How travelling opens our eyes

It is public knowledge that our eyes get opened when we travel to another country. Not only do we learn about another culture, another language and another way to live, but it also puts into perspective how we live, what our culture has to say, how we do things. We suddenly realise that the way we do things might not be the only way, we might not always be right, we understand that there are many different ways to get to Rome (that's a German saying lamely translated into English and probably doesn't make any sense). It's public knowledge.

What I've realised recently, however, is that the impressions we get in a different country also depend on our age and situation in life. Naturally, 15-year olds are interested in different things than 30-year olds or 55-year olds. They see the world through a different lense and therefore different aspects of the world stand out to them. For our experiences in travelling that means to me that no matter how old we are when we travel somewhere, we will always make new discoveries because each time we see the world through a different lense. What good news, because that means that we have never travelled enough, we have never learned all there is to learn about our country or another. There is always more, the richness is infinite.

I've realised (once again) that the Australian way of life and the German way of life are very, very different. I think Australia offers a lot more opportunities for people to start an amazing career and to establish themselves financially. Germany doesn't give people these possibilities to the extend Australia does, however in Germany the social network is designed to support those who struggle much more than I have experienced in Australia. If you're unemployed in Germany you can still dress nicely and have a nice apartment. Please don't take my amateur thoughts too seriously, who am I to reflect on this topic, and yet I'm very interested in it and like to share my thoughts with you. I think the gap between rich and poor is much wider in Australia, Germany doesn't seem to have stark differences in lifestyles of people as I have experienced in Australia. I think that's very interesting.

I can't wait to see how people live in Switzerland. Tomorrow we'll be there. Michael says the scenery is breath-taking. We'll be spending Tuesday to Sunday in Basel and then take a train to Luzern, stay there for a night and train on to Zurich. I'm especially looking forward to Luzern. It was in the towns around the lake there (Vierwaldstaetter See) that Switzerland gained its independence through the leadership of Wilhelm Tell, their national hero. Here is a map of Switzerland so you can see where we're going.



Switzerland is made up of French-speaking, Italian-speaking and German-speaking people. The German they speak sounds very different to what we speak in Germany and it can be hard to understand them. Michael might get so confusedthere, now that he's just starting to understand what people are saying here! Switzerland doesn't have the Euro so we need to exchange money today. It's the only country in Central Europe apart from the UK that still has their own currency and I have to say, it is quite exciting to change money and get the foreign looking notes.

Our next post might already be about our experiences in Switzerland. Stay posted...