The Day I Realized I was an Uptight American

My friend Annie and I stood poised by the train door, leaning forward, packs strapped on, and ready to sprint. We were making our way toward Gruyere – a tiny little medieval village way up in the hills of Switzerland. The town was known for making cheese. And we loved cheese.

This trip, of course, involved several train stops and switches along the way. We had just come from Milan two days before, a gigantic train station with a chaotic mess of people bumping up against each other. We had this on our minds, as well as the recent memory of us sprinting to catch a train at Domodossola, full packs on, only to watch it pull away in front of us in slow motion as we clutched air. (See: every dramatic scene from every travel movie ever).

So when we pulled up to a station near Gruyere knowing we would have to switch trains, we stood poised by the door. The train stopped, the doors opened, and we took off in a dead run……

We heard a sound to our left as we sprinted by the station office. A station employee stood chuckling at us. He reached out both hands and waved them in a downward motion. “Calm down, calm down – Ze conductor, he ees ‘ere. Ze train ees not going anywhere. Calm down ladies! (Chuckle, chuckle).”

We slowed to a walk and took in our surroundings. The tiny station had one other train sitting in it. Ten feet away. The conductor was obviously in the station – probably using the toilet, we realized. And all of the employees were lazily chatting and strolling toward the train. And silently laughing at us. None of the other passengers had even moseyed off the train yet.

We took a deep breath.

That night we were finishing up our meal at a local restaurant. Annie bought a spicy Thai food meal, and I dug into some sort of rice cakes that came with the meal. I pretended that they were giant communion wafers, and Annie just rolled her eyes.

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We glanced over at a nearby table, and there it sat: a very expensive laptop bag. A couple had been eating at that table earlier, chatting and gazing at each other across their rice wafers. We quickly looked around the restaurant – they were gone. The couple had walked away and the guy had forgotten his pricey laptop and bag. Of course, we ran after them. Geez, we do a lot of running, don’t we?

“Pardon! Pardon sir! You left your bag!” We caught up with them, huffing and puffing. “Pardon sir – Parlez-vous anglais? You left your bag.” We pointed back toward the restaurant frantically. He just looked amused. We struggled to catch our breath, panting out broken sentences. “In there. The bag. Speak English?”

He smiled. “Of course I speak English. It’s all right, it’s all right, I just stepped out.” He lazily leaned back on one foot and held up a cigarette in his hand. “It’s fine in there. You’re in Switzerland, you know?” He gave us another amused smile. “Would you like a smoke?” We said no and walked away sheepishly, glad we had already paid for our meal.

Apparently things weren’t quite so frantic in this country. When had I gotten so uptight? Since forever. I had gotten used to a crazy pace of life without even realizing it.

And everyone in Switzerland was conspiring together to tell me one thing: “Calm. Down. Already.”

Sometimes getting away from your normal routine helps you get a fresh perspective about your life. And sometimes you can bring back more from a trip than a souvenir.

Like a calmer, less-frantic way of living.

Take a break this week. Kick back and sip some tea or listen to the rain. And just be for a while. Pretend the world won’t fall apart if you don’t rush.

And as they say in Switzerland, “Calm down. It’s okay.”