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Ahhh, Switzerland. Home to cheese, alps, and chocolate. Life must be good there, right? USDemocrazy dispatched a foreign correspondent to find out for sure. Read on for part one of two on Swiss life…
As a part of my schooling at UMBC, I spent some time in different parts of Switzerland this summer to understand what makes Switzerland a healthy country, culturally and physically. You know what? Those dang Swiss walk A LOT. Why? Let me explain…
The Swiss have blessed themselves with a fantastic system of public transportation, between buses in every city, town, and village, and trains that connect villages of only a few hundred people to cities of hundreds of thousands. Imagine all the exercise the Swiss get just by walking to and from the bus stop or train station rather than cursing at one another while jockeying for the closest parking spot to the Wal-Mart entrance…
You might have heard of a little mountain range called “the Alps.” Ring a bell? The Swiss are able to learn from a young age the value of being outside through awesome mountain activities in all seasons, most particularly hiking, Nordic walking, and skiing. Because the trains help them get around the country so easily, a day trip from the city for an alpine hike is just not a big deal (aside from dealing with the big mountains, of course).
My hiking group of spry young folk was passed on our walk by a group of hikers who were exclusively over 60 years old, who told us that they started hiking as small children and continue to go on a hike at least once a week. It’s all in preparation for a week-long excursion they take to the Alps every year. There’s nothing like being beat by some senior citizens up a mountain to help you pick up the pace.
That’ll be all for part one of my exploration of Swiss life… Part two is soon to follow, and it has something to do with these cows!
How do you think you’d like the physical activity aspect of this culture? Walking to the train station, hiking up some mountains, walking to pick up some groceries at the corner store, for instance? Leave a comment and let us know if you like the way we do it in the US, or if you don’t!
