Chiara is Italian, but she writes in English on her wonderful blog My Wander Coffee. Great content, and a very original way to discover Zurich. Thank you Chiara!
What took you abroad?
Like probably many other Expatclic.com readers, it was my husband’s new job that took us here. Enrico and I were living and working in Dublin previously. I got pregnant with my first child there and when my little boy was four months old, we moved to Zurich, Switzerland.
Why a blog?
The blog was literally built in only two days as a challenge with my girlfriends, over an online chat. I heard for the umpteenth time “we should do a blog” and that day I decided it was about time! Another genuine reason was that I always loved to listen to other people experiences and share points of views and stories and, if you think about it, a blog should be all about this. I wanted to reach out to an audience made of (largely) women who go through the privileges and also the struggles of being an expat mother. For me, it is the chance to give voice to the woman I am and enjoy the role of a blogger for a few hours a week. You can call it mommy’s time.
Have you found any difficulties in setting it up and managing it? Are you assisted by someone or did you do everything on your own?
Setting up the blog per se was an easy process: as soon as it was live, I’ve adjusted it and redressed it a bit it during the time. The issue was to find the right time to do it.
I was always worried about when to implement the blog perfectly, when to write frequently, where to take many beautiful photos. Reality check: two children at home, Swiss school timetable and no kind of support during the day don’t give you many options apart from keeping it simple and organic. As soon as I realized this, I started the blog straight away – it was now or never. I have tweaked my agenda along the way and now I’ve got a sort of very flexible, feasible schedule.
There is no such thing as perfection and this is a good thing!
How frequently do you publish on your blog?
I try to publish twice a week and, because I have a few sections on my blog, I try to alternate topics. I must be flexible though: for example, I have been stuck at home for two weeks now for my daughter’s health so I had no chance to visit any fancy coffee bar in Zurich. Why not write about tiramisu then? And that is how I started my new Coffee Recipes section on the blog.
Give us three reasons why your blog is important to you
My blog is important to me because: a) it allows me to write as a woman and to put aside the chores of a mother for a little while – this lets me breathe; b) it gives me the chance to reach out to a community made of people with similar stories and taste and hopefully to contribute positively and helpfully to the expat’s conversation; c) it rewards me with the most interesting encounters around Zurich and for that I am very grateful.
Have you met people through your blog?
Yes, the first person I knew thanks to my blog was Valeria Crescenzi of zurichwonderland.ch. From the very initial meetings, we started a wonderful collaborative project about small creative businesses in Zurich: we will be launching it soon. So far, because the blog is fresh and quite new, I have not been able to participate much to bloggers’ events but I like the direction I’ve taken and hopefully, it will lead me to a good place. Full of coffee, grace and life.
Chiara, My Wander Coffee
Zurich, Switzerland
December 2017
Photo credit ©Chiara
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