First impressions....

Ok - so we have arrived at our new apartment - all the way I have been worrying where we are going to put all of our 'stuff'... and now we're here and OMG, the loft (which isn't a hole in the ceiling that you have to climb a ladder to get into like in England - no, it is a whole other FLAT upstairs which is bigger than my flat in London) is huge, and we haven't even filled a quarter of it.  Then there's the cellar (which isn't a low-ceilinged, damp, scary basement thingy - its yet another whole FLAT which is bigger than mine in London)... so needless to say I could have happily lived in either the cellar or the loft and we could have started our money saving scheme a whole lot earlier!

What else have I noticed in my first week in Switzerland?  Oh yeah - the transport!  I started off the week with a train journey into work - I was 7 minutes early to the platform and the train was sitting there - waiting for me!!  Getting into my American Footballer mode - elbows out, ready to tackle anyone that tried to push on in front of me, snarl on my face... felt a bit wrong when the closest person was a whole carriage distance away.  Still, old habits die hard and I positioned myself right at the edge of the platform, feet a couple of millimetres over the edge just waiting for the almighty push from behind of a million people as soon as the train arrived.... nothing... not even a teeny weeny prod!  In fact a man even jogged up to me in a bit of a panic to tell me (or at least I assumed that's what he was saying) that I was far too near the edge and should stand behind the line.... which was so far away from the edge I almost had to get a bus from it to to the train!...

Then I got on it and was so overwhelmed by all of the clean, empty seats that I couldn't pick one to sit in - I went to 3 seats before I eventually chose one to sit in.  For a Londoner like me, used to arriving at work looking like you've just been mugged, hair like a banshee, sweating like a blind lesbian in a fish market, feeling like you need a week in the Priory - it was quite disconcerting to arrive at my stop feeling so chilled out and still with my hair in the same style I put it in before I left the house.....!  great.  I think I am going to get used to this place....

Gruetzi! Wake up Switzerland... here I come!

So, here I am - I've arrived in Switzerland.  The only people I know here have lived in Switzerland for years, so know the language, the people, the culture, the customs.... Me?  well, apart from the story of Heidi (to whom I bear no resemblence in either looks or personality!) there's not much I know about Switzerland...  Still, how hard can it be?

I drove for 11 hours with a car-full of 'stuff' - which basically comprises my whole life (mainly shoes actually - Louboutins encased in their felt bag, reinforced with bubble wrap...) and have arrived safe and sound (not quite sane) in Adliswil, Switzerland.

I've left behind my South London flat, my family, my friends, my high-flying, jet-setting, champagne-drinking independent single lifestyle...oh yeah, and my great job in The City onto which I clung and survived when many of my colleagues were being handed their P45s barely 6 months ago in the depths of recession, depression and economical melt-down..... am I mad?  maybe!  am I excited?  definitely...  Let's see how things pan out from here.......I have 2 months to find a job (during which time I will be working my notice for my existing company from the offices in Zurich) and become that home-loving, weekend-baking, outdoor-walking, fresh air-breathing, flat shoe-wearing (that one was a joke) domestic goddess that surely must lurk somewhere within every woman right.....?  Here's hoping... otherwise I'm stuffed!