Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I thought all EF posters were socially inept.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

i never ever thought summers in Switzerland would go as high as 35degree.
i thought it would be easy for me to just get work anywhere,even as a helper/assistant.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

1. Didn't expect Swiss-German to be even more unpleasant to my ears than German (didn't think that was even possible!) :p

2. I expected many things here to be more convenient (I know some say that they think CH is very convenient because of its consistently on-time public transport, but things like no shopping or doing laundry on Sundays, etc. still just don't make any sense to me).

3. I remember once reading that Zurich is known as a "Shopper's Mecca." So I expected there to be a much wider variety of stores and products here.

4. I expected a better and more diverse music scene -- especially in Zurich, but it seems like a lot of the people here are still into the goth, industrial or rave thing... or bad 80s music. I also expected the art/music scene here to be more avant garde.

5. For some reason, I had always envisioned Switzerland to be very progressive and liberal. So I was surprised to find out how conservative and traditional it is -- and how passive/inactive the Swiss seem to be when it comes to making changes -- especially considering that CH is the only (?) direct democracy.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I always assumed that CH would have the same variety of groceries and products as all their neighboring countries. Not sure why it is so limited compared to France, Germany, Italy, Austria. My wife loves Oasis juice. In CH...2 varieties (orange and tropical), in France/Germany they have over a dozen varieties. WHY?

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

And they are half the price of the ones available in CH ... why oh why???

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I didn't think the weather would be so pleasant.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

Seems to have improved a lot in 17 years; when I was first here the fountains in Zürich city would be frozen for long periods in Winter.

I thought the petrol would be expensive; cuban cigars are really inexpensive here contrary to my expectation.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

What do you call Aubonne and a bunch of other such centers?

http://www.outlet-aubonne.ch/en/

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

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in small villages people in the street are friendly and outgoing but in the cities, just as in cities elsewhere, people go along their own affairs

> cartels ? exist everywhere. The relative exception in Europe is Germany which in 1949 under the dictate of General Julius Clay, the commander of the Western Zones, introduced a decent anti-cartel leglisation
> neutral ? I think you misunderstood the term. The country/nation is and has to be neutral, but NOT the people
> xenophobic ? just the 10 to 25% as elsewhere

> why should working here be chilled out and relaxed ?? there is absolutely no reason for this. Quite to the contrary, the customers of both the export industry and of inbound tourism expect Switzerland to preform supremely which means a considerable pressure
> creative ? yes and no. on one side, it is obvious that the sense for innovation and creativeness suffers if you have problems to fufil the demands of your customers. At the other hand, Switzerland is on the records with a considerable number of innovations and Swiss industry shows quite some creativeness all the time

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In such considerations, you quite obvious were not aware of and so never considered why so many Swiss either short-term or long-term go abroad to improve their lives (careers) ..... and you apparently have never realised why most Swiss people going abroad for either business or tourism so eagerly try to bring life-style back home ! I mean, if I compare what was the boring and dreary lifestyle of the Zurich of the 1950ies and 60ies with what it is today, I can only marvel about the tremendous progress achieved. True, in the 1960ies and 70ies, ZHers went to Geneva to experience "le savoir vivre" and a "Légère lifestyle" and to experience liberal freedoms in those times far from standard overhere

*** so that there are two conclusions
A) you simply overestimated the career-chances in Switzerland in general and in Geneva in particular ... and did not see that Swiss went abroad and/or emigrated in order to get ahead
B) that lifestyle does not depend on money but on "cultural values". To give you an example. The Godfather of my brother was a highly successful businessman and a millionaire. My Godfather was not rich, but in his long years of an international career had acted as a semi-diplomat in WWII in Budapest and had lead an interesting life. The, to use the words of the reverend at the burial in Geneva, "la personlité éxtrèmement riche de Mr Ch.... S..." not only as long as he lived but since then and always was and is a source of inspiration for me. And his style was unique

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I moved to Switzerland thinking I would work again... did not know it was mission impossible.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I thought I would never get to watch American Football live again.

Thanks NFL Gamepass......tired though after late games :)

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

...it's about misconceptions he had about Switzerland...it's irrelevant about "elsewhere"....:rolleyes:

my misconceptions
- I never thought that bosses would/could scream at you at work...
- I thought that "customer is king" would also apply here, at least not getting yelled, "sighed" or "roll-eyed" at in restaurants and stores
- people would have more common sense...
- that people here would be more happy/satisfied since it's one of the richest countries in the world

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

Monumental point-misser misses point.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I thought the Swiss would be efficient. Contrary, they create
huge bureaucracies that only a few people understand.

Also, I find that the Swiss rarely take responsibility at work. They
are really good at passing the back.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

Sounds as if you do not appreciate the superb and supreme variants of German spoken here :D

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

Sure, I fear he thought that also people in the city would greet you everywhere in the most friendly way and would enter into a nice chat with everybody ;)
and possibly thought that there would be no xenophobism in Switzerland :p
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"The customer is king" ("der Kunde ist König") is a basic principle here in retail, gastronomy and hotellery.
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Since when are people in rich countries happy and satisfied ? So, why should the Swiss be satisfied and happy ? Should people be happy about the weather today ?

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

And what exactly is the point ? Is there really one ? :D

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

The point is that there are no facts, only interpretations. (Nietzsche) :)

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

I stepped off the plane expecting Heidiland.

Instead, I found Kloten.

Re: Personal Swiss Misconceptions Revealed
 

Yeah, I went to Stoke, Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Glascow, deepest Yorkshire and Devon - at least most people in Swiss German CH can speak standard German too :p:msntongue::msngrin:

Meloncollie I thought Jimmy Hendrix and Mick Jagger would be there to meet me at the station and take me straight to Carnaby Street - and instead I found ... Brentford. Now that was a shock, lol.