Zürich
Switzerland's largest city, Zürich is an important part of the country's German-speaking north, and is a beautiful as well as an impeccably clean place. This was my first stop (ever) in the German-speaking world, and I must say it gave me quite a shock to realise that my language skills are almost non-existent here. I mainly came to Zürich to see my uncle and aunt, who have lived here for the past 10 years or so, and who let me stay with them and who showed me around the town.
Deutsch: language shock
On the train to Zürich today, it wasn't until I was less than an hour from my destination (and hence well inside the German part of Switzerland), that I noticed that the overwhelming majority of my fellow passengers were speaking in German. And it was only then that a scary realisation dawned on me, and hit me rather unexpectedly: this is my first time in the German-speaking world! And guess what: my German absolutely sucks! The last time I studied German, it was nearly 10 years ago, and I was too busy throwing paper aeroplanes around the room to have paid attention to the teacher. So apart from counting to 100 and saying a few basic words, I basically can't speak a word of the language. This is the first time on this trip (and in my life), that I've been in a country where I can't even begin to guess what people are saying around me, in the official language of their land. And it's really quite scary. Ach shizer!