My Observations/ Experiences of living in Zurich, Switzerland

"Foreigners" *1 Speak Good English, Mistranslations, Observations, New Phrases.

This may seem strange to some of you, but I have more or less, always lived in Southampton, England. I say more or less since I have spent 2 years studying at University Of Essex, so then I'm away from Southampton, but that is only for periods of 2 months at a time!

However from January 1997 to August 1997 I was living in Zurich, Switzerland, doing work experience, as part of my degree. So I thought while I'm here I could tell you what it was like and (hopefully) some amusing little anecdotes. However I have this feeling that some of the events suffer from the infamous "You had to be there really! Also some of my observations of Zurich could probably be applied to any other city in Europe outside of the UK and are not necessarily unique to Zurich.

"Foreigners" *1 Speak Good English

People: Me and Petit (Male friend about my age)
Situation: In a pub, Petit is talking to a girl, girl then walks away.
Conversation:

Me:She was quite nice, does she speak English?
Petit: I don't know but she screams in German!

People: Me and Petit
Situation: In a pub, Petit is talking to a different girl, girl then walks away.
Conversation:

Me: She seems all right.
Petit:Yeh she's nice to talk to but I wouldn't want to f@*k her.

People: Me and Sven(Male friend about same age) Situation: In the pub, Sven is talking about a girl he "knows". Conversation:

Sven: She's really sun-tanned you know, all over, kind of like a chicken that's been in the oven!

Mistranslations

People: Me and Eric(bloke at work)
conversation:

Eric: Did you hear about Petit
Me: No what?
Eric: He got shot by a car!
Me : Really, you mean like a drive by? (obviously shocked)
Eric: yeh, he was walking across the road and a car hit him!
Me: oooh, so you mean he was hit by a car, not shot at by someone in a car?
Eric: Err yeh.

Observations

Zurich is a friendly place, with friendly people.
There are lots of very attractive women in Zurich
Zurich people speak a very much bastardised version of Hoch Deutsch (high German), but most speak English as well
A lot of people also speak Italian or French
Zurich has lots of non-Swiss People living in it
Almost every day someone will mumble some German to you, you'll look at them blankly, then they'll say exactly the same thing in English
If you go into a bank or something and start speaking in German, sooner or later the conversation will go into English
Swiss beer gives you headaches(apparently to do with the fact it's brewed with chemicals and is not natural)
The only Swiss beer seems to be lager, similar to Kronenburg
There's lots of sex shops and porn cinemas here.
There's also lots of strip clubs.
There's also lots of "classy" lingerie shops.
Pubs close at 12:00ish
Nightclubs close at 4:00am ish
After Hours nightclubs open 5:00ish am and close some time during the afternoon
Mr Pickwick's is a good pub to go to.
Public transport is reliable and frequent
Public transport looks like it's free 'cos they trust you to buy your tickets from little machines,but there are no turnstiles to go through and no-one ever seems to check them!
Blokes nearly always shake hands when saying hello or goodbye.
It is common for girls to kiss you on the right cheek, then the left then the right again to say hello, and goodbye. (no complaints from me about that!)
It's very common to see girls walking hand in hand or arm in arm with other girls.
The lake is a good place to go on sunny Sunday afternoons.
Marijuana is more or less decriminalised *3
So is prostitution(so I'm told, not from experience!!!)
Skateboarding is incredibly popular, there's even a free "skate-park"(fly offs, fun box, hand rails etc) on the Rote Fabrik side of the lake!
Unfortunately so is rollerblading.
Offering to walk a girl home/to the bus/tram stop doesn't work here :-( (or at least in my experience)
Partly that's 'cos the streets are much safer here.

Phrases That I've Been Taught Since I've been here

German or French	English
Ich gehe pissen	I'm going for a piss
Du bist eine schöne Frau.	You're a beautiful woman *2
Du bist ein ganze gebückter Kunde	You're a really cool guy. (litteral:you're a stooped/hunched customer!)
Schweine in Weltall!	Pigs In Space! As in the Muppets!
Du heure Schaafseckel!	You bloody pig scrotum! Close, not exact translation!
Fich dich(ins Knee)!	Fuck you (in knee) (the ins Knee is not essential but adds power to the expression(allegedly!))
Hoschi!	Hey Dude! (As in what bill Bill and Ted say to each other)
Die Gipfel machen	to collapse ( as in after drinking/smoking too much) (literally, to do like a croissant)
Que la Force soit avec toi Che la Forza sia con te Que la Fuerza te acompane Die Macht sei mit dir	May the Force be with you
La guerre des étoiles Krieg der Sternes Guerre Stellar	Star Wars
Das Imperium Schlagt Zuruck L'empire contre-attaque	The Empire Strikes Back
Le retour du Jedi Die Ruckkehr der Jedi-Ritter	Return of the Jedi
ein Guga	A spliff

Check out: Snickers' rough Guide to Zurich
Or the actual Rough Guides Web Site.

*1 : I'm fully aware that in fact I am the foreigner here, but by foreigner I mean " People who don't speak English as their primary language", which is long winded and this also a prime example of English mentality. i.e. Anyone who is not English is a Foreigner!

*2: Actually I could work that one out from GCSE and A-Level, sadly it hasn't given me any success yet!

*3: It's impossible not to smell it at gigs, nightclubs, or at the lake!

"Foreigners" *1 Speak Good English, Mistranslations, Observations, New Phrases.

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