Samuel's Exchange to Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts | Switzerland
For as long as I can remember a massive priority of mine has been to break free from my normal life and to embark on a new life on a student exchange. Europe has so many exciting aspects and ultimately I chose the impossibly beautiful Switzerland as my home for 6 months.
From day one till the end of my adventure the Swiss culture formed a genuine experience full of what I’ve come to know as “Swissness”, primarily this meant incredible expansive natural landscapes, order and punctuality, politeness and quirkiness through the roof and the most well structured society one can imagine. There are three aspects of this trip I must talk about as they turned it from an exchange into the most amazing adventure of my life, these are, Switzerland’s outback, the lovely international exchange students and the rest of Europe.
Speaking of Switzerland’s outback, Lucerne is surrounded by the monumental Swiss alps, the second day after arriving in my home town of Lucerne I took an impromptu hike up the road and within the next hour I saw forests, mountains, lakes, crazy Swiss houses and more cows than a man could fathom. It was instant love and by the end of the exchange I climbed 5 mountains (Pilatus, Stanserhorn, Titlis, Rigi and Engelberg), this was all done with international friends from all over the globe. In Switzerland an exchange weekend consists of taking a train to some new amazing place or even country with incredible international friends.
Meeting the crazy, unique and fabulous exchange students in Lucerne was ultimately the best part of my exchange. I made lifelong and important bonds throughout the whole trip and we become an exchange family that shared in travels, parties, lots of eating and living together was the best. Everyone is in the same situation with everything being new and scary and exciting, this allows for strong bonds to be built. The other students came from every country imaginable and there was so much to learn about each other. Spanish are always suave, English fight endlessly if sugar or milk goes in tea first, Scandinavians are always tall and on time, Canadians really are the nicest, Americans do have no limits when drunk and Belgians always have the most indulgently yummy food.
A massive opportunity that most definitely needs taking advantage of in Switzerland is its central position in Europe. You can literally get to France or Germany or Italy or Austria by taking a train from Lucerne in 2-6 hours. I visited 8 countries and most of these were over a weekend. My favorite trip was to Amsterdam with a delightful bunch of Canadians and English where we soaked in culture and good times like there was no tomorrow. Vienna, Venice and London are all very close second favorite trips but after the whole trip I have to admit there is nothing at all that compares to taking a cable car up a Swiss mountain with a bunch of friends and sledding down snowy slopes all day, racing each other, zooming down big slopes and stopping only for hot chocolate and delectable cheese fondue.
I can’t imagine my life without exchange now and I would say to anyone interested that there is no choice, you HAVE to go and have the best experience of your life on an exchange to any country you are most intrigued by.
- Samuel studied abroad at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland
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