(Jungfraujoch, Switzerland)

My recent trip to Switzerland reminded me how much I miss noise. Sounds give meaning to a city. The odd siren, the rumbling subway, or the pitter patter of footsteps on concrete pavement. They are the city’s heartbeat. And they do not exist in Switzerland, for good reason. Some Swiss are obsessive about enforcing absolute silence.

On the plane to Geneva, I had to write my speech for the conference. I tapped my pen on the table (lightly) while thinking. A Swiss passenger two seats away turns to glare at me and shushed loudly. A friend I was planning to stay with in Geneva also ended up on the streets because of the noise he made. He came home late because of work and showered at 11pm. His roommate stormed out and started shouting at my friend for the racket he was making. My friend was eventually kicked out of his apartment. Thanks to that, we ended up on the streets in the middle of night with five bags. Lastly, I remember visiting a friend of mine 2 years ago in Lausanne in Switzerland. We had cheese and bread for lunch and she told me to chew silently as the sound might irritate her father.

I never missed noise so much.

Kelly Krumei, an American I met on the plane back, told me how she would rearrange things in her friend’s rooms. She picked up this obsession after living in Switzerland for three years.