Swiss Review 5/2021

Swiss Review / October 2021 / No.5 22 “Coping with change is al- ways a challenge, and you often need a helping hand,” says Melina Mutti. Photo provided From student to skilled worker educationsuisse provides advice to young Swiss Abroad who come to Switzerland to further their education. Melina Mutti is one such expatriate. She talked to us about her experiences after arriving in Switzerland. Voluntary subscriptions to bolster printed edition Readers who particularly appreciate receiving the printed edition of “Swiss Review” may wish to support it with a voluntary subscription fee. Your support expressed in this way will help us to offer the “Review” on paper in the same quality for many years to come. The bank details for the transfer of voluntary subscrip- tions are as follows (please note: cheques cannot be cashed): IBAN: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 Bank: Berner Kantonalbank, Bundesplatz 8, CH-3011 Bern BIC/SWIFT: KBBECH22 Beneficiary: BEKB Bern, Account 16.129.446.0.98 Organisation of the Swiss Abroad Fao Mr A. Kiskery Alpenstrasse 26, CH-3006 Bern Reference: Support Swiss Review Payments by PayPal: revue@aso.ch “I grew up in France, not far frommy country of birth. I used to be able to see Switzerland on the other side of Lake Geneva frommy bedroomwin- dow! Growing up on the “wrong” side of the bor- der is strange, because you never really feel at home, however much you identify with either country. But it also throws up opportunities and gives you plenty of life experience. As the daughter of German- and French-speak- ing bilingual parents, I was able to maintain a connection with my home country because I could speak Swiss German. I left Switzerland and the canton of Berne when I was seven – and re- turned in 2015 at the age of 21. After studying for two years in Francewithout any great conviction, I wanted to do somethingmeaningful as a career. I felt I wanted to usemy hands tomake things that were aesthetically pleasing and worthwhile. I therefore decided to learn a trade and ended up Six years on since returning to Switzerland, and I still have no regrets about coming back. Coping with change is always a challenge, and you often need a helping hand. Over the years, my family and I have always been supported by Swiss insti- tutions and the Swiss community abroad. I amnowproud to be teaching clothes design at the same school at which I did my apprentice- ship. Thanks to grants frommy home canton of Berne and to the people from educationsuisse who assistedme during those years, I was able to complete my training and findmy own purpose in life with a career that suited me. I now enjoy helping to train young men and women and giv- ing them a chance to strike their own path.” Testimonies from young Swiss Abroad are regularly published on the educationsuisse Facebook page and at www.education- suisse.ch. at a fashion school in Valais to do an apprentice- ship as a clothes designer specialising inwomen’s fashion. This after studying Arabic linguistics! At first glance, the work seemed fairly straightfor- ward for an “egghead” likeme. But I really had to put everything into getting a qualification at the end ofmy three years there. Afterwards, I decided to go one step further and do a textile diploma at a college of higher education. I had two options: Zurich or Lugano. Without speaking a single word of Italian, I chose Lugano – or the STA Lu- gano fashion school (Scuola specializzata superi- ore di abbigliamento e design della moda), to be precise. It was certainly one of the best but also one of themost difficult decisions ofmy life. Luck- ily, I was able to fit very easily and quickly into Ticino life. At the end ofmy two years there, I was completely bilingual and had a group of Ital- ian-speaking friends. educationsuisse Telefon +41 31 356 61 04 info@educationsuisse.ch www.educationsuisse.ch