1. It is mandatory to build private shelters in every house's basement, unless you pay for your place in someone else's basement.
2. The country's flag is a square and not a rectangle. Just because.
3. After finishing a few weeks military training, reservists get to take their assault rifle (a SIG 90) home. According to the Swiss army, about 650.000 weapons were stored in Swiss homes at the end of 2010.
4. Sharing your laundry room with your neighbours is totally normal. The country might be wealthy, but in nearly every apartment building you have a schedule telling you when to do your laundry.
5. There are special recommendations how to tie paper waste together.
6. In the countryside waste paper is collected by the scouts or other youth groups.
7. If you would like to have a guinea pig as a pet, you'll have to buy at least two. There's even a law for this.
8. The national soft drink is made out of milk whey. Yeah.
9. A low level of security is totally normal. Even members of the Swiss government sometimes take public transport to work without being accompanied by bodyguards.
President of Switzerland, Didier Burkhalter, waiting for train among commuters. No, no bodyguards. RT @magaliphilip
Didier Burkhalter, former president of Switzerland, waiting for his train to Bern in Neuchâtel.
10. Pregnant women have to work until due day.
11. Cleanliness really is a Swiss thing. You'd be surprised if you come across a dirty street.
12. Instead of saying "Put your damn bags down!" if someone occupies an extra seat on public transport, you politely ask "Is this seat taken?".
13. Swiss people vote every four months - sometimes on highly complex policies that are kinda hard to understand.
14. Voting also happens pretty much in public. Your neighbours and your boss probably know your political opinion.
15. You'll study French, German or Italian for at least five years, but you switch to English if you meet someone with a different mother tongue.
16. There's an obsession with skiing. Toddlers on the slope? No big deal, kids often learn skiing at the age of three.
17. Swiss plugs are a bit ~different~. No other country uses the same layout.
18. Military service is compulsory. Still.
19. Robidogs are a thing. The green trash cans aren't exclusively, but mainly meant for dog poop.
20. Minarets have been banned by the constitution since 2009 since a majority of voters voted for the ban.
21. Swiss is also a language that wasn't really made to be written down.
22. But there's a huge diversity of dialects, considering the country is fairly small. For example, there are more than 30 words for apple core in Swiss German.
23. Cooking is a mandatory school subject.
24. Apéro is also a thing. Swiss celebrate openings, birthdays, anniversaries and achievements with a glass of wine or beer in the late afternoon.
25. The country’s abbreviation is CH and means Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin. A language no one speaks anymore. Makes total sense, right?
