The reactions you get when you have an accent and people know or can assume by context that you are a migrant or immigrant are telling, to say the least.
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During the hot summer months in at least two Swiss cities—Basel and Bern—workers commute to or from their jobs via river.
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I recommend anglophones on travel—who have the luxury of a native language quite commonly spoken by nonnative speakers—stick to what I call “global English.”
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In the Valais, the traditional cow breed, the Herens, has renown for its fighting spirit and the hierarchies inherent in its herds. And boy, do they let them fight.
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Most people do not know that Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansch.
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The history behind the famous medieval bridge in Avignon, France—still shrouded in mystery, after all these years!—and the song about it that every French child knows.
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I read a lot of books in 2023, but I managed to winnow down my list of the best-of-the-best using four criteria. Here are my five favorites—and several runners-up.
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This site very much has the form of an old-school blog. It’ll stay that way as well. Too much to hope that the good old days of blogging could make a comeback?
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While bad people make mistakes, good people make them, too. Treating good people like bad people in the face of an error harms them (and us).
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While people and organizations have aimed to reduce life friction as much as possible, we might just want to add back in some of it for our own health and wellbeing.
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I’ve noticed an interesting confluence of holidays celebrating their nation’s founding over the three countries where I focus most of my energy these days: France, Switzerland, and the United States.
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