Willkommen in der Schweiz

So today we had a little intro class about Swiss Culture and culture shock. It was fun. We got to learn about stereotypes and did an exercise where everyone from the different countries got to tell what their sterotypes where about other countries. French were wine cheese, rude, smokers. Germans were beer and scary, and Americans were fat, fast food, spend to much money. After the stereotypes where announced the people from the countries got to go up to the front to defend their homelands. Very fun and got to know some more about the different people. Everyone was laughing about their sterotypes and it was all in good fun. I opened up a bank account and got a phone yesterday. opening up the account was challenging because I speak little Deustch and the woman at the bank spoke very little english, but we got it done.

Doing laundry is fun to. Instead of just going down to the washroom and putting your clothes in a machine and paying, you have to reserve the entire washroom. It varies in cost depending on the time of day you reserve it however you get the entire room, which consists of 3 washers and 2 dryers. You go up to the desk in the dorm and ask to reserve the room and then the lady pulls out a datebook and proceeds to schedule you in. Small, small machines but I was expecting that. On the plus side the dorm has a small herd of goats outside that is pretty fun to watch when you are waiting for the wash to be done. I'll post pics later.

Speaking of culture shock. Here are some pics from the store. I know I harp on the store alot but it is so different from back home that the differences stick out the most. Note the "grocery bag" I mentioned in an earlier post. The magazine is for a reference so you know how big it is. Note the rip in the bottom right. I was carrying the mayonaise, some cheese and a jar of Nutella.

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