Americans always reiterate that America is the best country in the world. The technology industry further focuses in on America, with most computer science students graduating and dreaming of moving to Silicon Valley. Programmers view the bay as a region of young, trendy, technology workers basking in the sun and the job opportunities. Having grown up in the heart of the tech boom a couple blocks down from Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, I’m all too familiar with this dream. However appealing the area is to tech workers, what it has in jobs it lacks in diversity. San Francisco is a city of type A people whose goals consist of networking their startup through its next round of funding with the hopes of making it big and rubbing elbows with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page. Having moved away from the area for college, I’ve gained the perspective that just because a place has the most jobs, doesn’t mean it will necessarily make me happiest to live there.
Zurich is one of the cities toping the world happiness index every year. The international appeal as well as its booming industry and rich culture create an environment unique to the city. My goals in studying abroad is to gain perspective on what it means to live outside of America in another tech and culture hub. I hope to learn what it means to truly live in a multicultural city, a city whose language I do not fluently speak, and help widen my lifestyle options. While I am nervous that I do not speak German and that I’m taking heavily technical classes at a University known for their difficult programming classes, I look forward to the challenge and hope to learn a lot while abroad.
