How about learning German with a language tandem? http://sprach-tandem.ch/en/home

Hi LittleGirl, I understand you very well. Have you tried meet up groups yet? http://www.meetup.com/cities/ch/zürich/
As for the language there is a great opportunity for language exchange at http://sprach-tandem.ch/en/home. A lot of people are looking for English as exchange language. It shouldn't be too difficult to find someone who helps you with German. Maybe it depends on where you live. Wish you all the best.

it didn't take long because I have no Swiss friends and no expat friends.

In my experience, it also depends on which area you live. One place took me a year to make 4 'friends' and another took me only a month. Keep trying!

Hi there,

IMO it depends on when you consider someone as a "friend". It is indeed kinda hard to find a close friend here, if you've just arrived here. From my observations, people here tend to split up as they grow older, as life goes on (eg. going to different universities, work pressure, different interests, need to invest time in a relationship/family...). I personally only have four or five really close friends here; we met at like five years old, and all grew up together.

I don't know whether you're a worker, a student or whatsoever, but I can assure you that students here are really open-minded, and you should not have any problem to befriend with them. Again, the trick here is the definition of "friend". It isn't difficult at all to gather with students and have a bier within a week.

Of course, it might be a little more complicated if you're not a student, especially if you cannot speak the language of the region in which you're living. In Geneva, we celebrate the "fête des voisins", in Engllish "neighborhood party", check this out, it is a formidable opportunity to find new acquaintances!

my girlfriend has been here for a few years and claims she has quite a few Swiss friends.. based on what she tells me all of them are guys and all of them have at one point or another wanted be more than friends with her (probably still do). As far as she's told me she does not have a single Swiss female friend.

I pretty sure its much easier for foreigner females to make Swiss "friends" than it is guys but then again I guess it depends what those friends want/hope to get from you at the end of the day.

Not all Swiss men are lecherous.

from my very experience thus far Swiss are either friendly or keep to themselves so I will agree with your statement

I have been told by a few people that a good portion Swiss folks like to date foreigners (male or female)

I'm from North America where the majority of people are lecherous

I met some people I liked within a short time of being here, but it took a year and a half before I met the (Swiss) person I thought of as a friend within a short while of meeting her. At first I didn't think of many of the people I met early on as friends, because I didn't think we were similar, but the relationships have grown over time and we have shared experiences. Also, I only came for a two-year contract and fully intended to go back to the UK after that, which probably affected how much I invested in these relationships.

Yesterday i had an accident and hit my head. As I live alone, the doctor asked me if I had a friend who I could stay with for the first 24 hours, that I shouldn't be alone. At first I thought, erm… no, as the first person I thought of is away on vacation. But after a few minutes I realised that I know at least 4 people who would have stepped in immediately, and quite a few more who I don't know so well but who I know would help me if I needed it. They're all good people. So I'm very lucky, really. Although I wouldn't necessarily say we shared all the same interests, politics or whatever, in the sense of trust and caring which are what's most important in a friend, I have more than I realised. This is good to know.

On the expat question, I can fully sympathise with those who avoid deep friendships with expats because of the likelihood that they will move on.

Hey, planetali, I hope you feel better soon.

I think the Swiss themselves find it hard to make friends with other Swiss.

If you're an foreigner wondering what you're doing wrong, don't feel disapointed, I think it just takes a little bit of more time to make friends not only with Swiss people.

Thanks doropfiz, I should have said, I'm bruised and battered but otherwise fine :-)

And there's also a good portion of Swiss folks who'd never date a foreigner.
Same where I come from, same everywhere else I have lived prior to moving here.
But I think it's easier for girls.

Anyhow, thinking more of it, as it seems to be a recurrent theme not only on EF, but also in conversations among foreigners....why is so important if your friends/partners are Swiss? Is it something people need to brag about? Don't understand this.

Still a decent number of Swiss folks that do date and even marry foreigners. According to binational.ch (marriage stats in Switzerland from 2007):

Swiss female marries non-Swiss male: 20.8 %
Swiss male marries non-Swiss female: 22.4 %

This seems at odds with the idea it's hard to make friends in Switzerland.

I wonder though - how many of those marriages were from Swiss who met their foreign spouses here in CH. Anecdotally most of the Swiss I know that are with non-Swiss met their spouses while studying or working abroad.

Pure conjecture here, but:

We are told over and over again (in the media, including here on EF) that we must integrate, become part of local society - and having local friends in the Swiss 'per DU' sense seems to be one of the arbitrary proofs of such integration. It's not enough to speak the language, do your job well, pay your taxes, be a considerate neighbor, follow the rules, keep your nose clean - no, in order to be a good foreigner one must join the Whateververein, one must be on 'per Du' terms with a sufficient quota of local folks.

(Remember the professor who was denied citizenship? Lack of local friends was given as one of his failings.)


At some point we start to internalize this idea, to believe that without local friends we are 'bad' Auslanders, stuck in the stereotypic expat bubble. Integration fail. And so making local friends becomes something of the holy grail of successful integration.


Just a guess. I could be dead wrong.

Oh, that's an aspect I hadn't thought of quite like that, before. Interesting.


For myself, I'd taken the drumming in of "get to know some Swiss people" and "learn the language", both of which I've been told a zillion times and which now I, too, gererally preach... not so much as the hurdle to take in order to count as a "good" foreigner, but more like ways to become a "happy" foreigner.


And, after a while, those aspects have helped me to feel much, much less foreign altogether. I'm at home here, now, and am glad to be able to feel that way.

Spot on- I am German and I lived in the UK for 8 years. Even though I am fluent in English and have an English partner, I found it difficult to make friends with the locals.
I realised that it was nothing personal- just the fact that local people generally already have their friendships and are not waiting for an expat to turn up

Making friends with the neighbours is a good start. Hard to do that if you live in areas full of expats though, i.e., Seefeld.

Here 2 years and no friends and dont want any either!

I met most of my new friends through meet up sport events, and yes even Swiss friends!