Hi, I’m Judith. When my parents gave me my name, in a hospital in central Manchester, UK, they obviously didn’t give much reflection to the fact that their first born child would move away from the green grass of home, to the snowy mountains of French speaking Switzerland, where no-one would be able to pronounce it properly. Nevertheless, now responding to a variety of Jud’, Yoodit, Yoodeet, it hasn’t held me back, and almost 10 years later, I consider myself well and truly an ex-pat, and that makes me excited to take over this account for a week!
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Judith Waller
I have predominantly British roots. Both my parents are English, and going back in time, most of my ancestors appear to be British on one side, and British, German and Irish on the other. However, although my parents still live in my native Manchester, my sister lives in Colorado, USA, so both of us have the expat gene! I started my expat adventure when I finished university, and the opportunity presented itself to go to Switzerland for a while. I fell in love with the mountains, scenery and chocolate, so decided to stay for a while. I got a job as a post-doc at the university in Lausanne, and set to work learning how to speak French, to integrate better. I’ve now moved to Neuchatel, where I’ve been working for 6, and living for 3 years.
When I’m not working, I love to travel, and spend time learning about the places I’ll be going to. I’m a passionate sportswoman, and spend a lot of time skiing, paragliding, running, biking, and just generally enjoying the outdoor life that epitomises Switzerland!
I also spend a fair amount of time on social media, mainly Twitter, where I can be found as @judithwaller, my personal account or @JW_PMI, my work related tweets. I’m looking forward to spending my week with you all, and sharing my expat experiences!