I am currently living in Vaduz, in the student dormitories of the University of Liechtenstein. Before coming here, I had many expectations about what life would look like. The main thing I imagined was snow everywhere. I thought that when I arrived, the whole city would be completely covered in snow. Surprisingly, that was not the case. When I first arrived, there was actually very little snow in Vaduz.

However, something else surprised me even more than the snow: the view.

From everywhere I can see the mountains every day, even from my dorm room window. It is very normal here, but for me it still feels impressive. At night, when I walk back to the dorms, I can also see the stars very clearly. Growing up in Mexico City, seeing the stars is almost impossible because of the pollution. When I realised that here it is normal to see a sky full of stars, I had a strange feeling. It made me feel as if I had been missing something my whole life without noticing it.

But the most interesting cultural difference I have noticed here is something simpler: the level of trust between people.

One moment that made me realise this was during one of my first times skiing. A friend told me that I could leave my jacket on a bench while we went to the slope. Back in Mexico I would feel uncomfortable with that idea; my instinct was to keep my things with me or at least always watch them. In many places, leaving your belongings unattended can be risky.

When my friend told me that, I felt relieved.

I left my things there and realised that here I do not have to worry about someone taking them.

This type of trust also appears in other everyday situations. For example, in some supermarkets you can scan and pay for your items yourself. There is not always someone checking everything carefully. The system works because people are expected to be honest. In Mexico this kind of system is still very rare.

Another place where I noticed something interesting is in the dormitories. Even if people do not know each other very well, everyone is friendly and open. The shared kitchen is one of the places where this happens the most. Almost every night there is someone cooking, washing dishes, or just eating and talking. Many times people share ingredients or help each other cook. It becomes a very easy way to start conversations and meet new people.

For example, one time someone made dinner with me because I did not know how to prepare a dish. Another time someone even offered to make dinner for me because I was missing ingredients. These small moments make the environment feel welcoming and warm.

Another example happened with someone I had never met before. One day a guy texted me asking if I was going skiing. We had never met in person before. Still, we decided to meet downstairs at the dorms and go together. That same day we spent many hours skiing and talking, even though we were basically strangers in the beginning. Experiences like that show how easy it can be here to connect with people.

I also experienced this openness from professors. One of the professors here even lent me a guitar when she found out that I like playing. Even if it was a small gesture for her, for me it shows the same atmosphere of trust and kindness that I keep noticing around here.

Looking back at my first weeks here, some of my favourite moments are actually very simple ones: walking back to the dorms while looking at the stars, slowly learning how to ski, or sitting in the kitchen talking with other students from different countries who I now see as friends.

These everyday experiences made me reflect on something I had not thought about before. In many places, systems are often built on the expectation that someone might break the rules. Here, the system seems to begin with trust.

This does not mean that one culture is better than the other. But it helped me understand how much our daily life is influenced by the level of trust that exists in society.

Sometimes the biggest cultural differences are not in big traditions or famous landmarks, but in small everyday situations. Something as simple as leaving a jacket on a bench or cooking in a shared kitchen can show a lot about how a society works.

And in my experience here so far, these small moments have been some of the most meaningful ones.