Hey everyone,

I've just joined this site. I moved to Lausanne in Switzerland in October 2009 to live with my Swiss wife.

I've been lucky enough to have the support of my wife's family since moving here so I have been able to socialize with them regularly and learn more about this beautiful country. I've found a job, got a nice apartment, car, etc, but I haven't yet made any friends of my own here.

Back in England I had a group of friends who I've known since starting school almost 20 years ago, and I've started to think that it's the one thing missing in my life here in Switzerland.

I'm looking to socialize more but I find that hard to do as I don't really have the opportunity to meet new people. My colleagues are nice people to pass the working day with but I don't think they would really look to socialize outside of work. In my personal time I'm with my wife and our baby (currently 8 months old), and aside from the occasional game of squash with the boyfriend of one of my wife's friends, I really don't get to socialize much.

I'm hoping to find information about any clubs or activities in and around Lausanne (I live in Bussigny) where I could meet up with people for sports or just to chat about life, particularly with other English people who have been through similar things to me (such as moving to Switzerland, learning to drive on the right hand side of the road, etc.).

If anyone knows of any clubs or get-togethers of expats here in Switzerland I would welcome any information!

Thanks for reading this and I look forward to reading more on this forum.


Kind regards,

Paul

Your intro will strike a chord with a lot of folk on here who have similar life-stories to yours. It's not easy to really 'settle' here and make real friends. Having a Swiss partner brings a lot of advantages but doesn't solve the 'similar background' problem.

Hope you manage to meet up with others on here.

Welcome Paul!
I hope you find yourself lots of friends on the forum, virtual and real.

The InterNation group organizes weekly get-togethers in Zürich, might have something in your area as well - looks like they relay on meetings more than forums actually. Just google them. Good luck & welcome here!

to the EF!

Since nobody has yet mentioned it, may I suggest that you check the Events link in the blue bar at the top of every page of this forum.

Hi Paul,

I know how you feel - I moved to Lausanne in 2008 and felt very alone! At that time there was a regular meet-up and I made a load of friends in no time at all. Looking at the events calendar, it seems the meet-up, called the 'Thursday night drinks club' (TNDC), is no more, which is a shame.

I'm moving back to Lausanne in March; maybe we should organise another round of the TNDC so we can all meet up. In any case, I'd be glad to have a beer with you then.

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the EF. I can appreciate how it is. We moved here in August and it's tough making friends (I must test the doorbell to check it's working). I know there are a few people around, we are in Morges (myself, wife & daughter), maybe an organised drink could be an option, I know some people including us would attend!

There are lots of English speakers in the Lausanne area - we used to get up to 50 attend a TNDC. I note that many of my friends don't post much on EF any more - I think it's a cycle; there were lots of new people in 2008 and we were all keen to make friends. Now these same people have established friend networks and aren't interested in meeting more, but they are replaced by new people...

I'm busy getting ready for my move, but am already looking forward to meeting you all soon