Done! Step 3 of Step 5…

On 5th July 2012, Thursday, i completed my 8 hours of Swiss Driver’s Education Classes 😀 (called Verkehrskundenskurs in German) … it took me 4 consecutive evenings of 2 hours to get it done and now i have a piece of paper which says i have fulfilled my obligation.

There was quite a fair bit which was from the self-study i did when preparing to take the theory test earlier. But i also learnt new things, such as from 2015 onwards, it will be mandatory to drive with headlights on – all the time. i learnt about tricky things to look for when driving into certain junctions, also strange (ok strange to me) recommendations such as the first thing you do when entering a tunnel is to take off your sunglasses (i can’t do that – i wear prescription sunglasses if i took them off, i most definitely won’t be a safe driver).

i had a fun time at the classes, even though it was conducted in Swiss German (which is different from High German – i learn High German in my language classes), plus the instructor came from a different part of Switzerland (i had to go to another city to do this as the ones in my city just didn’t work out in terms of timing) which means his accent in Swiss German is much different from the one i’m used to in our part of switzerland. (Oh the joys of language learning :p )

The other students were all teenagers/young adults eager to get their first ever driving license. They were of course Swiss and completely understood what was said and took part actively in answering questions. i tried my best but found it most beneficial to listen. Besides, they had interesting stories to tell, such as one girl nearly was involved in an accident during one of her practical lessons, another guy who is Italian (parents were immigrants) kept comparing the difference in driving laws and behaviour between Italy and Switzerland which finally led the instructor to sternly remind him that we are discussing Swiss laws not Italian ones.

There is one other thing i like to mention – i really liked the building the classes were conducted in – it is new, bright and colourful!! Here are some pictures to show off the building:

So step 3 done… have already started on step 4… another 1.5 steps to go to get my Swiss Driver’s License! Hurray! 😉 (See here for the list of all 5 steps).

syc