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Being a visitor at home


Some weeks ago, the pain in my knee was gone and I finally got the chance to take advantage of all the great training possibilities in Gothenburg: Orienteering training, intervals, night corridors, strength and alternative training at fysiken, long jogs and much more! Finally, I can train as I would like to and with every hard session my motivation gets bigger and bigger for the winter training and the next season.For a weekend filled with looking back on 2018 and planning the new season 2019, I travelled back to Switzerland at the end of last week. After an interruption of a few years in which the planning weekend took place in Ticino, we were back in Magglingen. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that it wouldn’t have made any difference if we had stayed in a less beautiful place, the only thing we were able to see was fog and clouds. 


Still, it was nice to spend some days in Switzerland. Even if it felt like coming home, in those few days I also felt like a tourist. During my morning run, I was thrilled about the signing of the hiking paths. On every crossing, you’d find those yellow signs or paintings. If there wasn’t a suitable pole or anything to hang the sign from or draw it on, previous sign would say «turn left at the next path crossing». Of course, it is nothing new, but I think everyone knows the feeling when you rediscover something that has always been there and realize that you actually like it. How essential it is to have well signed hiking paths is another discussion and can be taken up personally with me. ;) Another moment when I felt like a tourist was when I was too early at the train station. I killed time by exploring a new grocery store that opened in the last few months while I was in Sweden. I strolled through the aisles as if I were in a grocery store in a foreign county and was quite enthusiastic about the things I saw! Did it change that fast or did I just not realize before how some products just look really weird? My favourite (that I also bought for an evening of exchanging gift where you play with dice to see who gets which presents) was a mealworm snack that was packed as potato chips. 

I assume you can also eat them while watching TV? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s good to have insects as a substitute but I was surprized that Swiss society is already ready to have them in the original shape in a common grocery store and not processed in burgers or Falafels.

Between (and also during) all meetings I had this weekend I also had the chance to meet my family and friends again. Something that I was also looking forward to. I had a nice time in Switzerland but I had to realize that seven years back – when I moved to Sweden for the first time – that doing an exchange was the best and worst decision for me. Experiencing many amazing things, learning a lot about culture, people and myself and making great new friends – I never would have wanted to miss this. But now, no matter whether I’m in Switzerland or Sweden, there is always a part of me missing something. On my way back, my bag was filled with Raclette cheese, Zopf flour and Swiss Christmas chocolate. My desire of Swiss food is easy to quench this way. I think it’s part of life that you can’t have everything and I have to figure out a way to handle the dilemma of always missing something. Tips are warmly welcome. ;) 




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