Bridge Year Costa Rica – Fall 2025

Before Bridge Year, I attended a boarding school in the US. Before that, I lived in Switzerland with my family.

Yet even though I grew up in Switzerland, learned the language, and participated in traditions, I still find it hard to be Swiss. I think this is because both my parents aren’t Swiss, and eventually after three years in the local system, I attended an international school for most of my childhood.

However, I realized, after moving out and attending boarding school, that so much of me was Swiss. Little expectations, like refusing to wear sweatpants to class, made it clear to me that I could identify with the Swiss, no matter how small the feeling was. The cultural differences were jarring at first, but I found that I didn’t have time to dwell on what I missed from Switzerland. I had essays to write, tests to study for, and new friends to make. I had to adapt quickly to make sure I didn’t fall behind. Adapting, to me, meant accepting the US culture as my own. In some ways, it was. Half of my family is from the US, and so I just leaned on to what I knew. I assimilated back into a culture I never really was apart of to begin with,

Eventually as the years went on I had to reckon with the past I abandoned, but before I could think too deeply about it something new came that I had to focus on. (Mostly likely college applications)

Living in Costa Rica provided me with the opportunity to reflect on my Swiss-ness.

Costa Rica has a rich culture, one unfamiliar to me. I have found that when you are learning new customs, you understand more clearly what your own customs are. For example, in the face of Tico Time, I realized I value the Swiss sense of punctuality.

Again, this is only really coming apparent to me now because before, I could identify with American culture somewhat, while here, everything is new to me.

In addition to the unfamiliarity of living in Costa Rica, I also have much more time to reflect, and more time between going back home.

After explaining one of the many silly anecdotes from my childhood (probably the one about going to the woods every week as a kindergartner to make a fire and sharpen sticks to cook sausages in cold) I could make anything up about my childhood and what they do in Switzerland and know one would be able to correct me. No one has a similar story because of how Swiss the story was.

The only thing connecting me to Swiss culture are memories that I didn’t really have to think about when I lived in Switzerland and I didn’t have time to think about in boarding school.

This isolation is compounded by the fact I can’t go home.

I assumed that because I had gone to boarding school for three years, being away from home would be an easier part of Bridge Year. I still believe this is generally true, except for the fact I could go home during the holidays at boarding school.

It hit me while we were setting up our tree at my host family’s house, that this would be my first, of possibly many Christmases, without my parents or my sister.

Not only have I left home, but I’ve kind of started a new life. Not going home for the holidays, back to my parents, means I am even farther from the culture I grew up in.

The final nail in the coffin? All my friends from before boarding school are gone as well. High school is over and there is nothing keeping me in touch with the young people in Switzerland.

I really only have memories of before. And they will have to do.

I make sure to share stories of my childhood. I recognize cultural differences and take note of them before adapting instead of just ignoring them. I bake my favorite Swiss cookies, because I realize there won’t be a “I’ll get them when I come back.” I talk about my feelings with my Princeton peers as well. Our conversations make me realize that while my memories and culture are my own, the experience of longing isn’t individual. I find comfort in starting my new chapter in my life with my peers by my side because they understand what we are going through.