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Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

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Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#81

Post by pjc50 »

starik36 wrote: post #35
jzellis wrote: post #15

I'm just outside London, moved here to marry my English wife from Vegas. I work part time doing basic IT for a US law firm due to health issues after heart surgery, and Yankee dollars are worth jack shit here - I'm not making serious tech industry money, but over here it's barely enough to survive on. Housing is always smaller than you'd get in (at least the western) US for the same price, and I'd bet that's true pre…

> brink of civil war I think that might be overstated. > NHS is absolutely amazing I've read and heard that for a non-emergency appointments, the wait could sometimes be months. Is that also overstated?

The wait for non emergency treatment on the NHS can certainly be long, and COVID has made that worse. But if you're a software developer you can afford to buy or be provided decent private cover to buy your way round the queue - and since the NHS is there to cover all the difficult cases, the private insurance is much cheaper and far less likely to engage in scammy billing.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#82

Post by [deleted] »

slingnow wrote: post #58
boffinAudio wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20 years - I left just after 9/11, during which period I witnessed the USA collectively shitting itself, and during which I decided to play no part in the USA's continued economic survival. Far better to have moved to Germany and get things happening in a country not inclined to blood-lust because it was finally attacked the way it had been attacking countries, with impunity, for decades prior. The German culture's p…

> The German culture's proclivity for peace-making ... Oh boy, this gave me a good chuckle. Thanks for that.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#83

Post by exdsq »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #63
starik36 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> brink of civil war I think that might be overstated. > NHS is absolutely amazing I've read and heard that for a non-emergency appointments, the wait could sometimes be months. Is that also overstated?

The wait is really months. Also the quality of the NHS is pretty bad. The NHS being great is the usual state-backed propaganda you can hear in a lot of other European countries to justify spending all that tax money on healthcare. Just from my personal experience: They skipped some safety measures they were supposed to follow during a birth delivery, they dealt terribly with one of my newborns after birth, they recom…

Private health insurance is a bit of a scam for anything serious in the UK though - they don't have the ability to do anything out of the ordinary or complex and send you to the NHS hospitals when they are out of their depth.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#84

Post by wbsss4412 »

rory wrote: post #57
syki wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in an American colony; the Canal Zone. We had our own schools and were taught U.S. curriculum and about the U.S. I was a rabid nationalist. I had never lived in the U.S. until I went to college but had visited it. Ever since coming to the U.S. I slowly became more and more liberal and less and less nationalistic. The myths I was taught about the U.S. did not withstand my experience of the country. Everythin…

> It’s very hard to live where you can walk to a grocery store. Very hard seems like an exaggeration. More expensive, maybe, but millions of low-income people also do it. I didn't have a car for most of my twenties, and the majority of my social group didn't either. Living in a more spread out area of the US is a choice-- one that comes with benefits, but still a choice.

I think you’re getting a bit too caught up with wether it’s possible to walk to the grocery store for most Americans.

I think you can agree that in most places, if you are walking to get groceries, you are either living in a well to do area, or you are forced to because you can’t afford a car, and it isn’t a pleasant experience.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#85

Post by emj »

mistahenry wrote: post #30
AdrianB1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious: how long since you moved out of USA? How long it took to learn German well enough (in your personal opinion) to integrate well?

I moved to Germany as well and self taught German to a high B2 level in the 15 months before moving. That was enough where I was able to be conversationally fluent within 3 months of arrival When I self taught, I primarily used Assimil and Pimsleur daily for the first six months. After completing those programs, I continued with the daily study (that’s the most important part!) and used Easy German the YouTube channe…

For me it was most important to get books in my field in german, read them slowly and learn all the buzzterms and experssion. Some books you can read without really understanding them, e.g. some best selling paper back without any weight too it. I haven't worked in Germany but it's a perfect country to learn by reading books

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#86

Post by allendoerfer »

m_fayer wrote: post #38
thenoblesunfish wrote: post #20

I'm sure others will cover the shorter-term aspects. I'll add that, particularly if you're not young or have a family, it wouldn't hurt to consider the fact that you will probably have a great time for the first N years, but there might be a slump when you realize that you will probably never really integrate and will have a smaller social circle because of it, in a place where people seem to have smaller casual grou…

I'm in Berlin and feel fully integrated here. Whether or not that's possible really depends on location, there's many in Europe where it absolutely is.

The downside is, Berlin is not really integrated into Germany.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#87

Post by chinchilla2020 »

jzellis wrote: post #15

I'm just outside London, moved here to marry my English wife from Vegas. I work part time doing basic IT for a US law firm due to health issues after heart surgery, and Yankee dollars are worth jack shit here - I'm not making serious tech industry money, but over here it's barely enough to survive on. Housing is always smaller than you'd get in (at least the western) US for the same price, and I'd bet that's true pre…

> at least they're not on the brink of civil war here

I realized that this answer might be pretty biased after reading this inaccurate statement

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#88

Post by vlunkr »

boffinAudio wrote: post #46
FPGAhacker wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how much of the US you experienced, but LA is hardly representative of the country.

Quoted post unavailable.

Their comment was incredibly mild, and also accurate. Ironic that you're trying to convince people that Europeans are humble and kind.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#89

Post by teakettle42 »

boffinAudio wrote: post #4

I've done it, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. WHERE: I'm Australian, moved to LA when I was 18 and lived there for 15 years. Then, I moved from Los Angeles to Germany (Duesseldorf), and then to Vienna, Austria. WHAT SACRIFICE: No more In 'n Out Burger, no more decent Mexican/TexMex food, no more LA food trucks. These are literally the only things I miss about the USA. Literally every other aspect of…

Vienna is one of the nicest and wealthiest cities in Europe.

LA is a car-centric sprawling cesspool. Even for the US, it’s uniquely terrible.

If you’d moved to some of the less desirable locations in Europe, you’d probably find them to be a shithole, too.

Your lack of perspective (“how much of a shithole the USA really is”) is something I’d only expect from someone half your age on their first backpacking tour of Europe.

Re: Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

#90

Post by Oddskar »

thegypsyking wrote: post #3

I did the opposite and found the us much better. Pay and opportunities are infinitely better, people are friendlier, having a car is much easier and more convenient.

> having a car is much easier and more convenient.

Ah, I see you didn’t live in Germany.

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