The Orientation Visit - Chapter 5 - Company Living

One of the levered advantages of moving to Basel with Roche is that they help us out tremendously.  Not only do they provide the housing, but it feels like you have a team of people at your disposal to assist with all things move related.

Along with finding a great school for our boys, another priority was finding a great place to live.  On the Tuesday of our visit, we were met by two people from the relocation specialists company, and they shuttled us around the area.  Corporate housing is, how should we say this, sparse, but adequate, with just about everything you would need for a family of four and a dog.

After visiting ISB, we stopped by a typical corporate apartment, that we would qualify for in December.  The guides stressed that the one they were showing us was not the one we would necessarily get, but much like all the apartments in the quiver of places available.  

After traveling about Basel for the time we were able to do so, we got a very good sense of the surroundings, and  are heavily leaning toward wanting to live in Basel City, rather in the outskirts nearest to where ISB is located.  All things being equal, which the guides stressed numerous times that they would be very similar, we are shooting for a neighborhood that puts us in the thick of city living, as just 20 mins outside of the city you are really in the quite suburbs or woods even.

Maybe I've lived inside the heart of a city too long to convert to "country mouse," but I'm loathe to the idea of not having a coffee shop or pub that one can amble to on foot.  If we are going to be living in Europe, I don't want it to feel like I'm living in any old suburb anywhere on the planet. Perhaps not unlike Thoreau wanting to migrate to the wood, I've got to nest in a city, "to live deliberately," in order to feel like I'm really part of the vibrant tapestry that is Basel City.

After all, home is only where you hang your hat, and rest your weary eyes.  Life is lived inside and outside of the home.  And, all things being equal, we eagerly await the news as to which neighborhood an "open" apartment is available that has three bedrooms, the ability to do our own laundry whenever necessary.


...And, if our backyard is steps away from the Rhine and Old Basel City as opposed to a 20 to 30 minute tram ride, all the better!

Yours,

The Trailing Spouse.