Hiraeth
Hiraeth is a Welsh word that describes the pain felt when the present reality contradicts the deep memory of the past, that feeling that leaves you with a longing for a world that no longer exists or only exists only in your mind.
Unlike simple homesickness, hiraeth often implies a longing for “the unreturnable home”, a home or past state that you know you cannot return to. This could be, for instance, the place you left, which has now fundamentally changed, or the version of your youth or the past self that existed there.
I experienced that after a recent trip to Europe, couple months ago, but just today found the time and the precise word to encapsulate that feeling.
It all started as Spring escape from the routine, one week in Switzerland/Europe. The trip started with a connection flight from Melbourne to Shanghai, China via China Eastern Airlines. Main reason of taking that route was to avoid any middle east or Ukraine/Russia drama. That worked great, the airline also is economy but includes free baggage and meals, which many other carriers ask you to pay for.
Saturday, after landing in Geneva, I had a day to adapt to the new time zone, jetlag was not that bad, food was great and the city had a nice, relaxed vibe. The most memorable thing of that day was visiting CERN/museum: world most powerful particle accelerator!
Geneva is on the French speaking area from Switzerland, in fact crossing the lake or not far from it it’s France. Also, I found that the LDS Church has a Spanish speaking ward in the area, so I was excited to meet other Spanish people, maybe from Latin America, etc. And that’s where I got this hiraeth or reverse culture shock.
Sunday morning was fast and testimony meeting, a once-a-month meeting where people are welcomed to share their short stories or testimonies about faith, when it started the bishop/person running the church meeting asked people talking to be brief, but the first one sharing took about 15+ minutes rambling on different topics!! After that the bishop again said “please be brief” but next person again took like 10 minutes and by then I realized I had forgotten how often that was something to deal with when back in Chile. Once the meeting ended, I headed back to the city as I needed to pick up a train, while walking out I also saw many leaving the meeting and heading to the city or to the shops. That was also something so typical while back in Chile. Meetings are usually 45 minutes for messages then 15 minutes break then another 45 minutes for lessons, but maybe due to old traditions, for some people church attendance was just attending 15 minutes at the beginning of the first meeting, or simply disappearing after that meeting, we had to be inviting people to stay.
I had forgotten how easy people say is going to do something but does otherwise.
The “unreturnable home” in this case are the things I forgot were the norm or culturally accepted back in Chile, and now I wonder how that is going to play when visiting Chile, considering I’ve been more than 10 years away from home.
Monday I took the train to Interlaken, I visited Bern years ago, so I skipped that city and explored the most touristic areas instead. This was a packed day taking the train, arriving to Interlaken train station, dropping the bags, exploring a small town in the mountains, then back to the town (Interlaken is a small town) to check in at the hotel.
The day went so fast that it’s hard to believe I it all worked fine and that I had a chance to visit that area. It’s probably one of the most picturesque places I know, would not think twice on moving over there.
While over there I saw in the map couple other attractions that are a bit higher in the alps, but maybe that for next time. Having that day there was a wonderful birthday present. I wish I would have spent more time in this beautiful area.
Tuesday I took the train to Lucerne then connection to Zurich. Everyone says Lucerne is the most romantic city of Switzerland, so I stopped couple hours. Could not see all the magic of Lucerne, maybe it was just too humid and with plenty of mosquitos, either way it was just OK compared with other cities with lakes, bridges with flowers, etc. In fact, I remember walking in Thun, close to Bern, and I liked it more, it has a nice area to walk near the lake, nice views and an ancient castle. Either way checked it out, couple photos below.
Wednesday. Zurich was a nice city, much smaller than I imagined, but good enough to walk around. One good and cheap thing to visit (compared with other activities) is the FIFA museum, it’s a great place to visit if you are a fan of soccer/futbol.
Besides the museum and couple other attractions the city follows the typical large church, river, pubs, commercial centre of other European cities. I would not spend much time there, it is also expensive to stay.
Thursday By this point I had to change plans as weather in the north was not great, so I headed to Milano, Italia, as connection point to two attractions I saw while trying to book a tour somewhere else.
The story started as I was trying to ride the Bernina (red train) in Switzerland, but could not find how to not a tour to do it, however in Milano, Italia, they had several options, so back and forth a bit time finally decided to head to Milano.
Stopping in Milano was another culture shock, the train stations in Switzerland are busy but easy to move around. Arriving to Milano was suddenly like being in Santiago/Chile with lots of people moving everywhere, directions inside the train station almost useless and getting to use a toilet back to use coins! A coin system that generates queues of people trying to make the coin machine work etc. That was so Latin American that made me feel in Chile again 🙂
Some photos below of the Doumo di Milano, a main/central cathedral of that city. You can’t stop in Milano without visiting it.
Friday morning woke up 5-6am to catch am Uber to catch a Tour to Cinque Terre. The place is couple hours away from Milano. The tour companies are dodgy, so try to pick one with good reviews, as everything changes last minute depending on the whims of the guide. This tour was supposed to include a boat connection, but that was cancelled last minute (and everyone in the bus started complaining)
Either way after a bit longer bus ride we go to this beautiful place, I loved it !
Saturday was another full day trip from Milano to St Moritz, to finally catch the Bernina Express (red train). The tour goes uphill by bus to St Moritz, which is an exclusive resort, then takes the train down to Lugano, Italia
Sunday morning, I took the first train from Milano to Geneva. The stressing part is you can’t plan well as train departures in Milano can be delayed, train lane can change any time, etc., but fortunately I was early enough to be around and move bags without issue and get back to the same hotel I stayed initially as being close to the train station was a must.
Monday morning headed back to Melbourne via China. The initial idea was to explore Shanghai, but they had a heat wave, that even with short shorts would have been painful to endure. So, I stayed many hours in the airport, I even tried to sleep in a pod/capsule, but it felt like a sauna.
The week went so fast, I had different plans initially, going north stop by Vienna, Salzburg, visiting Copenhagen but at the end skipping old towns in favor of exploring the alps was a great idea. I would love to visit again; I would move there in a heartbeat.
Meanwhile back in Melbourne, after a week in Europe, I found that local soda/drinks are too sweet, that’s a bit positive and healthy, it’s just fun how the taste changes after visiting or moving around.
