got better but there was some definite trial and error which was why I tended to be more reserved and quieter on that trip; I was more self-conscious because I was more vulnerable. Wrapping up all the undergraduate studying abroad would take place a year later and it would see me at a bit of a crossroads by the end of it all.
By the end of Year Three, my grasp on French and German had basically stabilized. I came out the gate strong with German; the learning curve is a lot less steep than French, at least until you start learning different cases and declensions which permeate through the entire language not unlike Latin and that's where I was starting to struggle a bit. French was the opposite: It's not a phonetic language like Spanish, German, or Korean which was new and it has the most pronounced flow of any language I've encountered (though Italian comes very close); the way the words in a single phrase blend into each other like a musical stanza or a Chasse to take it back to French in dance terms. Once you get that rhythm down, the language becomes considerably easier but it took me the better part of a year to get even remotely comfortable with it. I remember sitting in class towards the end of that second semester frustrated as hell it still wasn't really clicking when suddenly I had that lightning bolt moment when it did and excitedly started yammering in French; the pacing and grammatical forms finally making sense. So I wasn't particularly intimidated to go to Switzerland but I knew I was still a novice when it came to getting around.
Switzerland is one of those countries that gets reduced to its industries (Cheese, chocolate, watches, utility knives, banking) because being situated between Germany, France, and Italy leaves a lot of comparison where its bigger neighbors get recognized more for those shared cultural elements than the mountain-locked nation. Even the observation that Switzerland is neutral is kind of a vanilla assessment, right? The cool thing about the Swiss is that they don't give a shit.
One of the provisos of the Treat of Westphalia bringing about the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 was that Switzerland, a country known for its formidable mercenary force (So badass they were officially tasked with guarding Vatican City in 1506 which they still do to this day), would have a diplomatically imposed neutrality. The Swiss took that and ran with it, taking advantage of its natural borders formed by the Alps to become a more insular, exclusive nation. There's a national pride in not being a full member of the European Union and not becoming a full member of the United Nations until 2002. That permeates to the day-to-day culture where you get the sense that the Swiss are certainly welcoming to a degree but I immediately got the feeling their guard was up; that affects how you go about something as simple as casual conversation. I think that isolation informs a sense that the Swiss know just how cool they are but they won't necessarily dismiss you and definitely won't rub your nose in it but there is that slight divide. That's fine, I'm just visiting; your house, your rules.
I took a redeye out of Richmond landing in Zurich right around dawn with this weird mix of being half-awake from not being able to sleep at all on the flight and being incredibly excited that I was on the road again traveling to a new place; that feeling you get on stage of where you're physically exhausted but you don't want it to ever end. And even though it was summer, we were still up in the Alps so it was relatively cool; light jacket weather the entire time really. And it was a good gateway into continental Europe; I had previously been all over the United Kingdom but now the safety net of that common native language was out and I was fending for myself especially as the only student on this trip that had studied German at all and I quickly found out Swiss German is a lot different from the Bavarian-tinged dialect I employed. Fortunately, I took to it all very quickly with the warm coffee shops, musty old bookstores, and open markets set up in train stations on the weekends.
Zurich itself I think is a good representation of the country as a whole both architecturally and in terms of geography. Surrounded by mountains and divided right down the middle by this gorgeous lake; finding your way through the city late at night all revolved around where you were in relation to Lake Zurich. Architecturally, you would get the old stone buildings and cobblestone streets dating back centuries but you would also stumble into a district with postmodern styles, a blend of new and old. And, in direct contrast to the tropical high adventure of Costa Rica, studies were a bit more serious in Switzerland taking the tram up to the University of Zurich and discussing the current state of politics back home with the head of the American Studies program there in honestly some of the most intellectually stimulating conversations I had had up to that time.
Bern, the Swiss capital, was a bit more of a relaxed portion of the tour a bit with a stay that mixed the politics and cultural studies a bit more evenly. We would visit the government buildings and discuss the finer points of the Helvetic Confederation but also spend a lot of times in art museums too. Bern was easily my favorite of the German-speaking cities we stayed in and I think a lot of that was informed by the fact that it leaned more classical in embracing its medieval architecture but also it was bustling with students and tourists from all over the world. Bern was where the action was and every night you would be hanging out drinking and dancing with people from all over Europe. I found this place that was perpetually stuck in the 90s with Eurobeat standards like Ace of Base and Real McCoy which quickly became my favorite nightspot really in the country sipping on pastis and absinthe out on the street before coming in to dance on cheap black and white tile.
The next stretch of days was spent in Geneva, the first French-speaking city on the trip and I was little bit more comfortable; my French competence was already starting to outpace my German and Swiss French translates a lot better than Swiss German. While Bern was the more vibrant city, Geneva proved to be the busiest with considerably more foot traffic, cars and scooters zipping along the roads, and trams and trains running regularly. It also boasted some of the most important stops of the trip with full tours of the European United Nations headquarters (Formerly, the headquarters of the short-lived League of Nations) and the base of operations for the International Red Cross. But, it was the quieter moments in Geneva that I really liked, walking the streets after dark or having lunch during the day in parks.
Other than the obvious difference in primary language, I think the big thing that separated the French-speaking cities from the German was the cuisine. German food is heavier, heartier, and is designed to sustain with all that starch and meat; I remember digging into schnitzel and spaetzle with big stereotypical steins full of frothy lager in beer halls all over Zurich and Bern. French cuisine is rich, heavy on cream, butter, and sugar; it's about passionately living in the now, damn the consequences of all those more savory ingredients. I think the most observable comparison is this: Germans take their coffee black, the French take theirs au lait; one direct and to serve its purpose, the other with flavor and flair. Never did find a decent croque monsieur on that trip though. Had to wait a couple years later until a spur of the moment trip to Paris. I'm going deep on tangents again. Moving on!
The last French-centric city on this voyage was Lausanne and it was the most relaxing bit of that study abroad. I would either quietly read by Lake Geneva or outside on the front patio of a cafe; by then, the summer was starting to creep into the country and I could take in the sunshine. The pace of the course had slowed down too: The lectures were still there but fewer and farther in between, the professors wanting to just enjoy their time in Switzerland too. With the increased free time, I would take day trips from cheap ferries across the lake to France for pastries and coffee to skycars up to the Alps and hike along breathing in that clean, alpine air that would reinvigorate you with every breath.
The last stop was the Swiss-German city of Lucerne right there on the eponymous lake and priding itself in its medieval architecture. We were deeper and higher into the mountains and things were getting chilly again. And honestly, after weeks of running around the country, we were starting to feel exhausted; what started out as hanging out in bars and nightclubs until the wee hours of the morning had become a couple quiet drinks in unassuming cafes and railway stations with that last bit of people-watching.
Costa Rica was the most adventurous study abroad trip and I think the more exotic locale really lending itself to that. I was also a bit more confident and reckless on that trip because my grasp on the local language was better and it was all new. Switzerland was a little more studious and you would have to make your own adventure within the proceedings which I think succeeded at and my German and French certainly got better but there was some definite trial and error which was why I tended to be more reserved and quieter on that trip; I was more self-conscious because I was more vulnerable. Wrapping up all the undergraduate studying abroad would take place a year later and it would see me at a bit of a crossroads by the end of it all.
