Travel Resources

This is by no means a comprehensive review of what travel materials are out there. Only sharing what I've learned. My Dad really likes the Lonely Planet books, so he bought me one for Switzerland. Juna also bought me Rick Steves' Europe. I have to say the Lonely Planet book, while fun to flip through, drooling over the color photos, just hasn't been all that helpful for planning day trips. They usually mention only two or three of the main attractions in a town, which is good if you don't want to miss the obvious highlights of a place, but hidden gems are neglected and some of the small villages and spectacular hiking regions in Switzerland didn't even make it in the book. Even though Rick Steves' book wasn't specifically about Switzerland, I feel like I learned some useful stuff about packing and being abroad (although it's geared towards tourists, not people moving long term).

But the best stuff I've found, as I've mentioned before, has been online. People's personal blogs I found by digging around on Google, somewhat stalkerishly, gave me the best insight to what's useful to know when moving, what places are cool and not just mainstream tourist attractions. That's why I'm writing this one! But also, I heartily recommend Rick Steves' TV show, which I accidentally found on Hulu when I was considering moving here. I sat down with "Switzerland's Jungfrau Region: The Best of the Alps" and literally teared up with excitement that I might get to live in this extraordinary country (Rick Steves' genial uncle-like nature and zest for exploring will do that to you). Switzerland also has a fantastic tourism website, myswitzerland.com. 

But my favorite resource for discovering cool places has been Atlas Obscura, a compilation of little-known weird, beautiful, disgusting, shocking and wondrous destinations all over the world. We discovered the Hell Grottoes of Baar, the H.R. Giger (recently deceased, R.I.P.) Bar in Gruyeres, and Jorge Luis Borges' grave in Geneva (!) on Atlas Obscura. This also led to the discovery that James Joyce, near and dear to our hearts, is buried even closer to us in Zurich. In fact, it seems a lot of famous people, especially literary types, move to Switzerland and then die.

The Giger Bar makes you feel like you stepped into one of the Alien movies, featuring a creepy wall of baby's faces and a general abundance of things that look like spinal columns running the length of the arched ceiling. The only mistake we made was planning to have dinner there. They serve snacks, but not meal-sized portions, so our dinner was a giant plate of "old Gruyere cheese" and local Gewurztraminer wine. No regrets, though! Gruyeres is a tiny, car-free Medieval village with a castle and a cheese-making museum that was a delight to visit.

The Hell Grottoes also made a lovely day trip. Located about an hour's easy hike away from the train station in Baar, the semi-remoteness made these hidden caves even neater. Only CHF 10 to get in, it was also a cheap destination (since with the GA, travel was essentially free). Reading about them on Atlas Obscura, I have to admit I thought I would find the "eerie" purple and green lighting they described cheesy and stupid. But it was actually great. There were also some tinkly piano notes playing, yet somehow they pulled this off tastefully. You have to see it in person, maybe?

Expat communities

When I was in graduate school, I knew some Chinese students who came to study music yet never learned English and only associated with each other. It just seemed lazy, especially since my roommate was from Hong Kong and was one of the most open, constantly learning people I've ever met (one of my favorite things she ever said was early in her time in the U.S.--"I'm hungry, Sarah...hungry of dictionary!").

That said, now I totally sympathize with those students! It's hard to move to a new country. It's harder when the new country speaks a different language and you're constantly being flooded with text and noise that the brain does not compute. What's even harder is having others with whom you can insulate yourself from the wash of new language, because then you'll never learn it. I do kind of believe if you're not forced to speak the new language, or at least have many daily opportunities to speak it and speak it conversationally, you won't. I study Alexander Technique with a British man who knows even less German than I do. My boyfriend studies at a music school where there are so many nationalities represented (Portuguese, Spanish, German, American, English, Slovenian, etc.) that it's usually easier to speak English. Thus, we use German in the grocery store and the post office and in restaurants and to get cheap hair cuts, but that's about it (and that's more than many expats do).

I don't have much advice about how to remedy this. I'm not actually sure that in Switzerland it even needs to be remedied. Basel especially is so international, it's easy to live here and know few or no native Swiss people. There is a vibrant expat community. But for it to feel like home, you do have to make an effort--you'd do well to learn enough of the new language to get around town without having to switch into English. But I will also say that you shouldn't feel bad for associating with other people who speak English. It's actually vital for sanity! And it may actually make life a whole lot easier to go out of your way to make those expat connections. For me, expats (and indeed expats specifically through Unitarian Universalists of Basel) are responsible for every lead on jobs I've gotten since I've lived here.

Many expat parents want their child to have an English-speaking babysitter, or they just don't know many native Swiss people. The going rate, so I'm told, is CHF 20/hour, but you could probably get away with charging even more. People who make nannying their livelihood, I've heard, make up to CHF 60/hour. Families who are here because of work likely can afford it and are willing to pay for quality childcare. I've also heard of nonprofessionals charging CHF 45/half hour for children's piano lessons. I used to charge $30/hour in Bowling Green, OH.

It's easy to get stuck only talking to and working for other English speakers, which can be disappointing. But at the same time, foreigners are often some of the most interesting, stimulating, adventuresome people you'll meet abroad. Natives are great, too, and help you learn about the culture like you never could from travel books. But people who live somewhere for a reason that's important enough to uproot their lives usually have fascinating stories to tell.

James Joyce was an expat, after all.

Germany!

Park in Donaueschingen

My first trip to Germany was exciting because I got to speak German with people and it actually worked! I needed to buy a pair of tights and not only were they so cheap compared to what I was used to in Basel, but I even had a conversation with the saleslady asking her opinion on which size was better and never had to switch into English. I ordered food in restaurants and the waitress didn't blink an eye. This is a much rarer occurrence in Switzerland. Most times if I try to buy clothes in Switzerland, they'll ask me if I want a bag in Swiss German, which is a totally different language, and I'll just stare at them with blank face, quickly running through what they could possibly be asking me about (credit card signature, identification, selling me something else?) and before I get to "bag" they have usually sighed and said, "English?"

Unterwegs nach Deutschland

Swiss German is scary to me because they call it "German" yet I studied German and when I hear people speaking Swiss German all I hear is a lilting string of consonants and umlauts and cute sounds (they like to end words in -li a lot). Strange, though, when I worked with a flute class which was in Swiss German, I could understand a lot, I assume because the teacher is American so her accent made at least the words that are shared with hoch Deutsch decipherable. 

It seems that native Swiss people have varying reactions to a native English speaker when they try to speak high German with them, since it's not really their language (although all their printed material and signage are in high German. I still don't understand the reasoning behind this). A couple I've experienced are:

Appreciation/sympathy: They notice that at least we are doing the best we can and trying to meet them halfway. Sometimes they will still switch to English intending to be nice/make it easier for us, but some will respect our efforts and allow us to practice the foreign language which is a nice confidence booster.

Annoyance: This usually happens to me with people who have an anti-foreigner attitude, and these people will switch into English even if their English is poor, seemingly to underline that our German is so bad that it's just wasting everyone's time to try to continue.

This guy was really nice. He gave us a
snow globe and a porcelain Santa Claus.

Incomprehension: We went to a small sports bar once to try to catch a football game and these people had zero English and little to no hoch Deutsch. I tried to order a hard cider and ended up with a fizzy nonalcoholic apple soda, then ordered a wheat beer and ended up with a small local beer (like Budweiser) which I'm not very fond of, then somehow received a large of the same local beer, and finally, through lots of pointing and nodding (luckily the guy next to me had exactly what it was I wanted), got my drink. I only intended to have one drink, but since I didn't know what to say to get the bartender's attention, he would only come back if my glass was empty. So I downed them all.

We didn't buy these fish sticks because they
cost around CHF 8. Looks like they might've
been worth it, though. 

Another advantage of Germany is it is much cheaper. Groceries are so expensive in Switzerland, I know folks who have become vegetarian or mostly vegetarian because of it. It is legitimately possible to do all your grocery shopping in Germany if you live in Basel. We take the 8 tram line to Kleinhuningen and then it's about a 15 minute walk to Weil am Rhein. Added bonus is that you don't have to pay taxes on German groceries if you don't live there. There is a green paper you ask for at the checkout that you then sign and take to some people at the border who stamp it so when you come back you can get a little bit of cash toward your next purchase. It's easy to figure out the process because hordes of Baslers shop this way--you can tell them from their wheelie grocery bag suitcase thingies and the green paper stampede they form at the border. Someone told me there is a limit on how much meat you can bring back over the border (only 100g per person!?). However, it seems this rule is never or hardly ever enforced by the authorities, especially if you're coming by foot.

Tea in Kleinbasel: CHF 4.90

Super Easy Day Excursions

It's so easy to get around Switzerland, especially when you have a GA (General Abonnement) Rail Pass which is good on all Swiss rail including trains, trams, and even most funicular and cable car routes within the country for a year. It made sense financially for me to get one because my course is in Zürich so I'm travelling quite frequently, but Juna decided to get one, too and it has really been convenient. They certainly are expensive, but there are a few big discounts they offer. Juna got 1,000 francs off with the student discount for being enrolled at the University of Basel and then on top of that, they also gave me 1,000 francs off of my GA with the couples discount (we just needed to prove we both lived at the same address). So we each paid 2,500 CHF instead of the 3,500 it normally is for an adult second class pass. Apparently you have to buy an additional rail pass for your bike anytime you want to take it on public transport, which I think is a bummer, but you can also get a GA for your dog for reasonably cheap, which I think is awesome.

Some memorable places we've been that are just a stone's throw away from Basel:

Bottmingen. I stumbled on this adorable village by picking a tram line at random--the 10--and riding it to the end. I am told that the 10 is the longest tram line in all of Europe. We walked through yellow flower meadows, sunflower fields and apple orchards and found a pumpkin stand where you can take what you like and pay by the honor system.

Dornach. Home of the Goetheanum and a whole campus designed by Rudolf Steiner where you can still study anthroposophy or see performances of eurhythmics accompanied by recitations or haunting music. Only 8 minutes by train from Basel SBB.

Leymen. Actually over the border into France, Leymen can be reached by the 10 tram by taking it all the way to the end, Richtung Rodersdorf. Then a reasonably short hike up a steep hill leads to castle ruins which are fantastically experienced by twilight, in my opinion, even though it was an accident that we were attempting the hike so late in the day (we decided spontaneously to do it around 4pm, I think).

Tree house in someone's backyard--the trail leads through some residential areas

A lot of pictures of Basel

The Münster--Basel's beautiful cathedral

At the Herbstmesse

Christmastime

Inside the Münster

Outside the Münster

Juna and me at the Tinguely Museum

More Tinguely--I highly recommend this museum

Basel Zoo which lets you get very close to the animals

This wolf seemed to enjoy gnawing on a giant leg someone strung up for him

Rhein by day

Rhein by night

The Tinguely Fountain with rainbow

Wettsteinbrücke

On official paperwork

I tried to be as thorough as possible on my visa application but still had to do some extra steps after submitting, waiting for several weeks without hearing anything and finally calling to check on its status. I found that just politely agreeing to everything they asked was the best approach. They could be quite gruff- seeming to someone who's used to friendly American customer service, but they truly are just efficient and don't have time for anybody's b.s.

The most important thing if you're applying for a student visa, it seems, is that you can prove you can afford to live there without working. I had to kind of flub this one a little bit because my parents tried submitting their bank information and a statement saying they were going to support me, but apparently they don't make enough for the Swiss Embassy to consider them capable of supporting me. Switzerland requires a bank account in the visa applicant's name with a minimum balance of $20,000. After being here a while now I sort of understand this--they like to keep jobs in Switzerland for the Swiss as much as possible. Also, it's just damn expensive to live here. So my Dad transferred the money in, I took a screen shot and submitted it to the Embassy, and once the visa was approved he took the money back out. Shh...don't tell anybody.

The other thing that we found you kind of have to fake some stuff to get is the residence permit. To apply for an apartment, you need to have a residence permit so you can tell them what class of visa you have. But to register in Basel-Stadt and obtain this residence permit, you must have a valid address in Basel where you can receive mail. We really tried hard to get around this without lying, but found it impossible. Juna had a fellow music student who allowed us to use his address (which meant he also had to draw up a fake contract and sign it saying we were subletting from him) and we received mail there for, to be truthful, way too long. 

There was a 50 franc fee for registering, a fee just for moving to Basel (our German isn't good enough to figure out exactly what that bill for 200 something francs we got in the mail said), a fee of about 20 francs for de-registering (our current place is now in Basel-Land, a different canton) and yet another fee for 100 something francs for moving to our new canton, Binningen.

The lesson here is that in Switzerland there's a fee for absolutely everything (public toilets, tap water in restaurants, trash labels, TV tax), but as long as you pay the fee, you won't have many problems besides being broke.

Arriving

Someone told me it would take 2-3 months to find housing in Basel, so I wanted to start dealing with that before I came over. I even had it in my head to have an IKEA bed delivered to our place so we could have somewhere to sleep the first night. Unfortunately, no one would let me begin the process without being physically in the country. And I sent a lot of emails to Swiss apartment rental companies in my rusty high school German. But what we ended up doing out of desperation was probably better for us anyway. We used airbnb.com to find some folks to stay with as long as possible to leave ourselves plenty of time to find a place. We stayed in Breite for 10 nights with a lovely young couple and then in another music student's place in Kleinbasel for a month while she was away singing in an opera.

The most useful website my boyfriend, Juna, and I found to search for apartments was markt.unibas.ch. "unibas" stands for Universität Basel (I just realized that not being able to easily insert umlauts is going to drive me nuts!). We found our next place, on Gerbergässlein, tucked away between Barfüsserplatz and the Musikakademie, using markt.unibas (we also found and applied to many places that flat out rejected us, likely because we were students and foreigners). It was a shared flat that rented the bottom floor out for parties on a regular basis. Not every weekend, but within the three or so weeks we stayed there, there were definitely quite a few. After one, we discovered that a guest had vomited all over our bathroom. That combined with the fact there really was no kitchen besides two electric hot plates, and that it was a smoking friendly place, motivated us to find another place.

The fancy toilet seat cover which was vomited all over by a party guest.

A woman I met because I play piano for the Unitarian Universalists of Basel who meet once a month told me that the studio above her apartment was coming open, and that the landlady was a really decent person. She ended up giving us the apartment before even advertising the vacancy publicly. It helped that this woman could personally recommend me. It also helped that the whole house is English-speaking expats. And probably it helped the most that the landlady is a pianist (like me) and Alexander trained (I'm doing an Alexander Technique training course in Zürich right now). We pay 850 CHF per month including Nebenkosten (extra costs that may or may not include electricity, water, etc., definitely something you want to ask about because often it's NOT included with the list price of rent). Our place is a cozy studio apartment with a high ceiling and lots of windows and natural light that help make it feel spacious. We're also only a few tram stops away from the Bahnhof so we really are getting quite a deal.

We moved to Basel in September and didn't move in to our current place until halfway through November. And the place we found was truly a lucky break. Housing is definitely the hardest thing to find in Switzerland.

Our place right after I assmembled our IKEA table by myself!

Welcome to my experience of Switzerland

My name is Sarah and I am an American currently spending a year (11 months to be exact) in Switzerland. I am actually nearing the end of my time here and in the midst of planning the most epic adventure I possibly can for when my parents visit in June. They've never been to Europe. The reason for this blog is that I'm learning, as I plan out their visit, that the best information I find online is not from tourism websites, but from travel blogs and individuals writing about their experiences on other forums. And I realized that my experience of living here as an American expat could probably be helpful to others as well. So, I'm beginning the task of trying to document retroactively some of the most memorable, difficult, unexpected and in any other way useful experiences I've had so far. Then I'll also try to post about current and future happenings in my last months here. Happy reading!