Did you know the Swiss invented instant coffee? How about that they created the World Wide Web too? Or maybe that the world entrusted Switzerland with the Large Hadron Collider, hosted in CERN? Well, you likely know these things if you attended this month’s Cultural Cafe.  Director of International Student Services & Study Abroad Annie Gingrich said that “[t]his is Colorado Mesa University’s 8th year of hosting the Cultural Cafe, which invites its exchange students to share their culture with the campus.”  On Nov. 13, exchange student Laura Schütz, who hails from the mountainous fortress they call Switzerland presented the final cultural cafe of the semester. Schütz is in her fifth year of school, pursuing a law degree, after having already achieved her bachelors.  In Tomlinson Library, Schütz took to the stage to inform an eager semi-circle of participants about Switzerland’s natural gorgeousness, delicious food and ingenuity.  The fragrance of Älplermagronen, which is a Swiss take on what we would consider Macaroni and Cheese, Bündner Gerstensuppe—a hearty barley stew and the ephemeral presence of Toblerone chocolate, filled the library.  As is to be expected, the food did not last long. The chocolate was the first casualty—some people were quite swift in their ability to inhale the pyramid-shaped treat. It was just before the presentation when a young woman, who was double-fisting two bowls of soup, lumbered over a set of chairs with napkins pinched between her teeth and silverware somehow clasped in her cumbersome fingers.  “We invite our speakers to choose foods that they feel best represent their culture. We find that we have a lot of commonality through our spices,” said Library Director Sylvia Rael.

Shütz walked around the front of Student Services in Tomlinson library as she informed attendees of the hidden beauties of Switzerland. Her slideshow showed a small trip to the delightful, mountainous European land.  Schütz, who has been in the USA since July, chose to symbolize her country to the students and faculty of CMU by first introducing us to Eurovision—a European TV show that hosts all different European countries to a yearly competition for best original pop song. It served as a playful intro by which we were then spring-boarded into the culture of Switzerland.  Schütz informed the audience, “I like Americans’ ‘compliment culture.’ Americans will compliment someone’s dress if they like it.”  She continued on by introducing us to the folk-hero William Tell, an axiomatic figure within Swiss culture. He’s a Robin Hood-type character who daringly bisects an apple placed atop his son’s head by corrupt governor, Gessler. After having split the apple to the chagrin of Gessler, Tell produced a second, loaded crossbow and quipped, “If I missed with the first arrow, I had a second one ready for you.” A line so cold it could have chilled even a Swiss mountain breeze. If necessity is the mother of invention, then it’s safe to assume the mother of invention lives in Switzerland, because the Swiss are a crafty bunch. Having invented instant coffee, the jack-of-all-trades Swiss army knife and cellophane, Switzerland felt they hadn’t given the world enough and blessed it with Gruyère cheese.  Attendees learned from Shütz that it was also in Switzerland that famous theoretical physicist Albert Einstein penned the Theory of Relativity while avoiding mandatory German conscription. Switzerland seems to have a role of being the world’s place for “safe keeping.”