I have been in Geneva for about two months now, and the time has gone by pretty quickly. It has been very hectic though. It is a beautiful city, and I am happy here, but the settling in process has been difficult. I wonder if foreigners feel this way in New York. I used to think finding an apartment in New York was difficult, but it is a piece of cake compared to Geneva!
Housing is difficult to find here, because there is a shortage of housing, and a lot of people with high salaries. Finding an apartment is almost like finding a job. You have to apply to each apartment, sometimes with a letter of motivation explaining why you like the place! Each apartment accepts multiple applications, so then owner then reviews and picks who they like. It can be arbitrary, and it is unclear why one application is picked over another. Most people I spoke to say that they get accepted in one out of four apartment they apply for. We applied to about 8, and got accepted in 2. In our case, the apartment that we chose is owned by a man from Kosovo. He really likes Americans, due to the recent political history of Kosovo, and he also really likes families with children. Apparently, of all of the applicants, none had children. I however, am pregnant, and we put that in our letter of motivation. Those two factors ended up getting us accepted.
In order to apply for an apartment, you have to have three recent payslips, a certificate stating that you have no debt in Switzerland, proof of employment and salary, copies of your passport, and sometimes, a letter of recommendation. When you finally do get accepted, you have to put down three months rent as your security deposit, and pay first month's rent.
It was complicated because as an American, it takes longer to open a bank account here--and the security deposit must be paid through a Swiss bank account. My account took three weeks to open. Then, it was empty because all my money is in my US account, so I had to wire money to myself. The security deposit has to be certified by the bank, which you have to make an appointment to do (and then mail the original to the building manager).
There are a lot of rules in Switzerland, and an office for almost everything. Public daycare here is very good, but you need to register far in advance. You are allowed to register when you are 12 weeks pregnant. You need a certificate of pregnancy, and then you register online. Unfortunately for us, our new address was not registered in the office of population. To register with the office of population, we have to have our address updated by the Swiss mission, which needs the information from my employer, the united nations. The entire process takes a month.
We had a particularly bad week during which my dog got arrested! Literally arrested. The police called my phone and asked me if I had a white dog named Max. Apparently he managed to escape from our apartment, leave the building, and was wandering around by himself on the street. We had left the door unlocked for the dog walker since we did not have a spare key yet, and the door is apparently loose so it popped open. Someone accidentally let him out of the building. In any case, I rushed from work to meet the police, and had to pay a fine. The dog was sitting in the back of the police car, like a very happy, fluffy criminal. He quickly changed his face when I arrived, since he knew he was in trouble. I have a second dog, which luckily stayed in the apartment, out of trouble.
To register a dog by they way, you have to get it a passport at the vet, and then pay a dog tax at the minicipal police. So many offices to register with, and papers to fill out!
Housing is difficult to find here, because there is a shortage of housing, and a lot of people with high salaries. Finding an apartment is almost like finding a job. You have to apply to each apartment, sometimes with a letter of motivation explaining why you like the place! Each apartment accepts multiple applications, so then owner then reviews and picks who they like. It can be arbitrary, and it is unclear why one application is picked over another. Most people I spoke to say that they get accepted in one out of four apartment they apply for. We applied to about 8, and got accepted in 2. In our case, the apartment that we chose is owned by a man from Kosovo. He really likes Americans, due to the recent political history of Kosovo, and he also really likes families with children. Apparently, of all of the applicants, none had children. I however, am pregnant, and we put that in our letter of motivation. Those two factors ended up getting us accepted.
In order to apply for an apartment, you have to have three recent payslips, a certificate stating that you have no debt in Switzerland, proof of employment and salary, copies of your passport, and sometimes, a letter of recommendation. When you finally do get accepted, you have to put down three months rent as your security deposit, and pay first month's rent.
It was complicated because as an American, it takes longer to open a bank account here--and the security deposit must be paid through a Swiss bank account. My account took three weeks to open. Then, it was empty because all my money is in my US account, so I had to wire money to myself. The security deposit has to be certified by the bank, which you have to make an appointment to do (and then mail the original to the building manager).
There are a lot of rules in Switzerland, and an office for almost everything. Public daycare here is very good, but you need to register far in advance. You are allowed to register when you are 12 weeks pregnant. You need a certificate of pregnancy, and then you register online. Unfortunately for us, our new address was not registered in the office of population. To register with the office of population, we have to have our address updated by the Swiss mission, which needs the information from my employer, the united nations. The entire process takes a month.
We had a particularly bad week during which my dog got arrested! Literally arrested. The police called my phone and asked me if I had a white dog named Max. Apparently he managed to escape from our apartment, leave the building, and was wandering around by himself on the street. We had left the door unlocked for the dog walker since we did not have a spare key yet, and the door is apparently loose so it popped open. Someone accidentally let him out of the building. In any case, I rushed from work to meet the police, and had to pay a fine. The dog was sitting in the back of the police car, like a very happy, fluffy criminal. He quickly changed his face when I arrived, since he knew he was in trouble. I have a second dog, which luckily stayed in the apartment, out of trouble.
To register a dog by they way, you have to get it a passport at the vet, and then pay a dog tax at the minicipal police. So many offices to register with, and papers to fill out!
