Revelation 7: I always thought German trains were as reliable as Swiss trains. In terms of reliability, it went Swiss / German, then French and then Italian. But man did the German trains prove me wrong this trip. On Sunday morning I took the train down to Zurich for a night of fun with Petra before rejoining the family in Amden Monday afternoon. Between a train delay and a missed connection I was two hours late getting into Zurich. Good thing Martin warned me about the trains and suggested a two hour buffer between arrival and dinner.
Revelation 8: I will never again underappreciate
or forget to pack an emergency snickers bar.
It is a life saver when needed.
And with a 2 hour train delay and limited food options on the train
(there was no snack cart!) I needed it.
Revelation 9: After hearing German
speakers the past 10 years, I can now appreciate just how strong and distinct
the Swiss German accent is. I can almost
understand my mother in-law’s need to correct my pronunciation when I was first
learning German in Switzerland. Almost.
Revelation 10: Going
back to Zurich was like going back to my old college town after
graduating. It still felt the same, I
still got a huge smile on my face getting off of the train at Zurich
Haptbahnhof, but everything was also different. Everyone spoke English, everyone seemed super
young. There were new hip areas in town
that hadn’t been there before. I no
longer needed to withdraw CHF400 for one night one (not because it was cheaper,
but because they now accept credit cards everywhere). And there were limited chances of me running
into a friend or acquaintance on the street that always made me feel like a
local. It was the same, but different.
Revelation 11: I am so lucky to have lived in Zurich when I did and to have
met the amazing friends I did during that time, including my friend Petra. After last seeing each other over 5 years ago
in New York, we picked right up where we had left off and it felt like no time
had passed.
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