{"id":3207,"date":"2018-06-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T14:45:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T18:45:39","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Switzerland … Featuring Anonymous"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s  So Your Character is from Spain … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span><\/div>\n


<\/span> Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
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<\/span> (None of the Images are Mine)<\/span><\/span>
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\nHi there. I was born and raised in Basel, Switzerland, which is a nice city just next to the border to Germany and France. I like to play the piano and draw in my free time and I do synchronize skating which is a lot of fun.<\/span>
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<\/span> What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nI think Switzerland is unique for its four languages and four cultures, the Alpes which cover more than half of the country, and the biggest clich\u00e9 of all: chocolate. Other than that, what I think is unique is that since Switzerland is so small, everything is very close. Only after spending some time in other countries, I came to realize how easy it is to travel in Switzerland.<\/span>
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<\/span> Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nSwitzerland is of course very hilly, you won\u2019t find a single view without at least a few hills in the far back. I really love being in the Alpes, anywhere is pretty, to be honest. But there are also a few cities that are lovely. Basel, Z\u00fcrich, Luzern, Geneva, and Bern (our capital city) are all pretty much seen in a day but offer some beautiful old and new architecture, museum, promenades and so on. And if anyone is looking for more warmth, Lugano is very beautiful as well.<\/span>
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<\/span> Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nThe probably most traditional dishes are Fondue and Raclette, which are both dishes with a lot of cheese involved and bread and potatoes. They are definitely some of my favorite dishes, especially in winter. Then any kind of chocolate you can buy in Switzerland is good, but the best in Lindt, trust me.<\/span>
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Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/span><\/b><\/span>
\nNot many people actually realize this, Switzerland has four main languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansch. So, depending on where you are, you will find a completely different language around you. Further, than that, there are a lot of Swiss German dialects. Swiss people pride themselves in their dialect and a \u201creal Swiss\u201d can say exactly from what city\/region who is according to how they speak. All formalities are spoken and written in German though (as you would find it in Germany). We Swiss people like to challenge people to pronounce this one sentence, it\u2019s kind of an inside joke, as if only if you can pronounce it correctly, you are considered Swiss: \u201cDe ch\u00e4s isch im chuchi ch\u00e4stli\u201d (the cheese is in the fridge). <\/span>
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