Posts Tagged ‘friends’

Writing a blog can help with isolation abroad

By Chantal Panozzo

Many expats start a blog as a way to connect with family and friends back home. It’s also a great way to write about the isolation you may be feeling, the crazy experiences you have, and the wonderful travel opportunities expat life provides.

But, if you’re like me, all of this will soon turn into something even more. An expat blog is a great way to meet people, make friends, and it might even get you a job. In other words—you never know where your lowly blog may take you. For expat blogger Catherine Sanderson, it was a six-figure book deal.

I started One Big Yodel back in August of 2006 with one reader: my mom. Since then, my blog has led to radio interviews, a job writing for swissinfo.org, and more. Because of my blog, I have become a bigger part of Switzerland and met more people than I ever thought possible. But most importantly, I love to write, communicate with my readers, and start discussions.

So why should you start a blog? Let me count the ways:

-To keep a journal of your time abroad

Jessica, of Swisstory, used to make books from her blog using Blurb. Her blog served as an important journal and scrapbook for her time in Switzerland.

-To help other expats

When you learn something or find resources that help you, it’s great to be able to share them and help other expats. Readers will thank you for it.

-To meet people

While people are thanking you for your great blog, you might just make some friends in the process. I’ve lost count of how many readers I’ve met for a coffee and it’s great to put faces with screen names.

But enough about what I think. Why do you blog?

Chantal Panozzo is a writer in Switzerland who has written for a variety of publications on two continents. She’s the author of One Big Yodel, a blog about life in Switzerland and moving abroad, and also discusses living abroad as a freelancer at Writer Abroad.

By Chantal Panozzo

I’ve written about this topic before on One Big Yodel, but it seems to be a popular one, so I’m going to write two follow-up posts, this one, and another piece that will run on Swisstory blog about how I’ve managed to make a few Swiss friends in the three years I’ve lived in Switzerland.

In comparison to making Swiss friends, making friends with other expats is relatively easy. “You speak English? Me to. Let’s be friends.”  That’s about all it takes when you’re so far from home. Ages, backgrounds, interests seem to matter little at the beginning when the main thing is that you’ve found someone with whom you can actually communicate in your own language.

But then there are those Swiss. Dang, they are hard to meet. Reserved and private, many Swiss tell me they are happy with their small group of close friends that they’ve known since childhood and aren’t interested in making more. The trick is to find the people that are more open.

I didn’t think my neighbor was one of them. She was 73 years old to my 28 when I met her and didn’t speak any English. And while her first words of greeting were something along the lines of “you’re doing the laundry wrong,” what I didn’t realize at the time was that this was her Swiss way of saying a friendly hello.

To make proper friends with a Swiss neighbor, you usually have to go to them first. Knock on their door and introduce yourself, perhaps bring them some chocolates or something from your home country. Even if your German/French/Italian isn’t that good yet, you may be surprised at their happiness at your efforts.

If they make an effort to criticize everything from your gardening to your laundry like my neighbor did, take that as a strange kind of compliment. At least they’re paying attention. And most Swiss like to correct you. Give them that joy and you may make a friend.

Despite our age and language differences, my neighbor and I started hanging out. We’d set the German/English dictionary on the table and have raclette together. She’d take me to flower fields in her car so we could make our own bouquets. A year after all of this, she reintroduced herself to me with her first name. It was worth the year of calling her Frau V and being strangely formal while melting cheese together.

Are you friends with your Swiss neighbors? How did you make your Swiss friends? Or what do you find most frustrating about making Swiss friends?

Up next, How to Make Friends in Switzerland, Part 2, over on Swisstory blog.