(essay)

I would never have thought that I would end up my refugee journey from Ukraine on fire in the country about which the Ukrainian travel blogger Anton Ptushnik made a blockbuster TV program a year ago.

Switzerland is a small state in Central Europe located at the junction of western, central and southern Europe, having no access to the sea and bordering Italy in the south, France in the west, Germany in the north and Austria and Liechtenstein in the east. There are 26 cantons, each with its own laws, and 4 national languages: German and French, Italian and Romansh. In fact, the cantons are independent states, each of which has its own constitution, laws, courts and government. And although each canton has its own cultural and linguistic characteristics, Switzerland is still a close-knit country and it even has an official motto: “One for all and all for one!”

This is the same country from advertising, with amazing alpine mountains and cheery cows on glossy green grass and with a beautiful blue sky from computer wallpaper on Windows. Probably many people know a chocolate bar packaged in the form of slices of sweet Toblerone pyramids? So, it is the picture on the packaging that resembles the iconic Matterhorn Mountain. It is in Switzerland and serves as an image for that lolishiously delicious bar of chocolate!

While riding a high-speed train with large windows, I noticed that villages, farms, and small towns in the mountains are very close to those we see in the Carpathians. However, there is slight contrast. Here the fences are very small, cute and neat. It can be bushes, flower beds, an old-fashioned wicker fence or a pastel low fence like in a dollhouse. The houses are miniature, all in delicate colors, as if from a fairy tale.

I was pleasantly surprised that here you can drink tap water and this is absolutely normal. The water here is so clean and of high quality that you can safely drink it directly from the fountains that can be found in big cities and small towns. There are only a few fountains in the country, near which signs “Drinking water is prohibited” are installed. All others are drinkable a priori.

When we were visiting our friend in his country house, we noticed that their laundry was set up in a completely different way. As a rule, every home in Switzerland has a so-called laundry room, which is located in the common basement, where there are one or more washing machines and dryers. By the way, we got puzzled while mixing them up, because the machines are similar, and on the first day we threw things into the dryer, and the next day we found that things had not been washed, it was very funny.

Switzerland is a splendid and stylish, well-to-do and well-kept, eco-friendly country, which could serve as a good example to Ukraine. No matter how good it is here, I want to return home as soon as possible, to my native and beloved Kyiv. With tears on my eyes, I have seen the news about the complete liberation of the Kyiv Region recently. Greetings from Switzerland, my beloved Ukraine, see you soon!