In our latest episode of The Swiss Connection podcast, we explore how homesickness and nostalgia were once bedfellows. Let us know what you’ve been particularly nostalgic for during this time of isolation from friends and family.
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When I got told by the Mayor of Palermo that in Australia we are all migrants and that the Australian people need to be 2 generation Australian before they become Australians. Me I come from the south of Italia and I never think of myself as a migrant in Italy because our families are ten generations South Italians so I do feel homesick when the port is shut and we have no more ricotta or goats should have gone to specsavers
Seeing all the absurd Swiss laws from the impossibility to ever become Swiss (3 generations) to not being able to get a driver's license with a practical and theoretical test in English, I really miss my home country. With all its flaws, the EU does not have this kind of absurdities.
I get more homesick as I get closer to retirement. No way could I afford to stay here on my pension, but the UK is attractive as the costs are much less than here, so I'd have a good life there. Plus, I could stop my extortionately expensive (mainly unused) private health insurance and use the NHS, if the Tories have not privatised it before I go back.
There's a phenomenon known as the reminiscence bump which leads to us becoming more nostalgic as we get older. There's a fair amount of literature on it if you're interested. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting. I had not heard that expression before and look forward to reading more about it. Thank you for that information.
I miss Switzerland. I'm Swiss and my husband is German.
Since the beginning of this virus thing, we spent most of the time in Germany where the grandparents could help with the kids.
Before all the restrictions we were planning on bringing the kids to school in Switzerland. Now that most school is online Germany works better as we have a home and some land and living is more affordable.
I still miss being in Switzerland 6 months each year and hiking or skiing with the family. These days I just visit for rare client meetings.
Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder! I'm sure your visits home, when possible again, will be all the more special.
To Avraham Kimowo. Your losses seem to be due to the pandemic. OK, you can run now to another country, but where will you go when the pandemic losses reach you there?
You can only re-start once or at most twice in your life before you have nothing left.
A year ago if someone forced closed your business and stopped people from coming in you would call them criminals and have the police send them to jail. Now these actions are called legal and only some businesses are allowed to work. Somehow it is essential for government employees to work but not for many private people.
I agree that the pandemic 'medicine' seems worse than the decease. Not only a Swiss, but a world-wide problem. Historians will have a lot to analyze here.
freedom home sick... as we do not have any freedom left... now we're just slaves with no rights
I was born here, I lived here all my life and I only left the country to visit relatives in Israel. With all the abuse my businesses took in Switzerland over the last year, I'm home sick for Israel and I'm now contemplating moving there with my hole family and giving back our 6 Swiss passports as obviously you cannot be a citizen of a country where you have no rights and your livelihood is threatened without notice.
We never asked for the so called unemployment money because we always had businesses and hired people. Now all our businesses were closed because of the lockdowns and our savings are stolen by the state. Shameful !
I have lived and worked in 15 countries. I am at home every where a little and no where quite. Homesick? to where? not sure ...
Even before covid Switzerland lacked social life. Friends no longer visited each other. At least that is my experience. Therefore homesick to lonely Switzerland. I do not think so.
Greetings from the beach in Lombok, Indonesia.
Thank you for your response! What does "home" mean to you? What makes you feel at home?
sorry for the delay in answering. I suppose it is due to the fact that with global nomads like me the definition of 'home' is simply no longer so easy. I suppose it is simply the place where I can relax. Here or there ...
When the weather gets colder, I miss the opportunity to take a train from Zurich to the mountains, rent skis in Klosters and return in the evening... The idea of combining the efficiency of the train system with the beauty of the ski slopes is an experience that I remember very vividly...
Thanks Robert for sharing. It’s common that the beginning of seasons when there’s a significant drop or rise in temperatures, for example, or the smell of freshly cut grass in summer, or the first winter snowfall, can trigger nostalgia. How old were you the first time you traveled like that to Klosters?
My grandparents had an apartment in Klosters in the 70s and 80s, and I lived in Zurich from 1997-2007, so spent many nice weekends, and weeks there...
You've experienced winters over several decades. I'm sure you saw quite a few change since the 70s.
Happy memories of Klosters. I spent much time commuting there from Geneva to ski as well as to a good variety of other resorts in Graubunden, Valais, France and sometimes Italy.
I have particularly fond memories of Klosters and its great skiing. Once went on a ski Safari from Klosters to Andermatt with a renowned Swiss Mountain guide.
Also enjoyed Davos and once had the privilege of a brief visit to WEF although I preferred to ski during the day and watch the sessions on closed circuit TV from my hotel bedroom whilst getting ready to go out for dinner! I regret it now as at the time in the 1980s or early 90’s I wasn’t really aware of its significance. There wasn’t all the security that there is now. I still enjoy following it each year on CNN with Richard Quest’s lively interviews. Hope to watch it from Burgenstock this year as proposed.
Thanks for sharing. You must have a lot of great skiing stories to tell. Now that the WEF annual meeting has been moved temporarily out of Switzerland, I wonder if any of the VIPs who usually attend will become nostalgic for Davos... or if all they'll remember of the place will be conference and hotel rooms.
@DALE BECHTEL
My biggest regret at WEF, looking back, is having missed the experience of attending any of the meetings live and an opportunity to have tea with the Aga Khan, in favour of being out on the pistes. Skiing was definitely my priority!
One can make foolish choices in youth that can be regretted lifelong. Skiing will always be there but I am unlikely ever to have another invitation to WEF as a guest. It must run in the family, as my father in the U.K., always regretted declining an invitation to tea with the then PM in his youth in favour of a game of tennis about which he was as fanatical as I was about skiing! At the time he considered the first proposition very boring!
Burgenstock was originally suggested as the venue for WEF 2021 and then I heard mention of Singapore so am not sure what has been decided. The former would have guaranteed memories of the stunning views, and possibly Spa treatments, although the nightlife might not have been quite the same as Davos.
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