Switzerland: Journal Entries

Outside of La Muse
image source: timeout

Kelly and I haven't done much shopping due to the rather rushed schedule, so we decided to go shopping in our final destination, Geneva, Swizerland! People in Switzerland dress casually, but I did realized that people dress more nicely in bigger cities, like Geneva and Zurich. Black and darker fabrics are considered to be more stylish, and I heard this from my friend, 'when in doubt, wear black' (she said it's the same in France too). Swiss fashion designers are less recognized internationally, but there are still some amazing local designers. There are also a lot of high-end brands and those ever so famous Swiss watches. We stumbled upon this boutique called La Muse, and it really caught my attention. It has a mix of edgy brands by both local and international designers. Kelly found a dress she really liked, and I saw tons of shoes and jewelry that I adored. Unfortunately I only bought a few since it was quite expensive. We went to a lot of different stores after that, and used up all our budget for shopping. As we walked back to the hotel, our arms were full with bags and bags of clothes.

Before we came to Switzerland, I contacted a friend who used to live here to tell us about famous attractions and shops. Along with those information, she also mentioned her life and the values here. She said that people valued a strong sense of responsibility and hard work, along with material possessions. Also, you wouldn't really see strangers talking to each other in public spaces. She described Switzerland as clean, and I thought the photos of glaciers and lakes really added to the image. She also said that her sense of community was strong. Religion and family are also important in her life. Furthermore, due to the fact that there are multiple main languages spoken here, you could see different language speaking regions hold different kinds of habits and values.

We wanted to see if we happen to meet any of its public holidays, but unfortunately, none of its holidays are on April 18th. So we ended up just doing a lot of research on holidays instead. Some of its holidays are familiar, such as the New Year, Easter, Labor Day, and Christmas. But there are also a lot of Christian holidays that aren't as familiar. The Good Friday, for example, is celebrated on March 25th this year, and it's the Friday before Easter. There is also the Epiphany, or Three King's Day, celebrating the revelation of God in his son, Jesus, on January 6th. Also the Whit Monday, as known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the day after the Pentacost (celebration of the descent of Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus), and its date is dependent on the date of Easter. There are also other various public holidays from Christianity, such as the All Saints, Assumption, and Corpus Christi. In addition, there is also the Swiss National Day, on August 8th, which celebrates Switzerland's national holiday. All the holidays mentioned above are public holidays, in which people get a day off. But there are also holidays like Valentines Day, Mothers Day, and Halloween, that are celebrated but not considered as 'public holidays'.