What the heck am I doing by myself for six months in literally the middle of Europe? I have been asking myself that very question lately. This past summer I decided to study abroad in Lucerne, Switzerland. The process was a bit long and cumbersome but I feel like it will be more than worth it.
Last year I assisted with a one week master student seminar that is co-hosted by the UFV School of Business and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Vancouver. I met some very interesting people who got me excited to travel Europe. I thought maybe I would visit Switzerland but at the time I never thought I would be living here. I also didn’t think I would get the opportunity this quickly in my life to travel abroad, but here I am at my apartment in Emmenbrucke, Switzerland.
I will be spending the semester taking business classes at the university. I’ve been here for about a week now and have fully moved into my student housing apartment. The transit station is across the street from me, and there is a cute little convenience store downstairs that locals visit before heading home for the evening to have a quick beer at the tables outside. Although the view from my apartment isn’t the greatest, once I walk down the block it is absolutely stunning, especially on a clear day. The colourful antique-looking houses are surrounded by majestic snow-covered mountains.
In my short time here I have had some very interesting experiences with transit, shopping, and appliances. I’m sure there will be many more to come, and I can’t wait. When I left for this trip I told myself I would try anything at least once and keep an open mind to people, food, and experiences.
So here’s a few stories of my endeavours here so far.
The first difference I have noticed from home is how great the transit system is here. The most difficult part of using transit here is figuring out how to actually get on the bus. Instead of the bus driver opening the door or lowering the ramp, the people riding the bus push their own buttons to get on and off. However, the buses are very efficient and always on time. My Swiss friend was annoyed when she realized the next bus wasn’t going to be for another 25 minutes. I was just excited there was a guarantee that the bus was coming since my arms were full of stuff from Ikea.
Ikea… that’s a fun topic! The store looks exactly the same as the stores in Vancouver, and my phone even connected to the wifi automatically. The best part is that instead of bottomless pop, they offer bottomless specialty coffees. I know where I’ll be studying from now on.
Another fun experience I had was going to the grocery store. It is very expensive to eat out here: a six-inch tuna sandwich from Subway is eight Swiss francs which works out to about $10.88 Canadian, just for the sandwich. They don’t refrigerate their eggs in the grocery store, which I guess I’m just going to have to get over if I ever want to eat an egg again. For the most part everything has German, French, and Italian on the packaging, so as someone who can read French I don’t have much of an issue. But sometimes there are words I don’t recognize and I end up with flourescent purple blueberry soy yogurt for my morning granola. It’s part of the experience.
The other day I had a particularly hard time doing my laundry for the first time in this building. They use symbols on their appliances which you would think would be more universal and easier to use. Not the case. Once I found an English version of the symbol legend, I realized I had put the machine on the wrong settings. Then I couldn’t figure out how to start the machine, but eventually it went and I headed back up the 53 steps to get to my apartment and finish watching Pulp Fiction while my laundry was in the wash. When I returned to transfer it to the dryer, two other building-dwellers were there. Of course, I wanted to represent myself as a smart, independent Canadian girl, so I proceeded to take my laundry out and then couldn’t figure out how to open the dryer door. With the help of an engineer from Eastern Europe, I eventually found the guide and we were able to pry the door open.
In the end, I had nice fresh and fluffy towels so it’s not all bad.
I hope you will stay tuned for the next few months as I live out my Carrie Bradshaw fantasy of having a newspaper column. Despite sounding like Dora the Explorer, I am so excited to have you come on this adventure with me!
