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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?

#401

Post by raverbashing »

WallWextra wrote: post #234

I recently moved from the US to Berlin. I plan to return to the US. Pros of Berlin: - Good transport - Bikeable - Safe - Cheaper than the big coastal cities in the US, with lower rent. - Good clubbing (not my thing) Cons of Berlin: - Healthcare is inconvenient. Doctor's offices won't pick up the phone, and won't leave you on hold. You just have to go in person. Providers all work in small doctor-owned practices, and…

> The food in Germany is terrible. The quality of produce and other ingredients is very bad

Don't shop at Lidl then. Restaurants are what you make of it, goes from basic to fancy and the basic ones are, well, basic. (Though the basic ones are probably at a step lower than the ones in the US because of fast-food in the US)

Though I'll give it to you that 80% of restaurants are generic Italian or Asian ones

> Stores in general suck. They have fewer, and worse products.

Again, don't shop at Lidl. "Fewer products" oh you mean, slightly different products pretending they're not 50% HFCS like in the US? Or products that "look better" but aren't? (like excessively red apples that taste like nothing)

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

#403

Post by nec4b »

boffinAudio wrote: post #196
MathCodeLove wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Austria and Germany started the first and the second world war. Austria has a bad record of implementing and respecting laws about its minorities to this day.

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

#404

Post by nec4b »

tomxor wrote: post #361
nickpp wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The EU is no utopia, but standards of living, environment and way of life is pretty good for the "not-wealthy". Romania and Bulgaria are part of the EU. Some 25-30 million people in total. Do you think the standards of living are "pretty good" for the non-wealthy Bulgarians?

If you are challenging my view as being selective I think that could be fair (if provided some statistics to combat my finger in the air analysis). I live in the UK which (was) one of the more developed members of the EU, so that probably does bias my view, and I have not visited the poorest members of the EU. Even with this caveat, there is a difference in principle that I believe distinguishes the way of life for t…

Public schools and libraries are socialistic tools now? They were a thing before Marx has even dreamt about socialism. Since you are from one of more developed ex EU member state, you could surely afford to travel to an ex communist EU member state to see for yourself (go outside of capitals) what poverty in EU looks like.

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

#405

Post by shetill »

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…

How is your social life better, I always thought Americans are very social and easy to befriend? I'm in UK and people are very asocial and difficult to make friends with

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

#406

Post by yasinaydin »

chrismeller wrote: post #313

- Estonia - Pay and all the amenities of home, particularly in regard to food (both fast and cooking at home varieties) - Well, a wife, but everything else is in the negative Very short version of a long story: Am American. Company got bought, I was laid off. Travelled for a while. Friend eventually got me to move to Estonia to work. Hated it immediately. Made plans to move back, met a girl, stayed for said girl beca…

Good points, although I'd say most of these apply to most other European countries (i.e. language, salary comparison, service industry), including Spain and France.

Source: Me as an expat SWE living in Estonia for the last 5 years, who travelled to most of Europe (but not US yet).

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

#407

Post by shetill »

WallWextra wrote: post #234

I recently moved from the US to Berlin. I plan to return to the US. Pros of Berlin: - Good transport - Bikeable - Safe - Cheaper than the big coastal cities in the US, with lower rent. - Good clubbing (not my thing) Cons of Berlin: - Healthcare is inconvenient. Doctor's offices won't pick up the phone, and won't leave you on hold. You just have to go in person. Providers all work in small doctor-owned practices, and…

How safe is US compared to EU?, you can get shot in US literally anywhere. Doubt anyone doesn't have a gun there. It's true you make a lot more money there but every day is a Russian roulette.

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

#408

Post by BrandoElFollito »

scsilver wrote: post #183
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #115

How come nobody mentions France in the comments? :) I am French but have been working 12 years for a very large US company , spent a lot of time in the US, go friends there - an witnessed/helped several Americans moving to France. Salary and healthcare were already covered. The fact that over a 3 days drive across Europe you visit 4 or 5 countries with vastly different cultures is a big plus. And by vastly I mean rea…

How's southern France for long term tourists/expats? Would love to hear your thoughts.

I am not a big fan of southern France so I am biased.

PROS

- the weather if you like hot weather. It can be quite windy, but going for a picnic on the beach in February has its nice aspects

- there is a techhnopole at Sophia-Antipolis where they hire on a regular basis

- skiing: the Alps are close, or the Pyrenées - depending on where you are

- the views are really nice and vary a lot

CONS:

- the weather, it is too hot :)

- road communication is complicated, public transports are not great either

- prices of housing are high (depends on the place, obviously)

My preference would be places such as Nantes or Rennes (western part of France), or the western coast of the Atlantic (below Brittany: Charente Maritime, Vendée, ...)

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

#409

Post by shetill »

killdisk wrote: post #6

I can't answer all these questions, but I'm doing this right now. Moving from Denver, CO -> Berlin, Germany. I start in May. I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position), although what's interesting is Berlin has a lower cost of living, and in particular rental prices are actually reasonable. My plan is for this to be a ~5 year thing, just because it would be hard to leave my fami…

Senior Software Engineer in UK here, I can barely save anything after rent and bills. Honestly I don't even know why I don't just go US, have nothing here, no house, no friends, no family.

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

#410

Post by thenoblesunfish »

pimterry wrote: post #76
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 think this depends a lot on the culture. I've found (in Barcelona) that it was hard to integrate initially due to language barriers and lack of an existing local network to bootstrap from, but over time those issues have disappeared. 6 years in now, my social circle here is far larger and more diverse than my network in London where I was before. You do need to somehow actively engage yourself with the community th…

Definitely - how I wish I was surrounded by people from Spain!
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