relocating from Ireland to Dallas

[WorldKlas]

The farther you are from the heart of urban areas in Texas, the more likely you find conservative-thinking people. That’s just how it is and you do best not expressing any kind of political beliefs with people you don’t know well.

[texstout]

Originally Posted by viliam

many thanks texstout, I really enjoyed your remark about Ennis being a bit too much for an Irish family. As it happens we have Ennis town here in Ireland too and that is why yours caught my attention .
I was looking at Waxahachie as a convenient place. My wife and I, we both work so spend majority of time either at the office or clinic respectively and will be in mid 40s so a safe place with a relatively good quality of life (and loads of shopping for my wife to relax ) would do just fine. Yes, our son is coming too and I see Junior college as a perfect way to transition to another country, educational system and way of life in general. He is academically gifted but I realise it is very hard to enroll straight to 4 year college especially if we are from abroad, completing secondary education in a different system and have no direct contact with the colleges there. That is why I have no problem he started with 2-year and then transferred. I researched Paris Junior College, Paris, Dallas College Cedar Valley Campus and Hill College, Hillsboro - where the last one especially seems to have a very strong partnership with the 4 year universities for further degree. These 3 I researched also because our son is an athlete playing soccer and wants to continue playing at a college level achieving the scholarship. All of those have good soccer teams and again especially Hill has a partnership with UT Dallas or MSU that have strong teams and offer athletic scholarships. I will check Corsicana too - many thanks for the suggestion.
I was just reading another thread about "finding a liberal college for daughter" which alerted me to another reality that we will have to get used to it be it our son at school or us within our workplace or neighborhood. We here in Ireland or Europe for that matter do not identify ourselves by our political views - my son is not choosing his college based on whether it is liberal or conservative but whether he can find academic programs he is looking for or not or whether he likes the place or not. The same with us - I talk to my neighbors regardless of their political views and in most cases, I don't even know how they voted in the last elections. Well, I suppose we will just have to adapt.
But I am sure we will be able to find an open and welcoming community.

viliam

US politics are very different than most European politics. We are just talking a whole different scale - especially in Texas that sees extremes. Texas urban places are very diverse with different political opinions..a very mixed bunch. But the farther away you go from Dallas, you'll find more vocal conservative opinions. For example, in Waxahachie - most people will own guns and many carry them openly (although you will probably never know). Hunting is very popular. That's pretty different than in Ireland I assume.

Waxahachie is odd in that its a small town that is rapidly becoming a suburb of Dallas. I work downtown Dallas and several of my colleagues live in Waxahachie and say it takes only 30 mins to get there. So its actually closer to downtown than many of the northern popular suburbs of Dallas. (Most suburbs are north of Dallas). So Waxahachie has a mix of smalltown (cool old homes) plus modern suburbia. You might be amused it has a couple of English pubs:
College Street Pub | English Pub Setting In Waxahachie, Texas
https://www.englishmerchantsparlour.com/

I think starting at a 2-year college is a great idea for your son to get to know the educational system and then hopefully to move onto a competitive college. That said, some of these Junior colleges have very competitive sports teams as well and recruit from high schools. I would reach out to the soccer programs at the schools to get a better idea how he could tryout. Dallas proper also has a large system of club competitive soccer teams for youth - I bet he could easily get a job coaching. Look up FC Dallas youth.

[DallasRanger]

Good luck with the move next year ! I'm Scottish and moved to DFW in 2019 with family. The education system is different from England (we moved from London) and less rigorous. My kids were 15 and 13 when we moved and are both doing well. My son has just finished playing with FC Dallas and there are lots of Brits coaching at youth level in DFW.

[4Movingeast]

Most of the guys that coach around here where I live are from Ireland, so you should be able to find a network and a spot for him to practice until you get his situation sorted.

[viliam]

thank you all!
@ Texstout: Political opinions as such don't bother me - I believe you see us Europeans as far more liberal but that is not the main difference I think. It is the instant association with a political view and its very vocal manifestation at every chance that is so different in the US as I feel it. We don't talk politics that much except giving out about governments - whatever party is in power . But as I said, it is something we will have to get used to - we are not coming to transform the country but to adapt to its way of life.
Many thanks for your thoughts on Waxahachie - it was very helpful in looking at it from a different perspective - one thing is a safe and convenient town and another is how it is welcoming. Our company is building in Lancaster and originally I was looking at Lancaster, Duncanville, Cedar Hill or DeSoto. All closer to Dallas, all more liberal in their voting preferences - which as I said is nor good neither bad - but perhaps less traditional and thus more welcoming for say European implants. I contacted the soccer coach of Cedar Valley College and was thinking of locating in Lancaster for example and make it a commuter school but there is still a lot to research and we will decide once we have all the homework done.
@ DallasRanger: I am happy it worked out for you and thank you for the wishes.
@ All: I appreciate all the comments and suggestions that I can utilize then in our decision making

thank you,
viliam

[Leonard123]

I'd recommend a visit first. You may not be familiar with the roller coasters that people here call "highways." I don't think you'll find anything like them in Ireland or anywhere in the entire rest of the world for that matter. They are not for the faint of heart. Add to that you will be driving on the right side of the road with a left side driver's seat.

I went there about 30 years ago when I was a child. I'm sure it's a very different place now. I remember the people were nice, but it was the worst food I ever had in my life.

[move4ward]

Are the rural areas friendly to immigration.Would the locals be more open to immigration from Ireland than Mexico or China? Immigrants are taking “our jobs”.

[viliam]

Now, are the immigrants, wherever they come from and whatever country they are going to taking "our jobs" or are the workers coming in with multinational investments bringing knowledge broading our horizons providing sometimes vital opportunities that otherwise would not have been created?
Are these implants destroying "our culture" or are they enriching our lives with new ideas giving us the opportunity to chose what is best for us and thus helping us to live our lives fuller?
Do our products not take the shelf spaces that would have otherwise be filled with products of home country supporting local economy? Do we not, by aspiring to succeed with our films, art or music abroad, taking away the limelight from the the filmakers, musicians and artist of those countries pushing them to the edge of extinction?
Are we not, by denying people that want to come in, adapt and contribute (not parasitizing!) being hypocritical as that is exactly what we or our ancestors have done years ago? When, at the evolution cycle we say STOP, the life has to stop going forward and only stagnate from now on?

Do we say that this only relates to people, products, cultures etc. from other continents? countires? counties? cities? neighbourhoods? households? Is it people from Ireland taking our jobs? Or is it Californians taking jobs from Texans? Or is it Hustonians stealing them from the people of Dallas? Or is it the suburban crowd denying the hard core downtown folks?

Well, you can draw the line wherever you like but in my humble opinion once you close up you start slowly dying. But I might well be mistaken.
viliam

[Talpa]

u have to pass the Dallas/Thin Lizzy connection test first =|

[viliam]

always ready to pour some Whiskey in the jar