I am a 28yr old british female on the verge of making a permanent move to Zurich (and am very excited about it!!!). I have just spent the last 5 months in the beautiful swiss mountains snowboarding and drinking flamli's, which has been wonderful and made me realise how much i loved the country, so now begins the mission to make it my home!!

I have a few job interviews lined up in Zurich and the surrounding area and have a place to stay with a friend rent free for a few months starting end of May. By that time i am hoping to have found work and be in a position to start apartment hunting (which i have been told can be quite a challenge in Zurich??) - advice on good places to find flatshares welcome!!

I really want to get involved with some clubs in Zurich to get to know people - I am very interested in Sailing, running, walking, biking, yoga, painting, writing etc in the summer and want to find existing groups/clubs so any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!

...and I really want to meet some like minded people who enjoy the great outdoors ...and look forward to the large glass of wine waiting in the bar at the end of the day having enjoyed the great outdoors!! I love socialising and need to know the best spots for good cocktails and dancing in Zuri too!!

Welcome to the Forum

Looking at your interests I imagine you'll find some like-minded folk on here. Check out the Sports Forum and the Social Events for meeting folk.

Hope you find a job and a flat soon and can settle in properly.

Welcome Triple L - good to see you're into the outdoor scene. Resist the urge to hit the ZH drinking scene and come join those that enjoy savoring the mountains and forest trails.

Makes your line of work a lot easier, I'd imagine...

If you want to find a place to live, I'd start here. Took me 5 days to realise how er, as they are so fond of saying in Switzerland, complicated it is, although I'm led to believe that is only in Zurich. Regardless, it is very different from GB. Don't get disheartened and take it personally, it's just the culture here. I encountered people writing my name on a list, one guy was even taking photo's. Probably with your background all will be cool and no problems, sounds like you've got a great start. Certainly wish you the best of luck. I would definitely begin by asking in this forum, it worked for me.

thank you so much for your welcoming words and advice!! move to zurich was slightly delayed due to family issues back in blighty but i am now counting down the sleeps (only 7 to go!!) and will be arriving next week (...ash cloud permitting!!)...

now comes the hard part.... job and apartment hunting (...possibly done it the wrong way round but i know i really really want to live in Zurich, the sooner the better!! so the savings have been withdrawn, the jobs been quit and i am officially moving!!). I have found info on other threads extremely useful - can't wait to meet some fellow EF'ers in Zurich.

Any advice on good agencies in Zurich to find work? My german is not great but i am taking lessons and am a quick learner!!!

So happy for you. Welcome to Zurich. If you have somewhere to stay for a while that will help. Apartments are difficult to acquire and the deposit can be up to 3 times the rent, so be prepared for that. I was lucky got it through the englishforum. Check out homegate.ch to see whats available. You should enquire about a work permit though. You need to be working to get one. Not sure how it is for euro members but some people have been deported mainly us and indian citizens. You dont say what kind of work you are looking for. Be a good idea to say then maybe people can help. I found my job through jobserve. The other thing is health insurance, it is compulsary, and you need to have it within 3 months of arrival. People are so helpful, especially on here. Its a big transition but hopefully a really good one.