Uno Zwei Tros Quatter
One Two Three Four - An extreme journey through Switzerland
James Stone
As pointed out on expatarrivals.com, Switzerland can be a stark contrast to some of it’s neighbours. Even before you arrive in a major town you begin to get a sense of how orderly and clean everything is. They give the example of a train trip from from Milan to the Italian canton, Ticino. A trip that starts off travelling through some what coarse Italian landscape passing town after town with partially neglected stations with buildings that are in need of much love, or even jut a fresh coat of paint.
Then you reach the Swiss border, where you are immediately met with well maintained and looked after clean stations. What a Utopia!
However this Utopia comes with a cost, a literal cost. Another culture shock that many experience is the high cost of everything. As Florent notices you can learn a lot about a place even from it’s airport. Consider Hong Kong or Singapore’s airport, instant fast reliable free wifi covers the every metre. This contrasts with Zurich’s airport where slow costly and timed internet lets you know just how expensive your adventure is going to be. “nothing is free in Switzerland!” Florent.