Moving to Switzerland

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December 18th, 2008

So it is officially happening.  The pipe dream of living abroad is becoming a reality.  Earlier this week Emily accepted a position in Ebay’s new office in Zurich, Switzerland.   There are still a lot of details to work out, but we know that we can make it work (and having some professional relocation help doesn’t hurt either).  Neither of us have ever been to Zurich or Switzerland before, and neither of us knows a word of German.  All we really know about Switzerland are the stereotypes – clean, expensive, skiing, cheese, chocolate, and fondue.  We have heard that Zurich has been ranked as the best place to live in the world for the last 7 years in a row and are looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about.  We are also looking forward using Zurich as our hub to explore all of Europe.

There are a million legitimate reasons not to go that we could have used as excuses to miss out on this opportunity.  We have a great apartment in a good neighborhood in a city we love (San Francisco).  We have friends and family in SF and across the USA that will be much farther away.  We don’t speak the language.  Etc, etc.  The bottom line is that it would be easier to just stay put.  We would avoid a lot of hassles and complications, but we would miss out on some potentially amazing experiences.  I think we regret the things that we don’t try more than the ones that we do, which is probably why I’ve recently been thinking about two of my favorite poems:  If I Had My Life to Live Over and To Risk.

Emily and I are very excited and looking forward to starting our European adventure!  I expect to be posting photos and blog updates much more frequently after the move to document and share all of our experiences.