Exploring beautiful Interlaken, Switzerland in the German region of Switzerland after taking a scenic train through the mountains.
Author: Annette Quinn | Major: International Studies and French
As my semester abroad in Switzerland came to an end, I kept receiving the same question, from my friends, family, host parents, and professors: “What are you going to miss?” Each time, my answer came automatically: “Swiss trains.”
Switzerland has one of the best public transportation systems in the world. It has fast, efficient trains, extensive bus routes, reliable trams, and even boats that can help you reach any destination within Switzerland. This incredible public transportation system and my trusty Swiss Pass, an unlimited public transportation pass given to me by my study abroad program, turned out to be my key to exploring and understanding Switzerland during my semester in Geneva.
Each weekday for the first three months of the semester, I would take buses and trains from my host parents’ house in the tiny town of Crans, Switzerland to the small office in Geneva where I took my main courses on diplomacy, security, international relations, and politics with 23 other students from colleges across the U.S. In this office, we learned about a wide variety of subjects from different guest lecturers who came from organizations in Geneva such as the UN, Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Committee of the Red Cross, local universities, and more. The program location in Geneva also allowed us to occasionally take public transportation as a group to visit locations such as the UN, the UN Environment Program, the Swiss Mission to the World Trade Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and others. These visits helped me better understand the experience of working for international organizations and networking with professionals in my prospective career fields, while also learning about a variety of topics within the subject of international studies. Twice a week, my classmates and I would also take a train from Geneva to the nearby town of Nyon, where we took our French classes. These classes added a more formal, structured study of French that complimented the casual French that I was improving in my homestay with a Swiss family that only spoke French.
During the last month of the semester, we no longer had classes in Geneva each day, as we were in the independent study project period of the program and were given complete freedom to work on our research during this period. However, I still went to Geneva each day to work on my project on EU migration policies at the library or my favorite cafe. We were also expected to conduct many interviews with experts for our projects so I often took trams and buses to meet with professionals from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or the Mixed Migration Centre in Geneva, allowing me to gain different expert perspectives on my research and potential future career field.
On the weekends, I used the trains to travel across Switzerland with my friends from the program. You can reach any destination in Switzerland by train within six hours so I explored all corners of Switzerland, from the vineyards of French Switzerland, to the gorgeous mountains of German Switzerland, to the sleepy towns and lakes of Italian Switzerland. Through the access provided by scenic Swiss trains, I was able to travel to the highest mountaintops to view the famous Matterhorn mountain from the Toblerone box, eat fondue in the medieval town of Gruyère, and even travel to nearby countries, such as France and Italy.
Navigating public transportation was one of the best introductions to Switzerland. It helped me not only see Switzerland, but understand it. It required me to practice my French skills in order to find out the next train stop, which platform I should wait at, and whenever there was a delay. It also helped me better understand Swiss culture, which is quieter and often more reserved than American culture, by observing how Swiss people conduct themselves on public transportation. Without a doubt, some of my most memorable experiences from study abroad will be watching the Alps through train windows, rapidly finishing assignments on the train while returning from weekend trips, and laughing with my friends during early morning commutes to class.
Of course, Swiss trains are not perfect. While they are usually highly reliable, occasionally they are late or even canceled. Sometimes they are a little dirty or the bathrooms are out of order. I definitely had to run a couple of times in order to make my train and missed it once or twice. These problems are always frustrating and pretty inconvenient. However, just like study abroad in general, the little problems do not take away from the overall positive experience. Studying abroad can be challenging and sometimes you run into unexpected problems. It’s not always the life-changing, perfect experience that it is often portrayed as, and in such a new environment, it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed. However, sometimes you just have to go along for the ride and take in all the sights along the way, knowing that the views around the corner will be worth all of the bumps in the tracks.