Starting at ISSH during a pandemic was a strange experience. I still don’t feel like I know what “normal” life is like here. I keep hearing about festivals, parades and events that usually happen. I’m very excited to see how things are next year. Having said all that, one positive thing about most of the city being closed is how much I’ve been able to explore all the beautiful nature around the Schaffhausen area.

I’m an avid cyclist and Schaffhausen is surrounded by amazing cycle paths. If you are into all things outdoors, I strongly recommend getting the Switzerland Mobility app. It has everything from cycling, hiking and kayaking in Summer to skiing, snowshoeing and sledging in winter.

One of my favorite things to do on a sunny day is take a swim in the Rhine. There’s a great float you can do from Stein am Rhein down to Schaffhausen. Just bring an inflatable boat or rubber ring and spend a few hours enjoying the picturesque scenery. In my opinion, there’s no better way to spend a sunny day.

Having lived in Lausanne for 10 years, I managed to get my command of French up to a conversational level. Moving here I am faced with the dilemma of choosing to focus on Swiss German or High German. As most of the online lessons, tv shows, movies and resources are for High German, I decided to focus on that and just add as much Swiss German as I could. So far, I have found that people are very happy to help me learn and switch to English if necessary. I really enjoyed watching the TV show Dark to help with my German. I have quite a musical ear and have started listening to Andreas Bourani which has helped me a lot.

I would strongly encourage anyone to try living in Switzerland. There may be some things to get used to at the beginning, such as everything being closed on Sundays, or the expectation of quiet after 10pm (even on weekends), but in my opinion the positives vastly outweigh the challenges. Since living here, I now embrace Sundays as “Nature Days” and get out hiking, skiing or cycling.

I have loved working at ISSH so far. It has a lovely, community atmosphere where everyone helps each other to achieve great things. The school is situated beside a beautiful forest that we visit every Friday, learning survival skills like den building, fire lighting, whittling and much more! As the sports coordinator at ISSH, I’m also really looking forward to next year when all the tournaments start again and we can go compete with other schools in the area.

Christi McEvoy moved to Switzerland in 2011, spending 9 years in Lausanne before joining ISSH. He is married to an American microbiologist and is a proud father of 2 rescue cats: Doc and Ruby.