What type of life can a teenager expect in Switzerland and in Belgium ?

Question

I'm doing an exchange next year and i want to know which would be the best place to go.

I like to party.

Answer 1

i'm in belgium and they have great beer. you can even buy beer out of coke machines. so I hope that answer your party question

Answer 2

Well, I'm Swiss, so I'm just gonna tell you some things about the Switzerland-part :-).

Switzerland is a very safe and nice place to live at. Our crime rate is very low, cities and towns are well known for being very clean and basically, everything's just very much organized.

Generally, Swiss people are friendly and polite. However, we tend to be quite coolish and reserved in the beginning. This is not meant to be mean or rude, it's just a part of the Swiss mentality. Usually, it takes some time to get known to people and to find friends. Therefore, if you've found your friends, they're not just some "buddies" but they are real good friends.

About the "I like to party" thing. Well, basically, Switzerland is a very liberal country. I'm sure you're also interested in what is legal and this stuff, and how old you gotta be, right? :-)

Okay, in Switzerland you can buy and consume beer and wine with the age of 16 (everywhere, shops and clubs). Hard alcohol like Whiskey and all that stuff you can buy and consume with age of 18. Furthermore, this coming November, the Swiss people is going to vote on a new law that would legalize the purchase and consume of marijuana with the age of 18. It is likely to get accepted. In Switzerland you have a large variety of bars and clubs you can go to. If you like to party, there really are a lot of nice places you can go to!

School in Switzerland is a "special thing" too. The level of our educational system is quite high. You might have some problems in the beginning of your exchange year to catch up with everything. I know that, because I've made an exchange year in the U.S. and I know what the level of American High Schools is like. However, if you're not afraid of studying, I'm sure, you'd do fine. Mostly the relationship between teachers and students is very well and in most schools we've got a good "climate".

Also, the language is another important thing, that is very special in Switzerland. As you probably know, Switzerland has 4 official languages. Three of them are widely spoken (Swiss German, Italian and French). Every Swiss knows at least two of them. If you would come to Switzerland for an exchange, you most probably would either come to the German or the French part. If you come to the French part, there's no problem about it, cuz you just learn how to speak French. However, if you come to Switzerland to learn German, you also have to be aware to learn some Swiss. Because this language that we actually talk in the German part (Swiss) is only a dialect of the standart German (from Germany). And for a foreigner, this dialect is actually more like a different language (it's not thaaat close).

As to speak generally how life as a teenager is (I'm 20 years old)... I guess it's quite normal. I mean, some things are very similar like in America. You get up in the morning and you go to school. There is no exact time when you are finished with school (in the evening) because in Switzerland, you've got a different class schedule each day of the week. But usually, you're done between 4 and 6 o'clock in the afternoon. The nice thing is, you've got way more lunch time than in the U.S.. When I've made my exchange year in America, I was always totally stressed out during lunch time, cuz we only had 30 minutes. And also, High School sorta was like a jail, we weren't allowed to go outside during your school day. In Switzerland, this is much different. For example during your lunch time (which is between 1 hour and 90 min) you could go to some shop, or McDonald's or you know, whatever you want, you also can just stay in school.

After school you get home and just do your homework and all that stuff like normal every-day life. Maybe you'd have younger siblings you'd have to have an eye on, or something like that.

Friday night and Saturday are the typical times for Swiss teenagers to go out and party. Since Switzerland has one of the best public transport systems in the world, you don't need to ask your parents all the time to give you a ride somewhere or pick you up. By bus and train, you can go absolutely everywhere to in this country, even to the smallest village ever! Also, most parents are quite open and liberal about there teens going out and making a party. They're not as controlling as they often are in America.

However, one VERY important thing here in Europe is, that we try to behave mature. That means you definitely should be able to behave in a responsible and mature way if it is about issues like alcohol, weed, partying in general, staying out late at night, having sleepovers and all that stuff. Especially as exchange students. Most Swiss parents are very easy going with those things, but you have to prove, that you can behave responsible. Yeah, I guess this is life as a teenager around here :-).

Well, that all that comes to my mind right now!

But surely, Switzerland is a beautiful spot and I think you definitely would like it, to spend some time here. As I told you, as soon as people get used to you and know you a bit, they start to open up and become really nice and cool.

Hope I've helped you some!

Answer 3

A wealthy one.