Switzerland Savvy

Lydia Charney

Switzerland Fall 2009

What made you decide to go abroad?

It was kind of always my college plan. I wanted to live in another country and it’s such a unique experience that I always wanted: to study and travel as a student.

What is the first thing you did after you decided you wanted to study abroad?

I started researching where I wanted to go because I knew I didn’t want to go with a bunch of other Marist students. I was making my own program regardless, so I just did what I thought was in my own best interests.

What helped you pick your program? How did you decide?

I pretty much did most of it on my own, so studyabroad.com helped a lot. The school I ended up going through was a program that had academic travel; so while I was abroad I’d also be taking a one credit course in another country. I chose Greece, so I got to travel all around Greece for this class which was already paid for in my tuition.

I chose Switzerland because initially, I wanted to speak French, which was the language I learned in high school, but  I actually ended up going to the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. Also, the Swiss Rail program makes it really easy, convenient and affordable to travel all throughout Switzerland and the surrounding countries.

I was also really interested in Swiss policies and how they’ve managed to keep such a peaceful and neutral country for so long- over 200 years, and I wanted to see the type of people that were able to maintain that interaction with the rest of the world and with each other.

Do you feel that you were prepared when you left?

I was going alone so I was kind of prepared to be unprepared. I did a lot of my own research and bought a lot of books about Switzerland and culture and I wanted to get myself as prepared as I could, but it really came down to preparing myself to be unprepared. I landed in Milan and had no one, no program greeting or anything, and I just went with it!

How could the abroad office have made your preparations easier?

I think what I was most annoyed about is that I had to go to really, really general meetings full of individuals who had all made their own programs but who were all going different places. Although we all got most of the Marist paperwork done there, I also had a lot of paperwork to do on my own for the school in Switzerland as well. I had to go to the college’s NYC office to interview for their program. I’m not sure if it would be possible for the Marist abroad office to schedule individual meetings for every person going alone to a different country, but it was frustrating being an individual in such generalized meetings.

Is there anything you wish they could have told you?

They definitely put in effort and gave us each an individualized packet with information like, how much we should expect to spend and what the weather would be like, etc. I’m sure that took a lot of their time, and I definitely appreciated that. I know when I got there that there were things I wish I would have known before I got there, but it was primarily things that the abroad office couldn’t really have told me specifically.

Once you get there…

What did you think of the classes there? Was there an orientation or anything that helped ease your nerves before your first class?

Classes were a lot different than at Marist. Franklin was a really small, really liberal school with a significant amount of international students. I took a class called comparative cultural literary studies: marriage and family- and it was all about gay marriage. That class was so different than anything I’d ever taken at Marist so I was kind of shocked because it was a much more liberal environment than I’d ever learned in before.

All the people I was in the orientation with were freshman because I went in the fall, so it was more of a “welcome to college” orientation rather than, “welcome to Franklin College: Switzerland,” which I think would have been a little more helpful for my specific situation.

How different were your expectations from the real thing? If very different, did that stress you out? And how did you relieve that stress?

I almost felt like a stereotype of an American in Europe. I landed and I went to order a coffee and I couldn’t read the menu… I ended up ordering espresso without anything in it which tasted awful, and I was just alone and had so much to figure out, I really didn’t know  a thing. By the end of my whole experience I was a pro at ordering coffee, though!

Your favorite place to eat?

My favorite pizza place was Bella Riva

Food or drink you MUST try?

Fondue is Swiss, so you absolutely have to try that, and they’re also known for their risotto. I was in the Italian section of Switzerland so their pizza was unlike anything I’ve ever had in my entire life, and it was everywhere!

Favorite place to go out with friends?

Titos, which was in downtown Lugano, where I stayed primarily.

Place students MUST visit?

Downtown Lugano is so beautiful. It’s a resort town so celebrities live there and it’s right on the lake. It’s absolutely beautiful. You have to find San Salvatore, which is a mountain that looks over the whole town. I also absolutely loved Zurich, it’s such a cool city; and Lucerne is a beautiful Swiss village…You know what? Switzerland, just in general, is so amazing. There’s mountains and lakes and everything is just so, so beautiful. Even my daily walk to class was breathtaking.

Place with the best deals?

Migros was a multi-level shopping center all under one roof, almost like a mall. Each floor had something different- from cosmetics to groceries. I think this is the most economical place to buy most things. Manor was another place to check out, which also became my favorite place to go clothes shopping.

Best place to get souvenirs?

They’ve got little souvenir shops in all cities and they have all the traditional Swiss souvenirs and a whole bunch of stuff specific to their canton. (Switzerland is divided into cantons, based on the countries they boarder.)

What is the best piece of advice you can give others going abroad?

I would say, talk to people who have been where you’re going, do research on your own, learn how to say “please,” “thank you,” and “sorry, excuse me,” in every language of the places you’re going to travel to because they are the words you’ll likely be using the most. I would also warn not to expect anyone to cater to your needs- this is your experience, and no one else can tell you how to live your time abroad. Just go with the flow and take the responsibility to make it the best experience you can.