Ali- It’s 7 am Monday the 3rd of July and I’m heading home from the airport, having just said goodbye to Maya and Joe. For them, the one year Swiss adventure is over. I think it’s safe to say that we all are feeling varying degrees of sadness ranging from deep melancholy to mild depression. We have spent the last couple weeks saying goodbye to friends and it has been emotionally draining. We have also oscillated between tragically listing all the things we will miss- ridiculously punctual and expansive train system, clean rivers and lakes that you can swim in, fantastic expat community, cultural and language immersion, etc etc – to tempered cheerfulness at what we are excited to return to – friends and family, ……errrr …… friends and family….. hmmmm…..did I mention the friends and family??? It may be that a year abroad is not enough for one to really get to know the downsides of a country and culture, and thus our feelings may be chalked up to never getting past the honeymoon period. But I don’t think that’s entirely it having listened to a lot of American ex-pats tell us how little they miss from the US. 
So while the American politicians continue to proclaim America the greatest country on earth, I’m not feeling it right now. I wonder if it might do America a bit of good to be more humble and look around the world at what those less exceptional countries are doing. Because right now I’m thinking of taking Emmanuel Macron up on his offer of a new homeland for disenchanted American scientists.
Here are a couple pics from Maya and Joe’s last weekend: Canada day celebration (Canada is 150!!), sunset dinner and playing on Lake Zurich, and hiking to lunch at a teehütte in the mountains.
