Hello everybody,

I am a Malaysian graduate student who has just received an offer to intern for 6 months at an aid organisation in Geneva. Was just wondering if anybody has had similar experiences and would be able to share an estimated cost of living, as well as ways in which one may scrimp and save (if any exist!).

The lowest I've found round the forum is about 1700 CHF per month (all inclusive), which is still pretty high for my humble-unpaid-student-beggar-bank account.

I did my graduate programme in Dublin living smart and surviving on 600 euro per month, which included rent, utilities, health insurance, cheap groceries, internet & phone bills, Tesco-bottled wine etc. I must admit, even by Irish standards, 600 euros was very very low - I just made do because I had no choice, really. Any such hope for Geneva? Or shall I just go sell a kidney?

Oh, one other thing, any chance of evening pub/bar work for one who speaks no French/German, but Italian, Spanish, English?

Thanks very much for all your help!

Hannah

In Dublin a state pension or assistance would be about 600-800 a month. So living on that budget is at least possible there.
Maybe by finding out the minimum wage and minimum social payment available you might get an idea. I feel here there are always little extras you must pay.

On the plus side Geneva is very international and English, Spanish and Italian might come in very handy for a job!

First of all getting a flat-share in Geneva is quite difficult, far more so than other cities in Switzerland where it's better organised, could give you more info on that if you need it.
But if you manage to get a room in one of the student houses you can live fairly cheap! I have never done it buy try to get an application for one of these somehow.
The rest really depends on you, since you already survived on a budget in Dublin I suspect you would manage there too. Just be sure to have a little something on the safe side! Food can be extremely cheap if you don't eat out and cook for yourself, eat little meat etc.. I have known other students in Geneva living on 1'200/M.. Needless to say they weren't going out much.

there are several websites that you can search for apartment shares in Geneva.

a good one is www.glocals.com - make sure you are looking for the city of Geneva as they have a different section for different Swiss cities.

if you are willing/able to live in France, it's only a tram ride to downtown Geneva. I don't remember the names of the websites for this.

you can something in France for as low as 400€ a month plus deposit

in Geneva, it's at least 600 Swiss Francs a month, if you are lucky

food is quite expensive as well, so is the transit
be careful when leaving a deposit with the person in the apartment. often they don't even live there.

good luck!

I forgot to say:

a lot of people live in Lausanne and work in Geneva, so please look in surrounding cities / towns in both France and Switzerland

they do this because:

a) there are apartments available
b) they are cheaper

google "france avoisinante" for "co-location" in France

also, I don't think you will get a job except cleaning offices, etc

there are some people who need some babsitting and give free room and board but you have to have some solid references of someone in Geneva