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Well in 1 years I will have graduated and be working as an anaesthesiologist assistant (masters degree)....
Thanks. Couldn't have said it better really.
I grew up in a relatively safe neighborhood, but we had stuff stolen out of our garage. I had my car broken into and my CDs stolen at one time. My home city is actually, surprisingly, ranked fairly high among US cities for crime. It was a giant, ugly, poorly planned suburban sprawl nightmare with almost no real city core. The rich areas were just islands surrounded by larger decaying poorer areas. Reminds me of Los Angeles, how you can visibly see the difference between the rich neighborhoods and the rest of the city across the intersection.
I forgot I put the Netherlands in this poll and made a new thread, which wasn't necessary.
I've probably narrowed it down to England and the Netherlands.
I know there are certainly safer countries, but I also like diversity.
Also, I like Japanese people and culture, hence why I'm here now, and the only place in Europe you'll find a large Japanese population is England. The Netherlands seems quite beautiful, nice mix of old and new architecture, perhaps the social problems there aren't quite as severe as England, but it's also likely a bit less diverse and a bit more foreign to me as I have no Dutch roots, nor special interest in Dutch culture.
You didn't specify where in England you planned to live - but if its London, beware they have the highest mugging rates in the world now. The place I hear is unrecognizable now with the influx of immigrants from various 3rd world countries. So I would not stay in London. Also, the cost of living there is one of the highest in the world, so unless you are loaded - I wouldn't move there.
As far as Amsterdam - I would never stay there. Any place that legalizes drugs - why would you want to raise your family there ? You are worried about the drinking problem in Tokyo - well I think the drug issue is a lot more severe than the alcohol. Also, this country is one of the most liberal places in the world (not my cup of tea).
Stockholm - well I can't say a lot about it, I have been to all the places on your list - Stockholm might be o.k., but as mentioned the weather would be a big red flag for me. Yet, I hear the Scandinavian countries are some of the safest places to live in Europe. I lived in Norway a while ago, was nice, but I did not care for the many grey days in the winter - also the people are very reserved so its hard to make friends, may take some time.
Tokyo, the several times I have been there I have loved it - my kids keep bugging me to move there - yet I know the language issue is a real problem. I lived in Taiwan (prior to kids) teaching English, and know learning an Asian language (chinese) is very difficult - so think that making friends would be hard - you would feel like an outsider, never fully accepted if you didn't speak fluently I am afraid. Still if you made the effort to learn Japanese I think it would be pretty cool if your future kids would grow up bilingual. You don't have to go out partying with all the drunks. I am sure you could live there and avoid it. As far as schooling - if you feel the schools are unsafe or a bad environment there you could homeschool. That's what we have chosen to do, works for us.
Maybe none of these options are the right one - need to maybe come up with some other choices.
You didn't specify where in England you planned to live - but if its London, beware they have the highest mugging rates in the world now. The place I hear is unrecognizable now with the influx of immigrants from various 3rd world countries. So I would not stay in London. Also, the cost of living there is one of the highest in the world, so unless you are loaded - I wouldn't move there.
As far as Amsterdam - I would never stay there. Any place that legalizes drugs - why would you want to raise your family there ? You are worried about the drinking problem in Tokyo - well I think the drug issue is a lot more severe than the alcohol. Also, this country is one of the most liberal places in the world (not my cup of tea).
Stockholm - well I can't say a lot about it, I have been to all the places on your list - Stockholm might be o.k., but as mentioned the weather would be a big red flag for me. Yet, I hear the Scandinavian countries are some of the safest places to live in Europe. I lived in Norway a while ago, was nice, but I did not care for the many grey days in the winter - also the people are very reserved so its hard to make friends, may take some time.
Tokyo, the several times I have been there I have loved it - my kids keep bugging me to move there - yet I know the language issue is a real problem. I lived in Taiwan (prior to kids) teaching English, and know learning an Asian language (chinese) is very difficult - so think that making friends would be hard - you would feel like an outsider, never fully accepted if you didn't speak fluently I am afraid. Still if you made the effort to learn Japanese I think it would be pretty cool if your future kids would grow up bilingual. You don't have to go out partying with all the drunks. I am sure you could live there and avoid it. As far as schooling - if you feel the schools are unsafe or a bad environment there you could homeschool. That's what we have chosen to do, works for us.
Maybe none of these options are the right one - need to maybe come up with some other choices.
Oh please.
Drug use and drug related violence in the Netherlands is miniscule compared to the United States, for example. It has among the lowest rates of marijuana use in Europe as well. There is more to this country than a tiny touristy part of Amsterdam catering to the Americans and Brits who want to come here and smoke weed all weekend.
I guess I want to raise my family here because it is one of the best places in the world to do so, and Dutch children are consistently found to be the "happiest in the world," according to several UNICEF studies.
Dutch society revolves around raising children. But I guess you would never know that if you didn't step foot off the Damrak.
I am from Sweden and I love Stockholm. It is a beautiful city with great people. But most of the expats I know, especially those from a warmer climate, find the weather/daylight/small city life hard to adjust to. Things are expensive here, and you do need to learn Swedish to work here (it's not a difficult language to learn though. A friend of mine from Canada picked it up in 3 months while working), and it would be easier for you to make friends. Though everybody speaks English and our culture is very Americanized to some extend, as you can easily tune to an American show pretty much anytime during the day. We have our fair share of social and economic problems (ie suburbs).
But I think if you really have a keen interest in the city or even the Swedish culture you will enjoy living in Stockholm. If you don't mind the cold dark winter of course!
Wish I could combine this thread with my newer one. I think I've narrowed it down to Berlin (discussed in the other thread) and Amsterdam (not in my other), more likely the latter. I've kept Amsterdam in the background mainly due to the stereotype of it being a drug user's paradise, attracting annoying (mainly male) tourists excited by drugs and the red light district. But it's a big enough city that I can probably avoid that aspect of it in my daily life and supposedly the actual percentage of drug use by Dutch is lower than most European countries, including Denmark and Norway. I don't hear the same scary stories I hear about Vancouver in this regard (blocks full of hard drug addicts and their paraphernalia in the streets at all hours of the day). The positives,as far as I can tell doing research on the Internet, are too numerous to ignore. 4% unemployment, Netherlands ranks with Sweden and Denmark in many international comparisons, very diverse, beautiful city, considered fairly safe, near the ocean, near London, western and Latin Europe, Scandinavia. People speak English and have a reputation for being more outgoing and friendly towards foreigners than Scandinavians. I noticed since the last time I viewed this thread that Amsterdam took over the 2nd position.
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