March 23rd, 2012: Recap of the trip of insanity

Phew! What a trip! The best way to describe it was a roller coaster of emotions, with many highs and lows.  Here goes with a list (I know, I'm so Type A it's not even funny!)

Highs:

1.    GORGEOUS! When the sun finally came out on our trip, the French and Swiss Alps were in full view - huge, snow capped mountains that border Lake Geneva, a 100 mile lake. Combine this with the old European style cobblestone streets of Lausanne and Geneva, and you have the recipe for a beautiful area. The cities were also such a great size, just enough to be "city"-ish and have a lot to offer, but not too big to be overwhelming or have shady, ghetto areas (by US standards).

2.    Very friendly people, both within and outside the office. We had dinner with and met numerous expats. They were so helpful and we could definitely see ourselves becoming very good friends with these people.  I was also continually impressed by the friendly nature of the Swiss locals. Also, this might sound like a small point - but I really appreciated that even though they could clearly tell I was American and speaking in broken French, they would make every effort to continue to speak to me in French and encourage me. I have had quite the opposite experience in countries such as France in the past.

3.    All of the same highs listed in the last post were definitely true as well (moving assistance, great career opportunity, ability to speak the language, etc. etc.)

Lows:

1.    The "job" thing for Ryan. In short, this is the most worrisome element for us because it would really impact a lot of elements of our lives over in Switzerland (income, daily life, career advancement, etc.). Ryan had numerous meetings while we were there, most were quite positive and hopefully there is the potential for someting to materialize into a job offer. Even though it was extremely stressful for him, I was extremely proud of all of the work he had done to get so many meetings and connections.  However, the concerning aspect still remains that even if Ryan found a job, we are told that it would be very difficult to get him a work permit because the employer needs to prove that Ryan is a "specialist" in his field and that they have done all they possibly can to hire Swiss or EU people before hiring non-EU people. So essentially, this is all going to come down to us trying to figure out what the worst case scenario is if Ryan can't get a job and determining if we are comfortable with the worst case scenario before we accept the offer.

2.    Holy expensive batman! We were SHOCKED at the prices in Switzerland. How expensive you ask? Hamburger = 32 francs = $35, McDonald's Snack Wraps = 8 francs = $10. Insanity, right? All of the expats we met though said that we were having typical initial sticker shock that every expat does and they were urging us not to try to compare because although prices of goods are around 30-40% higher in Switzerland, salaries are 30-40% higher too. So I am sorry in advance to any of our friends who come visit us… it will be an expensive trip :( but we'll provide you with a free place to stay and lots of food so don't let that discourage you!

So where do we sit with regard to this monumental decision at the end of this trip? Absolutely, ridiculously, torturously, TORN! This is such a great opportunity and we loved the area and the people, we could really see ourselves living there.  And why not do something risky like this when we are young, don't have a house, and don't have kids? But, we are very concerned that Ryan would not be given the ability to work and that would have a big impact on our lives. Although, as Ryan and I were talking last night - what is the alternative for him? Would it be better for him to take this risk, hope that he could get a job, and if he doesn't take the CFA, do an online MBA, make some money on the side doing odd jobs, and do other resume building activities in preparation for moving into his next role? At this point, the worst case scenario might not be all that bad…. I wish this were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and we could do a poll the audience and ask, SHOULD WE DO IT?! And oh yeah, we have one week to decide if we want my company to move forward with presenting an offer. Talk about one of the biggest decisions we've ever made -- so wish us luck, retrospectively of course :)