6 things that residents of Zurich do not at all in Moscow

Especially for TravelAsk.ru:
Maria Barikhina, a marketer, sociologist, traveler and dreamer, shared her impressions of Zurich, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Masha was born and raised in Moscow, worked in London for several years and is now mastering Switzerland. And here are 6 interesting observations about Zurich through the eyes of a Muscovite.

Photo: Oleg Smirnov

Switzerland - a country that from the outside seems a symbol of life comfort and the edge of beautiful landscapes. In fact, when it comes to permanent residence, as in any other country, there are a number of their own nuances that are difficult to get used to after living in Moscow. It is worth noting that Switzerland can be very different, because one state combines three completely different cultures: French, Italian and German. Each culture has its own region, its own traditions and its own language. Below are only facts about Zurich, some of which may not be applicable to other regions.

1. Language

Language is a very complex topic for Switzerland as a whole. As soon as you cross the borders of the German region and enter the French part, all road signs, signs and menus appear before you only in French. And exactly the same way back. Therefore, it is impossible to learn one language in order to communicate freely throughout Switzerland. But then you come to Zurich and think: "I will learn German, and everything will be fine." But it was not there. The Swiss have their own dialect of German, which in pronunciation is similar to very distorted German, but it does not have clear spelling rules and hard grammar, it's just a spoken language. One Russian acquaintance told me that Zurich is the worst place to learn German: there’s no practice (if we speak the right German), and as soon as the Swiss understand that you are non-native and try to pronounce something in real German, they are overwhelmed with pity and often switch to English, because for them, classic German is as foreign as English, and they speak, as a rule, well both that and that.

2. The mode of operation of all

Zurich culture is a lark culture. By train to the city at 7 am there will be twice as many people as at 8. Many start working at 8 (of their own free will, please note), and at 5 pm they are already free and go home to their families. What surprised me after Moscow was that families and personal life were a priority for everyone: employees of supermarkets, shops and any government agencies. Therefore, everything closes at the latest at 7. Even the master, who fixes the Internet, and he goes home at 6 pm to drink beer with sausage, and you sit yourself without the Internet. The weekend, as you already understood, is a holy time for relaxing with your family, so on Saturday everything works until noon, and on Sunday everyone walks. Moreover, it remains a mystery where they all rest, since the streets on Sunday are deserted, as in Fallout.

3. Garbage collection

This is one of the things that plunged me into absolute shock. You have the right to throw garbage only in special packages with certain marks, each district has its own. Therefore, the necessary garbage bags can only be bought at the supermarket in the area of the house, and not where the weekend brought you. The packages are quite expensive, 30l (10 pcs) cost around 16 francs (about $ 16). Thus, citizens are taxed on garbage collection, which is quite logical: the more you litter, the more you pay. They say that if you throw out the garbage in an ordinary bag, the garbage men will go through all the apartments until they find whose bag it is.

4. Recycling

The topic of recycling logically follows the topic of recycling. It is very developed in Switzerland, the Swiss as a whole very much care about the purity of nature. There are special days for paper trash when a special garbage truck arrives and picks up paper, or you can simply take the paper to the nearest supermarket. The same goes for glass, plastic and even old clothes / shoes. There are special containers for everything. Perhaps this is the Russian mentality, but when I saw these containers, I immediately thought that at such a high price for garbage bags, it is not surprising that people are actively sorting garbage and throwing them in containers. Decent savings are obtained.

5. Wash

Frankly, when I moved, I was ready for a lot, but the most painful topic for me is washing. In many houses in the apartments there are no washing machines, they are taken out to the basement, to the common area. As far as I know, this is also common in Germany. Somewhere the use of the machine is not regulated in any way, it is free - use it. My house has a schedule, each apartment has its own washing day once a week. Since we were the last to enter, we were “lucky” - our day is Saturday. Besides the fact that washing now is like a holiday that you plan ahead and wait a whole week, when planning a weekend, you always have to choose between disassembling washing rubble and a fun trip for the whole weekend. And most importantly - you can’t wash after 9 pm! Of course, you can always agree with your neighbors, but they won’t say thanks for that.

6. Level of trust

As a girl who was born in a big city, I used to always be on my guard and not leave my things unattended. Here people are on a completely different wave: small children calmly play unattended, infants in wheelchairs people quietly leave to “walk” at the entrance, while parents do household chores upstairs, nobody puts bags in restaurants in a prominent place. Everyone looks askance if I am sitting alone in a cafe and, retiring to the ladies' room, I take my bag and computer with me. And most importantly, you can order a TV for 1000 francs (about $ 1000), and some companies can simply leave it at the entrance to the porch if you are not at home. If you are lucky with your neighbors, they will bring the parcel into the porch, otherwise it will wait for you on the street until evening. But most importantly, it will wait!

All the features described above are addictive, but a person can adapt to everything. These things stand out clearly when you begin to equip life, but there is still a lot of interesting things. And finally, about the level of trust: my colleague dropped the engagement ring with a diamond between the seats in the tram, she couldn’t get it herself, informed the driver and went to work. Later she called - they took out the ring and returned it.

SWISS airlines fly regularly to Zurich, flights can be booked here.