So, what's the biggest advantage of living in Switzerland? - Well, the flag is a big plus ;)

The country I would like to mention and talk about is Switzerland. I really appreciate its beauty, especially the mountains and lakes, as I'm totally into nature. I've been staying in a town called Wassen for 2 months and I worked there in a hotel, mainly as a waitress. Although it was the most exhausting thing I've ever done in my entire life, it was the best experience I've made so far. Not only was the job strenuous as hell, it was hard to understand the Swiss dialects as well. (it even rhymes haha)

So I lived in the back of beyond, mostly failed at trying to understand what the people were talking about and smashed some glasses – great!

To talk about the beauty I got to see I’d like to begin with these enormous mountains that made me forget about the remote town I was actually in. 

This picture I took from a bench that was placed under a huge tree. The first time I sat on this bench and looked at this gigantic mountain, I actually got dizzy because of its magnificence. The effect nature had on me at that moment was impossible to describe. I immediately lost my breath and felt small and helpless as anything. The weirdest thing was that I had a fear of heights, even though I was looking up – really strange.

Next I want to talk about lakes. I never saw something as beautiful as this!

 

It was an incredible feeling swimming in a lake surrounded by enormous mountains. You just can’t compare it to anything in Austria. Well, some would now mention Schwarzl Lake, but the huge difference is that in Switzerland you don’t have to pay to appreciate nature. You just get there, lie down on the green grass and enjoy your surroundings. People there have a totally different mentality in general. The town I stayed in, Wassen, has about 400 inhabitants and the majority was, well, old haha. (Btw, it was even a lot harder to understand them, because they didn’t even try to avoid their Swiss dialect, so that I would have been able to understand them – not very kind huh?)  Nonetheless I met some younger people as well and we became friends really quick. I’m already excited about visiting them again next summer  :)

The best thing about Switzerland has to be their national holiday. You may wonder now why I say that, because usually they are all but fun. Basically there are 2 reasons that make the first of August a special day: firstly, they almost celebrate it like New Year’s Eve. They set off fireworks everywhere! 

You can’t see it, but the fireworks were let off from a ship. It was amazing! And secondly, to top it all off, the first of August is my birthday! I really felt like they were celebrating my birthday haha and I actually pretended that they were :D I never saw a firework let off at a lake, it was astounding! There was great music and I celebrated it with nice people. In brief, it was an unforgettable birthday  :)

I could go on and on, talking about Luzern and its beautiful lake, the wonderful bridge there, the Blueballs Festival and the Kaiser Chiefs’ concert, but eventually that would get too long ha. Maybe I’ll talk about that in another blog post :)