Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates is a weekly column showcasing the life of a UFV student studying abroad. Jennifer is in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts this semester, and documenting the process as she goes.
The first thing people back home would say to me when I told them I was going to Europe was “Wow, you’re going to love it,” and the second was “You are going to experience so many things and come back a totally different person.” I tried to take that with a grain of salt because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on this trip and be disappointed if something big didn’t happen. But I think I’m already starting to feel the very beginning of that change. Here I get to be anyone I want to be, since no one knows more about my past than what I disclose.
If you know me, you know that I’m always on the go and I am always planning or coordinating something. Here, I just get to attend things. Other people are super keen to plan events, so I don’t have to worry about it. This weekend my flatmates and I decided to have a party and show some good old Canadian hospitality. I had planned to go to Bern during the day Saturday, so I warned my flatmates that I wouldn’t be able to help set up, and when I came home everything was decorated and looked great. I quickly cut some lemons for tequila shots and oranges for sangria, then curled my hair and got ready to party.
Sometimes I’m critical of the setup or flow of events planned but I’m working on that. It is so much more fun just letting things roll off my chest. I am on vacation after all! Plus, I lived at home for my entire degree so far and I never got this “university / college experience.” I know that a lot of UFV domestic students feel that way, and that’s why studying abroad is such a great opportunity. Somehow my super chill third-floor Canadian flat has become party central, and I love it! I can just walk out of my room and there’s a party happening. This is a really fun aspect that I never thought about before.
Since I’m coming to the end of my degree, I have been starting to think about real life and coming to grips with what is realistic for me to accomplish in my life and what is not. I had this Barbie colouring book when I was a little girl and I loved it because on every page she got to be someone new, and I had always hoped that my life would be like that. Recently, I started to get a little pessimistic about life in general and I lost the drive I had only a couple years ago to go out and accomplish things people told me I couldn’t. This experience has helped me to feel invincible again, like anything I want to accomplish is possible with a little hard work. But don’t worry, my Swiss health insurance hasn’t kicked in yet so I won’t do anything too too crazy.
The best part of this exchange semester so far has been the fact that I’m surrounded by motivated and like-minded young adults, many of them with the same interests as me. I would say the average age is about 21-22 and I am so impressed by many of them. I mean, I don’t know how well I would have handled this experience three or four years ago. Granted most of them are European, so it’s not super far away from home for them. It is also very encouraging to be able to walk into a classroom and know that you are learning the same concepts as other countries. I was nervous that my little hometown education wouldn’t stand up to the business things I would learn in Switzerland but they totally do! I am taking three academic classes and one fun class on Swiss culture; it’s going into week five now and I can honestly say I am just behind enough in my readings that I am starting to get motivated to do school work again.
It has taken me a while to fully appreciate the place I am in physically and emotionally right now. I’m much more relaxed than I have been in a long time, which probably has more to do with not working than being in Europe. I’m genuinely happy to be here. Sure, there are days where I still get homesick, but they are fewer and farther apart now. And it’s more of wanting to bring all of my friends here to experience this with me rather than me wanting to go back home. Lucerne is a very slow-moving city and I can feel that aspect setting into my own life. Things happen slower here, but everything feels more meaningful. For the first time, I really had a feeling of being at home when I walked through the train station to catch the train from school to my apartment.
Having so much time to be alone with myself has been challenging and I’m not sure if that is the experience people were trying to prepare me for, but it is the experience I am having right now.
