thanks for this. i'm well aware of this too.
i also have friends from the swiss emabssy who talks to me about immigration in switzerland and issues about foreigners living there.

but that hardness i have yet to decide how i'll deal with it. i'm originally from asia.

You'll be fine, once you get used to it.

They only eat babies on special occasions, and hardly ever take their dogs foreigner-baiting these days.

but that's everywhere you go. locals are very sensitive of foreigner's criticisms. in general too, no one want to be criticized.

thanks for that correction tom!

hahahaha!
yeah, i'll be fine once i nail a job there in switzerland.

who can answer that for you? if i was in your shoes, living in haiti and all, i could tell you yes or no. but i came here for different reasons and for me it was worh it escaping munich/germany and settling here in zurich. i made so many improvements on many levels but had to accept so many differencies that in general are outgunned by the positive aspects of switzerland and sometimes it shucks heavily things here are the way they are. plus missing family and old friends back home. but as soon as i get out of the plane in kloten i smile and say to myself. phew, fekkin amazing zurich... good to be back home.

hmmm. sounds reasonable. since my experience might be different from everyone else... but hearing about people's experiences and daily life helps.

i have lived in 3 different places in zurich and it never was an issue. because when you talk to people and ask nicely if you can slip into somebody elses slot or use the rest of it..perfectly fine! its all a matter of how you approach your neighbors.

I've been here all my life.

yeah, true. but "worth it" is difficult to say. i think you got a good overall quote here whats it like. spain, portugal or italy might work too, but the economy doesnt look very prosper at the minute. finding a job can be difficult and working in advertising/communication...i can imagine it being difficult too when you dont speak the local lingo. if you dont work in a unit caring about an international company as client...i dont know if that works without spanish, italian etc., especially if you want to work as a director at an agency again and not on the corporate side.

I think Switzerland may be a good place for foreigners to live only if they have a family and are highly educated and/or extremely career-oriented (with a lot of work experience, etc). I think jobs are extremely competitive here (as is trying to find an apartment, etc.). I've even joked before that you need a PhD just to work in a shoe store here.

I couldn't imagine being single here because, for one thing, single people in Switzerland apparently have a really difficult time meeting people of the opposite sex and establishing relationships. And I suspect that any language barriers would only add to the difficulty in that regard. Also, it seems to me that Switz. would be a rather boring place to be if you're seeking an active social life because many places do close so early here and people just aren't nearly as "open to strangers" here as they are in other parts of the world. (e.g. I spent a week in London last year and was talked to more by friendly strangers in just that one week than I have been in an entire 2 1/2 years here in Zurich!)

Anyways, I'm not trying to be negative about Switzerland. I do think it's a GREAT place to live... but again, only if you already have a spouse or family and only if you have a really good income.

Good grief.

I don't mind...
Criticism is an important factor for a society to develop.

problem here, is that even a simple harmless "negative feedback" will grow out of proportion and you will here 2 standard replies:

1. if you don't like it gtfo
2. is better where you come from? if yes - see reply 1

of course nobody likes to hear criticism, but it's how you handle it that is the main difference...and here they can't...fix that for you!

...and even then it is a social challenge...

Yuummm, baby pig, baby goat, baby lamb, baby wild boar, baby cow, all SOOOO tatsy!


Tom

We must live in a very different Switzerland...I have been here a little over a year, speak almost 0 German, knew absolutely nobody when I came and I hadn't even ever been to Zurich except for a short 2-hour visit to meet the guy who would then become my boss, I have no family here and I am single (well, officially at least).

I honestly don't see HOW single people (or all kinds of people) can have a hard time meeting people in Zurich at all...there is a lot of stuff going on all the time, and if not, just create your own event and invite people, and here, problem solved. I have a hard time saying NO to social commitments, but I have to, otherwise I would be out every single night of the week, and that would not fly really well with my work...

You just have to forget being shy, introvert, and be shameless with the language - you will make mistakes, so what? But that was really true for every place I have lived in.

Ok, I will admit that it's been harder than I thought to adjust to Zurich, primarily because it was weird for me to be, for the first time in my life, in a place where I knew 0 of the language and other factors (which are technical/professional so I will omit here), but honestly, I lived 5 years in California before (northern and southern California) and, although by the end of it I had several good, close friends which I still keep in touch with today, I had a MUCH harder time meeting people there - people seemed to meet each other only if they had googled each other before and signed up for an online dating service, which I personally abhor (strictly personal opinion). Much less spontaneity, less genuine people in general compared to here.

Just my two cents and personal experience...

P.S. I had a very happy time in California and I love the USA, just to be clear.

Or you must be hot.

It's funny how hot chicks always get a lot of attention, efforts, services... and think it's because they are making efforts...

Well maybe it's not the case here (don't know don't care) but I've known so many girls who were bragging on how it's fantastic here and there(while receiving looots of "special attention", invitations, etc...).

Interesting what you say

I am not particularly hot, just an average-looking girl on the curvy side of life, but I like to listen to people's stories/share mine and I smile a lot, so maybe that's it...definitely I am not shy

Good luck to the OP with his/her decision!

Or, it's a different kind of friendship, relations, social life in general, people are talking about. Hanging out with looots of "friends" and work colleagues (I used to have some colleagues who even spent their holidays together , mind you they are not in a couple relationship) it is not what I would call a proper social life. And that's the main thing foreigners lack in Switzerland. My 2 cents, of course.

So what would you consider to be a "proper social life"?

Tom

At least not hanging around with people whom, backhome for instance, you wouldn't even consider having more than social small talk with.
What would you consider a proper social life?