Hi ... I have been in Switzerland for almost 6 months but I still feel homesick. There are not many meeting up at where I live. I tried to go out/travelling almost every weekend but I still feel homesick. I lived in Sydney.

I am wondering how expats/people from outside Switzerland survive living in here for many years? Thanks.

It can be very tough making a move to such a different place from home, had a very similar situation as you coming to Vevey from Los Angeles.

It takes time to build up new relationships, the language barrier can leave you feeling isolated and you feel like a fish out of water with the culture, but hang in there because generally it does get better.

As I'm in the same area, give me a PM and we can talk more. Do you play poker?

Some ideas:

new tricks on how to stop feeling lonely?

I sympathise. Even when you do go out and have a nice day and do nice things, when you come 'home' and shut that door and you are faced with your new life the sickness feeling just comes flooding back. I started to feel homesick at approx month 3 and it lasted about two months. No matter how much i tried to have a good time and meet new people and watch comforting TV shows from back home and eat comfort food, there was no disguising that ultimately i was not happy and wanted to go home. But i couldn't.

After a while it started to fade. I don't love it here but i don't hate it. I am sure, in time, all will work out and we will be very happy. But if it doesn't then it doesn't. All i can do is try. Goodluck, i promise it will start to shift after a while. Think of it like the common cold; everybody gets it, no medication will shift it, you just have to ride it out but it will go and you will feel heaps better afterwards.

Mulan, if you are keen on organising an event ( say preparing Lontong ), I am sure you will find some members keen to meet up, like the Basel Curry event. Alternatively, look at the Social Events subforum for something convenient to you.

I know the feeling well enough, the first 6 months coming from Brisbane.

Selamat Malam!

Thank you so much ... You described exactly what I feel. I do meet with people, go out but that uneasy feeling keeps coming back. I thought I would be fine after few months but it's still there and it's getting worse in last few weeks. I think because I can't wait to go back for holiday in April.

I did exactly what you said ... But still feeling something is not right and I can't go back to Sydney due to work. I don't hate here but something is just not right (yet). Thanks ... I guess I will try my best if I can't stand it anymore, then that's it.

I have been here now nearly 7 months and I came from New Zealand and its my first time away from home in 37 years for longer than 2 months.

I am lucky I have my partner who I came to Switzerland to be with, but I do miss my family and friends.

I was lucky I went back for Christmas and it was awesome seeing everyone....but it made me realise if I hadn't of come I would have been in my same routine of life and now I have so many more adventures to have.

I find it a bit challenging this time of year when all my mates are out at wineries seeing great concerts and enjoying the sun...while I am adapting for the first time in my life going outside in negative temperture (I am such a summer babe hehehe).

I think for you going home in April will make you realise what your heart truely wants....and I hope you have an awesome time back Down Under .

If the visa requirements were easier to met, (i don' t have any Person related
to me in Australia), i would live and work in Melbourne .
Zurich is nice, but it is all about working and money, Australia is much better
then Switzerland (but wages are higher and taxes are lower in Switzerland).
I enjoy every minute in Australia (since 1997 been there around 15 times ).
Been there September last Year, don't know if I can make this year , definitely
will be there next year (in July I got 2 weeks for Vancouver/L.A, in October
I don't know where to go for the other 2 weeks).
In March I will spend a week in Japan (Yokohama/Osaka).

Reading your post made me smile. One thing I realize since I moved here, I appreciate more things that I had in Sydney. When I was there, I took for granted, the weather, food, etc. At least moving here taught me something I quite enjoy the travelling part in here, everywhere is nearby, within few hours, you are in different country which are not possible in Australia or New Zealand I miss my friends and family, I am looking forward to go home (counting down). Thank you

Same here I met my Swiss miss in Bris-vegas and lived up in Airlie Beach for 8 years before that.

It's a massive change in everything from climate to diet to language.... Everything.

A helpful tip was given to me from a Kiwi when I got here which was 'give it 2 years to settle in and then another 2 years to really get the jist of the language and form relationships'

Well my fellow ANZAC was spot on.

The first 2 years were quite tough. I was sick most of the first 12 months, which the doctor put down to my immune system having to regroup and adjust. Also leaving a large network of mates back home and having no one here other than my wife was also hard in the beginning. I still have only a few friends here (my best mate doesn't even speak English) but it's all good.

The differences don't upset me like they did in the beginning and as long as get to fly back home every 9 months for a few weeks then I'm a happy chappy.

The biggest thing was learning the language. As soon as I started grasping German (in your case French I think ?) I no longer felt so alienated. It was expensive and tested my patience in more ways than I had imagined it would, but definately worth it....

4 years on and I'm still learning.....

Give it time mate and don't forget to breathe.....

This Trailing Spouse Thread isn't really about your specific situation, more for partners who come here and are lonely because their OH is out at work and they are 'stuck at home' However, there are so many good ideas for finding ways to 'settle' here - and so many things which still make me laugh and think 'yes, exactly, that's what it was like' that it might be worth looking through.

Good luck in your search for new ideas.

Hey mulan...thank you for your post! Remember what you said back in April 2011 (when you were trying to choose London or Vevey):

"thank you very much for all responses. It's decided .... It's Vevey
I guess it's true ... I can get a nice, quiet lifestyle in Vevey and go to London over the weekend or during the break for a change.
Thanks once again!"

Take a trip to London they have hillsong church there (you asked about this,right? )
All the best!

Hey O.P,
Most of us are homesick for the first 6-12 months!! Just hang in there.
Fasnacht is coming up,
Do not miss the fire-show-thingy in Liestal,1 day earlier -







Winters might be sad and gloomy
but summers are super-fun,in Switzerland.
Cheers!!!

Maybe the english forum can help you directly?

While I was never particularly homesick or lonely, some years ago I joined a group on here to organise a weekly game of football and made some good mates out of that, which makes life more fun.

Perhaps people here share common interests to you, and you can get together to have some fun.

Hello Mulan,

I'm from Sydney too. It is hard to find new friends here, and reckon would be even harder for you in Vevey...at least Zurich has a populations just a bit bigger than Wollongong. I've been lucky to make a handful of Aussie friends - here since May last year...that's it. To fill in the 'homesick' time, I travel even if it's just to nearby placed. And Skype nearly every day to my beloved friends in Oz.

If you ever feel like a chat, send me a PM....I can put you in touch with a few other Aussies over here too.

Hi Mulan,
Do you like soto?
I can make soto and we can eat together. Maybe not as good as when your mother prepare it for you but my husband find the soto I make is tasty. Or maybe you prefer pecel/gado-gado or lontong sayur? That's also one of his favourite.
If eating some homemade Indonesian foods can help you with the homesick and If you want you can contact me.

After reading all the posts I am surprised to see that there's no messages about the other possible option:

Go "home"! Or consider going back "home"...

I mean it's not a failure if you don't stay forever in Switzerland.

You came, had the experience, realized you feel homesick, put a different view on what you took for "granted/normal" back home.
And now you experience homesickness because "hey after all it was not that bad, back there!"

Maybe it's time to reflect on shortening your trip, give yourself a delay to discover more here, and start packing

Mulan,

Hang in there! Thinking back on my personal experience with moving in different countries, I found that moving to a new country is kind of like starting a new relationship.

Some people move here (or anywhere) and have an instant coup de foudre (instant crush, literally "stroke of lightening") with the country, and, albeit not without difficulties, they make it through because they know they have "come home".

Some people don't really like the place, but "put up with it" because it is convenient, it is easier for their family, it is the right thing to do, etc. Kind of like being stuck in a marriage without love because it is the expectation, or because there is no other choice (or it seems so, at least).

Some people start out with warm feelings, but then they grow to appreciate the place more and more, and the "love affair" with the place becomes indissoluble. Some other people instead, although they started out with the best intentions, find that their relationship cannot function, and end up leaving the place.

Finally, continuing the analogy with relationships, there are some people, like me, who didn't really want to be in a relationship to begin with, who have done all possible things to end the relationship, but each time have been hit back with more and increasing love, and then one day stop being stubborn and realize that they cannot imagine spending their life in a place other than where they are. It takes time though, and there are still days where I almost pack my bags and leave this "relationship", but these are moe rare, and in between lots of great time.

Don't give up!

(And if you are in Zurich, PM me and I'll be sure to plan some fun EF event - the Zurich crowd is quite cool!)

OP, maybe you came to realize how much you care of your "previous relationship", how much you had everything you wanted there...

How much the new, different things are not for you-

And how much more rewarding would be your "previous relationship" with the comfort of having your friends and family around you...

And the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener