Living in Switzerland vs. America | 20 Major Differences

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hi guys I want to share with you today some of the differences between Switzerland and America that I think you guys are going to find interesting and maybe funny as well so we've been here for a while so some of these things don't shock us as much but I remember when we first got here the first year we kept saying oh this is different and this is different and this is different and there are so many like major drastic differences so I hope you enjoyed the video and comment below and let us know what you think so so the first thing is is when you're in America you're used to shopping like any day of the week almost any hours a day well links I'm in Switzerland everything closes after 6:30 so you can be like sure maybe till 7:00 now somewhere over till 7:00 7:30 um but basically everything is closed so if you want to get let's say Fred because you need bread for the morning or whatever you can forget about it everything is closed you can find little grocery stores at train stations sometimes or gas stations and maybe get a loaf of bread but if not like forget about doing your groceries after after a time after 7:00 dish Wow so the only thing is on Sunday every single thing's closed which is awesome for families so imagine like all the moms and dads they're all off everyone's kind of having a family day everyone's kind of united it doing stuff escalates and whatever it's just awesome but um good luck if you needed something or anything I thought you guys explained differently but when you're used to having Sunday's that everything's open like oh my gosh what are we going to do I can't go shopping I can't do anything so it just looks really like a rest and relaxation day which is what was it was intended for so it's kind of nice but it is this one of the biggest differences so the other thing is if you go out for any kind of meals here in all of Europe pretty much you can expect that it will take a long time and nothing is rushed you're not going to have someone coming up here in two seconds asking like how's the meal or have a line or if you guys want dessert or if you want the check or sister that is kindly everything takes a long time you have to ask for the bill and then expect that you can take a long time so don't your brush just like get in load and enjoy your meal basically so that's what they doing here in Europe they just take your time there's no refills on your train so guys you order your drink expect it to be like super small not like a space ginormous drink that you're going to get a small and there's no refills so don't even like think to ask for that just not existent the other thing they don't usually use especially here in Switzerland they don't give you ice so a delicious with the North Americans but we're always used to having ice in our drinks and we like our drinks cold but they just don't do that here so you don't get excuse in your drinks and when you ask sometimes we're kind of like like looking at your like if you're strange or something so just to be accepted well one of the things that's then I'm great your 10 points so I'm up quite like for right now so one of the things is like takeaway meals or takeaway drink so if you're from anywhere in North America you're used to eating in your car while your pian they just don't do that I mean it's just it's like taboo you don't either be in your car and you know a drink in your car and the first time I went to go get a coffee to go facilities like what you want it to go like closet take away so they call it a little different I'm like yeah you know like to go take away and she's like no I'm a skinny it blast with my coffee in it and I'm like no no I'm gonna to go cap and she'd like to taste a glass and leave kind of thing like ugh like seriously like so I'm left with their glass and every be returned so I thought that was really funny I tell learnt my lesson right reply like you you know how Americans mean whatever they just assume rural America - she's hugging why can't you just sit and enjoy your coffee like everyone else and take the time but we're always in a rush right so the other thing of kind of is you know we still take her to go cup sometimes with us whether it's a smoothie or coffee and people see us on the street and they're like intercession packets and we will say that to us so you think it's funny and we still eat in the car and we pick our food and off we go so we still kind of have that in a grain bin us and hard to get out of the mentality when when you believe in America for sewing in here and stuff I must be number six if I wrote it down is that it's like everywhere you go expect to have this like super narrow streets and lots of roundabouts which is awesome because there's no waiting up stoplights when you're going through a village or a city you just don't have to like stop every you know two seconds for a stoplight you just kind of slow the traffic flows so in the beginning when it people to like beep at you or like you know tell you off because sometimes you don't do it correctly or whatever so learn that in Freetown the case you need to learn how it works and good luck to go to iron because everything on the other side streets and it's even more confusing with their rounded us so yes the streets are super narrow so like you have to get used to driving like really tightly closed to cars and like just like expect that so it's the beginning girls like a we call it scared but you'll get used to it really fast so that was one of the things um oh yes point number seven the passing lane on a highway is really for passing so if you're driving on the highway and you're kind of like subscribe passing lane like we do in America that doesn't happen here you'll quickly actually be coming right up here like right up on you flashing like Tonya names over so it's a passing lane it's really meant for passing and you can go command and that's just how it goes here they still like keep those rules right and point number eight is expect to get a speeding ticket with the radar so in Switzerland they're like hidden radars everywhere and I'm telling you if you even go over like the last ticket I got was in June so not too long ago and it's nice pork lawn there's over the speed limit and I got 40 bucks ticket so they don't last they couldn't laugh around or they don't mess around with it and it I guess they don't really have any tool Rose be paid 45 francs for the whole year to use all the roads and switch on which is amazing so that's a way making money I guess right number nine is they don't have AC so input your elements very rare to have AC as you can see now and preterite really like hot and look a little funny well us because I had hot buddy thirty degrees out and it's like humid and hot and they just don't have AC and so the benefit of that is for any of you who live in Florida you know that we don't make home with outsiders I mean we were in Florida living there you just had to uh luxurious butter people be like if they were visiting why are you bringing a sweater you're like ILC can we go into any Target or any supermarket and you freeze your butt off any shopping on you just frozen movie frozen everything here it's different because they don't have a seat you're just you just enjoy it and if a queue they don't crank it so cool that you're you know frozen right so that's kind of nice and not make some Goods really hot number ten this is a cash twist or not a cashless or a cash society so everywhere you go you can expect to pay pretty much in cash I mean a lot of places take cards nowadays but still if you're buying a coffee or ice cream and whatever have some cash on you cuz they paid cash and even in her serious we were up on going up and power one day and white I just leave the coffee and whatever and it didn't come to twenty Craig there was just under clay crafts and I like stories it's not twenty Frank you can't pee with the card no mice all right so you're going to say five in a nineteen and Frank and they're like yeah so it's just the way that so you know bring cash shells with you and they came with hundred dollar or 100 Frank bills to Anna Franco no one will like make your strange over here they use big bills and they carry cash so we ate it when else oh the traffic lights here kind of different to us and just make your a traffic light and a lot of cars will ripple turn their cars on babies on a lot at the traffic light and it goes term like red or sort of yellows and red and then it goes back to yellow and green so you can actually start going with yellow to green which is kind of different never seen that other than here um everything is kind of used at your own risk so point number salt because everywhere you go there's no like you know kind of look at Disney right like keep your arms and hands inside the ride at all times that doesn't exist carrots like use at your own risk if you're an idiot and you like touch something that's hot while that's your fault right and so the first times we experience that is when we first arrived they had candle-making four kids and I'm telling you know these like big pot of hot wax and the kids realize we'll just go dip their candles in the hot wax and I remember seeing like oh my gosh like our daughter was five to ten she's like dipping in and it was like this guy's like that's rock the guy like big dress and like oh hey guys so cool you know that your candles and stuff like that and they're just like it was our first experience really cool this is weird and then we went all the way to the top of mountain and the kids can literally like and walk off the cliff there was no barriers there was no signs there's no nothing it's all like you know if you're going to be on the cliff then you know be smart enough not to fall off and so that's I guess why they have to select die when they go on high experience which on because you can fall off question and it could be fatal so so they're you know it was kind of good for us and point number 13 expected the young kids and people with alcohol because they are allowed to drink on the street you see people in the in the train stations or on a train drinking beer the legal age I think it's 16 for prepare and hard liquor is like 18 or so like that so it's kind of Lemoore of social things so it's not like people drink really good you know drunk like they make you in America it's more but just relax and part of the culture so that the expected point number fourteen they do not provide shopping bags and you go shopping so make sure you always have your bags but we never leave home without a bag I have a portable day inside of a because you always tend to needed you know go to a store and they don't pack your bags for you so when you are going through the cash you just expect to bag your own bags and bring your own musical bags which is awesome because there's no waste of plastic so and this has been like this for gosh probably with 30 years here already so hey America we are way behind except for Whole Foods who does a great job Feathersword they're starting to catch on which is good um number let's see what number am I at 1500 this is like so when you go out to a cash register or somebody in a store you must say hello first and then ask them for help if not you're considered extremely rude so my first time doing that I look at a cash clinic Stefan and the lady wasn't like putting it through she was just like looking at it waiting and then I'm like what managed to go hello and I'm like oh hello and then she started right and so like a wait to say hello another time I'm going up to somebody and you know sometimes you're just like excuse me can I have a bow or do you know where this is and the guy who seems like we should say hello first now but oh hello this is like their cultures like first to say hello and you do their thing so just respect right so that is that um let's see what else do I have written down here number 16 what trillion is like one of the spacious countries in the world I mean you see people will pitch I see everywhere you see kids walking to school the age of six all by themselves like every two kids walk alone everywhere you go kids are along street play at the parks like it's just unbelievable so it's a space country and people are apparently on the watch out you know people are kind of like you lurk not like police but they always walk to their neighbors and stuff like that so it's really nice very community oriented and just super super super space along with that we had an experience last year where our kids went on a sailboat it was like a big huge sailboat and typically like when you enroll your kids in an activity or something is like yep still your paper gets sign off on it yes because it might be here it was like with your first name you know Julia angelically okay welcome and they're like we'll see you guys at whatever time we're like what what like just like some us it was just like here you go have fun and we're taking your - so this is like totally different you know no waivers no nothing and that's just like people are just different right and so that was very shocked that we're like well it's so cool so um what else part of all my codes at this point is that when you go to the schools here there's no gate like schools don't have a state gates around with like lockdown with security you can walk onto any school the parents walk on the school property bang mingle the hangout we taught the moms talk to each other and like who's on the whatever and it was like really is really cool atmosphere you can walk into the school at any time and it's not locked down like we have in America and it's just I know it's just so safe and so different but it's like still like for fast like like what it should be right so that looks really nice one of the cool things this isn't a point it's kind of comes in with in here it's like there's no more for kids on weekend it's the law they can not save your kids homework on weekends which is so nice because then all families can hang up enjoy no stress no Sunday night like oh my gosh this to do project or whatever so that's really good I'm not sure if it applies to high school ages but definitely in the ever school grades it applies electrical so I have one else so number 17 no trash anywhere so drilling is one of the cleanest countries that you'll see it's super clean street cleaners everywhere and they're just like people are conscious of it and I think it's just like I know it's one of the cleanest in picture countries as you probably see on an Instagram account but it is one of the cleanest and previous countries I think in the world number 80 never expects to pay for bathrooms so when you even stop at a gas station stop or you're at the train station or where you are bathrooms can cost up to one franc and that's just to be expected so keep some pocket change because when you gotta go you gotta go um what else 19 I wrote the quiz and they have like why is transportation systems I mean you go on a train nobody's talking and when you're used to coming to America you're like wow you're so loud in the beginning everyone is like staring at us really why are you looking at us and like our youngest choose five and the old jokes we say which is they're American because she lived more in Florida at that time and she just be so loud and people would actually tell her to be quiet maybe like you know like maybe like oh my gosh like okay so like now we learn how in real places with Wyatt all kids behave you know just like if not they're told so that was like a huge surface for us and very funny one too um hello tying into the know quiet rule you cannot be a recycling on a Sunday because that connects noise right and sunday is supposed to be a restful day so sloth you cannot recycle on a Sunday so I didn't know I went until recently which is quite slow buddy okay I have number 20 this is like a big one guys and I don't like we can change back America or to say about this but there are no diets here people do not go on a diet like in America and there's no need to diet you see people eating like rich foods baguettes like crazy like so much bread and just healthy food but they don't have to diet we just live and in their daily lives of living through exercising there's walking as you walk everywhere and just like there's no like diet per se but the biggest difference is is like there's hardly any absolute people take time to eat they make more home-cooked meals and it's just like maybe a better quality of food because it's not the past professed jumps that you get in America and that's just like such a concern it was one of the main determining factors of one of the reasons we left America because we were scared of our health and and it's just a squirrel like when you're in the United States you almost are like an alien to everything around you because unless you like pack your own last frame your own food you can't really live and go everywhere because everywhere you're you know every home you go to or every family you encounter there eating certain foods that you just can't eat if you want what a healthy lifestyle where is here you can live a healthy lifestyle you grab you can eat everything and you're not like scared but you know what are you putting in your body so anyway I hope you enjoy the differences the two different cultures and the differences at the different country and make sure you comment and let us know some of your thoughts I know if you're European watching them too panicking and we know all right maybe like the blue plate but for you know we're coming from America into Europe is really kind of like shot doing whoa it's just such a different world right so anyway thanks for watching and we'll see you next time [Music] you [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Growing Up Without Borders

Views: 306,110

Rating: 4.7719193 out of 5

Keywords: Growing Up Without Borders, family travel, homeschool, traveling family, work from home, remote work, Home away from home, School and Travel, Family Vlog, World Travel Vlog, Digital Nomad', homeschooling mom, vlog, wanderlust, travel, Europe, long-term travel, moving abroad, growing up, expat life, holiday, travel advice, vacation advice, cultural differences, Switzerland vs. USA, Switzerland vs. America, us vs switzerland, guns switzerland vs us, usa vs switzerland

Id: LvYNbSaOTkY

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2017