Differences between the U.S. and Switzerland.

1. Produce

It's just better here. It's fresher, riper, and it tastes better. When you buy something from the store, it is ripe. You don't have to set it out on your counter for a week to make it ripe. It is ready to eat. But Dad don't fret, they do sell green bananas here.

I've been eating tomatoes here like they're apples - just taking big huge bites of them or sitting down and eating one whole. The food does go bad in a day or two, however. I've had a lemon in the refrigerator go bad in 5 days and cheese go bad in 5 days as well. I've never had such things happen in the states! It makes you wonder what all the preservatives in U.S. food are doing to your body when you ingest them.

2. Clothing.

I apparently missed the memo that I was supposed to wear a pretty scarf every single day, even if it's sunny and 70 outside. Unfortunately when I left the U.S., I left my scarves there figuring I wouldn't need them until the winter here. Whoops.

Women here also wear black tights under short skirts or long sweaters. I don't think this is a trend that I will ever get into. If they're not wearing tights, they're wearing skinny jeans. Either way, I don't fit in.

I have already blogged about the black socks and non-athletic-shoe rule.

Women dress conservatively and they look great doing it. There is no cleavage, no midriff-bearing tops, no trying to look like Britney Spears or whoever the latest pop icon in a too-short skirt is. Clothes cover their body and are topped off with a color-coordinated scarf, of course. It is refreshing to not see droves of teenage girls who look like prostitutes in the making.

3. The Food.

I have yet to see any food item here that is low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb, sugar-free, or gluten-free. I would think gluten-free and sugar-free foods must exist somewhere since people need them for health reasons, but I have not found either yet. All of the food here is real, for lack of a better word, and it is all sold without gimmicks. Packaging tells you what is inside of it with no extra slogans. There are no catch phrases on boxes like "made with whole grains" or "no high fructose corn syrup". Granted many things are made with whole grains here (there is still whole-grain bread and whole wheat pasta and things like that), but there is no whole-grains craze like in the U.S. There are no food crazes at all here.

The bread here is all fresh baked daily. It dries out within 24 hours so you go to the store every day to buy your bread for that day, and if you don't eat it within 24 hours (sometimes 48 if you get certain kinds of bread) then it's either too hard to bite into or it's moldy already.

There are no preservatives in the food here.

I have yet to see lots of snacks for children. No fruit snacks, no cocoa puffs cereals, no pop tarts. There are potato chips and cookies here and a few brands of granola bars (but they're hard to find). There are only a few kinds of cookies here - not an entire aisle dedicated to them but instead all the options fit onto 3-4 shelves each ~5 feet in length. But there's lots of chocolate!

There are no meal bars or protein bars or weight-loss snack bars (Luna bars, power bars, Clif bars, etc). There's practically an entire aisle for such things in every grocery store in the U.S. but I don't think they exist here. And no lean cuisines! Finally, no more eating lean cuisines or frozen meals.

I have yet to find hummus here. And all the people that I have asked have told me that they can't find it here either. The Australian woman in my German class said she has gone all the way to Munich just to buy hummus. I'm hoping we can find some this weekend when we are closer to the Italian border ... maybe the Italians like hummus and stock it in their stores? Who knows.

4. The Transportation.

I have already blogged about how great it is here. Efficient, on time, clean, and plentiful.

5. Crime

I have not seen or heard of any. I have not seen homeless people on the streets though they must exist here somewhere.

And, the city is really clean. The sidewalks are clean and litter-free. I have not seen any run-down or dilapidated buildings. I have not yet found an area of the city that looks sketchy or where I do not feel safe. But, I also haven't explored the entire city yet and maybe I just haven't found the bad neighborhoods. I somehow doubt that though.

6. The Weather.

It is cold and rainy. Constantly. If you go out without a coat or umbrella, you will regret it. This will improve soon but for now that's how it is.

7. Liquor.

We still have not found a liquor store or anyplace to buy hard liquor. Which is probably saving us a good amount of money. Beer/wine are sold in some grocery stores but not all. I stocked up on gin in duty-free when I left Boston because Martin told me he couldn't find hard liquor in Zurich. I'm sure it exists somewhere. But where?

8. The People

I have found them to be friendly. Only elderly people seem to not speak English.

They are thin. The men are scrawny in general and the women are average-sized. So they're thin, but healthy and not anorexic. I have seen some overweight people here but they are rare. I am one of the biggest people here ... including the men.

They eat their lunches while walking on their lunch breaks or while standing outside of a cafe or shop.

They smoke. A lot. But that's the European way. The day I came here was the day Zürich banned smoking in restaurants. I got lucky.

They walk and bike a lot. On a nice day, everybody is outside sitting in parks, walking, or sitting at cafes.

They are active. There are a lot of outdoor runners here and every time I go to the gym it is completely packed.

People walk to work in the mornings in power suits with adidas bags slung over their shoulders for a noon or evening workout.

They have a lot of laws and they follow every one of them. Nobody even jaywalks.

They get up really early. When I go for a run at 6am, many people are already on their way to work, walking down the streets in suits. Martin gets to work at 7:45am and is one of the last people into his lab.

They do road construction on weekends to avoid disturbing weekday commuters. I like this. Except for the fact that they are digging up the street right in front of our apartment and they started at 8am this past Sunday.

9. Prices

They are the same or higher than in New England in many cases. Grabbing a simple sandwich or wrap for lunch will run you $10-$15. A lunch buffet or sit-down meal in a non-fancy restaurant will run you $20-$30. Martin and I grabbed lunch at a buffet place a few days ago and it cost us $54. And it's not like we stuffed ourselves, we went to the buffet once and filled our plates and had them weighed. No return trips or dessert or anything like that. We did have some wine though. But that's how you have lunch here! With some wine or beer.

So, no Chili's or Applebee's prices here. But Martin is quick to point out that the food we ate was also infinitely better than Chili's food. Did I mention it was a vegetarian buffet? We got dishes from all around the world filled with lentils, chickpeas, tofu, and fresh vegetables. No meat in sight. And it was all awesome.

Food in grocery stores seems to cost about the same as it did back in Boston. Prices are cheaper for things grown or made in Switzerland. Asparagus costs $9 per bunch though. I have yet to want asparagus badly enough to pay for it.

Hotel prices are what you would expect to pay in NYC for a hotel, in my opinion. Which makes sense, as Züich is rated one slot above NYC in the list of most expensive cities in the world.

A bratwurst with a roll as shown in one of my earlier posts is only $6.50 though!

10. Holidays

Sundays are days of rest here. Most places are closed. Stores in the airport and the train stations are generally open for travelers but that's it. Some cafes/restaurants remain open but not many. Tourist attractions and museums remain open, so that's nice.

On any holiday, everything is shut down. This coming weekend there is a holiday on Monday and because of that many things will be shut down Saturday through Monday for a 3-day holiday.