Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#401

Post by NonEUCitizen » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:13 AM UTC

bandy008 wrote: post #270

actionowl wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Philippines is indeed very cheap but that comes at a cost. I've been here a year and can share some struggles. Internet is OK at best. I have an internet line from three different providers, all three have been offline at the same time more than once, and speeds drop to dial-up or worse on my main line at least 2-3 times a month for hours at a time. I've observed this at multiple locations. "Brown outs" are pretty co…

I agree! When you come to the Philippines, skip Manila and go all the way to Cebu or anywhere Visayas area or Davao. Internet?? Well yea! Depends on the area you're in. I have 50mbs on a fiber connection and no major problem so far. Except when I travel to nearby islands, then internet connection can be really bad.

Where do you have 50Mbps fiber?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#402

Post by nelsonic » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:14 AM UTC

santialbo wrote: post #315

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

> and [unlike Barcelona] everyone speaks English Do you have any stats proving that? Just asked a portuguese friend living in Barcelona and said that is a quite bold statement.

Stats would be nice, I agree.

I have searched but haven't found anything concrete ... the best data available is: https://www.ef.edu.pt/epi/regions/europe/portugal

in lieu of stats, I'll give you the logic [facts] instead: English as a Second Language (lessons) begins in the 5th grade in Portugal. It's compulsory for all people and generally high quality.

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Portugal

Students cannot graduate from High school without proficiency in English. So the system is setup to ensure that the next generation [the one you will be interacting with in most situations] is fluent in English.

I know from first-hand experience of going to a "government" school and being taught by a fantastic teacher who studied at Cambridge, UK. The English lessons are predominantly "mechanical" i.e. grammar/vocabulary and sentence structure. But the fact that all television is sub-titled, not dubbed, means that all popular CSI/Fox shows are in English so the general population learn English "in use" much more effectively than in Spain, Germany or France.

All "Top Tier" STEM Universities are taught in English in order to help attract foreign students and help graduates get jobs abroad. This is a "double-edged sward" that has resulted in considerable "brain drain" to other countries. But we are seeing many Portuguese educated people who have worked abroad returning to start their own companies now which is really promising!

In Spain, many people speak English, however - and this is not meant to cause a "flame war" - since all television/media is "translated" [dubbed] people don't practice listening to English nearly as much, so the level of spoken english in the general population [outside of tech] is lower. There's a reason for the "Manuel from Barcelona" Fawlty Towers sketch/stereotype: https://youtu.be/s6EaoPMANQM

I love Spain and Barça [especially] is lovely! I worked there [as a waiter!] for 3 summers as a teenager. Loved it! But again, from first-hand experience, the level of English was much lower than in Portugal. This worked out well for me, because it forced me to learn Spanish. ;-)

The "stats" comparing Spain and Portugal: https://www.ef.edu.pt/epi/compare/regions/pt/es/

Mucho amor a todos los amigos en Barçelona!

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#403

Post by cibcib2 » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:14 AM UTC

Arkight wrote: post #330

victorpascu wrote: post #289

Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Per month: Rent is 500-600 EUR max (worst case unless you're actively looking to splurge), with the average going around 250-300 or so. You can cover food and taxes at a basic level on another 300. Of course, YMMV if you only order restaurant food and such, but if you stop by a supermarket every now and then you're set to go as low as 600 EUR/mth to live comfortably. I got by on 400 when I reall…

I heard that Romania have great internet speed, especially comparing to fellow nations in Eastern Europe. However..... what about its stability? BTW what about food? I am picking a location for doing remote job next few year in Europe, now it seems that Romania should be part of my short list. Like, I really love to eat, so it would be nice to know whether Cluj-Napoca have a diverse catering service.

I'm Romanian so I might be biased.

I think Romania is awesome in terms of food. There are plenty of options (in the big cities, Cluj being one) in restaurants as well as in supermarkets. I always urge for Romanian food after traveling abroad. Home cooking is still big in Romania and you'll find a lot of restaurants offering "home cooked" like dishes.

In terms of stability I wouldn't worry, at least not for the next 3-5 years. Romania is a member of EU and NATO and I know it gets a lot of bad press (which is deserved and actually there is a lot of political turbulence lately) but for a foreigner I think it doesn't really matter (Poland and Hungary are still great regardless of the current political struggles).

A 1Gbps (1000Mbps) internet connection is ~9Euros/month

Downside: Bureaucracy, lack of highways, public healthcare system (there is a private one though wich is decent), very slow trains

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#404

Post by Serow225 » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:14 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #189

In North America I would vote Montreal. It's 1/2 price of most American cities and 2x funner and cooler than almost any of them. LA and NYC have tons of cool, but they are expensive and doing fun stuff is generally expensive. Not so Montreal. Mtl has way more going on than even SF ever had back in the day, and it's much bigger than Austin, Boulder/Colorado Springs etc. etc.. During the summer, Montreal has an unbelie…

I <3 Montreal :)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#405

Post by katzenjam » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC

jonathanstrange wrote: post #353

sanedigital wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd second this. Almost everyone in professional circles speaks English in Barcelona. I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than Spain, but Barcelona is definitely an exception.

> I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than the rest of Spain I'm sure it's just a slip of tongue but never ever say things like that in Portugal...

I think the GP intended "the rest of Spain" to mean "Spain excluding Barcelona", rather than "Spain excluding Portugal". But I read it as "Spain excluding Portugal" the first time too.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#406

Post by alphakappa » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC

isostatic wrote: post #274

rolleiflex wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend it without at least a willingness to learn Turkish. There are some digital nomads here in HN based in Istanbul, though. Nevertheless - my point was, you’re living my dream and I’ll definitely give a visit when my life allows for a Portugal trip. Never been ye…

Istanbul (and all of Turkey, obv.) is run by a dictator who tortures detainees, and arbitarilly arrests journalists and human rights workers https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia...

The country is more than its government. If you’ve been to Istanbul, you would know that it’s a wonderful place. Should we shun the country and its people because they have been burdened with a bad ruler? We should look in a mirror first before passing such harsh judgment.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#407

Post by bogomipz » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC

jonathanstrange wrote: post #353

sanedigital wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd second this. Almost everyone in professional circles speaks English in Barcelona. I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than Spain, but Barcelona is definitely an exception.

> I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than the rest of Spain I'm sure it's just a slip of tongue but never ever say things like that in Portugal...

I think you need to read both sentences together. I believe the OP is just excluding Barcelona from the comparison of English speaking between the two countries.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#408

Post by pzduniak » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC

whitef0x wrote: post #124

msadowski wrote: post #22

If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities there (PK and AGH for technical schools, UJ for humanities, medicine and some tech too and UE for economics). The tech scene seems to be constantly growing, with lots of international companies having their offices there. As a senior dev in Poland you can earn…

How bad is it there for sexual/gender minorities (aka gay/trans people). Is it livable if you are visibly transgender?

I know some trans people (both f2m and m2f) and they really don't have any issues, so yes, it's liveable. You probably won't find large LGBTQ communities like in major US cities though.

Of course if you ask a local if they know someone who got beat up for their identity (be it nationality, language, race or gender), they will usually respond affirmatively... as would quite a lot people in the West. Just don't mess with drunk idiots and you should be fine. Also, based on my observations, there's way less harassment towards women here than in the Bay Area, for some reason.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#409

Post by panorama » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:17 AM UTC

lifebeyondfife wrote: post #378

tixocloud wrote: post #71

Edinburgh could be a good option. If you look hard enough, it is still relatively affordable (especially compared to the Bay Area) and I’ve found very intellectual people to work with. There seems to be a big focus in the U.K. on collaboration between academic and industry and if you’re into data, Edinburgh is home to a The Data Lab, an innovation centre around data. I moved here from North America and have previous…

+1 to Edinburgh, from a biased local. Most (but far from all) startups in Edinburgh are based in the Codebase building: https://www.thisiscodebase.com/ . We also have a couple of unicorns that were started here, Skyscanner and FanDuel; Amazon and Smartsheet also have offices; and Rockstar North is where GTA is developed. All of the above companies are within 10-20 minutes walk of the Edinburgh Waverley train station.…

Before I entered this thread, I was already thinking about spending a couple months from late Jan to late March in Edinburgh. Could you expand on the weather and the Brexit warning you mentioned? Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#410

Post by anonymous_i » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:17 AM UTC

expathacker wrote: post #199

tzhenghao wrote: post #13

I’d recommend Ann Arbor if you don’t mind the midwestern winters. [0] UMich is there, and you’ll find people in academia working on very interesting problems. Very friendly locals too. [0] https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/most-educated-cities-i...

I grew up in Michigan, and hated it until a few years ago when my sister moved to Grand Rapids. GRR has some of the best veggie/vegan food I've had in the world, a strong arts scene and an equally vibrant underground music scene. Ann Arbor is also quite fantastic. I study middle-eastern percussion, and Ann Arbor is a hub for my musical world. Every time I visit family in Michigan I take a couple of days to play house…

Second this. GRR is not too far from AnnArbor, Kalamazoo, BigRapids,Lansing. Which are all college towns. All of them are may be an hour away or two hour tops. GRR has an incredible beer scene,midwestern non-chalance,salaries are not too great, but it is cheap to live there. My buddy used to work for Atomic Object-in GRR and he never had anything bad to say about them.