Geneva

[LublieAva]

Can anyone give me advice about moving from England to Geneva? Schools (DH, myself and two boys aged 8 & 6), accommodation, where to live, what's the lifestyle, lots of ex-pats? any on mumsnet?

We have lived abroad before so i know about some of the stresses and strains of being away from home but I'd really appreciate any advice about what to expect or look for in Geneva? Are the locals welcoming to outsiders?

You need MmeLindt who is the tsarina for Switzerland - there is a local section for Switzerland on MN.

We have just left my dc went to the international school - there are several in and around Geneva and if you want to go that route I would suggest getting on the waiting lists asap. For local schools - again ask MmeLindt.

As you probably know Geneva is expensive - but if your dh gets an ex-pat package such as rent/school fees life is a bit easier. We didn't and so lived just over the border on France - which I liked.

Geneva is 40% ex-pat so you won't be alone.

Good things - airport close by, it is stunningly beautiful, lots of outdoorsy stuff to do all year round - swimming in the lake in summer, skiing in winter. BAd things (well for me) Geneva is not a capital city and you can tell, it is not 'edgy' in fact it feels very suburban imo.

And there are several Mners there so that's a good thing

thank you!

Hello.

Thanks for the heads up, Strudel. Hope you are well and eating lots of Lebkuchen.

As Studel said, accomodation is very expensive here, so if your company will pay for a house/flat then it is much better.

As for where to live, it depends where you/your DH will be working. Geneva is situated around the lake and there is a horribly congested bridge that connects the two sides of the lake, the Mont Blanc Bridge. Always always always take that as a starting point. You need to live and work on the same side of the lake, otherwise you will spend an hour commuting across the damned bridge.

This gets tricky depending on schools. If you are looking at International Schools, they are on the Left side of the lake.

Lifestyle is very good, lots to do in and around Geneva. Loads of expats, good few MNetters.

Our DC are in local schools and have learned very good French in the past two years since we arrived.

The locals are not particularly welcoming, they see too many coming and going for that. They are not hostile, just don't go out of their way to make friends. The huge expat community more than makes up for it though.

Let me know if you want to know more about it.

thank you so much. i was just trying to figure out if there is mn local for geneva when i saw your post.

the office will be in a place called Lancy and we'll have to negotiate hard to get things like accommodation or schools thrown in, so right now I am counting on having to sort this out ourselves.

Are rentals usually furnished or unfurnished? If unfurnished I guess we'd have to get rid of all our furniture and i'd rather not...

Are the local schools good? how important would it be for the children to speak french from day 1 if going to a local school?

and the hardest question of all... can you give me some idea of what kind of salary we'd need to live comfortably i.e. not have to watch the pennies?

Lancy is the area where many of the UN buildings are so you are looking at left side of the lake. I suspect that prices for housing in that area are steep, but not sure as we are other end of town.

Lancy is the area where many of the UN buildings are so you are looking at left side of the lake. I suspect that prices for housing in that area are steep, but not sure as we are other end of town.

Local schools, particularly in the small villages are good and they are used to Expat kids. They get extra French lessons and reasonable support. They are not tested until after 2 years so have time to learn the language. Out school only has about 100 pupils.

The older the dc are, the harder it is for them, although I do know dc who have started school here at 11 or 12 yo and managed well.

It really depends on your long term plans. For a year or two it isnt worth the disruption. Then international school may be your better option but they are expensive so your dh has to bargain hard.

Cost of living is higher here. We get a cost of living adjustment because dh is paid in euro. If your dh will be paid in CHF then it has to reflect the difference. There is a calculator somewhere for that. Will check.

Your biggest expense here is housing. If the company will pay for that then it is a massive bonus. Our house would cost about 5500chf /month on the open Market. Nice house, 3 beds and guest room plus office. You are looking at at least 4000 CHF / month for 3 bed. Kitchens are notoriously horrible. And bathrooms.

You can live cheaper in France. Many people do.

There are loads of small villages around Geneva. In fact it is a collection of small villages. So can be quite rural. Depends what you are looking for.

My sister lives east of Geneva, just in France, kids started French school with no French aged 4 - 9 and did really well, especially the middle one.

They are in a small vilage school and on Wednesday do English lessons at another school so they can get GCSE English and maths.

Younger kids have much more homework and don't go to school on Weednesdays, much more is expected of the parent than in English schools it seems.

Beautiful place to be, jealous!!

Eaglewings
Your sis must live in my neck of the woods. We are just in Switzerland, right on the border.

It is a fab place to live, we love it here.

Thanks for all this, and its good to read real people saying nice things about it. I think i'd be happy to live in a village although if i were honest i'd prefer a town.

Try Gex its a small town!

we only moved to the Uk a year ago so the children have only been at school for ayear. Now we are plannign to move them again, and to another language. I hope they are ok with it having only just begun to feel part of English village life.

Ds2 will be 7 this winter. Would that mean he would normally start school in the Swiss system in Sept 2010 or Sept 2011 or something else?

When I say village, some of them are little towns, or so close to other towns/villages. Some even have tram connections to the city centre.

Carouge is absolutely lovely, but very sought after town not far from Lancy. Bernex is nice, Chene Bourg is slightly further away but pretty.

Did you move from Germany? (Because your 7yo just started school a year ago)

They start 1. Enfantine when they are 4yo, which is for two years. It is slightly more structured than nursery or eg. German Kindergarten, but much more play than work.

After 2 years of Enfantine, they move into 1P which is proper school. I think the cut off date is around October so he would probably go into 1P in 2011. I think.

it was croatia!

another question... are fitted kitchens considered furnishings? would you expect to find a fitted kitchen in an unfurnished house/ apartment?

LubliaAva

Yes In Geneva and the surrounds it is normal to expect a fitted kitchen in a rented place, albeit not very nice (as MmeLindt has said)

Yup. Fitted kitchen but houses normally let unfurnished.

I have only seen one or two decent kitchens in the time we have been here so it is not a reason to reject a house, unless it is totally awful.

Ditto bathrooms.

The landlords are raking in the dosh month for month but few of then use it for a new kitchen.

MmeLindt - I just saw your comments on x factor. It is fantastic that you can get ITV! How about BBC? How do you do it? (if you don't mind telling me!)

In Croatia the advice was always to take your sky box out with you and just register it on an address in the UK (your parents or something). Then you'd get a huge satellite dish and a satellite man who knew how to fiddle these things. However, I thought Switzerland was ultra straight about everything so its great news if it really is possible to watch British TV in Geneva.

Hi LublieAva

I'm a recent arrival to the Geneva area and love it here. There are lots of nice places to live between Geneva and Nyon (although you would need to check with your company to make sure you are able to live in the canton of Vaud). Commuting times are short - Nyon to Geneva is a 15 min train ride. Coppet (pretty little town on the lake) is 9 mins.

You can get a Swisscom box (which records tv like a sky+) and get your tv over the internet. It has quite a few UK channels on it.

Hello, I'm another Geneva-based Mumsnetter. I've been there a couple of years, and live in a small (Swiss village) 10 minutes drive from the town centre, on the airport side.

My children are pre-school, so I can't advise on that, but I know a bit about accomodation.

We have UK TV courtesy of the same system you had in Croatia - Sky box registered to a UK address, then a sattelite in the garden which needs twiddling now and again. It works 90% of the time, which for a one-off payment of £100 was worth it to us. Switzerland isn't that straight - most people I know have TV by the same means.

NB, we've got a good-sized kitchen in our house, but it's a modern build, and the ground floor is open-plan, which many seem to be. We even have a fully-functioning nuclear bunker too!

Hi, Vaud-based Mumsnetter here, living near Morges.

Schools - they will all be entirely geared up to receive non-French speakers, and 8 and 6 are great ages for this. Your boys can presumably already read quite well, and we found the maths curriculum to be 6-12 months behind the UK (due to the later start here) so my then 8 yr old could relax and just work on the French for the first year. It all evens out in the end despite starting later; he's 10 now and is reading/doing maths at an equivalent UK level.

Housing - madly expensive, as others have said. If you're going to go for local schools, an appartment with other families and a communal play area will be an enormous help with friendships and picking up French; houses can be a little more isolating for kids at first.

TV - all English channels are available, either via Sky as described above, or from the Swiss TV providers, Swisscom (phone company equivalent to BT) or Cablecom (cable network). Both offer reliable service, choices of channel packages and recordable Sky Plus-style boxes.

Good luck with your planning - we've been here 2.5 years and love it!