I've just moved to Biel / Meet new people

Welcome and Introductions
1
Hi,

I'm Swiss, 24 and moved to Biel four months ago for my job. I would like to meet new people and have some fun around there (Berne, Neuchâtel, Bienne), especially foreigners.

If you're interested, just send me a message.

By the way, I often hear english on the streets and also see some young foreigners, Asians for example and I'm wondering if there is any German/French school in Biel/Bienne or something like that...

Are there many foreigners living in Biel ?

Thank you

Pat

2
Hello and welcome to the Forum

Keep your eye on the calendar - see menu bar - for upcoming events. Nice to have another Swissie on board!

3
Salut pbindy

j'habite aussi a Bienne

Also native Swiss but always keen to meet new ppl,drop me a PM if you like to get in touch

sylv

4
Welcome to the Forum. Good to have new members in Biel - most Newbies seem to be located either in Zürich, Basel or the Lake Geneva area. Maybe no-one else reacts to your Intro in the way I did, if so, I apologise to all. However, the wording makes me feel a bit like a rare animal in a zoo - 'let's go and see the foreigners!' Although many of us are 'foreigners', we don't really like to be reminded, on our own Forum, that we don't belong here. This is our refuge from the hard life which we have to cope with outside.

We often call ourselves ex-pats, which confirms that we do have a native land, but this isn't it!

Mind you, I prefer 'alien'. Some Swiss friends fell about laughing when I said that that is a correct usage of the word. They had visions of little green men with antennae walking round Zürich.

Don’t let my remarks put you off. I’m usually nice to Newbies and look forward to reading other posts from you.

5
thanks for your replies.

Dear Longbyt, I know that the word foreigners, especially in Switzerland is not that good and I'm sorry to have used it.

What I meant was, I want to especially meet people who are not Swiss and can speak English well or better native speaker... I learnt English and kind of miss to speak it every day... And if I can both meet new people and speak English, would be just perfect!

And about the the amount of the young "ex-pats" in Biel, someone has an idea why do they come from? There are always a few together, as if they were from a school or something like that...

6
Hey Longbyt, i sort of understand where you are coming from with your reply,but i also understand the OP!

I am pretty certain, its an unfortunate case of 'internetitis' where a written thing can be interpreted in many ways......

I actually admit that i have better,closer and more interesting friendships with foreigners an' all than with my swiss family and environment! I also rather meet new people amongst the foreigner/expat/non-native circle .

Especially during the really 6 terrible past months of my life, 'those' people and friends have proven to be really there for me whatever happened, even if they live in the Uk still or so........on contrary to my Swiss rellies and so called friends who fell by the wayside by the dozen!

So assuming the OP has a similar interest as i do and gets on better with expats i ,think it's honest to put it in the intro and not in the least meant demeaning or putting you in a zoo of a kind

Cheerio

sylv

7
well in that case i can also recommend the englishclub bienne, the oldest of its kind in Swissland!!!!!

I am a committee member there, so would gladly invite you to come to one of our evenings you can look at our programme at

www.englishclubbienne.ch

I recommend the social evenings or eating evenings ( i am the chef ) as they are a lovely gathering and give you ample time to chat in english with our members....all of whom are more or less fluently speaking the language,some are native english speakers, many are swiss.

Let me know if you are interested to come and I see to be there and introduce you or will get another committee member to be there for you in case i am otherwise occupied

cheerio

sylv

8
Sure, I agree. I've no problem with it basically. But I might as well put my point over gently, rather than have someone else taking umbrage later.

I like the idea of being 'non-native'. To my 'British Territory is pink' way of thinking, it implies civilisation. Fork the correct way up and all that!

I shall now slink back to my cage - I should be sorting out some Formatting on a document anyway.

Have a great weekend. pbindy - I hope you find Eastenders’ group fun.