Oat milk and retro bike: 100 square meters of St.Gallen freedom
It's just under a hundred square meters of freedom for Cheyenne and Shane - a hundred square meters of old apartment sharing, in the middle of the city of St.Gallen, where the two sisters feel at home. We meet them on a Sunday morning in their four walls, which they share with their good friend and musician Femi Luna. Brunch is served. Braids, butter, cream cheese, oat milk and blueberries. The latest record by the Swiss band "Black Sea Dahu" is playing from the record player in the corner, and from the living room you can see Shane's bright red retro bike leaning against the wall in her bedroom. The coffee from the Bialetti is ready. Over breakfast, the sisters talk about their adopted home. After all, city air hasn't always been a part of life for them.
Originally from memory
The two siblings grew up in Speicher, a village with 4,000 inhabitants on the edge of Appenzellerland. The older of the two sisters, Cheyenne, first moved to Basel for her bachelor's degree. She liked the big city in the northwest of Switzerland - but for her master's she wanted to go back to where she feels at home: to St.Gallen. "As teenagers, we often went to St.Gallen on Wednesday afternoons and roamed the alleys," says Cheyenne. More and more, the center of their lives shifted to the city. Shane also decided to go to university after cantonal school. "I'm studying psychology in Zurich. Nevertheless, I decided to stay in St.Gallen," says the 20-year-old. She likes it here so much. And the train connections to Zurich are ideal, she says. "When I come back to St.Gallen in the evening, it feels like home."
Nature and city so close
The two sisters are connected not only by their family name, but also by their love of nature. They enjoy cycling, hiking in the Alpstein and swimming in Lake Constance. "For cycling, St.Gallen is ideal. I can ride to the university or to the city center - everything is so close," Cheyenne enthuses. They also love the Drei Weieren above the city: "Sometimes we go swimming in the morning or end the evening with a beer at the Weieren," says Shane. Together, they escape to nature for a short while if the hustle and bustle of the city becomes too much for them.
"St.Gallen is ideal for cycling. I can ride to the university or into the city center - everything is so close."
Cheyenne Sonderegger, a master's student from Speicher, on her adopted home of St.Gallen.
"The heart in the right place"
When Shane is not sitting in the lecture hall in Zurich or swimming in the ponds, she works in the St.Gallen restaurant "Drahtseilbähnli". The restaurant at the valley station of the Mühleggbahn is known among the people of St.Gallen for its familiar and warm environment. Shane can sign that - when she talks about her employer, she goes into raptures. The restaurant's location near St.Gallen's Mühlegg Gorge also helps her recharge her batteries with the sound of the waterfall.
On this Sunday morning, we sit longer than planned at the small dining table in the shared living room on Teufenerstrasse. Cheyenne puts on more coffee, pours more. When the sisters talk about their lives, they do it with passion and positivity. They really feel at home in their city apartment, you can see it in the pictures on the wall, the carefully furnished living room with dried flowers and the Persian carpet. These 100 square meters that combine their passion for the vibrant life and the joy of nature.
