Yesterday I paid our rent bill for January. Back in the US paying rent was as simple as writing a check and dropping it in the mailbox. In Switzerland paying rent is quite the ordeal to figure out, especially if you (still!) don’t have a bank account and can’t quite speak fluent French. We received … Continue reading Paying For Rent →

There are some huge differences in living in Switzerland versus Minnesota, such as the language, the mountain scenery, and the centuries old city, but there are also some subtle differences we didn’t think of such as…

I’m adding two more photo albums today, one showing our apartment here, and one showing more views from Lausanne.

This last Saturday we spent the day in the city that gives Lake Geneva its name.  We left at 11AM and got there in about 40 minutes by train.  The area between Lausanne and Geneva is mostly developed, but occasionally we’d go through some fields or vineyards.  It was a very scenic ride, on one … Continue reading Geneva →

Thursday, December 11th marks one full week of work, which has gone well! …Unfortunately, I haven’t been paid and I have no idea when this will happen. Apparently few banks will accept US citizens and our application is pending. Never in my life did I think “The US government needs to make it easier for … Continue reading Note From Melissa/Festival Lausanne Lumieres →

We both had trouble sleeping well our first night in Europe so when the clocked rolled around to 6AM on December 1st we both decided to get out of bed.  We were ready and at the train station at about 7AM, plenty early for our 8AM train to Lausanne.  We found a Starbucks purchased some … Continue reading Paris to Lausanne →

We were very blessed that Melissa has an aunt that works for an airline.  She got us on a standby list to Paris, and saved us loads of money on the flight.  The flight wasn’t completely booked so, when we got to the airport to check our seats we even got bumped to first class!  … Continue reading Minneapolis to Paris →

Before we could move we had to decide what to move.  The two biggest things that helped us cut down on what to bring were, moving into a furnished apartment, and knowing Switzerland runs on a different electrical system, so American appliances wouldn’t work well.  That left us with mostly just packing clothes. We briefly … Continue reading Packing for the Trip →

Melissa got back to her new boss right away and let him know she wanted the job.  Unfortunately it was the start of August, when almost everyone in Switzerland is on vacation.  So it took until September for an official offer letter to arrive and our ability to apply for a visa. The visa application … Continue reading Waiting for Visas →

Hello!  Thanks for checking out my blog.  I’m an unemployed American living in Switzerland.  People keep asking me what I’m going to do here, so I thought I might as well start a blog to let everyone know what I, and my wife Melissa, are up to.  I came up with the blog name phunemployment, … Continue reading How it Started →