After getting fed up with the non-stop rain and cold here in Zurich (in August, nonetheless!) I fled to Verona for the weekend. It's funny, but when the weather reports in Zurich forecast a 20% chance of rain, there's a good chance you'll need an umbrella. Some Verona forecasts predicted a 40% chance of rain, but the only weather gear I needed all weekend was a pair of sunglasses and some sunscreen. It did rain once during the weekend, and it was a thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms, but it had the courtesy to wait until the middle of the night, and to end well in advance of daybreak. Even though Switzerland is all about having everything as it should be, Swiss weather apparently doesn't realize what August is supposed to be like.
Italians know what weather and shopping should be like. Sunny days, warm nights, summer that lasts longer than two months (we were wearing wool sweaters in the office in the beginning of June, and we've been wearing them again since the beginning of August, despite the Böögg's prediction of a nicer summer at this year's Sechseläuten). Instead of only offering cheap, mass-produced clothes or exorbitantly expensive designer clothes, they also have interesting clothes at all prices in between. Some stores were even open on Sunday afternoon! I felt rather sheepish, being impressed by the fact that their stores sell a variety of goods with a range of prices at convenient times. I guess my consumer expectations have become Swissified.
It is only when I leave Switzerland that I realize how much my expectations have aligned themselves with living in Switzerland. For instance, I always forget that public restrooms are usually not nearly as clean as private restrooms. I forget that walking into a public restroom can assault your nose and make you worry about stepping in puddles of unknown constitution. I forget that people pee on the toilet seat and don't wipe it up afterwards. I forget that there might not be hot water and that the air freshener might be both deeply necessary and pitifully inadequate.
And the public transportation, where do I even begin? Verona, for instance, only had buses. And the buses only ran every 20 minutes, except on Sundays, when they only ran every 40 minutes. Compare this to Zurich, where if you miss the tram, you only have to wait another three to eight minutes until the next one comes, depending on which tram and what time of day it is. While in Verona, I checked the bus schedule and realized that that next bus was scheduled to come in a minute, so I ran out to the bus stop, not wanting to have to wait for another twenty minutes for the next one. A minute passed, then two, and I figured, "Well, it's Italy, maybe they don't run things quite as on time as they do in Switzerland." A few more minutes passed, and I decided, "I must have just missed the bus, there's no way it's this late." Then an Italian sauntered up to the stop, looking completely unconcerned, despite it being a good five minutes after the scheduled stop, and a couple minutes later, the bus pulled up to the stop. Why post a bus schedule that is so precise, if the actual buses don't run on anything resembling the schedule? If things aren't that precise, why not just do as they do in New York, and say that buses will come "approximately every X minutes"?
I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss. (If I say it enough, then it's true). But I guess I'm not Italian, either, although I must admit that they have excellent food, weather, and shopping.
Another busy few weeks coming up: my parents will be coming in town, then a college friend, then Munich for Oktoberfest, and more planning to get some weekend adventures lined up...
Italians know what weather and shopping should be like. Sunny days, warm nights, summer that lasts longer than two months (we were wearing wool sweaters in the office in the beginning of June, and we've been wearing them again since the beginning of August, despite the Böögg's prediction of a nicer summer at this year's Sechseläuten). Instead of only offering cheap, mass-produced clothes or exorbitantly expensive designer clothes, they also have interesting clothes at all prices in between. Some stores were even open on Sunday afternoon! I felt rather sheepish, being impressed by the fact that their stores sell a variety of goods with a range of prices at convenient times. I guess my consumer expectations have become Swissified.
It is only when I leave Switzerland that I realize how much my expectations have aligned themselves with living in Switzerland. For instance, I always forget that public restrooms are usually not nearly as clean as private restrooms. I forget that walking into a public restroom can assault your nose and make you worry about stepping in puddles of unknown constitution. I forget that people pee on the toilet seat and don't wipe it up afterwards. I forget that there might not be hot water and that the air freshener might be both deeply necessary and pitifully inadequate.
And the public transportation, where do I even begin? Verona, for instance, only had buses. And the buses only ran every 20 minutes, except on Sundays, when they only ran every 40 minutes. Compare this to Zurich, where if you miss the tram, you only have to wait another three to eight minutes until the next one comes, depending on which tram and what time of day it is. While in Verona, I checked the bus schedule and realized that that next bus was scheduled to come in a minute, so I ran out to the bus stop, not wanting to have to wait for another twenty minutes for the next one. A minute passed, then two, and I figured, "Well, it's Italy, maybe they don't run things quite as on time as they do in Switzerland." A few more minutes passed, and I decided, "I must have just missed the bus, there's no way it's this late." Then an Italian sauntered up to the stop, looking completely unconcerned, despite it being a good five minutes after the scheduled stop, and a couple minutes later, the bus pulled up to the stop. Why post a bus schedule that is so precise, if the actual buses don't run on anything resembling the schedule? If things aren't that precise, why not just do as they do in New York, and say that buses will come "approximately every X minutes"?
I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss, I'm not Swiss. (If I say it enough, then it's true). But I guess I'm not Italian, either, although I must admit that they have excellent food, weather, and shopping.
Another busy few weeks coming up: my parents will be coming in town, then a college friend, then Munich for Oktoberfest, and more planning to get some weekend adventures lined up...
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