I finally broke down this past week and went shopping for some clothes. I had been putting it off for a while, but I had reached the point that I didn't really want to wear anything that I had in my closet. So, I headed off to the nearest mall-type place, Einkaufszentum Glatt. And proceeded to have a total disaster.
Problem #1. Aside from H&M, which I know from the US, I am absolutely clueless about the different stores and brands. I had a hard time getting a feeling for if the stores were for young people or older people, if they were super pricey or less expensive, etc. I found myself in several stores where I was clearly 30 years younger than the next youngest person there. At least this was a good clue that I didn't need to browse there.
Problem #2. Holy prices, Batman! I have been getting used to the insanely high prices here in Switzerland. Case in point: I went for a hike and spent 4.80 CHF for a juice at the top. For you in the US, that is the equivalent of paying almost $6 for a bottled drink at a cafeteria. Lovely. But sticker shock hit again with clothes shopping, so I decided to stick with H&M, which was the least expensive. A very plain shirt still costs at least 25 CHF, but that was about as good as it was going to get.
Problem #3. I am not European. I do not have European style. I still have more of an American style. And I am definitely not in America. So I had a hard time even finding clothes that I might want to try on, because most of them really weren't my thing, and I am picky, let's be honest here. Plus there were no colors! I felt like half of the clothes were some shade of taupe. Unless they were mustard or neon yellow.
Problem #4. Ummm... European sizes? It was a challenge to figure out what size made sense to try on, because the sizing system is all different.
Problem #5. It is currently sale season. Which is great, except that the H&M looked like a cyclone had hit it, and it was like going for a treasure hunt in a hot, crowded beige sea of clothing.
I found 1 shirt before getting so cranky that I just had to leave.
Thankfully, later this week I went shopping with my colleague Rachel, who took me to a much nicer and less-crowded H&M where I experienced more success and actually found a couple of shirts. But, let me tell you, I'm definitely looking forward to going shopping when I go back to the US!
