We moved to Switzerland during Trump's first term. Living there taught us true wellness. Here's how.
It's so much more than fancy cheese or chocolate
We left the US for Switzerland during Trump's first term, when our son was four years old.
My husband had been offered a job in Basel, and while we loved our urban life in Boston, we sensed that it was the perfect opportunity to escape.
Our local Somerville school district had recently gone viral for its active shooter drills, in which kindergarteners sang songs about hiding quietly under their desks to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If we’d stayed, this would be our son.
Like so many American parents, we were horrified at the idea of him experiencing this — not to mention the 24/7 onslaught of Fox News-style political coverage accompanying Trump’s regime.
So we went searching for a saner, more peaceful alternative abroad.
As a Central European country with four national languages, world-class public transportation and a famously walkable culture, dotted with medieval castles in the shadow of the Alps, Switzerland seemed to offer the ideal setting.
Our move unfolded in a matter of hushed weeks, awaiting visas amid logistical red tape.
Over a whirlwind few days in August 2018, we packed up our tiny urban condo, sold our cars, downloaded Google Translate, and boarded a one-way Swiss Airlines flight to Zurich.
After arriving jet-lagged via train at Basel SBB, we began to settle into our new life along the Rhine River. Fellow expats welcomed us warmly and assured us that Switzerland would be the perfect place to raise a family.
Little did we know just how life-giving it would be.
Over the course of the six years in Basel that followed — having studied German, bought a home, and earned permanent residency — we realized we’d found the grounded, holistic lifestyle we’d missed in our urban American hustle-and-grind reality. The quality of life was unmatched.
Living in Switzerland taught us true wellness.
Here's how.
Walkable lifestyles
Walkable cities like Basel, Zurich and Geneva make it easy to get around on foot and live lightly without a car, and the Swiss public transport grid is admirably world-class. We could take a tram, train, or bus to every corner of Switzerland — even to go hiking or skiing in the Alps!
Train travel in general felt like a revelation. We spent long weekends hopping Züge all over Europe. France’s Strasbourg and Germany’s Black Forest were just an hour away, and Paris, Milan and Montreux were both just over three.
Bikes are ubiquitous, too (though, surprisingly for such a cautious culture, the Swiss rarely wear helmets).
Living in relationship
Apartment life is common here: 65% of Swiss residents live in Wohnungs (or flats). It’s rare to own a single-family house, especially in the urban centers, and if you do, your home is likely just a few steps from your neighbors’.
I loved how communal and resource-friendly this felt: living simply and sharing space with one another in public “third spaces” like cafes and parks, rather than normalizing 3000+ square feet of McMansion-style homes like in the US.
Our close expat friends quickly became like family: the village we’d always been looking for as parents far from home.
Medieval history
Switzerland’s medieval architecture colors everyday life. Strolling down the twisting, cobbled streets of Altstadt Basel, you’ll wander past buildings dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.
I used to look out the 4th floor window of B.Yoga Basel, where I taught yoga, to keep time during my classes via the clock on the 500-year-old Rathaus across Marktplatz. My family and I could see three castles from our backyard.
For an American, this depth of history never ceases to blow your mind.
Independent children
Swiss culture deeply values children’s autonomy, and supports it with a collective sense of responsibility for public well-being. Parents, teachers, and public safety officers teach kindergartners to walk to school alone wearing bright yellow safety bibs, and children ride public transport alone from age 5 up.
There are always Swiss Omas (grandmothers) notoriously looking out the window to make sure locals are behaving. You don’t need security cameras when you’ve got the Oma Patrol on every street.
Taking a sabbath
Every Sunday and public holiday, Swiss shops and businesses close for the day for Ruhezeit or “quiet hours”. Only a few gas stations or Bahnhof corner stores remain open for the ultimate necessities. You can’t even mow your lawn! (And don’t even think about washing your car.)
The result? A true cultural Sabbath. These quiet Sundays felt like a lovely counter to the rampant consumerism we knew in the US. There were no Costco or Home Depot runs. We spent time reading, playing board games, watching sports, and exploring nature instead.
Hiking instead of church
On Sunday mornings, Swiss folks grab their hiking poles and venture out into the church of nature while medieval cathedrals sit empty. Contemporary Swiss culture is largely agnostic, and religion and politics are clearly separated. (This was so refreshing, coming from the US.) There’s a whole national culture built around hiking.
Children enjoy weekly Waldkinder (outdoor forest education) days at school, emphasizing the value of time in the natural world from little on up. Our son came home with muddy shoes and dirty fingernails every Wednesday, smelling like forest, pine needles, and bonfires — and it was the best.
Minimalism
Everything is smaller in Switzerland. You name it: roads, washer/dryers, ovens, cars, homes, food portions — even Christmas trees. Space is limited, especially compared to the Great Plains where I grew up. Our 1600-square-foot home was quite large compared to most.
Even Swiss freezers are tiny, because locals tend to buy fresh vegetables and meat daily instead of stocking up in bulk. (This can be annoying when you’re used to a bigass American freezer.)
That said, we shopped minimally, and largely stopped going out to eat (due to the pricey restaurants), instead cooking almost all of our meals at home. For a crappy cook like me, and a family who used to love Somerville’s diverse ethnic restaurant scene, this was a real adjustment at first. But over time, we came to appreciate it — and my crockpot got a good workout (may she rest in peace).
Excellent health care
Swiss law requires that all residents have health care coverage. It’s certainly not cheap — but it’s always reliable, accessible, and there’s no copay required. Our experiences with Swiss hospitals, primary care doctors, specialists, and pharmacies were always efficient, thorough, and professional, and we never feared medical bankruptcy or denial of coverage.
Whether a complicated back surgery, broken bones, homeopathic prescriptions, or a late-night visit to the Kinderspital ER, our care was always paid for.
Conscious recycling
Recycling in Switzerland is like a part-time job. You don’t just dump your bottles all in one big bin and drag it to the curb to be picked up and sorted. You carefully clean and sort them yourself at home — glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard — and take them all to the recycling containers in your Gemeinde (community or neighborhood), where you dutifully dispose of them in the appropriately-labeled containers, making sure not to do so on Sundays, holidays, or during regulated quiet hours.
(God forbid you make any noise dropping bottles during lunchtime or after 10pm!)
Growing up multilingual
Switzerland has four official national languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansch. Most young people speak English, too, especially in the urban centers. It’s a wonderfully diverse linguistic culture, and one that inspired us to challenge ourselves to learn a new language, too.
With a variety of Swiss German dialects local to each Canton, we had our work cut out for us. Even native friends recommended skipping the complicated local dialects and just focusing on learning Hoch Deutsch (High German).
Our son picked up the language right away, and he has a beautiful native accent. My husband and I? Not so pretty, but we managed the basics. When in doubt, a good Genau or mit Karte bitte got us through. (This is where Google Translate really saved our lives.)
Sane gun policies
In Basel, I never felt afraid that our son would get shot in school — even when his classroom was directly next to the entrance and reception desk. This was a massive relief.
Swiss young men are required to perform one year of compulsory military service, but in spite of this, the gun situation here feels much more sane than in the US. Gun ownership is strictly regulated, ammunition is difficult to access, and homicides are extremely rare.
A supportive social plan
When my yoga studio was shut down for months by Covid lockdowns in 2020, the Swiss government still paid me a monthly wage. As an American, this felt astounding!
Compared to the US, the Swiss government offers generous worker protections and unemployment benefits. Vacation entitlements, paid holidays, occupational accident insurance, and parental leave are dramatically better. (How would you feel about six weeks of paid vacation a year?! Yeah, I know. Mind-boggling.)
Not only are Swiss salaries some of the highest in the world, but unemployment insurance provides up to 80% of your income for up to two years. For me, this sort of social policy is what a truly wellness-cultivating culture looks like — so much more than individualized cold plunges or biohacking.
Football culture
And by football, of course, I mean: soccer. Living in Switzerland introduced us to the love of The Beautiful Game. Our entire family has become football fanatics. Between cheering for FC Basel, the Swiss National Team, the UEFA Euros, and the World Cup, we couldn’t get enough.
FIFA (the Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is headquartered in Zurich, where the FIFA World Football Museum quickly became one of our favorite haunts.
After hearing locals chant passionately in German during home matches at St. Jakob Park, you might start to think that there’s a “national religion” after all.
Ok, it sounds amazing. But, you ask — were there American highlights you missed?
Of course!
Air conditioning. Musical theater in English. Trader Joe’s, Target, Whole Foods. Diverse ethnic takeout. Super Bowl Sunday and the World Series. Making medical appointments in English. Lara Bars and caesar salads. Loud, casual restaurants. Good, affordable Mexican food.
(Cheap anything, really. Switzerland is famously expensive).
No Amazon same-day delivery to be found here. We crossed the border to Germany once a week to pick up online deliveries and take advantage of more affordable grocery shopping there.
And certainly: it’s important not to glamorize Swiss life. Not everything there is perfect.
We literally covered our Vitamix up with a blanket when we used it to blend breakfast smoothies, because we didn’t want the noise to bother the neighbors. In many older buildings, you get in trouble if you flush the toilets overnight because of the sound of the water running. In others with shared laundry facilities, you’re not allowed to wash your clothes on Sunday.
Folks will scold you if you leave your car engine idling, even for a minute. And if you rack up too many speeding or parking tickets, the Swiss government will literally garnish your wages.
(I mean, really. Rules, much? But you get used to it. And there’s a reason the trains all run on time.)
From the high cost of living to the challenge of understanding Schweizer Deutsch, to always feeling like a loud American, no matter how long you’ve been there — life in Europe’s most cautious, conservative, rational country isn’t always easy.
But is it worth it?
Ja voll!
A great read and summary of life in Switzerland! I’m so glad our paths crossed. 🩷