How come is it, that almost every swiss person has a face as he-she just came
from a funeral? It is sooooooooo depressing. I am a very happy, outgoing person, who loves to smile and to laugh, but my smile and laughs have become very rare since we have been living here. Am i the only one who has noticed this sad SCENE here in good old Switzerland? If yes, how do you deal with this???

Careful now, before you get jumped on with "it's all your fault".

So I'll try to be balanced and start by saying that I've met some really funny and happy people here. Just not as often as I would like to.

Though I must admit I have been on trips away with some Swiss where they have been a lot of fun, but then with other groups that are well, just dead boring. A good drinking session usually gets things moving, but many don't drink at all. A lot of Swiss will admit it themselves - they have a reputation for being very reserved.

I was just mentioning in another thread - the Swiss are supposed to be the second happiest people in the world - maybe they just hide it in their public face?

So I guess the best advice is - don't change, smile, and once in a while you might get a smile back!

Love that leopard, what a cute picture.

You know i have tried that smile thing, and never got one back but just piercing looks at either my kids who either are destroying the stores LOL, no all kidding put aside, i will try your advice and continue to have my happy nature and SMILE

Funny, but the London Underground is the same... People there never smile! I used to play this game where I would deliberatly make eye contact with someone as they walked in and smiled at them. You should have seen the reactions!!! Some just looked at me as though I should be certified and others started to get nervous and check to see they didn't have toothpaste dribbling down there chin...

Here in Switzerland, I sometimes still indulge in that little game and the response is quite different. Usually its the evil eye... but sometimes I get a smile in return and some even make some sort of comment! Sadly this happens very rarely

LMAO @toothpaste dribbling down there chin.... that was funny.
The other day i was travelling with my boys in the bus, when this one woman was trying to tell me something, i could tell she was so shy but she just wanted to tell me something, well this lady got out on our stop as well, and she finally told me that my zipper (pants) was open. LMAO LMAO Soooo cute...

[QUOTE=Lynn]Funny, but the London Underground is the same... People there never smile! I used to play this game where I would deliberatly make eye contact with someone as they walked in and smiled at them. You should have seen the reactions!!! Some just looked at me as though I should be certified and others started to get nervous and check to see they didn't have toothpaste dribbling down there chin...

Its generally considered rude to make contact on the London underground....Its also a fact that most rapist / muggers / those who deserve to be certified try to make contact with their victims through facial grimaces...(laugh).

Either adapt to cultural norms (look deadpan even if you are very happy) or put up with the fact that one day someone will call the men in white coats to take you away......

Well, many a genius was accused of insanity.... Then again many insane people think they're geniuses.

I hate adapting to a norm. We are unique and should enjoy being exactly who we are. If that makes me certifiable, then call the men in white coats . I'll let you know what life is like in a padded cell... on second thoughts do you suppose they allow computers in there????

Funny...I'll always remember my first day here, walking to a local supermarket and three people on separate occasions said Grüezi to me....Firstly, I had no idea what they were saying and secondly, having come from a large city where people avoid eye contact, it completely surprised me. So I am now happily Grüezi-ing and Grüezi miteinand-ing everyone...but have just learnt that's not the done thing in Zürich. Funnily enough, we're only 30 klms out of the city, but life is very different in 'the big smoke' compared to here in semi-rural land....Anyway, I agree with the advise, keep smiling, it's so much nicer to see a smile than a frown.

i like your game. you must be quite brave to play it.

Another little story... In the bus from Bern to Koeniz with my friend... We're having way too much fun around 8 in the morning, laughing our butts off... People start to 'schmunzle' (some kind of grinning?) but are generally too scared to join in... My friend goes up to one of the people who has been clearly enjoying our laughs and as he does, this person just freezes up immediately, going back to the old sad self...

That should say enough...

HELLO!!

O wow that is exactly how I felt in the beginning!! I am a bubbly bubbly personality by nature, who grew up in an area of Vancouver BC called "Little Italy" where everyone was loud, outgoing and very expressive. What a shock for me moving here to the Swiss German area! I began to think something was wrong with my over expressive personality and was very unsettled the first year. I am not totally use to it now, but I know that in gerneral, culturally it is just a less-emotionally expressive culture, at least in the beginning with the people. I have met some bubbly friends now and we just laugh up a storm when we are together and get a lot of stares. All I can say is I relate very much to your post...When we were in Tessine the other week I felt I was in a different country though!!

Elle (near Bern)

"I was just mentioning in another thread - the Swiss are supposed to be the second happiest people in the world - maybe they just hide it in their public face?"

That is very interesting where did you hear this?? I heard from a few people that Switzerland has the second highest suicide rate in the world!!??
Can't give you a link to that quote, but I was told that by my Swiss-brother in law who is a doctor, so I could ask him where he heard this,

Elle.

We had a student working with us who grew up in a tiny village outside Basel. She had been studying at the University in Zurich for a few years and told us about the time when her graduation came along, her whole family travelled to the ceremony and she (who had got used to the big-city-keep-yourself-to-yourself attitude) was mortified when her mother and father got into the No. 9 tram and announced loudly to everyone in the carriage with a big country-style smile on their faces "GRUETZI MITEINAND!!"

We had a good laugh but I think she's gone into therapy .

World Health Organisation so according to their stats, Swityerland is actually 16th in the world.

I know this is a very old thread but I still feel like I should add this. Most times when I've smiled or said Gruezi, I have always got one back. It depends on my mood I think... but most days Im generally chirpy and smiley and I never really got this 'evil eye'... even babies randomly smile and come running to me and then irritated mom's ease up and smile with suprise... yes work AND live in downtown Zurich. I find most Swiss hard to crack on a very deep emotional level but on the whole find them very pleasant and peace loving.

how shall i swiss german behave? what is bubbly bubbly outgoing wild?

"hello, my friend (slap on the shoulder)! let me hug you! how are you? here, have a flower, lets hug a tree...im so happy, so are you? ah, by the way let me tell you my latest joke...lets laugh out loud, fire up a fart... "

i have often been to the uk. nowhere id find it any different then in ZH.
even in italy i cant think of people behaving different but in a group talking more loud then we do, when having dinner, sitting in a cafe on the sidewalk etc.

maybe some ice cream-guy shouting funny/charming comments to all bella donnas. but that is not the overall behaviour, just depending on the mood of the guy himself...

Don't let it beat you..

I had the same experience when I just came in, I was invaded by this attitude and inmersed in the gloomy mood Switzerland can have, specially on winters...

But then I got over it and became again happy and smiling and good humored... and I live here enjoying the good things and avoiding the bad...

I noticed today that a lot of people don't just walk down the street smiling, even I, not a swiss, don't smile all the time.

Its the people who you make a point to catch their eye and smile at, who don't return the guesture that irk me. Isn't it the polite thing to do in all societies? That or else I'm just use to how things are back home.

But today I tested it out, people aren't as bad as I hear people stating. Then again, only people to really reture the smile were black (NOT BEING RACIST! i'm just saying I was able to catch their eye to smile at more easily then other people. They seem more friendly to me here so far anyways...ahem...). Anywho, I just say the people who give stoney expressions are showing you that they aren't worth your time, forget about it, and move on. But there are plenty of people who will smile and look jolly if you take the intituative...

Wow, lovely rant there... ^^

It´s all that botox

Don't you get a free meal at funerals? If there's anything that swiss people long for, it's gotta be "gratis" things