The LHC ring crosses the France/Switzerland border in something like 6 places. Unfortunately, since Switzerland isn’t in the EU, one needs to have both Euros and Swiss Francs when working and living near CERN. The main site is just barely in Switzerland, while several other CERN sites are in France. For example, our detector, CMS, is about 8 miles into France.
Vending machines do not take more than once kind of currency. Also, border guards don’t take kindly to bringing wine or meat across the border.
As for the American dollars, I only happened to have those because I recently traded euros to someone who was moving to France permanently, while I was going back to the US within a week or so.
Tags: student life
