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A Life Changing Experience 1963-64
Posted by Frank Sullivan on 10:42:53 06/16/21
Watching the TV last night as President Biden arrived in Switzerland for the Summit Meeting with Russian President Putin gave me a serious dose of nostalgia.
I was privileged to spend my Junior Year of College in Switzerland about two hours from Geneva in the University Town of Fribourg.
I had applied to the Trappists and been rejected but had found out about a Sejour A L'Etranger with LaSalle College which was trying to fill spots and had been quickly accepted. It was my thought that a year away in a conservative foreign Catholic University would help me discern if I truly had a vocation to the priesthood.
Never having been away from home in Rhode Island, it did not occur to me what a culture shock I would undergo.
The Swiss are a bit different from their other Western European neighbors. For one thing they are a neutral country which is why meetings like the current Summit between Biden and Putin are common there.
Although they did mobilize, they did not declare war in either the Great War or World War II.
When I was there , I soon realized they considered themselves equal if not in size, at least in their importance to international affairs.
I lived with a family which would have been considered lower class by American 1960's standards.
The Mulhausers had no car, no TV, no phone and even no refrigerator. Talk about culture shock!
My family spoke no English and so necessity became the mother of invention and my French became quite fluent.
Transportation was an issue. I lived in the basse ville of the old city and had to walk every where since I did not have a car or even a bicycle. I rented a bedroom for twenty dollars per month in their apartment. I did not share meals with them because their meals were unattractive and unappealing.
The building I lived in was at the bottom of a huge hill and when I could afford it, I paid to take a water powered funiculaire up to the haute ville to attend classes.
My year abroad was transformational. I learned true self sufficiency. I had to manage my monthly meal money which was less than two dollars per day.
Unfortunately I became a daily beer drinker of Cardinale and Beauregarde which cost only fifty-five Swiss centimes per liter, the equivalent of ten cents at the time. My progression towards full grown alcoholism was assured.
So when I look at the inviting scenes of Geneva which are appearing on the news these days, my memories are mixed. But I will always have a special place in my heart for Switzerland.
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