Now I'm trying to work out how a Swiss man becomes an Icelandic woman ...

(btw, not using the German sense of "becomes" here, either - although that would also be a mystery to ponder!)

I think all it takes is a "Icelandic women love me"-mini button...

Or, depending on your size the US made "Icelandic women love me" dog shirt.... http://www.cafepress.com/+icelandic-food+dog_tees

a better or simply different place, environment, condition to raise a family, compare to what you had back home?

Not me, I came simply because I had the opportunity. It could have been anywhere.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I wish I could go back two years in time, I'd stay right where I was. It was a much happier place.

Fancied working in central Europe (I'm from London), saw a job advert, interviewed remotely, looked up "Basel" on google maps to work out where in Switzerland it was, accepted job. That was 1.5 years ago.

ALL OF THE ABOVE


An opportunity was available, with no reason to say no.

I hadn't lived any other type of lifestyle, so Switzerland was about as "opposite" as I could get.

I wanted the new challenge in both life and work...... It's not easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Of all my skills and abilities, I can't believe I suck so bad at learning another language.
(speaking of...... I have another German lesson in 10mins..... gotta go)

So it probably was not, I'm guessing.
Can I ask if it's something to do with education, social behaviour, etc ?

Same question, can I ask if it's something to do with education, social behaviours, etc?

Actually, to qualify my statement somewhat; it was either Switzerland or Sunderland. I carefully weighed up the pros and cons of both before deciding on the former. Took all of, oh, 5 milliseconds, maybe less.

i considered the impending economic crisis and decided to relocate to either switzerland or norway for a non-EUR currency isolated either by oil wealth (norway) or safe-haven status (switzerland). we had contacts with both countries but in the end settled for switzerland. consideration of a safe environment was also a big factor, but when we got here, we didn't think it would be good to raise children in a 'swiss' environment.

(ahh...... the lesson was cancelled anyway)

Weejeem can answer for himself, but I agreed with his statement completely.

For me, I just clearly underestimated the 'social' side of living in a foreign country. The mentality of the people..... and just the "everyday" things.

For me, the second 6months of the first year (complicated, sorry) was pure hell.

It wasn't until the second year that I realised that all my frustrations could be clearly identified and I made two lists:

• What pisses me off
• What can I do about it.

For those I 'could' do something about, I targeted the improvement in these areas.

For those that I couldn't, I also wondered how many of these related to "holding onto the past", and started to accept that this is just how things are...... after all, I didn't move here for the same thing as home.


Identify the issues

Focus on what you CAN take control of

Improve something and you feel better

Feel better, everything gets better

Keep moving forward


(German is still a pain in the backside though - but I won't give up )

I originally came more or less by accident (the translation agency that I was freelancing for at the time had a client here who needed someone on site for 6 weeks), but very quickly realised that it was all of those things and that I wanted to stay.

We came primarily to raise a family, we didn't want to have/raise a kid in Los Angeles.

I came here for the adventure and the good salary

The place is neither very adventurous or well paid ironically.

I came here for 15 days for consulting...

...that was about 7 years ago.

Actually, a very positive time - it's had ups and downs over the years, of course, but all in all a lot of fun. I even took the time to learn Swiss German, partly to break out of the expat spiral and open up an entire aspect that many seem to miss out on.

Missed my sailing tho'. And the Swiss suddenly thinking they are the Greatest Sailing Nation On Earth on the basis of some rich beggar winning a couple of races didn't help
("Yes sir, I do understand that you're licensed to sail in any conditions in any part of any ocean at any time of year, but Zürisee is special and you can't be trusted on it.")

Anyhoozer...

Since I now get to bang back and forwards on a regular basis, I get the best of both worlds. Part of that is that I get the pleasure of bringing joy and happiness in the form of 20kg of goodies and treats to folks in CH when I travel over, and the easy of an empty suitcase on the return journey

That's what I was expecting: who came by accident, who came for financial/economic matters, who came for a challenge.

And, finally, who came here to raise a family instead of doing it in L.A.
This is actually what more interests me, so thanks Principia Discordia for introduce the subject !

I'm comparing NSW (Australia) and Winterhur (Switzerland).
Not sure yet, many points to consider...

Thanks billhardie, I like and totally agree with your approach / method / solutions. I'm fighting with german as well, but currently winning :-)

We came here for a better life. We got less stressful jobs, never worked on weekends again and then had a family.

We both walk to work and have a great work-life balance. I doubt I will ever need to work full time again. When our first child was born we were both part-time. Funny thing is that we actually end up saving more money because we have time to prepare healthy meals and don't eat convenience foods.

Interestingly enough it seems I came here for the opposite reasons.

I left a good paying, stable job, a nice longterm partner and general comfort to come here for less money, harder work that I'm not good at, alone, and cluelessness.

but again, these things make life interesting :P perhaps I'll settle down after 35 or something.