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The reasons I can think of off the top of my head, thinking about my foreign friends out here:
1) Love. Perhaps the most popular reason amongst my own circle of friends and colleagues. What is it about these gorgeous Swiss?
2) Skiing and outdoor activities. I know a few people who have moved here to be closer to the mountains. If you're English, there's not much skiing to be had on the Lickey Hills.
3) The adventure. Living and working in a foreign country is an excellent way to waste a few years and learn a bit about, er, cheese and that.
4) An excellent, exciting job. Not true in my case, but I do know people who have landed interesting jobs and moved here for that reason.
5) Quality of life. I like to compare my journey to work along the Lake of Zurich to the daily commute on the number 2 bus in darkest Leicestershire. That's even before we get on to the civilised behaviour of the citizens, the relatively low crime rate, the nice restaurants, the mountains and the fresh air.
Lots of reasons to move here. Pick one (or two) and get your arse over here! You won't regret it!
(comparing to the US)
1) Try to get a "Pear Helene yoghurt for 65 cts in the US
2) You are now in a detailed , rather than simplified culture - the Swiss resemble the Japanese. Over time, you yourself will become a more complex person.
3) You are 1 1/2 hours away from snowresorts so good that the wealthiest people in the world will travel 2 days by plane to get there.
4) The overall infrastructure is the best in Europe, yes, while everybody has intercity trains, the local/regional trains are electric, with the highest quality.
5) In high end shopping malls in California, try to find a store like Spruengli,
where the glass counters with small, liquid filled pastries are actually slightly cooled.
6) The women are sexier because they have the money to dress up nice.
7) Because the country is small, the government actually still "cares" i.e. finds innovative problems to solutions.
8) You really, really, do not need a car, nor discussion with mechanics who get a percentage of the repair they recommend.
9) You are really close to the Ticino, check the area out, really warm, close to Italy.
10) If you look for AKTIONEN food cost is very similar to the US, particularly if you like cheese and milk products.
11) Try to find pear buttermilk or cherry buttermilk on US shelves.
12) Switzerland sharpens your mind to small stimuli. Criticism of you will only be expressed very, very lightly.
13) If a long term conflict develops either a) between Europe and the US, or between b) the West and Islam, Switzerland has a strong tradition to maintain good relations to both and avoid terrorism. Who would mess up paradise ? There always have to be places where the elites can enjoy themselves.
14) You are hereby officially released from the duty to share a california freeway with people on speed, who may feel the need to attack you should you accidentally cut them off.
15) Free language training in S-Bahn cars. Introduce yourself, they are eager to help and also practice their English.
16) Your toilet has two buttons, and you kitchen/bathroom likely has real tiles, your bathtub is bigger than standard US bathtub.
17) You can cheaply fly anywhere from nearby airports Friedrichshafen and Muehlhausen.
18) Test your organism's response to low oxygen by going on the Kleines Matterhorn in Zermatt, see vast Glacier fields, feel small, and grateful.
19) The US and Europe is overrun by largely decent (but simple and non-cosmopolitan peole) from developing countries. A percentage of these are actually crooks and rude. The Swiss have not made big wars and they have not taken colonies. Watch them come together and deal with this without becoming totalitarian. Or go to the US and find a sales clerk in california who will not say "I no Inglese,I call my supervisor, un momentito".
19.) In the summer, you can heat yourself up with a high-alpine hike, and then undress and swim for 60 seconds in a glacier lake, and hold on to an 20 meter iceberg (no joke, did that in the Trift glacier).
Ok, so garlic here is expensive, they don't have garlic capital of the world in their country, but other spices are cheaper. Yeah, I also miss my dose of Mad TV and Saturday night live, but key sketches eventually land on you tube. And, true, it is a bit strange to have to make packages out of some card board you want to throw out. Have fun in Switzerland...
It's not for everyone, but I love it.
- You may find yourself standing next to the Swiss President, all by himself, buying fruit at Loeb, or having coffee in a cafe back to back.
- I've crossed paths with Merz, the Finance Minister, in town so often we have started to smirk and nod at each other.
- I don't know how many times I could have wiped out the Swiss government had I failed to brake at a crosswalk.
- I was walking out of the men's room in a restaurant, when a very famous woman came walking in. She looked shocked and confused, maybe wondering if I was going to attack her. I laughed and said "Look over there". "Urinals!!", she exploded in laughter. I escorted her to the lady's room, both laughing the whole way.
- et cetera...
The point is, in a country where people feel secure and free, with their private sphere respected and protected, the tendency is that people will be people, be themselves, not so guarded, remote or agressive.
Of course there are many, many exceptions, but those people will be assholes wherever they go or live.
no snakes
no poisonous spiders
no sharks
no salties
no dole bludgers
no hundreds of kms of nothing
no wild bush fires
no droughts
no floods (hardly)
no CALM
no long work hours
no stingers
No ing bush flys!
etc etc etc
My partner,I and our three children have been here for 5 years and we love it! We have made the most of our time here and still do but we have discussed a few times that if for whatever reason we were not financially better off or could not pay to enjoy certain aspects then we would go back to the uk...strange but true