Switzerland VS Southern California

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello

I am writing this to get your opinion about what you think would be better

At the moment I am living in Southern California working in IT, salary for what I do is between 90K and over 100K a year.

It is nice and great weather here, but Swiss and Europe has great appeal, proximity to great European destination, Swiss Order, Security vs degrading economy here.Still it is great here people are nice and friendly very social.

What I am looking for is combination being able to make good money save, and prosper eventually do some side business, and being able to have frequent vacations. Deciding between California and Swiss is pretty tough

Thanks for your thoughts

2
Could you ask a *specific* question? Otherwise, there are plenty of threads on people's general impressions (as you've noticed from your own post history) about life here, about working here, about starting a business here, etc.

3
Sorry you are right, most likely I had too many bacardis , What I meant by posting is combination of making money and having nice life style

Thanks

4

How long will it be before someone posts from a restaurant: "I can't decide between the cheesecake and the fruit tart. Can someone advise?"

5
Cheesecake! It's a no brainer.

6
Very simple

http://www.google.de/search?q=girls+...ed=0CBoQ_AUoAQ

VS

http://www.google.de/search?q=girls+...ed=0CAsQ_AUoAQ

7
Having lived myself both in California (Los Angeles) and Switzerland I can give you a (subjective) comparison. Up to you to make a decision

California:

Pros

* weather

* convenience

* good service in shops and restaurants

* opening hours of shops

* good food (this is perhaps local to Los Angeles)

* much more choice food/consumer goods/etc... than Switzerland

Cons

* The big one and other big earthquakes. But being prepared helps

* You need a car for (almost) everything (unless you work and live in Santa Monica)

* Generally more noisy than Switzerland (I am talking about the greater LA area)

* Further away from nature. Its there you just need to drive more when living in LA

* Public schools. Generally there is a correlation between the price of a house and the quality of the (public) school it is nearby.

* Less social services. Which is not a problem if you have a job of course.

* Too many commercials about medication (and how sick you can be)

Switzerland:

Pros

* You do not always need a car for everything

* Public transportation is generally speaking great

* Excellent hiking and cycling opportunities (in the lake Geneva area)

* Good social services if you work here a while. Have not tested this but the brochure I read seems to indicate it.

* Generally good public schools

* No commercials during my favourite shows on public television (I like to watch CSI, Castle, NCIS, etc..

Cons

* Shops close early and do not open in weekend

* Lack of competition between shops

* Lack of service

* Generally more expensive than California

* You need to learn a new language (not really a con but it takes some time). Ony you learned it it is actually a pro.

* If you are an American you have to deal with the whole double taxation issue each year (filing your taxes twice ).

* Weather. It can be gloomy in the Geneva area, although there is also June Gloom in Los Angeles.

* Getting localized search results in Google This is pretty annoying but can be easily fixed with a VPN.

* Security. Generally I find Geneva less secure than the places I visit in Los Angeles (this does not include east LA of course).

For both regions I find:

* Housing is very expensive but must admit that Switerland is worse than California.

Hope this helps a bit.

8
Thanks for your input I agree with most of your points,but I am not sure about rental expenses, I live in San Diego and decent 1br apartment here is around 2K a month, of course it offers swimming pool and fitness and etc but still it is very expensive.

I would add to all the Swiss benefits is proximity to all European great cities and places to visit

9
OH I forgot to add another thing US Dollar is getting weaker and weaker

10
My husband and I were in Pasadena before moving to Switzerland and you'll find that the prices for rent are not that different. Something else to factor in is that it's not "summer all the time" in Switzerland, but I find the summers in Cali to be a little chilly and gloomy anyway (June gloom!) after living in GA. But I guess the answer to this question may also lie in what you like to do for fun. If you love to cycle and ski like me and my husband, you'll freak out in Switzerland. Cali also has a lot of natural beauty, but you have to drive forever.

11
2K a month with swimming pool and fitness and etc......if you're coming here you should totally forget about this.....it's a sin to have those facilities in CH

In a nutshell, if you want to come here, i'm willing to trade my whole life here for South California life style even at lower rates and i will even offer you the furniture in my apartment....nothing is better than space, ocean and freedom.........we only live once and i don't wanna be so depressed in mine

12
Hmmm, I don't know what to say but lots of people claim to be depressed in Switzerland, I have no clue why,my reasons not to be depressed in Swiss:

Clean and safe country

Superb facilities

Best of EU withing driving distance

Natural beauty of Switzerland

Available employement

One of the Highest salaries in the world

Really hard to not love Swiss

13
Hmm... San Diego or Switzerland... Having lived in SD, I know how great it is there. You've got the beach, the fun downtown, Balboa, a multitude of restaurants, etc. I miss the beach and the ocean.

Some things to know about Switzerland, it's expensive. I'm not just talking about rent, but groceries. Eating out tends to be expensive and not all that great. So if you don't know how to cook, it's time to learn. Variety at the stores are limited. Health insurance is mandatory and not covered by employers (except for accident insurance). Public transit is convenient and timely, but expect to pay. The Swiss are sticklers for the rules. I'm sure if you check out some of the threads, you'll see that they can be passive aggressive in how they handle your breaking of the rules. Stores close at 6 pm and aren't open on Sundays. With the cost of living, don't expect to save a lot.

On the other hand, it's beautiful here. Being here will make you appreciate nature (beacuse there's not much else to do on Sunday but go hiking or enjoy other outdoor activities). The rest of Europe is at your finger tips. Life slows its pace (maybe this is just me) and there isn't this crazy rush that I felt in the US.

I can say that I'm happy I made the move to Switzerland, but I miss Target, Costco, the beach, good ethnic food (say goodbye to Mexican food if you move here), being able to shop after 6pm, In n Out.. to name a few things.

14
1) frequent vacations means go to Europe.

2) if you relocate to Switzerland choose carefully the city you want to live & work in. I would not recommend Geneva. Rather go for Zurich area:

--> housing

--> taxes

--> order & security is more on the swiss-german side.

3) what do you need for a good apartment in geneva?

a miracle !

15
If i didn't have strong reasons to stay here, i would have happily left sometime time ago.

16
Ok I love Mexican Food, so there is no business people who open some sort of even mexican food stand and fill the void? , Or Swiss prevent competition ?

I was hoping to do all the nice things that swiss has to offer and save more than I can save in Cali

17
I am from San Diego and live in Zurich area. I would prefer to live in Cali. Most for weather, beaches, social life. It is difficult here w. language barrier, lack of friends and cost of everything. If you have a very high paying job here, you can probably save more (I don't). I miss my social life the most. It's too expensive to go out often here. Say a $22 martini verses a $9 one. Most things are double cost here although you can find cheap places to shop once you live here a while.

18
I am not sure about what is considered high paying job in Switzerland but I heard that for what I do I can get paid around 800 ch a day on a contract, it sounds great but not sure how it translates lets say to 450$ a day in SoCal

19
I love Mexican food too. There's nothing here that can fill that void. If you know how to make it yourself, great, but some ingredients (like poblano) are nearly impossible to come by. Even if I did find a Mexican place, simple tacos would probably cost 15chf. Heck, going to Burger King and getting a whopper with fries and a drink is 15chf (note: not US$).

Unless you make loads more, you're definitely not going to save more. Besides, even if you did make more, you'd be spending it on the train or airfare and hotel of whatever place you're planning on visiting for the weekend.

20
There's Desperado in Bern and Mexican Bar in Boll, have you tried either (I haven't).

OP, Switzerland can't be compared to California and visa-verso. If you are thinking of Switzerland, maybe visit first. Switzerland and Europe have a tremendous amount to offer, but if you are coming mainly for the salary without a high interest in the European experience, it might not work out for you so well.