Hi everyone,

My name is Christy and I live in the United States. When I was 15 I spent a few weeks in Leysin Switzerland and met a boy, Philippe. I was there for a school trip, and he was there playing soccer. We kept in touch for a while but my parents divorced and we moved. I sent Philippe a letter telling him I was moving, but I didn’t have a forwarding address. Needless to say, I lost touch with him. I have looked for him numerous times over the years to no avail. I have tried google, Facebook, local.ch, and tel.sesrch.ch. The only information I have is his first and last name, birthday, and address in 1986. I apologize as I understand that my search isn’t the purpose of this forum, but I am trying anything and everything I can to find him. I feel I was very fortunate to have had the chance to spend a few weeks in Switzerland and meet a boy. I always thought it was the stuff movies are made of. I know people are kind and I am hoping someone might know a better way in Switzerland to find someone. I sincerely and wholeheartedly appreciate any help or ideas.

Welcome to the forum, but why, after such a long time, are you still searching? You wrote him a letter which you presumably sent to him when you moved - and I assume you wrote him again when you had a new address. If you didn't then that's your fault. If you did and he hasn't kept in touch then it's because he no longer wanted to.

I didn’t send him my new address when I moved because I didn’t have one to send. I had no idea where we were going to be living. I should have sent him my new address when I finally had one, but for whatever reason I did not. I guess I didn’t have the wisdom at 17 that I do now. Yes, it is totally my fault that we lost touch. It has bothered me since. I just wonder how his life is. I think it would be wonderful after 36 years to touch base and catch up. While we were young, it seemed monumental to me. Perhaps he has no desire to speak to me, but I would like him to know I tried to find him and if nothing else apologize for not keeping in touch.

His life is probably fine like most persons in the world are. If you've had no luck through the other sources then that's it I'm afraid. The address is obviously not relevant now since you've found nothing with it so there's nothing else that could help. I suggest you also move on with your life, hold on to the memory with fondness, but accept that you're never going to see him again.

Did you search in Facebook or Linkedin or Xing? Philippe is a very common name, but whatever you might know his surname. Maybe he's still in Leysin. Many Swiss stay close to their places of birth for their whole life. Me and my family are an exception to this rule :-)

Thank you for being kind in your response and not insinuating my desire to find him is ridiculous. I did try Facebook and LinkedIn. I have never heard of Xing, but will certainly try that now. Thank you so much for an idea for me to try ! I appreciate you and your thoughtfulness!