No, I’m not in Sweden. I don’t know why everyone keeps confusing the two. If anything, Switzerland should be more well known! Cuckoo clocks, watches, cheese (with holes in it), [hot] chocolate and, most important of all, Ricola!!
Now that we’re all in the same country, on to where I’m actually staying. I’m in Basel, the northern most and third most populous city in Switzerland. It’s the red dot on the map above. As you may have noticed, it’s right on the border of both France and Germany. I can literally walk to either country from my apartment! (And I’m planning on doing just that tomorrow.)
It’s not a very big country. Or that small. It’s actually just slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey! It’s smells better too! Basel, on the other hand, is really quite small. A little too small, frankly. I can walk to work on the other side of town in about 45 minutes. We’re talking maybe 2 miles. Second, it’s not in the Swiss Alps so there’s no skiing here, but given the size of the country and the fantastic rail system, the slopes are only about 2 hours away. Not too bad!
The locals speak a dialect of German known as “Swiss German” though many also speak either French, English, or both. Roughly thirty percent of the population is foreign, here for either school (the University of Basel) or work (like myself!). And if you think that’s a lot, SIXTY percent of Zurich is foreigners!
That’s all for this installment. Tune in next week when dive neck deep into local politics!