Okay, cool. I live very close to Switzerland (close enough that my wife works there.) As I am also an anglophone living in a non-anglophone country, Lemmy is basically my sole source of English language news and whatnot. It’s sometimes very difficult to be surrounded by another language and culture, and this place has become my escape in a way. Reddit was great back in the day, but I can no longer support the enshitification it has suffered.
Welcome home!
Where are you from?
Do you have children?
What do you think about your country’s current political situation?
Totally. I forgot all about expanded tryna, as I almost never hear it outside of television. You may be on to something there.
This might be a regional difference, but when I say it out loud, ‘tryna not kill myself’ is by far the more natural construction. But I agree that in writing, ‘trying not to kill myself’ feels more natural, while ‘trying to not kill myself’ feels stilted and intentionally awkward. Man I love language.
Couldn’t agree more. Destroying our planet faster just so people don’t have to write their own emails seems insane to me. Google literally wants to use private nuclear reactors to power their AI projects… Do people really think that won’t be expensive, both economically and climate-wise?
No, good guess though!
This is all excellent advice, especially regarding France. Where I live, which is only 20 minutes from Geneva, you’d be lucky to find anyone outside larger towns who can speak English confidentially. And forget about it if you have an accent other than very standard British or American.
Europeans in general appreciate the small things in life much more than Americans. Like everyone has already said, try and relax and take it all in, rather than rush from place to place trying to cram as much as possible into your trip. Have that second glass of wine, or that dessert that looks amazing, or even that afternoon nap after a long lunch. Trust me, you remember those moments just as fondly as the big ones.
You must be fun at parties.