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Whats up everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post but I would love some opinions on this one. I live in Miami and have lived here for most of my life. My family is mostly spanish and I have my EU passport and lived in the south of Spain for junior high school. I am 21 and graduate from university this December with a BBA in Finance and a minor in accounting. I am DEFINITELY getting out of here and moving in January, I have grown bored with this city, not too fond of the people, the lack of culture, history, architecture, and urban vibe. Also, I want to spend my 20s traveling around the world, mostly Europe and the Eastern hemisphere. I crave a big city , where a car would not be necessary, and I can save more $ for my travels and life experiences.
So throughout preliminary research I have narrowed my options down to New York City, London, Madrid and Milan. My questions are what are the pros and cons of each for someone my age? I speak perfect english and 75% spanish, although I understand it perfectly as my parents talk to me in spanish. Also, is Milan kind of not on the level in grand scheme of things to my other 3 options? I seem to have a fascination for the entire country of Italy.
I have never been to New York, Madrid or Milan. Last spring break I took a trip with my school to London and Paris for 3 nights each, and loved them both. We stayed way on the outskirts of London though, I suppose for expense purposes and I know i didn't get nearly enough time to appreciate real London.
The main things I am looking for would probably be:
Friendly people
Access and ease of travel
Living expenses and overall costs
Employment opportunity
Nightlife
What's up everyone? I'm new here and this is my first post but I would love some opinions on this one. I live in Miami and have lived here for most of my life. My family is mostly Spanish and I have my EU passport and lived in the south of Spain for junior high school. I am 21 and graduate from university this December with a BBA in Finance and a minor in accounting. I am DEFINITELY getting out of here and moving in January, I have grown bored with this city, not too fond of the people, the lack of culture, history, architecture, and urban vibe. Also, I want to spend my 20s traveling around the world, mostly Europe and the Eastern hemisphere. I crave a big city where a car would not be necessary, and I can save more $ for my travels and life experiences.
So throughout preliminary research I have narrowed my options down to New York City, London, Madrid and Milan. My questions are what are the pros and cons of each for someone my age? I speak perfect English and 75% Spanish, although I understand it perfectly as my parents talk to me in Spanish. Also, is Milan kind of not on the level in grand scheme of things to my other 3 options? I seem to have a fascination for the entire country of Italy.
I have never been to New York, Madrid or Milan. Last spring break I took a trip with my school to London and Paris for 3 nights each, and loved them both. We stayed way on the outskirts of London though, I suppose for expense purposes and I know I didn't get nearly enough time to appreciate real London.
The main things I am looking for would probably be:
Friendly people
Access and ease of travel
Living expenses and overall costs
Employment opportunity
Nightlife
Looking forward to your responses, thanks a ton.
London is number one for finance, followed by New York, while New York is less expensive than London or Milan, can't speak for Madrid.
Twenty-five years ago I would have said you could have landed gainful employment in finance in Milan, even without Italian; nowadays it would be a challenge even with good local connections. Both Italy and Spain are in horrible shape right now, the former more so than the latter, and there is no relief in sight, especially for Italy.
I would try London first, then New York. If you find employment first in New York, try to find something in London a few years thereafter. From London it's about 60-90 minutes by plane to most anywhere in western Europe, even about two hours by train, I believe, to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris.
After about 20-25 years of experience in New York and London, and accumulating some wealth, reconsider Miami and you will probably see and feel differently about it.
In every big european city you can live without a car. I've been in all the cities that you asked for and i lived really close to Madrid almost my whole live. The problem with Europe is that almost every country has it's own language and its really difficult to find a job there without speaking. But there some american's companies that they language is English.
Spain right now sucks for finding a job and Italy too. It will be really difficult to find one there. Milan is not really a good city anyways and it's quite ugly too.
You have to consider also the weather. Moving from Miami o Europe is going to be a really big change, and more if you are moving to London. You have to consider that you won't see the sun for days or even weeks sometimes. London is really expensive too but it has big airports and low cost planes to everywhere in Europe. So for what you say you are looking for i would recommend you London. It will be more likely to find a job for you there, it has a great nightlife, you have people from a lot of countries mostly Poland, and you will see lot of people from Spain too.
So, if you want first go and travel around Europe, London should be the one. And you can always visit any website with job offers and see how is the market there for your career.
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OpenMindfromBabylon
The main things I am looking for would probably be:
Friendly people
Access and ease of travel
Living expenses and overall costs
Employment opportunity
Nightlife
Looking forward to your responses, thanks a ton;
I was told by some friends who were to New York that people there is much friendly and warmer than in Spain.
Although nightlife is great in Madrid from Thursday to Saturday, it has falling sharply since 2008 because of the powerful economic crisis. For this reason is very hard to find jobs right now, and there is little prospect of becoming better anytime soon.
I was told by some friends who were to New York that people there is much friendly and warmer than in Spain.
Although nightlife is great in Madrid from Thursday to Saturday, it has falling sharply since 2008 because of the powerful economic crisis. For this reason is very hard to find jobs right now, and there is little prospect of becoming better anytime soon.
As long as you have qualifications ona degree that is not those superficial ones you're bound to find a job.
Degree in management, business, accounting, engineering, etc ... I don't know a single friend that has a degree in a relevant area like that that doesn't have a job.
In Spain and Portugal, the big companies absorb most graduates. Portugal especially, Delloitte, Ernst&Young, KPMG, PriceWatersCooperhouse absorb most of graduates alone.
The main things I am looking for would probably be:
Friendly people
Access and ease of travel
Living expenses and overall costs
Employment opportunity
Nightlife
Don't even think other options....MADRID is the answer!
been and/or lived in all of them...as european I absolutely love N.Y. being so different from everything we got here, but as far as concerning Europe, for me Madrid is the best possible choice.
London is for sure amazing and you can't go wrong with it, Milan as I stated in another thread is probably the worst big city in Europe (people,cost of living,vibe,cultural sites, ecc ecc) but Madrid has got everything you can look for. Incredible nightlife 7/7, super friendly people, low cost of living (1 pint of beer 1.5 euro, dinner in a good restaurant starts from 15 euro, rent for a decent aparment from 400 euro).
If I could be 20s again that's the place where I'd like to live.
I'd say Madrid for fun and partying, and perhaps even improving your Spanish, but London or New York for careers. Milan for neither.
And if you're a European citizen already and are keen to get out of the States - give London a go! You'll probably easily find a job with your language skills (yes, Spanish language skills are in demand in London's globalised economy!) and your good qualifications in finance. London is also a very fun city to live in, everyone's in their 20s and 30s, and there are people from all over the world. The pubs and the parks are also amazing. However, be prepared for the tough side of living in London - the astronomical cost of living, the long commutes by tube and bus (London is a very spread out city - and no-one can afford to live in the centre), the dreary climate with its endless damp grey skies in winter and cool showery summers. Also bear in mind that salaries - while good by European standards - are lower than in NYC - especially once you've taken off the tax. It'll take you a few years of hard graft before you can afford the rent and those minibreaks to continental Europe.
My advice: save up some money, do Madrid for a few months over the summer, have fun, and experience one of the coolest and best cities on the planet. Then move to London and get a job. It is likely that some of your friends you make in Madrid will be joining you - London is seeing a huge immigration of Spanish at the moment because of the economic crisis.
Forget Milan - unless you've got connections there it's like Spain at the moment for getting a good job (although never say never, although it's stagnant, Milan is still a very rich city). You'd learn Italian quickly as a Spanish speaker, but Milan's not a very fun city - very dreary and surprisingly expensive. The cool young cities in Italy are Bologna and Turin - you could hang out here as you would Madrid, then move to London.
Also, have you thought about Paris? It's kind of a mix between all those cities, with a relatively dynamic economy with job opportunities but also an amazing European quality of life that comes a bit cheaper than London. But I'd only do it if your French is already quite good - monolingual anglophones (or Spanish-speakers) do not go down well here!
I'm Italian and lived and worked in Milan for years, now moving to the US for my job.
I can't say that much about New York: I've visited the city and didn't like it that much. I wouldn't want to live in it.
Madrid: nice city in a lovely country. English is not commonly spoken in Spain but if you speak Spanish no problem. Find a job first, it might take a very very long time. Consider also Barcelona to this purpose.
London: I really like it but it's extremely expensive. The weather is sad, it rains most of the time. For finance it could be an absolutely good option. Consider it, definitely! You won't need a car.
Milan: expensive but good for finance as well. Nice weather but in the winter, not extremely cold though. You won't need a car here. you have good connections, London and NY might sometimes be better, depending on what you need. Anyway, you have lakes, seaside or mountains not more than 1 or 2 hours out of the city. Still you won't need a car to get there. With a bachelor I'm not sure you'll be well paid, it's plenty of ppl with a bachelor looking for a job and salaries can be very low. Sometimes in the beginning you are not even paid.
It always depends on what you are looking for. Remember all of them are cities with costs of living far above the average, maybe not Madrid but I'm not sure about it.
If you're going into finance, NYC is the world center for finance, and London is second, so those should be your two best options.
Madrid and Milan are wonderful cities too, but won't have the same opportunities in finance.
If I had to rank them, I would put Milan last, and take it off my list. I think it's a bit dreary (just IMO, please don't take offense) and not quite up to par with the other 3.
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