Part 2: Switzerland
I lived in Lausanne, Switzerland
for 5 years while doing my PhD.
Switzerland gave me Twin Sister,
a close-knit and very supportive academic family, a PhD degree and the upward
mobility that came with it, basic survival skills in French and German languages,
the best tap water I have ever drank in my life, great train connections, a
Freddie Mercury statue to visit when I wanted to slack off, and several other
positive stuff that I am sure I can come up with if I think hard enough.
On the other hand, the day I left Switzerland was one of the happiest days of my life. For the Tori Amos fans, it was the day I was past the mission and started to smell the roses. This doesn’t mean that day didn’t have other emotions in it. I was also upset for leaving my academic family and other friends who made my time there worthwhile despite my lack of love toward Switzerland[1].
Switzerland is traditionally
beautiful, but beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
I was never charmed by
Switzerland unless I was in Montreux, where Freddie is. This was partly about
Switzerland and partly about the difficult start to my PhD. While I have written about the
latter in several posts[2],
the former is the focus of this post. I wish I could separate them in real life
like in the blog posts. I might like Switzerland more if I could do that
separation.
I have not seen as many
anti-immigration posters in public display in any other country. They could be
the first thing that welcomes you at a train station.
During the process of applying
for a work visa, I was told to sign a letter that stated that I plan to leave
Switzerland as soon as my PhD is over.[3]
Once I managed to get my work
visa and moved to Switzerland, then started the hardship of finding a house in
Lausanne. With Twin Sister, whom I met at EPFL Open House and who was my #1
confidant during PhD, we decided to share a temporary place in the beginning till
we find a more permanent solution. The place we found was in a good location
and nice, but it was too small for two people and almost double the rent for a place
that size in the area. During our longer-term-house search, we were advised to
avoid a certain housing agency since, as we were told, they would never give an
apartment to someone who carried the kind of passport we carried. Together with being a PhD student, which is a disadvantage when searching for housing everywhere, our passports put us toward the bottom of the desired tenants list.
In the end, Twin Sister and I
each managed to get accepted for a 19m2 studio at a building that was under
construction at the time of our application. We were among the first applicants
and the place just accepted EPFL students, so the competition wasn’t fierce. After
spending 6 months at our temporary place, we were able to move to our long-term
one.[4]
In parallel, we had to open a
bank account. We opened our first bank accounts at Credit Suisse since it had a
branch at EPFL. However, they rejected our credit card application. In the
rejection letter, they didn’t give much detail, so we went to the EPFL branch
to ask for the reason. The guy there said it is probably because we weren’t
from the EU. In my head, I said “You aren’t from the EU either. Regardless, how
does this make me less reliable for a credit card compared to my peers doing a
PhD earning the same salary?” To him, I said nothing. This made us go
to the UBS branch in the city center, which both opened us a bank account and
approved our card request.
To receive my Swiss resident
permit, I went to register at the Lausanne commune. I gave my passport to the lady
at the counter for the registration procedure. She gave me a form to fill out
and told me to pay some amount in CHF for registration. I filled in the form,
prepared the necessary cash, and went back to her. She told me “Oh. I thought
you were Italian. You have to fill in this other form instead and you have to
pay more.” In my head, I said “You thought I was Italian?! You took my passport
before you gave me that form.” To her, I said nothing. I took the new
form, filled it out, added to the cash, and got myself registered.
Unlike our peers from the EU, who
received a 5-year residence permit by default, we had to renew our permit every
year. Our permits were from September to the end of August of the following
year. In my first renewal process, the renewed permit didn’t arrive till the
end of December. This meant (1) if any Swiss authority for any reason asked for
my permit on the street during those four months, I didn’t have a valid one,
and (2) I couldn’t leave the country or had to apply for a re-entry permit to
be able to do so. I ended up applying for a re-entry permit to go see my family
during the holidays in December. All my Turkish friends, including Twin Sister,
had to do so as well during that year, and all of them also had to pay for that
re-entry permit in addition to paying for the renewal. When they asked me to
pay during my application, this time I openly said “No. I am not paying. This
is your fault, not mine.” That for some reason worked in my case. I don’t know
why.
These matters were all solvable
through time or money. But they underlined our difference from the rest too
often to a point that I internalized I am not one of them. I know people who
are able to say “This is the world order that you cannot change. Just accept
and move on.” I still have my rollercoaster ride of acceptance and resistance
on this matter.
To underline our difference from
others further, we received the questions of “Are you allowed to drink in
Turkey?” (yes), “Do you have to wear a headscarf when you go home?” (no), "Did you feel any culture shock when you moved to Switzerland?" (no - except for some of the stuff listed below under practical challenges) too
often. While I welcome questions of this sort, answering them as often as I had
to back then made me frustrated.
On a brighter note, during my
PhD, my US visa expired, so I had to reapply in Switzerland before going for a
conference. This visa application has been the easiest and most pleasant visa
application experience in my life.
There were also several
practical challenges beyond the passport related ones.
First, it was such a hassle to
communicate with people in Lausanne outside EPFL, since most only spoke French
even if some understood English. I started following French language classes at
EPFL, but after changing two advisors during my first year of PhD, learning
French wasn’t in my priority list. No one will give you a PhD degree at EPFL for
speaking great French. After feeling relatively safer in my PhD, I started
going to language classes again but for German, which is now overtaken by my
Danish.
Second, as a result of this more conservative attitude to language, there weren’t many cultural activities for the non-French speaking. Furthermore, most film screenings were dubbed in French. Thus, the things that I relied on for my natural socialization were taken from me. To compensate for all that, eating, which I previously didn’t pay that much attention to beyond what is necessary for my survival, became the primary activity for socializing with others. I realized that eating is the easiest common denominator if you want to gather people, since everyone has to eat regardless of their hobbies or how busy they are. Inviting people to watch an independent film on a Sunday morning due to the rare non-French-dubbed screening time didn’t draw big crowds, but dinner on Friday or lunch at work did. I know I am not a social butterfly and have no intention to be one. My social life wasn't in my priority list either at that time, once again due to the difficulties during the first year of my PhD. However, a friend once called me "social cement" in those days to highlight my ability to find ways to bring people together.
Lastly, most shops were closed in
Lausanne (and in most of Switzerland) after 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays and completely on Sundays and religious holidays. Prior to moving to Switzerland,
I was a college student in Istanbul, who abused luxuries like wanting mineral
water 3am in the morning sitting in my dorm-room and going out to get one at the
university canteen. Adjusting to Swiss hours wasn’t straightforward. In
addition, there was the adjustment (or rather maladjustment) of moving from a
lively crowded city to a place that made me ask “Has there been a military coup
or a zombie apocalypse? Why is no one outside?”
In the end, as promised to the
Swiss authorities, I left Switzerland as soon as my PhD contract ended, and I
went back to Switzerland only once since then for a brief visit.
[1]
Dear friends I met in Switzerland and my Swiss colleagues, I hope you know that
I value you very much, and these sentiments have nothing to do with you.
[3]
There are many who are still in Switzerland after their PhD despite signing
such a letter. If you find a job, you can stay. Thus, I don’t see the point of
making people sign such an unwelcoming letter as one of the first things they
do on the way to moving to your country to do a PhD.
[4] Toward the end of our PhD, it became harder and harder for PhD students to get accepted there, since there are many EPFL BSc/MSc student applications being prioritized over PhD ones.
