On Monday evening, 06 March 2023, my new phase in life began with me saying goodbye to my best friends and family and then getting on the plane.  

In the last two to three weeks, I couldn’t imagine how difficult this farewell would be. I’ve done a lot in Switzerland in the last few weeks and fought my way through the bureaucracy – you want to be as prepared as possible and not do everything to the last minute.

Well, I’ve said goodbye to Switzerland and am sitting in a Boeing 777-300ER bound for Hong Kong. What awaits me here? I don’t know exactly. I land on time in Hong Kong and get through the controls relatively quickly and am immediately picked up by my driver and driven to the hotel. Once at the hotel, I fought my way through the flood of news from Switzerland and then went for a walk to familiarise myself with the area.   

The next day I went to my new office for the first time after 9:00 am. I was very nervous because I didn’t know who I would meet and how I would be received by the team. The team is very friendly and helpful, and after the first ten minutes I was offered help by several colleagues. After the introductory round, I had lunch with my supervisor and two colleagues. In the afternoon, I rested a little before we had a meeting with a partner, which was also my first insight into the business world in Asia. After the meeting, my supervisor showed me a part of Hong Kong before we had dinner together in a Swiss restaurant – and yes, there was Raclette, Rösti and even Aromat and Rivella. 

Now after a week in Hong Kong, I’m still looking for a new place to stay and recovering from the trip.