I first heard of the Swiss-Indian Classroom project in June 2019 on my first day in Christ Nagar which also happened to be the admission date to Std. XI. Rev. Dr. Kurian Chalangady CMI looked at my mark sheets, spoke a few words to my parents and then queried very casually, “Would you like to go to Switzerland on a School Exchange program?” I pinched myself to make sure that I had heard it right. “Yes,” said my parents and I together. He said that we would be going to a partner Jesuit school and that it would be a golden opportunity to get to know a little about the European culture. And that was my expectation – to have a glimpse of the rich European culture and to live in their shoes for a while.
Trips to foreign lands are always exciting, especially when it is your first one, and you are doing it with a bunch of new friends. The call of the unknown adds spice to the journey. The flight, the window-shopping at the airports, funny and thoughtful comments on people, events and moments, all add up to the informal learning on the journey.
On your arrival in Switzerland, the first thing you would notice is the cleanliness of the place, and the warmth of the people. We were greeted at the Fribourg Railway Station by a group of lovely students accompanied by their parents and teachers. From then on, we were part of a family – a Swiss-Indian family and I am proud to say that we still are. We ate with them, hung out with them and did pretty much everything with them. We went all around Switzerland, from Zurich to Geneva; from the mountain on the Toblerone packets (Mt. Matterhorn in Zermatt) to the United Nations headquarters. We were taken hiking, city hunting and even ice skating. Throughout all of these adventures of a lifetime, we learned one very important thing, something that is quite necessary in our day-to-day lives but which is ignored and forgotten always – punctuality. After having got used to the cool temperature and their warm ways of living, it was really quite difficult to leave the place – especially when we realized that we were considered as family and friend by a group of charming Swiss people.
If you ever get a chance to go on this Exchange trip, my suggestion is that you grab the opportunity at once. The care and affection of your accompanying teachers, the love and support of your friends, and the warmth and consideration of your host family, cannot be weighed even in gold. Moreover, the entire experience adds to your personality and overall outlook on life. A most advised trip, which is worthy of great praise.
