The Swiss Abroad Fabio Reyes grew up in Mexico and attended the Swiss school in Cuernavaca. At the age of 20, he decided to ‘emigrate’ to Switzerland. Here he talks about his experiences during his education, in the military and in his current job.
“In addition to the public schools, there are numerous private schools in Mexico, most of which offer a better and broader educational programme. I had the great privilege of attending the Swiss school, which also became my second family.
Various reasons led me to move to Switzerland in 2015: security, military service, personal and financial freedom, good educational opportunities... and my first love. At the beginning, I worked in customer service for a credit card company and then completed ten months of military service under the ‘Durchdiener’ model (service in one stretch). They were intensive months during which I learnt a lot – including about myself.
Afterwards, I opted for the two-year post-baccalaureate business training programme (Postmaturitäre Wirtschaftsausbildung PWA), which is aimed at high school graduates or students who are interested in business and are looking for a quicker entry into practice. The programme, during which you also receive a salary, consists of school and a long internship in a company. For me, this training was very instructive, but I wanted to improve my language skills.
So, I enrolled on the three-year Bachelor’s degree programme in Applied Languages at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). I believed that the wide range of modules such as project and event management, marketing, research, social media communication, intercultural competence, editing and regional and cultural studies would provide me with a very useful and efficient foundation and thus open many doors for my future career. In order to be able to devote myself fully to my studies, I had saved a little and calculated well. And thanks to the scholarship from my home canton of St. Gallen, whose application process educationsuisse supported me with, my plan worked out pretty well. As I couldn’t find a suitable Master’s programme, the idea of a ‘study break’ and a change of perspective in general was attractive to me. So, I applied for a six-month internship in project management and communication at the canton of Zurich’s Department of Justice. I was then able to continue working there as a project employee on a major cantonal project. I find this project work very exciting and challenging, and you learn a lot in a short space of time. However, I have to admit that I miss the multilingualism and multicultural aspect of my degree programme in everyday life. Nevertheless, I can use some of the things I learnt during my studies in my day-to-day work, such as my knowledge of project and event management, my understanding of communication in a company and the application of my editorial skills.
People often ask me if I don’t miss Mexico. I’ve been living in Switzerland for almost nine years now and I like it here. I keep realising what a privilege it is to be able to study, work and build a life in Switzerland. Nevertheless, I miss other things that make life a little more colourful. I miss the sunny weather, the culinary delights, the warm openness, serenity and spontaneity of the people, the traditions, the desire to celebrate, not only life but also death, and sometimes the loud music and the passionate telenovelas.
I think Switzerland and Mexico are like Yin and Yang; they are opposite poles and complement each other wonderfully. To be happy and not be overwhelmed by nostalgia, my strategy is to get the best out of both worlds and make the most of it.”
Educationsuisse offers counselling to all young Swiss Abroad on all matters related to education in Switzerland.
educationsuisse, education in Switzerland
Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. +41 31 356 61 04
E-Mail: info@educationsuisse.ch
www.educationsuisse.ch
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