Hi everyone, I'm a 28 year old guy from Australia and I've been thinking about moving to Switzerland next year. I have swiss grandparents, therefore I was lucky enough to obtain swiss citizenship when I was younger.

I will be going to Europe for a holiday in August/September, and plan to spend 11 days in Switzerland (early September) to see what its like and if i'd ever like to move there.

Here are the reasons why I've been considering the move...

Having lived in Australia all my life, I feel like I need a change. Australia doesn't have much diversity in culture, and we are very isolated from the rest of the world. I feel as though the quality of living here has degraded in the past 10+ years. The cost of living keeps going up and up, public transport is unreliable/overpriced/sparse, the traffic is getting out of control, and we have some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

The people here aren't as friendly as they used to be, and most of them spend their weekends getting drunk for "fun". Unfortunately Australia has a huge binge drinking problem, and the level of alcohol related violence keeps rising. As a non drinker, people here actually think i'm strange for choosing not to drink and living a healthier lifestyle. They say things like "What?! You don't drink?! How can you be Australian?!". So I guess I feel as though I no longer fit into this country.

Anyway, I would love to make friends with some swiss people around my age. Perhaps you are a local or have just moved there yourself, either is fine. I just want to learn as much as possible about the country to help me make an informed decision on whether or not i'd prefer living there. I work in the IT industry, and I hear IT jobs are quite plentiful over there with some big name companies.

So if you are interested in chatting and want to make a new friend, feel free to drop me a message

I have been coming to Switzerland for 3 weeks every year since i could walk..........but that did not prepare me for what life was like actually living here.

Once you are living here, joining a sports club will help you alot in meeting new friends as well as aid you with intergration with swiss life.

Where will you be staying for your 11 days??.........perhaps a few people on here can suggest places/activities of interest accordingly.

cheers
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Hi Swiss Cheddar,

As a rough itinerary I plan to arrive in Geneva (by train from paris), stay in Lausanne for 2 days, followed by 4 days in Lauterbrunnen as a base for walks/alps and seeing other villages, 2 days in zermatt for seeing matterhorn and some glacier skiing, then 3 days in Zurich to see what the city is like (as i'd be most likely to live there).

What do you think of this plan? Will this give me a good taste of the country?

Hey,
best of luck with the holiday and planned move.
I think you will enjoy living here, after the first couple of culture shock months but over all I agree that it probably is a heathyer lifesyle.
However if you are planning on making some genuine "swiss" friends then probably the sports club ect was a good suggesting as most of the people here tend not to be 100% swiss.
drop me a pm if you want, when you move here as im in a similar age bracket. Im not swiss though.
also as a relative newcomer to the country I wish I had taken German classes before arriving, so it might be something for you to consider if you don't speak already.

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Thanks for your comments about Australia...it's a place I've been dreaming of lately and wondering what it is like. I'm a Canadian in CH for over a year now and would be happy to trade questions and answers back and forth about each other's experiences...it sounds like we might have some similar interests (outdoors, not into partying, etc) that could help inform the other.

Anyhow just wanted to touch base for now. Feel free to send me a private message with specific questions and I'd be happy to share my experience here with you.

Hi and welcome. Recently was given a book about some of my relatives who left Switzerland for Australia in the mid 19C to become wine makers in the Geelong/Barrabool Hills. Perhaps we are related, lol.
If you are in the Swiss Jura, pop in and sample some of our local specialities, like absinthe and have a look at that book.

Hello "compatriot"

I think it's a very good idea to spend some time here first before moving from Australia. Of course, visiting a country on vacation and only for a few days is quite different than beeing involved in everyday life.

But at least you can get in touch with our environnement and figure out if you "could live here" (I travel a lot and at many places say to myself : "Nice, but could never live here").

As for your itinerary, I'd suggest the following route/order, which correspond to (mostly) direct train connections and may avoid long way round:
Geneva-Lausanne-Brig(direct GVA-Brig, change in Brig for Zermatt)-Zermatt-Brig (change in Brig)-Spiez-Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen-Interlaken-Luzern-Zurich. Theese are some of the main sceenic routes in Switzerland.

If you intend to live in Zurich I'd shorten the number of days in Lausanne and Lauterbrunnen to give you more time to explore Zurich.

Good luck

Thanks for the replies guys.... I don't mind if there aren't any swiss locals here, just wanting to hear similar experiences of others that have moved there as well.

It sounds like a lot of swiss get their enjoyment from nature and doing things outdoors such as skiing, hiking etc, instead of drinking which is good to hear.

Kristanez - don't get me wrong, there are some great things about australia, but I feel as though its not the place it used to be 10 or so years ago. We have a lot of immigration and our infrastructure cannot keep up with the increasing in population in the cities. Roads are a nightmare clogged with traffic, public transport is rarely on time and is very sparse. Sometimes buses simply won't show up at all!

Here in QLD the climate is also too hot for my liking. In summer you are often restricted to indoors in aircon due to the extreme heat and humidity. It is good for swimming, but that's about it. I would love to live somewhere with a colder climate, and somewhere that snows.