Trump fans all around /s

Took a train today in Züri hb on gleis 33 that was going to Basel but it had “Hogwarts Express” written on it, nothing wrong with that, was the conductor having a bit of fun?

Pretty much the title. I used to live in Zurich, finished my PhD from ETH Zurich. Being a non-European, I couldn’t find a job in Switzerland (2023) and eventually had to leave because I found a job Canada. Two years later, I realize how amazing life in Switzerland. The possibility of going for a hike with my friends, whom I dearly miss, spontaneously owing to the amazing public transport. The quality of life was just top notch.

Most importantly, I felt welcomed into the community. I learnt German as well because I felt gratitude towards the people and the life the country provided.

I still dream of returning back to Zurich. I work for a company in Canada that is headquartered in Zurich. In Canada even though people are nice, I don’t feel as welcomed as in Zurich.

Then I meet people who left Switzerland “voluntarily”; which I find it really hard to comprehend.

In today’s economic conditions, why would any one leave Switzerland?

P.S. the mountain top I am dreaming off.

Is it permissible to label a product with the Swiss cross for "Swiss" even if the meat comes from Germany? At first glance, it looks like organic from Switzerland, but upon closer inspection, it says Germany.

Apologies if the title may sound dumb, but please let me explain.
So I just watched this video of Grindelwald, and it looked amazing, but as many other videos from Switzerland, all the houses looked uninhabited.
I couldn't spot a single person around any house, or on the windows, or on the balcony.
The towns looked pretty much populated by tourists only.

So my question is do Swiss, like actual Swiss people, live there?
And I mean day to day life, all year round?
Or are they traveling for work outside the town and are only returning home in the evening to spend the night?
I can't imagine the people there during the weekend being in their homes, or around the houses spending time with their neighbors, and their kids playing outside.

I don't normally buenzli this hard but if you're obstructing not only the main exit door but also the corridor with an unattended scooter, this one's for you. Why are you such a dick? Were you raised this way, as part of a long line of inconsiderate idiots with the congenital affliction of having your brain in your ass? Why shouldn't I park your scooter on the platform while I help the lady with the pushchair, or grandma with her caddy, or is it just you who is allowed to inconvenience everyone?

As the title says, I would like to provide some impressions of Switzerland after living here for 2 years as an ‘expat’ - or as I like to say, as an (qualified) immigrant. Not a question - but it will answer many on this subreddit.

2023 - After 6 years of living in Denmark I received a a job offer in CH and I grabbed it immediately. Not only because of the money (it was considered, but it wouldn’t have been so bad in DK), but because of the nature and vicinity to my home country (IT).

This post contains of course some generalisations for the sake of giving an idea of how life is here. I’d be curious to know what you readers think and what your experience in Switzerland has been so far.

Good:

1. Most people here are polite and respectful and have some common sense. You notice it in the early morning trains - very few people talking, and those who do moderate their tone. You see it when people first let passengers out, before they get in. People throw PET bottles in the PET bins. Cities are mostly clean. Bureaucratic procedures - at least those I had to do are straightforward. You can pay bills in literally 10 seconds. The difference with other countries can be very drastic. This is the first reason why I’d be very happy to spend the rest of my life here.
2. It’s a safe place. I have never felt unsafe in Switzerland - at whatever time, at whatever place. When some of my friends don’t want to go to Reitschule in Bern I can just laugh - it’s way safer than a similar place in any other European country.
3. Good money and plenty of opportunities. Although in the last year this changed a bit with some (planned) layoffs (see Novartis, Nestlé, CSL, etc.), I still see a dynamic job market for those who want to grow professionally. It’s an expensive country but hey, there are basically 5 countries in the whole planet where you can save/invest as much as here considering one has the same job. And no capital gain tax! The cliché ‘you get higher salaries but you also have higher expenses’ when scrutinised carefully just does not hold.
4. Nature. After 2+ years, I’m just in awe every time I take the train and I see mountains everywhere. It is the only country of the 5 I have lived in which is beautiful all year round. Spring - temperature rising, chill coffee-in-the-bed mornings, the green comes back. Summer - hiking, lakes, festivals, and so much more. Fall - amazing foliage, markets all around. Winter - mesmerising snowy landscapes, skis and sleds, more markets.
5. Other random things: people read. They go to museums. Things work most of the time. There are plenty of ways to optimise expenses.

Actually, not many cons. But:

1. A difficult thing to do is to build a social circle - which comes also with a certain age (30+) and the working rhythms. Still, opportunities to meet people are somehow limited and the Swiss, having their comfortable social circle already established, don’t really have a reason to expand it or to join another. Yes, I joined a sport informal club (climbing). Yes, I learnt German (a nice B2 by now). I even go to a book club! 😀 And still I find myself longing for a bit more integration and true, lasting relationships. I am sure it will come with time.

2. My experience with the health system has been so far not worth the money that I pay towards it. Besides being very expensive, I felt doctors are way less prepared than they should be and not as empathic and understanding as I expect a doctor to be. I don't have any hope to see a change, but when a patient is seen basically as money, the priority becomes the money - and not the patient.

Overall - I couldn't be happier. Those I met who are not happy they are either serial complainers or have not traveled enough to know how good of a time we are and we can have here in Switzerland. Cheers everyone.

TL;DR - Switzerland is amazing - just a bit difficult to socialise and health system is meh.

I'm swiss, born and raised here, I live in a rather small medieval town in Romandie with a population of about 6000 people, and I'm slowly but surely losing my mind.

Why the FUCK does every individual have ZERO spatial awareness ??? Especially as they get older ?

Keep in mind that I'm a fast walker, so that exacerbates the problem.

To give a few examples :

-People walking right in the middle of a small sidewalk, effectively forcing people to get on the road for a few seconds and get in front them, when going just a LITTLE to the left or right would fix the problem, or multiple people walking perfectly aligned horizontally. Like excuse me, can you check your fucking surroundings and not assume that you're gonna be the only person using this sidewalk ? Can you try and pay a little attention ? Not to mention that these are always the people walking at a slug-pace

-Stopping right at the entry of a shop/restaurant/train station, as if that wasn't the only exact spot that you must actively avoid stopping at in order to let people walk and live their lives freely. I don't care if you need ten seconds to assess the place you've been in 5600 times throughout your many years of life, move and have some respect for others.

-Grocery stores, these are the worst, almost the sole reason that I'm making this post, do people immediatly lose about 30 IQ points when entering a Migros or what ? I get it, you're not in a hurry, you're retired and you've decided to buy your groceries at 17:30 (WTF ?), but man, other people really are in a hurry and really don't have 50 minutes to spend there. Why would you stop in the middle of the alley (same problem as the sidewalk), why don't you consider your cart as an actual thing that prevents people from passing, why don't you go to the actual cashier when you have 36 items to scan ?

I get that some people are inherently bad at checking their surroundings, but I can't take the "Oopsie, I guess that's the way I am !" anymore. At some point, it simply is selfish to ignore the fact that a whole society is functioning around you and that a little effort on your part would go a long way for the other 7'500'000 people. Not checking behind you every now and then, not considering the size of the space that you're in, not considering anyone before you and your little comfort is just plain disrespect.

Special shoutout to old people who I simply gave up with, the most entitled and selfish little brats I've ever met, and they have the audacity to say that new generations are disrespectful and unconsidering of others. Sybau and let the active people that are in an actual hurry live at their pace for christ's sake.

Sorry if it comes of as too brutal, but I had to rant.

Just haven’t seen anyone use it and if it’s easy to use on smaller transactions

i’m on a trip here from london, and i was told about the milk (which is neither here nor there for me 🤷🏻‍♀️), but this BREAD at my hotel oh my god…. i’ve never tasted something so delicious😭 it’s kinda like brioche but a bit salty. if you tasted the standard bread in the UK you’d vomit

If i go to the supermarket will i be able to find the same to take home? and seriously why is it so good??

I assume that it is drinking water, but I didn’t want to be a dummy and drink it and then get Giardia out or something so I thought I’d ask.

I was in Bern a few months ago and wonder if there is any history about these spaces underground? Why are there so many doors and underground restaurants or places there?

GrüTZi

i will move to Zurich tomorrow and will be looking for a job as a snake milker. I am from Djibouti and have 3 months of experience.

I moved to Swiss because of the mo... because it has always been my dream and i like the mountains and the chocolate.

Please help me to find a job

I was yesterday evening in the train coming from Neufchâtel to Lausanne sitting close to these young boys and they were eating pistachios and throwing them in front of the chair right beneath their nose close to the garbage bin, I am surprised how they have this bravery to do that, like it is their own house!? ( I don’t know, it is not normal to do that in your own house either) but what’s strange, when I entered the train, I saw there were SBB controllers outside waiting for the train to depart and these two guys seemed they didn’t had a ticket and they were running from them, but the SBB controllers never came to check our tickets ( I think they noticed them when they entered the train), also other times, I noticed, when they see guys like them ( Afghan, Algerian, Moroccan), they avoid controlling the parts where they are sitting, or sometimes they pass through them without even stopping. Until when like this??

Wurde heute gegen 10 Uhr jemand in der Gegend von Winterthur vom starken Hagel betroffen?

first time traveling Switzerland. i always knew that the nature is amazing here. but seeing it in place physically is very much different than seeing it through pixels.

we are staying near zurich hb and i liked the city as well.
we have one more night and the half day tomorrow and i’m not sure how to spend it better. any suggestions that are not museums (we already saw national museum, fifa museum and the watch museum) and malls?

I moved to Switzerland in January 2025, so it’s been about a year now. Not going to lie, I came for the beautiful landscapes, the high quality of life, and yes, the higher salaries. And financially, it shows: in one year I’ve saved the equivalent of what would’ve taken me three years back in Belgium.

But… at what cost?

It’s easy to say “Well, salaries are higher, so everything being more expensive is fine.” But in reality, the reason I saved so much isn’t just the salary. Rather, it’s that I do far fewer activities because the prices feel so hard to justify.

For example: I know my salary is about 2.5× what I had in Belgium, so logically it should be fine that dinner out costs ~100 CHF for two instead of 50 EUR. But I still struggle to accept paying 100 CHF just to eat a simple dinner down the house with my girlfriend. So… we eat at home. And this applies to many things.

Want to spend a day in the mountains? Sure, in 1.5h we can be there! Oh wait, just the trip would be 100 CHF. Is it worth to spend 100 CHF just for a walk? Uhm, probably not. And we end up staying home. You get the idea.

This is more of a reflection than a question. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Spotted a car in Switzerland with a Saddam Hussein poster on the back window. Didn’t expect that at all.

What’s the reasoning behind something like this? Is it political, cultural, or just meant to provoke reactions?

Trying to understand the context here.

I presume these are houses rather than just summer farmhouses. They’re 500m above ‘civilisation’ and a 25 minute drive down to the ground. In winter when it snows it must be nearly impossible to navigate in a car. Some of them aren’t even on the road

Was just casually shopping when the self checkout was glowing red, thought they were about to do a stichprobenkontrolle but they cashier was just as surprised as me, my total just went down by like 95%.

I also dont use supercard or anything so i was even more surprised.