switzerland - moving from london

[Nanou1]

hello. my husband has just accepted a position in switzerland - in zug. any british families out there?! any advice you could give me? esp accommodation and school? dh starts there next month and dd (3) and i should move by september once his position is confirmed. am french (38) and dh british (42). have been in london 17 years and feeling a bit nervous about moving tbh. excited but nervous!
would love to hear from either french or british people out there. thank you.

There are a ocuple of yahoogroups:

Expats in Switzerland

and

Expat Moms in Switzerland

The first is quite quiet - about 100 messages per month but the second is busier.

There are other mums on this board out there or recently moved from CH so you should get some help if you keep bumping

thanks Sue. i went on those groups to have a look but i like mumsnet so much and find it so friendly i thought i ought to try here too!!!!!

We spent 4 years living about 15 minutes from Zug, been back almost 2 years, and there is another occasional poster on here who lives nearby.

For information try joining this site , which is run by a US expat friend of mine living in the area for the international community, and there are other more localised versions depending where you end up living and Xpat Xchange .

Accommodation can be hard to come by within budget but you will find a lot of Expats move over the summer so you should find ads being placed now for those vacating soon. Will you have a relocation agent looking for you or perhaps your dh can keep an eye out locally ? Are you thinking of an English speaking school, bilingual or local. Zurich International school starts at 3 but think the International School of Zug (actually in Baar) is a year later (unless it has changed recently). Public Kindergarten doesn't start until around 4 1/2 with formal school 2 years later. There are a number of bilingual nurseries and preschools in the locality but fewer primary/secondary iirc. There is a Gymboree branch based in Zug and Kindermusik classes.

hth

aha SueW beat me too it , do you still keep in contact with S btw ?

Those Yahoo sites have got a bit more commercialised since they were originally set up but they are a great way to meet people (they do socials, coffee mornings and bookgroups for example) who have been through the same and found out all those niggly things that you are otherwise too embarrassed to ask !

thank you for helping! i had a look at the international school but find it a "bit" expensive tbh. are nurseries as expensive as in london? i think i might look at the option of somewhere where dd can use english , french & maybe german?! and look at international school for the following year.

Yes they are expensive, any chance the company will fund it, and nurseries too - probably on a par with London prices as when we looked into it several years ago it was around 120chf per day or about 80/90 chf per half day. There are playgroups too but they tend to be more adhoc. I believe there is a French speaking playgroup in the area , which might be listed on Xpatxchange, if not I know someone whose children went to it.

S the cooking person? Contact is sporadic - we blog check rather than email.

Yes I'm still on the Silverspoon group but it seems ad hoc atm .

did you like it there? are you both british? how long did you stay there for? dh's company wont fund the school fees i am afraid!

We were there 4 years , only went for 1, so I guess you coudl say we enjoyed it! We're British but the expat comuunity is pretty diverse. The language was the biggest obstacle , for me especially, dh spoke german before we went and picked up the dialect althgoh his office was English speaking, whereas I had none and found it hard to learn more than the basics. The long term costs of staying were likely to prove prohibitive too (cost of living , rent, school fees, health insurance and so on). At times we do miss it, dh's short commute, the mountains, the lake, outdoors lifestyle and skiing, ds especially. He was a similar age to your lo when we arrived and dd was born over there. We still visit occasionally and keep in contact with other expat friends, some long term, some shorter.

Hi, we are here in Baden, near Zurich, and we have been here 6 years. We have 4 kids, all well integrated into the Swiss school system, all tri-lingual. Swiss-German, High German and, obviously ,English. Kindergarten begins the year they're going to turn 5, but there are playgroups, once or twice a week. As regards accomodation, I would suggest you look around before deciding on where to live. I didn't and regretted it. You will be the one who needs to integrate into the society around you- much more so than your DH.

We aren't finding the cost of staying prohibitive. If you send your kids to the local school- which is advisable if you are staying any length of time- you don't pay anything. If your DH is on a Swiss contract, things like health insurance aren't a big problem, and the healthcare system is wonderful. Train travel is also cheap with a half-price ticket, which anyone can get, so you can really make the most of your stay. You can contact me if you want, and I can tell you more!

DH was on rolling 3 month contracts so he communted weekly from the UK and DD and I visited during her school hols but not for more than a week at a time as his accommodation was tiny.

There was an potential opportunity at one point for a 2 year contract - I'm not sure why it didn't come off but it didn't.

DH was based in Geneva though.

We were looking at 55000chf + (approx £20k)in International school fees alone for 2 primary aged kids so yes it becomes more feasible if your children attend public school (which would n't have suited our ds and subsequently hasn't several children of expat friends who plan to stay long term) and also if you live away from the higher density expat areas. Being on local terms is vastly different to Expat terms.

hello again and thank you so much for all your valuable advice. had not even considered the local school to be honest... none of speak even "high German". am concerned she might lose on her English and French (when she can be bothered to speak it! ). not sure how long we'll stay; looking at 5 years. Sauerkraut - would be lovely to chat. how far are you from Zug then? re accommodation, this is what we were thinking too. dh will try and find a room somewhere and take time to look around too. we'll come for a few weekends to get a feel of the place before we decide. at the moment we are thinking zug because that is where dh will work but we might consider somewhere else; who knows?! i am intending to try and get a job somewhere if i can. i am planning to learn at least High German again. i am french and am hoping i might find some work maybe in zurich?!

Hi

I'm British and we've been in Zurich since the start of the year. It's wonderful here. The lifestyle is amazing and there's so much to do. It's also safe and children / dogs are welcome in most places. Zurich has a city atmosphere so we chose to live here to be closer to things - it feels like all of the benefits of London without any of the disadvantages. Also flights are so frequent (and Easyjet are starting soon for £50ppn from Luton) We've found everyone wants to come and visit so keeping in touch with home is easy.

I don't know about the school system but for accommodation (if you're renting) there are four dates each year when most people move (most rental contracts are similar) so is a better choice of places then. 1 think the dates are 1st April, July, October and Jan. The best site we found was
www.homegate.ch

Let me know anything else I can help with. I'm working on building my network of people here as well (I find that the expats need to put themselves out there as the Swiss are not all that outgoing!) So let me know when you get here.

About an hour on the train, if that. I can give you my e-mail address- [email protected].

quick hello to say thanks for info. i am very busy bee at work but am going to reply properly tomorrow! thanks again and yes... i would love to be in touch!

hi, I'm also in Switzerland near Zurich. Where in UK will you be coming from? If you're in London or South, then I'd say the living costs shouldn't be that much difference. Sorry, just seen London in OP. Is the move set to be long term/permanent?

Your dd, if going through swiss state system is likely to start Kindergarten next August (2008), and school 2010.

I love it here. The freedom for the kids and quality of life for us as a family as a whole is so much better than we had in London. WHereabouts in London are you?

Happy to help if you have any other Q's.

Hi Sauerkraut!

hi ernest! thanks for that. we are thinking 5 years but who knows . am getting excited now with all the positive things i am reading. where do you live?

hi again ernest. we are in London - ealing common. are you saying they start school in august in switzerland then?

Yes, 3rd week of August, well in our area anyway. DS's birthday is 23rd and he's always just started school, it's the Monday of that week, so this year it's Monday 20th August. My ds3 is 3 so will start KG next year. I'm in Eglisau, about 15 minutes drive north of Zurich airport, but not under a flight path and on the Rhine, so lots of vineyards, very pretty. Don't know Zug at all, other than it's 1 hour from here. Driving here is a doddle after London! Will you be hoping to work too?

Guten Tag or whatever they may say in Switzerland . i think i might try for a part time position but not sure yet. do you work?

Grüezi!!! No, I don't but want to start and have just written my cv, with a bit, nearly 8 year gap, gulp!

hiya! do you speak german or swiss then? would love to set up my own business i must say. i dont know what in yet but i find the idea very tempting! (thought to oneself: you must be mad - you dont even speak Swiss let alone German!!!)