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My sentiments exactly. I have never been fortunate enough to live abroad but it is my dream to permanently relocate to Brazil and I know I will have no desire to return to America.
Don't speak too soon. Live there for a few years, then decide. No matter how eager you are to live abroad don't underestimate how hard cultural transition can be.
Funny how we always want to be somewhere else. Those students from 'exotic' countries probably find their own countries boring and the US 'exotic'.
Living abroad is also a bit dangerous. Once you start doing that you will likely never feel at home anywhere anymore. It has happened to me and several other people I know. Some people are happy being a world citizen, others feel lost.
I hardly think that's a bad thing at all! Perhaps all that means is you're still restless and want to travel more... there's no harm in that. When the day comes where you want to settle, you will know it.
I recently returned home from a 9-month stay in the UK and I really loved it. But I'm sad that as I get older the opportunities to do this will be less forthcoming and also less acceptable from a societal point of view. But of course it has little to do with society's view, it's the increasing sense of pressure I exert on myself to settle down and stop that wanderlust that will be the problem. I'm not sure I will still be ok with doing menial jobs in a foreign country at 35.
Note that he edited his post AFTER I replied. Come on, put two and two together. He obviously deleted that part - but he still left the part I've quoted below, in which he admits he believes he would still have a hard time making friends in another country. He just took out the part where he said he has actually had problems in the past making friends with foreigners.
Quote:
I also think I would probably have a hard time making friends in another country.
This is exactly why people should not be able to edit their posts after someone else has replied.
Note that he edited his post AFTER I replied. Come on, put two and two together. He obviously deleted that part - but he still left the part I've quoted below, in which he admits he believes he would still have a hard time making friends in another country. He just took out the part where he said he has actually had problems in the past making friends with foreigners.
This is exactly why people should not be able to edit their posts after someone else has replied.
I can vouch for it as I remember him saying that and he must have edited it at some point.
I've lived in 2 countries outside the US - Uganda (temporarily for 2 years) and Scotland. I will never move back to the US. I moved to Scotland 10 years ago (marriage) and I love it!
I recommend that any American try living in another country if possible for at least a year. It makes you see the US w/o blinders on and much more realistically. If you want to volunteer for 2 years and have the right skills, try VSO Canada, not the Peace Corps.
I've lived in 2 countries outside the US - Uganda (temporarily for 2 years) and Scotland. I will never move back to the US. I moved to Scotland 10 years ago (marriage) and I love it!
I recommend that any American try living in another country if possible for at least a year. It makes you see the US w/o blinders on and much more realistically. If you want to volunteer for 2 years and have the right skills, try VSO Canada, not the Peace Corps.
Very true.
I know a girl who moved to Berlin from Minneapolis and the first week she was there she felt she was at home. After that she married a German and now on her way to getting a German citizenship.. Not an easy task!
I was telling her how much I liked Germany, and also considered relocating. She laughed at me, saying I'm from Toronto.. Why would I want to leave?
Needless to say now I live in Montreal. I think it's a great mix of European laid back lifestyle without the huge taxes and tiny cars that they drive. But then again, you gotta deal with the cold.
So try going to Europe, to Canada... I admit after living in Ukraine and being in South America I realized that when you have lots of poverty around you it's quite depressing. I find Montreal a nice mix of everything, which is why I'm likely going to settle down here.
I'm currently a college student from a small city in the South. I'm sort of getting tired of life here. The college has a lot of international students who go home during the Summer to exciting places like South America, South Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or Europe. I'm getting tired of life here. I could tell you a lot of things about this region, and maybe it has a little potential, but what about the rest of the world?
I'm studying to be a teacher, and teaching abroad sounds really appealing, but I don't really know how I would do it comfortably. I also think I would probably have a hard time making friends in another country.
I'm a little upset at myself for not making more of an effort to learn about the rest of the world. If I tried to live in a foreign country, there's a chance I would have trouble making friends, a lot of trouble.
It's actually much easier to make friends abroad than back in one's home country. I've lived abroad over a dozen years, and I find it bizarre when I visit the U.S., and realize how paranoid and closed-off people are. I think the car-culture, big house part of American culture makes ISOLATION the norm.
Pretty much everywhere abroad, things are much more people-oriented and significantly more interaction with people around you. Plus being a non-local to another country, you'll find that many other foreigners will gravitate towards each other...plus locals will always show an enormous amount of curiousity.
In short, you'll have more friends than you'll have time to meet them all.
It's actually much easier to make friends abroad than back in one's home country.
That's a pretty broad observation that certainly doesn't reflect my experience living abroad at all. Starting off in the UK, making friends was slow going because culturally I've found the Brits operate quite at arm's length from people, including co-workers and neighbours. It was only after 2 years that I really could count the number of friends I had on one hand.
My later move to Finland took the challenge of getting acquainted to new extremes. Finns are much more standoffish than just about any other culture on the planet. That combined with my then-very-limited skills in Finnish added up to several years of convincing myself how cool it is to be a loner.
It took years of learning the language and liberal applications of Finnish social lubricant (alcohol) to make the transition from outsider to distant insider. But in the Finns' defense, it's worth the work to make friends here. My pals here are as true as they come.
All said, maybe Americans are fake and maybe they are too isolated from each other by big cars and big houses. But as one who spent years in close contact with people who really couldn't be bothered to get to know you, let alone speak to you, made me realise that the "false American congeniality" does have its merits.
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