Hello to the English speaking community in Switzerland!

[Caz08]

Hi,
I arrived in Switzerland expecting to stay a couple of years, but it has now been almost 18 years and there is still no sign of us going back to England.
Although one gets used to the Swiss way of life, it is still nice to keep in touch with other English speakers, which is why I finally got around to registering on your forum.

[Nathu]

Hi and a late welcome! With 18 years and counting you must be in or near the top 10 experienced expats on this website... looking forward to your contributions.

[Caz08]

Hi, Surely there are many people on the forum who have been here 20, 30 + years? I just bumped into another English woman in Migros (my local for the last 8 years) who has been here 16 years, so there seem to be quite a few of us about.

[Tranter72]

Hello! I discovered this web site 2 hours ago and even though I have also lived here 18 years (came as an au-pair in 1990) and will probably never go back to live in the UK, it is still great to be able to chat with people in the same situation. Not yet completely used to the swiss way of life. I still have to have my Sky TV, Walkers cheese and onion crisps and Cadburys chocolate. But, all in all it's a great place to live.

[Caz08]

I can live without Sky TV, as I have Cablecom digital TV instead (BBC 1+ 2, BBC Prime, ITV 1 + 2, Film 4 and loads of English News channels) But I still need Marmite - thank goodness for Migros Internet shopping! I guess they supply you with the Walkers and Cadburys too. Shame they don't sell Schweppes diet tonic water too

[Crumbs]

Hi Caz and welcome to the forum! You can get other British foods online at EF member Evolver's Britshop.

[zulu]

Well I have been here 23 years!! And I still feel Australian, I speak the language, I know so many people here, but I still call Australia home.
You can take a girl out of Australia, but you can't take Australia out of a girl!

[setch]

I been here 21 years

[BENSON]

You're welcome to the club. I didn't know I'll be here for 40 months. But I'm still here today after 14 years.

[grantley]

I suspect you're right Caz....the oldies are starting to crawl out of the woodwork! I for one came for 2 years in 1984 and never left. I've never been really part of the expat world and only discovered the EF quite recently....source of much entertainment and clearly a huge resource for newcomers. Also a dangerously addictive work-avoidance tool!

[möpp]

27 years and still counting....

[SPB]

	Quote:	Caz08
	Hi, I arrived in Switzerland expecting to stay a couple of years, but it has now been almost 18 years and there is still no sign of us going back to England. Although one gets used to the Swiss way of life, it is still nice to keep in touch with other English speakers, which is why I finally got around to registering on your forum.

Indeed, welcome to this site. I have been here since 1986, and only got to know about this site in November of last year. So I am a newbie here, but not to the Swiss way of life.

Originally I thought I would not be here so long, and in that time, the England that I knew has been changed out of all recognition. So I suspect I will not be going back in a hurry.