Guest Blogger: Switzerland or Wales..?

Today, a special treat.....a guest blogger from across the world!
And my first guest blogger!
Meet Rachel from Three Years and One Stone Then Home. In her post, she gives a little glimpse of her current home, Switzerland and her heart-home, Wales. Aren't the pictures gorgeous? Stop by her blog and say hi! Find out what her son's first word was.. :)

Life Inside a Snow Globe

Of all the countries that I have passed-through, visited or lived in, Switzerland is the one that is most definitely ready for its close-up, Mr. DeMille. So picture-perfect, so clean, so safe, so harmoniously run, it’s the on-earth contender for Avatar’s Pandora. One of the richest countries in the world with its largest city, Zurich, regularly featuring in ‘top 10 places to live’ and ‘top 10 quality of living’ surveys, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a place conjured up by the best of Hollywood’s scriptwriters. But it’s not. It’s a place where I live. And it’s a place that, try though I might, I can’t call home.

On paper, Switzerland, Zurich specifically, has everything a family could want. Parks, museums, amazing healthcare, excellent schools, a safe haven for children to play outdoors and walk to school by themselves (from the age of 6 would you believe). Mountains on hand for winter sports, a lake so clean you can drink from it, for summer sports. Public transport that runs frequently and on time and a train station that you actually want to spend time in – it’s breathtakingly beautiful. Have I convinced you to move out here yet?

Call me crazy, call me insane, but my heart belongs to Wales. I want to go home. And here’s where the problem lies. The most difficult toss of a coin that I’ve come up against. Weighing up the pros and cons of bringing my son up in surroundings and circumstances that dreams are made of versus being close to family and friends and everything familiar.

I’ve looked back to my own childhood to help make the decision and on the whole, my memories are based entirely on people, never location. In fact, I realized at an early age that you can be bought or buy yourself everything under the sun, travel to the most amazing of places but the best times you’ll ever have are with the people that you love. I don’t need to go further than my mum and dad’s old dining table for most of my favorite moments. Rewind a little further and it’s my grandparents back garden.

So I can bring my son up in this hugely impressive country or instead, choose to bring him up in the middle of an equally impressive collection of family and friends. Which will give him the best start? Which will give him the best memories? And which of those will help to nurture him to be the best and happiest he can possibly be?

This post has been provided by Three Years and One Stone ThenHome as part of the Multi-Coloured Blog Swap carnival.


Hey check out my post for a yummy
Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake over at Glass Half Full

Thanks to Troubled Doubled for hosting this awesome Blog Swap Carnival!