Hello All, I'm a brand newbie so this is my forum intro.

I'm from London and I arrived in Zurich yesterday in the early hours. The flight was both with Swiss Air and delayed - which I thought would be a contradiction in terms...

I'm here on 'secondment' for 2-years at least and Its something I've wanted to do for ages so I'm really excited. Obviously all the moving planning, both exiting the UK and arriving here, keep you busy and adrenaline fuelled. The reality on arrival is a little more humdrum: I'm over here in my poky little temporary apartment with no one to call for a drink, little knowledge about the town and just loads of admin and flat finding etc to prepare for. So finding this site is a godsend and I even found a ready-made night out for tonight at a Zurich englishforum get-together. Amazing, Facebook eat your heart out.

I spent 3-months on a project here last year and I loved it. I'm coming over on my own and the main draw is the lifestyle, particularly the outdoor winter and summer stuff. I'm a snowboarder and watersports aspirant but as I've lived in London most my life I talk about it more than I do it. So I'm looking to change all that. I'm a consultant and I work with large firms so Zurich will be a different work culture to London - well that's what my limited experience to date has suggested.

In my short time last year I loved the international vibe here and I guess this site reflects that. But I really would like to break into the Swiss inner sanctum. The few Swiss I managed to spend time with really fitted the stereotype of being very courteous, competent, calm and just plain nice but I only ever got one of them to do anything social. Any suggestions on how to change this, or just posts to say hello very welcome.

Rgds All

Welcome to Zurich and the forum! Give the place a chance, once you start meeting people it makes a difference.
Give yourself PLENTY of time to adjust too.

Great Intro.
Welcome to the Forum
You certainly seem to be starting off on the right foot going to a social do already.
Hope you meet up with folk who can help you settle in.

I read that 'bucky' might be priced beyond its fans reach by the "minimum price per unit" law - think Switzerland might be those West-Country monks replacement export market?

Welcome.

Your user name: a funny name or do you like backgammon?

Well, they've been drinking Appenzeller for years, which isn't much better, so anything is possible.

Blackgammon is a domain name I have so its also my email address etc. Its not because I like burnt pork or anything like that.

I was talking about the board game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon

Hello and welcome to the Forum. The Forums page has a long list of upcoming events over the next fourteen days. Something for most tastes, I'd imagine

Hi blackgammon and welcome to the forum - you already got a little impression how things are handled here

As for breaking into the Swiss inner sanctum - to do so you either need a fat bank account or a little red booklet, in seldom cases however, a few beers will do, too