Hello there!

I've just arrived in Geneva about a week ago, working for a international organization for 6 months (perhaps longer). I'm originally from Alaska, where I was born and raised until going to university, and since graduation 3 years ago I have been living in China, working at a consulting company as a researcher/project manager. So, here I am in Geneva, trying to adjust to prices in CHF that would have been the same in RMB back 'home' in Beijing - its a big change and hard not to feel like a cheap ******* at first! Luckily the compensation is proportionally better in Switzerland, so once I break my habits I can live a non-miserly (if also non-luxurious) existence here.

Besides economics, which is my profession, my interests are pretty broad - enjoy most music, most movies, hiking, camping, etc. Not much for sports except skateboarding, which I've been doing for over 10 years and try to do everyday I can (videos of me and my friends at http://www.youtube.com/user/icebear ). I also enjoy traveling, obviously, and learning languages - besides English I have a decent ability with speaking/reading/typing Chinese and can understand Spanish decently (but speak slowly). Just starting on my French... seems pretty tough compared to Spanish, but hopefully by the end of 6 months I can at least manage to be functional, if not interesting at the bar

I joined EF primarily to learn more about Geneva/Switzerland from a expats perspective, things to do/see, living tips, and especially regarding housing - finding an apartment in Geneva is proving very trying... but more on that in other threads...

you're a long way from home welcome to CH and EF!