Hello hello,

I just moved to Zurich and have found some of the information on this forum very helpful, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm an independent translator/ media person and I moved here with my partner Mike, who is a plant biologist and new Oberasistant at the Botanical gardens. We moved here from Portugal but we are both from the U.S.; we met in Durham, where Mike was finishing his PhD at Duke and I was bartending. Well, now we are here for the foreseeable future (6 years!) and so far we love it. The city is beautiful, people are nice, there is so much to do and learn! It's not without difficulties, especially since neither of us speaks German yet, but so far Zurich has seemed truly remarkable in its livability and I can see it becoming home.

I'm working on translating a couple of books for publication in the U.S., which entails a lot of in-house computer time. I try to counter that with exercise and booze, and I love that there are so many sports facilities and bars in Zurich! One thing I hope to ask people about, though, are ways to become culturally involved--I would love to find a cultural organization to volunteer at, or failing that, find people who are more tuned in to what's going on than I am. I know I'm limited because of language but I plan to start taking German soon, as soon as we recover financially from moving here.

So, nice to virtually meet you all!

Welcome to the forum and Switzerland. Check out the social events calendar on the forum for aaome activities to meet some people
Hmm, I'm not sure about any volunteer organizations you could assist with. I'm sure someone will be along shortly who can help you out with that though.

Thanks for the reply!

Um, I should note that I was kidding about the booze and bars... I hope I didn't offend!