After 2 years spending the winters in Switzerland, it's time to say goodbye. It's not been at all easy here. With a UK and AU passport, I came from Sydney where I often had 3 calls a week asking if I was available to work, to looking for work mostly unsuccessfully for 2 years in Zurich.
Don't get me wrong, it's been OK, but rather a waste of prime earning time. The place I lived was an old farm with a lake-house 30km outside of Zurich, it was beautiful, cheap, cold in winter and at times very problematic, though it did shelter my cat and camper van which is a deal that's hard to find. I never earned enough to go out and sample the city or nightlife, and I didn't miss it much either.
Making friends here isn't easy either, see this funny video called 'How to make friends with a Swiss person'
So in general I found Switzerland quite boring and the people seem very conventional and way less friendly or outgoing than in other places. They even have a name for these kind of people - Bünzli.
I spent months in total applying for jobs and basically got the complete run around, spent a fortune on train fares - and NOTHING is cheap in Switzerland, and in the end my opinion is that if you want to get a job here you'd better be fluent in German at the very least and probably you need to be Swiss and fluent in Swiss-german too, otherwise, forget it.
So this is a warning to anyone thinking about finding work in Switzerland, DON'T BOTHER!
Here's some memories of the two years...
The farm
Garden behind the barn
In my hammock in the barn garden
The Inspiration Lounge
Me and my BF the first winter in the top studio
Diva on the roof of my studio trying to come in
Some of the farm tennants - most of these guys couldn't find work either
Evening gathering
A barbecue at the lake boat house
One of my arty photographs at the lake showing Rapperswil Castle in the background
Cheers, and goodbye Switzerland
(This was taken in a Medieval Tavern in Prague though!)
