We are currently on a train to St. Moritz. It's a fancy ski resort town in eastern Switzerland and we've heard lots of good things about the region. It's about 5 hours away.
I'm calling this blog summer heat because I'm so sick of being hot and sweaty and sticky 24/7. I live in the richest country in the world and they don't seem to like air conditioning. At times I feel like when we were in India in July. There is very minimal a/c around here. And where there is central a/c installed, it's kept at a minimum. This was the same in France.
At the hospital, my floor is the only floor with air conditioning. It's only in the patient rooms and the nurses station, which is a closed off room. The hallways are hot, the kitchenette room is hot, the locker room is hot. I've started taking the bus instead of walking uphill 15 mins because I would just be so hot without any releif when I got to the hospital.
But because a/c is so minimal here, people aren't used to it and don't particularly like it. My patients would rather just open the windows (yes the windows open in the patient rooms) and sweat than turn on the a/c. They say it causes bloody noses, coughs, and sore throats. I've been telling them it's the fact that they were intubated during surgery that their throat is sore, not the a/c.
The other place that doesn't like a/c.... The gym! They have it, but it's on so low you can barely feel it. I'm sweating before I even start my class. And the classroom at the gym is awful. It's disgustingly hot in there. They have a big box fan in the corner, and if I don't get a spot next to it I have to stop in the middle of the work out because I get dizzy and lightheaded. It makes me not want to even go. Everyone is soaked in sweat and complaining about the heat yet nobody does anything about increasing the a/c.
Our apartment doesn't have it, which isn't a big deal because I've lived in old apts in the US without it. We only have a small fan and at night we sweat and I have trouble sleeping. Now, each night, I put a cold wet towel across my body to fall asleep, it helps. When we cook it's even worse because of the heat of the stove. I don't think window units exist here because windows are different than in the US. They open like a door. I saw one place with one of those giant floor units that's like 4 ft tall with a tube that you hang out the window and you have to put water in it. I've never once in 2.5 years in Europe seen a ceiling fan. At work everyone talks about those fancy Dyson fans but they're $300 so that's not gonna happen.
I will say one thing. I do not want American style, freeze your butt off, super intense air conditioning. It's a waste of energy and money, and I hate that I have to bring a jacket everywhere in the summer because everywhere is so freezing inside. I'm assuming the energy thing is why Europeans don't use too much a/c, they are very conscious of energy usage and such. But a little more would be nice.
But Americans are known for their love of a/c because at work once, when it started getting warmer outside, I said I was hot and they said "go turn on the a/c." I said "where is it? I don't know how to turn it on" they said "an American doesn't know how to work the a/c?!"
Enough complaining. Here's a funny story to finish.
The people I work with enjoy teaching me different slang and cuss words. There are so much more ways to cuss in French than in English, by the way. But I reciprocate this and teach them the equivalents in English, if there is one. Recently I taught one of my nurse friends FUPA. (If you don't know what this stands for, look it up or ask someone) it is now his most favorite word ever. There is no equivalent to this in French. He writes it on the white board in the nurses station, he drew out a picture of the anatomy of a FUPA, my new nickname is FUPA. once, during report, from across the room he slowly but deliberately scratched his face, making me look up at him, and he had written FUPA on his hand, causing me to burst out laughing but then pretending to cough so I wouldn't interrupt report.
It's things like that that get me through working med/surg
