Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe? • Hacker News Board

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

#191

Post by bcrosby95 » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

throwaway1777 wrote: post #144

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…

Wow talk about rose colored glasses… history is longer than your lifetime my friend.

Germans teach and learn from their history. The USA is busy trying to bury their history and pretend it never happened.

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

#192

Post by oaiey » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

eldaisfish wrote: post #124

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…

This is something that doesn't get talked about often and i'm glad you brought it up. For all its flaws, the US (and Canada) are societies built around inclusion. Anyone can become American or Canadian and they have. In North America, you are allowed to retain your original identity and flaunt your culture. In Europe, you must become only French, or only Dutch or only Italian. Your original identity is often erased.…

While being a bit harsh, this is indeed overall one of the biggest issues foreigners actually have: if you accept language and culture and adapt yourself into it, you love it. If you reject it Europe/that country is not your place. You will never feel home then or create a social web outside of the expat community.

I have seen so many cases of both cases here in Europe.

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

#193

Post by MagnumOpus » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #108

boffinAudio wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia is a different dimension altogether - you have a lot of the trappings of Western (US/European) culture, but none of the advantages of access to a free market. Personally, I can't stand Australian culture, nor American either these days - which isn't to say I'm launching into an adopted German/Austrian stance, just that .. being away from these lands for a decade at least in each case, I started to see the s…

I'm not sure if this is intentional but in all your comments you just come across as a hateful, angry person.

Not to me. He answers the questions honestly, bluntly and without the condescending sandwich feedback technique that many here employ.

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

#194

Post by harpersealtako » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #128

nexuist wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living in America is by definition a privileged position. Largest military in the world guarantees either the country survives anything or the world undergoes nuclear Armageddon (and even then the tax man is still coming to your door).

> Living in America is by definition a privileged position Low income Americans have it much worse than low income Europeans on probably every single metric you can come up with.

Really? I was under the impression that even the average person living in a poor European country (e.g. Moldova, Belarus, Kosovo) has a worse quality of life in most ways compared to, for example, someone living in a rural trailer park in Mississippi (an especially poor state) making minimum wage. What are some notable examples?

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

#195

Post by bryanlarsen » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

busterarm wrote: post #176

sbarre wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez someone hit a nerve, eh? I'm a Canadian and I've travelled most of Europe, and most of the US (among other parts of the world). The simple fact that the US doesn't have universal healthcare, and refuses to do anything real about it, or other endemic self-inflicted issues like gun violence - problems the rest of the modern world solved long ago! - kinda puts you at the bottom of the list of modern/developed count…

I lived in Canada with an ex-girlfriend for two years and her whole family would pay out of pocket for dental care in the US because the alternative was waiting months (or in the worst case, 2 years) for an appointment. Even for things that should be a dental emergency.

I call BS. Dental care is completely private in Canada and appointments are easy to find if you're willing to pay.

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

#196

Post by boffinAudio » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

MathCodeLove wrote: post #181

boffinAudio wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Ruhrgebiet is a shithole. But then again, so is Florida. As is North Dakota and most of Utah. Arizona is pretty nice, but I probably think that only because of my Australian skin. The USA is a huge shithole, and if you don't understand why anyone would think that, I have a bridge to sell you .. under which live 12 families, kids and all, who couldn't pay their medical bills after Mom/Grandpa died of cancer. It is…

I think getting upset comes from the fact that in addition to some very valid criticism, there is a tremendous amount of invalid criticism thrown towards the US. If Germany or Austria or the Netherlands were constantly being insulted on the world-stage then they would likely grow sensitive to criticism as well, even when it is occasionally valid. Another reason could be the mindless, abject hatred you seem to have of…

> If Germany or Austria or the Netherlands were constantly being insulted on the world-stage

This would be a fair argument if you, as an American, weren't ignoring the fact that the USA is the worlds #1 cause of terror, war and torment - in countless other sovereign nations, whose infrastructure was torn apart so that Americans could feel good about themselves and their country.

Austrians, and Germans aren't dropping bombs on innocent people every twenty minutes. Your perception that America is unjustly criticized belies the fact that just maybe, you need to travel a bit more to see that a lot of the world is seriously fed up with America's bullshit. The point of travelling is to try to understand that a bit better, and I hope you do that. In the same way that I generalize about America being a shit-hole - Americans generalize, and then drop bombs.

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

#197

Post by drstewart » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

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…

>I've completely lost the brain-dead nationalist mentality that had infected me in my earlier life

Looks like you gained a different one though.

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

#198

Post by busterarm » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #116

allendoerfer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Pretty much that, you can be integrated in Berlin without speaking German nor interacting with german people

You can but most people will give you shit for not speaking German. Some of them are extremely rude about it too. Even/especially if you're quite obviously a tourist.

And where the hell are the non-smokers hiding?

That said...NY's Central Park doesn't have shit on Tiergarten. Literally one of the most beautiful places I've been on the planet.

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

#199

Post by rory » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

wbsss4412 wrote: post #167

rory wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Hard to walk to the grocery store where you live" isn't the same thing as "hard to live where you can walk to the grocery store". If you count entire cities as "well to do areas" then I suppose I agree.

The number of cities where that is the case are a distinct minority. And no it isn’t the same thing, but that was what parent comment was communicating. If people assume you are poor because you aren’t driving then you live in a place where you can’t walk to get groceries, in a practical sense, because clearly for any normal person the trade offs are prohibitive.

I've lived in three different US cities and in each, walking to get groceries was normal and not challenging.

I made my reply assuming the parent comment meant literally what they said. If you are reading another meaning into it, that's fine and I don't disagree. But they also don't contradict my comment, so why frame it like an argument?

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

#200

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #73

Seriously considered moving to London around Oct 2019 (WeWork Waterloo). But am glad I stayed US based. Still maintain contact with many US ex-pats in UK & EU. Very few of them have cut all ties to their native homeland. And if you ask them to be honest, they will admit to making "emergency runs" back to the states several times a year for everything from pharmaceuticals to tacos to extramarital affairs. Europe is ci…

> Europe is civilized. America is a wilderness

Europe has 3x the population density of the US, so this definitely tracks. Europeans (and some US city-dwellers) have so much trouble understanding the popularity of the car here, because they don't get the scale of the wilderness. I routinely hop in my car and in under 10 minutes I'm in places that public transportation will never reach. I can't even fathom how terrible the quality of life would become for me if I had to rely on public transit. Great if I'm going downtown, but I rarely do...