Corkonians Abroad: 'Home is class, but I love my life here'

Where did you grow up and what was it like living there?

I am from Whitechurch. It has one of the greatest pubs I’ve ever been in. If anyone is ever passing Buckley’s, call in for a pint of Murphy’s and ask for Mary.

It was a class place to grow up. Big community centre with loads of sports and after-school clubs for basketball, GAA, tennis, speech and drama.

I also grew up with my granny and grandad living in the field beside us.

Whenever myself or my brother didn’t eat our vegetables, we would get no after dinner treat. So we would just throw on our wellies and walk through the field and granny would have a biscuit tin stacked to the brim for us!

Our aunts and uncles were always around too for Sunday dinners or a quick call in to chat. We also had the best neighbours.

When did you move to Switzerland?

I moved here in March 2024. And it really happened by pure fluke.

I was working in Germany at the time and some of my friends started getting jobs and moving here. Then one thing led to another and I’m nearly here a year.

What is life like in your new home?

I love my apartment. I live with a roommate, who is from here. She’s class and speaks English, German, Swiss German, French and Italian.

We have a balcony that looks out onto the Niesen, my favourite mountain standing at a humble 2,362m. We can also see the Eiger on clear days which stands at 3,967m.

My roommate is a gardener so we have loads of really cute house plants. And in the summer she grows tomatoes and different herbs for cooking and teas.

One big change is I don’t have a car here. I have a bike which I use to get around. I have perfected my weekly shop. I fit the heavy things in a backpack, overflow things in my bike bag, and large bulky things in a big shoulder tote.

What has been the biggest challenge? and how have you tackled it?

Hmm, one of the biggest challenges is definitely the language. Even though everyone here speaks English, I just hate not being able to understand people without having to ask them ‘Sprechen sie Englisch?’

Switzerland also has a lot of languages even though it’s only half the size of Ireland. In my canton, it’s Swiss German so it’s hard to learn because it’s like a dialect and the rules and grammar are not clearly defined. And you can’t just go and sit down to study it.

I’ve been doing German once a week on Preply and regret every day not doing German in secondary school!

Where I work, it’s Swiss French. Then there is also Italian in the south. So yes, you hear merci, danke, chow, grüezi. A real mix.

How might you spend your weekends?

I love the weekends here. At the moment it’s a lot of skiing. I live about 1.5 hours - 2 hours from a lot of really good ski resorts. You can take the train or bus to all of them.

Then, in summertime the same ski resorts are open, but for hiking or mountain biking. So I just swap out my skis for trail runners.

Tell us a bit about the culture of where you live?

There is a great sense of outdoors here. Everything closes on a Sunday which I found really difficult at the start. So you have to be prepared and have your grocery shop done before then.

Also, shops close a lot earlier here than at home.

But this promotes a lot of people to do things on Sundays. There are also people mountain biking, paragliding, skiing in winter, running, hiking, and trail running.

Everyone stood on the platform on Sunday mornings is nearly always in active gear ready for a big day out. And all ages. I’ve seen so many fit older people out walking and hiking, not a bother to them.

Tell us about your line of work/career?

I qualified with a mechanical engineering degree from Cork Institute of Technology so I am over here working in the pharmaceutical industry.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

There have been so many great days here. But I did do an Ultra Marathon; (it was 44km, ahah, so not ultra ultra, but it is technically ultra by definition).

It rained the whole seven hours. I had a ball, listening to sad girl music for the day, eating all the snacks at the aid stations. It was so muddy. There was one section at 34km I fell about 15 times over 500 metres. The last one I was sat there thinking, ‘what am I doing?’.

Then I got to the final aid station and the lads were all Swiss French. They had wine that they were sipping on. And they gave me a small glass and some cheese to go with it. I got such a laugh out of them, it kept me going! They were like ‘what does she want?’ And one of them was like, ‘the wine, shes wants the wine’.

When I got to the finish line, my friends were standing there waiting for me. They popped a whole bottle of prosecco over me. You’d swear I had won the whole thing, ahah. We had unreal burgers and tacos afterwards. That was a great day!

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would the ideal day be for you?

If I was home for a day, it would be a summer day with a bright blue sky and light warm breeze.

I would start off the day with mom’s pancakes topped with rashers, maple syrup and stewed apple.

Then we would load up the car; four humans and five doggos. We would drive to Garryvoe beach and go for a long walk. We would carry Tess over the river halfway up the beach because she’s too small to cross it by herself.

Then I would go for a dip in the sea and jump in the waves.

On the way home, I would get dropped off in Cork city. I would meet my friends and we would walk from Blackrock to the Marina Market and catch up on all our funniest highlights from the last six months! Then we would spend a good 10 minutes deciding what to eat, doing at least two laps to check all the stalls.

After we were full, we would walk into town and go charity shopping. Starting on North Main Street and working our way up to Oxfam just off Oliver Plunkett Street. Then we would go to Paul Street car park and the parking would be free because it’s my ideal day, ahahah. Home we go.

I would help mom prep for dinner. We would have a big beef roast with roast potatoes and roast veg and no carrots! My brother would make the gravy and we would have my aunt and uncles over, and my cousins. And then we would have Offie Pie (Banoffee pie with no banana) for dessert. My brother and I would joke that we would love some stewed apple and custard and my dad would laugh, ahah.

Then we would go to Buckley’s for a quiet one.

We would walk home and put on scary movies that are only kinda scary, and we would talk through most of it and laugh after the jump scares scared us. That would be a pretty ideal day for me!