I seem to have no problems making swiss friends. They seem very happy to talk to me - old ladies, boys, girls everybody in fact. I find it easier here to go out on my own, as a female. I would find this very uncomfortable at home where its all all about partnerships, but here you can actually make friends when you go out. I have made a lot of new friends and mostly they are swiss. they get annoyed that I dont speak swiss german but I can understand what they say. No idea how I understand but I do.

Basel


Trust me.....is the worse city in Switerland!!!

Go to reillys paddys or mr pickwick, its pretty easy to introduce yourself to other people in those bars.

You could always try making the first move. You have nothing to lose by it.

Cheers,
Nick

You've crossed the Röstigraben... life as you knew it is over. Willkommen in der Deutschscweiz!

Bingoooooo ! Underlining the FEMALE part.

Bro, at least this time you didn't blame it on hanging out with too many Brits (er, one in particular! ) or, as you like saying, that you're "turning British" or something like that!

The girl sitting behind you is used to see your backside, and supposes that you know where the next coffee-machine is

> how good are you in either dialect or Standard German ?
> being crazy and laughing out loud in the street ? why not ?
> rather a problem is the pre-planning. I have an old school-friend but he has an agenda hour-wise for up to 3 months and everything is precisely planned, while I prefer to make spontaneous decisions per half-day, and so am regarded by many as chaot and anarchist !
> but go to a decent pub and you can meet people immediately and become part of the circle within an hour .... but a basic command of either local dialect or Standard German may be a requirement, as the command of Engish of many folks has its limits

That is because they are already very busy actually doing a lot of different things.

This is what 99% of people in Zürich would support to say, but it is only part of the truth. I back in 1975 for three weeks was "domiciled" in Therwil, and, thanks to the point that the two superiors of the team did NOT "want to have anything to do with those Basler" was in Basel downtown each evening Monday to Friday for three weeks. I spoke with many people, and after the usual "entrées" with questions like "you do not look really Swiss in spite of the uniform .. ? " and "do you like that Verein ? " I had quite many nice chats in good company. Yes, those Basler see themselves as THE elite of Europe and are a tad reserved and arrogant at the beginning, but if you take it with humour, they within a few minutes become "normal" and accessible

- Quite good in swiss german, B1 level in german.
- I see Switzerland as a more conservative country than say UK, so I adapt to the local culture... that was just an example, but I was laughing out loudly in a bar just before
- Decent pub? Which one would you recommend in Zurich?

Not always! They just are not spontaneous, or at least the majority aren't. Planning is essential here. I learned a lot from their culture and I've been trying to pick out the bits I like and think are good for me as a person and my future as well.

Being neutral is something I need to learn yet for instance

Boy, where do we start?

Ok, that would really derail this thread... this question begs for an own one.

Yes; well for 3 months I worked in an office with a girl sitting directly opposite, within spitting distance actually. Now there were only the two of us in this office and she successfully managed to avoid eye contact the whole day and apart from good monrning and good evening don't think we got to say more than that. My attempts to make conversation, bring her a coffee or to make sure she was still alive were met with a shrug of the shoulders or a polite "no thank you". After 3 months I JUST COULD NOT TAKE ANY MORE and to avoid a total mental breakdown - gave up the job.

Irish Shamrock in Wollishofen, Paddy at Sihlporte, Lions Pub off Rennweg, Railway Pub nr train-station Glattbrugg, McGee's Irish Pub at Bahnhof Wiedikon, Outback at Stadelhofen, S.IP Pub in Oerlikon ..... just a few examples

Both the UK and Switzerland have, often close together, exceedingly conservative and exceedingly "progressive" areas. If you look on the political maps you can see how places like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Zürich, Basel and Geneva get "outvoted" by the far more conservative rural areas, while all these centres can keep the conservatives nicely in check at other times. Go to cities like Winchester, Windsor, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings, Brighton, Bournemouth, Weymouth, Exeter and Bath and you will see what I mean.

And of course rural areas of Cumbria, Yorkshire, etc, etc.

I only mentioned places I have seen myself

Swiss are (in general) inhuman and mean. But I have a workaround for this: here in Lausanne, there is a vivid "anarchist" movement: anarchist in Switzerland are welcoming, kind and human. Swiss anarchist act like normal people act elsewhere.

To help integration with locals, I suggest you to join the "anarchist club" of your city. If you're in Bale you're lucky, because there is a big one.

this doesn't necessarily mean all the other swiss people have a problem. maybe simply because you don't share the common interests, language, cultural background, etc. i am pretty sure many swiss people around you think themselves are super cool guys, and more than happy to make friends with each other.