09 September 2007 – This is not Switzerland

Being given my first day off work to settle into this foreign land, I thought, was on one hand very accommodating and on the other a little odd considering my ancestry.  I soon established this was a good idea because Genf, as the Schwiizer-Duetsch call it, is not much like the Swiss German cantons at all.  Genève, as the Francophone people call it, is, so I’m told, not even like any of the other French speaking cantons either.  Ginevra is then certainly not like the Italian speaking regions of Switzerland and comparing Geneva to any English city yields an even greater disparity.

 

Geneva is not a city that was able to grab my full attention from the outset.  The architecture is not awesome like in New York or in parts of India (I’m sure there are many examples I could put here but I am not that well traveled yet) nor does the city scream entertainment like NYC or London.  The approach with Geneva is more of a subtle one.  In London I was thrown into a frenzy of excitement catalyzed by living with an entourage of fairly like-minded people and being the first time living away from home.  While this lasted in some capacity and the general feeling of belonging was enhanced by some very close friendships, there was a fading feeling of love with the city itself as 4 years passed.  Day-to-day living was at times stressful and more often this was derived from external circumstances rather than anything personal.  For example the mess, the howling tube or witnessing that train I needed to catch leave the platform 7 minutes early (by the station clock) as I arrived.  In contrast, during my first few days in Geneva, I found it a little small, old fashioned and unclean compared to the impeccable standards I have experienced in the north.  It seemed for a while I was paying a lot for not much quality in return.  Food prices are high, going out for drinks puts a very large dent in your wallet and like London the housing market has either massively inflated prices due to high demand or a reduction in quality depending on how you look at things.  But again in contrast with London, despite a shaky start, this city has been growing on me at a very steady rate.

 

Many people I have spoken with that have been in Geneva for around a year or more like to explain that you don’t tend to get the tremendous highs you do living in other parts of the world but then neither do you get any of the lows.  If you take the time to investigate what the culture is about and what the city (and country) has to offer for its inhabitants, rather than completely forcing your own lifestyle in, you will not be bored.  This is Switzerland.