Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Funny differences about Swiss apartments

It doesn't take long for you to really realize you're living in Switzerland when you arrive. Pretty much the day you walk into your apartment for the first time, you understand you're not living in the United States anymore. There are many differences, but here I'll just gloss over a few of the more amusing/interesting differences between American and Swiss housing.

First difference, of course, is that far fewer Swiss own their own homes. Nationally, about 35% own, but it's somewhat lower in urban areas like ours. Also, unfortunately for us, renting is extremely expensive here. Our apartment, which is slightly smaller than the house we left in Minneapolis (in livable space, not counting storage), rents for about three times what our mortgage was in the US.

But, enough with that boring stuff. Here are a few interesting things about renting in Switzerland:


  • Storage space (that is, lack of it): When we were looking at apartments we wondered why everyone had these cheap IKEA wardrobes taking up valuable real estate in all the bedrooms and impeding access in hallways. Then we noticed: no closets! We're actually fortunate to have good closets in the bedrooms in our apartment, but still struggle to find places to store everything.

Blast door leading to the room
housing half our building's caves.
  • Storage space, part 2, The "Cave": Every Swiss apartment seems to have one. They vary a bit in size, but ours is pretty standard. It's about 8 x 12 feet. Okay, Minnesota folks, that's your basement. Everything that isn't going in your living space, or a closet if you're lucky, is fitting in that space. Are you ready to take on the challenge? Interesting tidbit about caves: many of them are in what was once the house/apartment bomb shelter. Up until only 10 or 12 years ago, every Swiss home was required to have a bomb shelter, including blast door, portable toilet, bunks, emergency exit, etc. There was an inspection process, too, so you had to keep your bomb shelter in usable condition. I'm not sure who they were afraid was about to attack....

  • Storage space, part 3, The "Box": If you're lucky, you may be able to pay extra for a garage in Switzerland and not have to park on the street or in a parking space. This garage is called a box, and that pretty much describes it. Unadorned, formed-concrete walls, one garage door, no other access, just enough space for a (small) car (forget about storage). In Minneapolis we had a very narrow garage and had to shimmy sideways to get in and out of the car. Here, I park against one wall and we all have to shimmy sideways to get into the car, then climb across the seats to get to the passenger side!

  • Appliance Size: I'd planned to post a photo of our washing machine to give you a sense of the miniscule size of Swiss appliances, but it's hard to get a sense of the scale. I'll just say this: I thought we had a mini washing machine when we arrived and then found out from other expats that our washing machine, by Swiss standards is exceptionally large. I will admit that when I pull out the two (twin) sheets I can fit inside I am amazed that I was able to fit more than a pair of socks in there.

One of our light fixtures.
Tres chic!
  • Light fixtures: When you move into your apartment it is pretty much completely empty, including light fixtures. In Switzerland, light fixtures are considered furnishings, and you take them with you when you move. We were lucky that someone had put in bare bulbs -- in many cases you'll find bare wires sticking out of the ceiling -- so at least we have light in the evening. Tomorrow we're hoping to go (somewhere?) to find light fixtures. Switzerland being Switzerland, I'm sure the store will be able to recommend some very expensive electricians to pick them up and install them sometime next week....

  • Window "Blast Shields": Okay, they're not called this, and they're not blast shields. But, all I can think of is Star Wars, "But Ben, with the blast shield down I can't even see, how am I supposed to fight?!" All of the windows in Swiss apartments have shutters, or more commonly these rolling shutter "blast shields" that slide down over the glass. I've copied a picture of the shutters part way down in our kitchen, and you can see the rod you use to crank them diagonally in the right hand part of the shot. They're very practical, I guess, for keeping sun out of the house and potentially deterring intruders. They're also practical for us, because it means we don't need to buy window treatments -- just roll down the blast shields at night! Considering the Swiss predilection for holding onto their "furnishings" (see light fixture bullet above) I'm sure we would have been stuck finding window coverings for the whole darn apartment....

Well, as I said, I could go on and on. But, I think that's a good start for now!

Important Programming Note: I've been getting a few requests for pictures of our apartment. The boys start school tomorrow and then I'll have time to get some of the crates and barrels that are littering our apartment out and will put together some sort of photo tour. Stay tuned!

2 comments:

  1. There are many differences, but here I'll just gloss over a few of the more amusing/interesting differences between American and Swiss housing.......

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