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I am starting to travel around the world (and not the usual goodie two shoes popular countries like USA, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain) but developing nations like Malaysia, Colombia, Uruguay and not very popular countries like Kazhakstan.
I am not going to the third world (Haiti, Africa yet and most likely I wont though)
The BEST countries out there are the developing ones, they still retain a level of sanity!
I much rather live in South America or South East Asian than in dehumanized, soulless, money money money Western Europe or North America!
Germany is a terrible place to live, it lacks soul, it lacks character and a real connection with the world. Try to see the world beyond the autobahn and it resumes to work, follow rules and be quiet!!!
The USA is also a depressing place, good for working, making money and then driving to your isolated suburbia to wonder about life, perhaps go shopping for useless made in China crap!
I was recently at a small coastal town on the Caribbean in Panama.... eating tropical organic fruits for breakfast and enjoying the crystal blue sea, worrying about the moment, and then I remembered my life in the western world and it's so filled with WORK WORK WORK MONEY WORK MAKE MONEY, LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS and I wonder why I lived for so long in the western world in the first place!!!
Western Europe, Russia, USA, China, Japan sorry but they sound like awful places to live!!! I dont want to be a robot!
I also find Western Europeans to be like Americans. (Americans think the world rotates around the US, and Western Europeans think the world rotates around their small countries).
Most Western Europeans mock the ignorance of the American people, but most Western Europeans KNOW NOTHING of the world beyond Western Europe and the US (because they have an insane obsession with the US as well)
it's interesting the average German or Brit knows more about America, than the average Mexican or Canadian who lives 5 minutes from the US border.
Give them nukes, big homes, and big cars, and Western Europeans will be EXACTLY like Americans!! After all most Americans come from Western Europe.
Western Europe, Russia, USA, China, Japan sorry but they sound like awful places to live!!! I dont want to be a robot!
I also find Western Europeans to be like Americans. (Americans think the world rotates around the US, and Western Europeans think the world rotates around their small countries).
Most Western Europeans mock the ignorance of the American people, but most Western Europeans KNOW NOTHING of the world beyond Western Europe and the US (because they have an insane obsession with the US as well)
it's interesting the average German or Brit knows more about America, than the average Mexican or Canadian who lives 5 minutes from the US border.
Give them nukes, big homes, and big cars, and Western Europeans will be EXACTLY like Americans!! After all most Americans come from Western Europe.
HORRIBLE CULTURE
But you clearly do. Wow, that's so accurate!
Beep, beep. Now. I. Must. Continue. Working. R2-D2 you're so hot!
Actually, I think Western Europe (including Northern and Southern) has the BEST work-life balance of all countries in the world. Enough work, but not too much.
There are people out there working 16 hours a day just to survive and they still are hungry, millions of millions who can never have a vacation in their life, kids working in sweatshops since they were 5 years old, people who will literally die if they break a leg. People who can never retire. Et cetera.
Europeans work 8 hours a day, go home and via yoga to the pub. Extremely spoiled in a global context.
If one is disillusioned by the modern world and want to become a Buddhist hermit, Western Europeans are only priviledged ones who have the luxury of doing so. Most people in the world cannot.
So, the poll shows overwhelmingly that most Europeans nowadays would not come to the U.S. to better themselves economically.
Yet, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the vast majority of people who immigrated to the U.S. were in fact Europeans who left their home countries for just that purpose. Since the 1960s, the vast majority of immigrants to the U.S. have been non-Europeans from mainly developing countries. They are essentially "economic refugees" who came to the U.S. in search of a better life - just like the Europeans did decades before.
Is it fair to say that modern Europe is basically an old world counterpart of the U.S.?
The usa was still a popular country to migrate to post 1960, its just that many europeans at the time had better options in countries like canada and australia.
My family is greek and moved to australia in 1972, the rest of my relatives moved to canada..only 1 family im related to went to america. Historically in the early 1900s greeks only went to america..in my parents villages the usa is all they knew when they were kids..once they got older and it was time to search for a better life the usa was not the only logical option anymore. Tougher immigration policies towards europeans contributed to that whilst australia was desperate to bring europeans down under, so from italy, greece, croatia etc they just flooded into the country in huge numbers.
Now most would just move within europe, some would go to america only if they had family there.
I'm from the US, currently living as an expat in europe. I've been here 1.5 years and have no real interest moving back to the US. We will for work purposes, but as soon as we can, we will retire elsewhere. I agree with Elnina's post 100%. I hate the fast past, constant having to work, no life work balance, and now the political term oil. I'm hoping we can ride it out here several more years.
The usa was still a popular country to migrate to post 1960, its just that many europeans at the time had better options in countries like canada and australia.
My family is greek and moved to australia in 1972, the rest of my relatives moved to canada..only 1 family im related to went to america. Historically in the early 1900s greeks only went to america..in my parents villages the usa is all they knew when they were kids..once they got older and it was time to search for a better life the usa was not the only logical option anymore. Tougher immigration policies towards europeans contributed to that whilst australia was desperate to bring europeans down under, so from italy, greece, croatia etc they just flooded into the country in huge numbers.
Now most would just move within europe, some would go to america only if they had family there.
The immigration act of 1924 played a significant role in that shift for nearly forty years Greeks among other immigrants were not desired immigrants. Americans got really paranoid when the immigration shifted from majority Northern/Central Europeans who were largely Protestant to Eastern and Southern Europeans who were largely Orthodox, Catholic, and Jewish.
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