Homage to Switzerland

From one of the most beautiful reasons, love, I moved to beautiful Switzerland and have been living in Olten since January, employed at Born Reisen. Not from far away, 'just' from the south of Germany, from Mannheim, so there aren't quite so many differences, but still a few. Let's start with the language, I know you don't like to hear it, but it's just adorable, this diminutive form of words and the sound.

Here are a few highlights from me:

Schleckstengel, pissle, Müntschi, Schnuderlumpe, Lööli

In my office job, I got to know your mail, honestly, there is an A and a B mail? Who is interested in the letter being sent slowly, a system that I don't really understand. Maybe I should convene a citizens' initiative against it, there are enough of them here. I think it's great that citizens here are allowed to participate and be asked, but let's be honest, sometimes it's a bit exaggerated.

Phone calls here in Switzerland can sometimes be very long, but there's a signal word, where the other person immediately realizes, the caller wants to hang up, the magic word is "Also."

Then your garbage separation, you make paper bundles and cardboard bundles - really? I thought that was trash, but with you even the trash is very orderly and yet they say we Germans are so orderly ;)

What I find fascinating, you don't have a deposit, but everyone still returns their PET bottles - hats off!

What struck me immediately after my move was the friendliness of the people. A "Grüezi" from strangers on the street is not uncommon here. The fact that you can drive at intersections or cross a pedestrian crossing without fear of being run over is normal here. A friendly thank you afterwards is of course part of it! Recently, I was out with someone from Germany here in Olten, and we were let through at a pedestrian crossing, and I thanked the driver politely. "What are you doing?" the person asked me. "Thanking them," I replied, "that's what you do here." I don't mean to say that people in Germany are unfriendly, by no means, absolutely not, but maybe it's a bit more anonymous because everything is bigger. Here in Olten, people don't necessarily know each other, but the fact that they live here and are Swiss connects them. People help each other out and look out for one another, which became very apparent to me when I unfortunately witnessed a motorcycle accident and provided first aid. The helpfulness of the Swiss impressed me; no one just drove past, but kindly asked if they could help, and when we declined, they continued on. No one stopped to gawk, but truly to lend a hand and not look away. Because everyone would want such helpful people if they were the ones in the accident. I also experienced this sense of connection among Swiss people when traveling. When I met other German backpackers, we might have spoken briefly, but it was more like, "Okay, another German." But when my friend met people from Switzerland (of whom there were noticeably fewer), there was an immediate connection, and everyone was happy to speak Swiss German again. I find that very fascinating, and I think it's something to be proud of!

Speaking of pride, how beautiful is your landscape, really? So many places waiting to be discovered, radiating pure happiness. For someone like me from the tourism sector, it's a true dream, even though, of course, everything is more expensive. I'm excited every time to discover something new and to learn to know and love Switzerland more and more!

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