Countries

I live in The Netherlands. I like my country, but when I'm in the western part of the country I miss nature, there are buildings everywhere you look and only tiny isolated patches of nature (~1km^3 would be big). But when I'm in the eastern part I miss the sea and the bigger cities with all their types of food and services.. And every time I've been abroad I miss hills, mountains and rocks (I think there's only one place in the entire country where there's a tiny bit of naturally exposed rock).

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. :dry:

I might move to Germany or the dutch speaking part of Belgium, but if I were insanely rich I'd buy a house on the sea in Sicily and move there in winter and return north in the summer, swim in the sea every day and keep a garden with lemons, almonds, pistachios, olives and other cool mediterranean plants.

 

I live in England/Britain. I like a lot about living here, such as the greenness, the wild places (seas, mountains), some aspects of the culture, a sense of history and folklore, relative political freedom (even if I hate the government that political freedom has delivered me at the moment) and the battles that have brought us to that place (unions, suffragettes, etc). I am proud of things like the NHS. For me, the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies (both the Olympic and the Paralympic) summed up what I love about Britain.

Things I don't like about Britain include the way that some people are terribly prejudiced and get conned by the great media myth about the Welfare State and Immigration and have tendency to revert to talking about "this once great nation" when talking about Immigration when you wouldn't have to delve too deeply into their own genetics to find some mix of Norman, Saxon, Roman, Afro-Carribean, European Jewish, etc. Some days, like today, I also don't like that it rains quite so much, although I do love a good thunderstorm.

If I moved anywhere other than England, it would have to Wales or Ireland. Wales is a truly beautiful place and less over-developed than England, with a great language and it's own Assembly government which is currently resisting a lot of the things I consider to be very harmful from the current central British government. My ancestry comes from Wales as well. I've been on holiday to Ireland twice and it is also utterly beautiful and (whilst I'm sure there are exceptions) the stereotype about the Irish being warm, friendly and welcoming really seemed to ring true with everyone we met.

 

US, here. And the fact that we're practically 2 separate countries that has politicians that violate the laws they make, not to mention there are politicians that want to legislate religion as fervently as those in the Middle East and Africa, AND the mayor of the city doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about it... Kinda makes me want to move to Canada. Actually, no. Not "kinda". But Canada and Germany are both options I'd much rather pick.

 

Sums it up quite nicely, even though I'm a city guy.

I'm in doubt if I should stay in the Netherlands... I like it, but there's nothing that makes me want to stay. If I had the choice (and money) I would move to Berlin. Wonderful city.

 

I live and have been brought up in the UK. I do like it here. It is home. I hate politics. I can't stand our PM. I hate the steal from the poor and give to the rich attitude. I hate how unless you're filthy rich, then you hav to suffer. However, we are lucky. We have a (reasonable) welfare system, the NHS is fab, and if you need help with something, there is pretty much always somewhere that can help.

I'd love to move to canada. It's just a beautiful country, an I like their way of life. Sadly, I'm probably going to live and die in England.

 

I live in the U.S. in a not so great bu not so bad state. The thing i don't like about america is the politics i feel like both sides are taking all american's down to hell and they really don't care.

Now since that mini rant is over i would say ohio is not that bad i like the seasons. autumn and winter are my favorite. Although the U.S. is not the best place to live it's home and home is home to me.

 

I live in Norway and I would gladly change with someone who lives in the states or i germany, Norway is NOT the happiest country in the world, people are losing their jobs and we are going to get a new prim minister that thinks they thrue criminal in Norway is the people who are escaping from war countries. and to be honest the only reason we should be considered to be a happy country, it should be after what we did the 22 July 2011, how strong we where when someone decided to kill innocent children and innocent people because they belived in something else than they did, after 22 July 2011 we really showed the world how strong as a nation we can be. I have really never felt like home in Norway.

2. If I could I would move to Germany or the US.

 

I'm from Portugal, born and raised there but I'm living in Germany. I spent some time in Ireland as well.

I miss my country... I miss the sunshine, the fresh sea air, the smell of the sea, the warmth...
I miss the food, the drinks, the people...
I miss the non-PC approach of things, being able to talk without people getting offended by every word that is said.
I miss the dark humor and how we try to deal with all the problems in life by ridiculing it and making fun of it.
I miss sitting at the café and listening to all kinds of people talking about all kinds of things, even their sex life and not caring who hears it.

As we say in Portugal, I feel SAUDADE (there's no accurate translation for this word in any language. Think of missing something so much that it almost literally hurts your soul).

I miss Portugal... even with its current condition, it's still a great country to live in... just not so great to make a living... and that's why I had to leave.

A Master's in my pocket and working in call centers... when my SO told me to go to her in Germany, I did. We've been to Ireland for a while and now we're back in Germany.

What can I say about these countries... well...

Germany is both easy and hard to adapt to at the same time. One of the biggest barriers is the language and another is how people interact with each other.

Until you get to know someone, there's this almost tangible wall between people. It's not a big deal for me, I'm not a social butterfly but for some people, it may be very off-putting. However, if you make a friend, it usually is one to last from what I've seen.

I could go on about other aspects like bureaucracy and their "in ordnung" thing that baffles so many people but it would get too long.

Overall, it's a nice country to live in once you get the language and social aspects. It's easy to find almost anything from a lot of countries so if you know how to cook, you don't need to swap diets. The weather is nice as well, with nicely defined seasons.

Ireland... well... I'm not overly impressed to be honest.

We had huge problems to get any kind of meat cuts for example... or cheese other than cheddar. We also had issues to eat any kind of Irish food due to the massive amount of fat in it. Well... we had problems with food in general...

I wasn't impressed with things that I saw and lived through that made me feel as if I had landed in the 60's again.
Don't even get me started on the separated water taps or the windows opening to the outside... the roads that are more like just a massive hole... the horrid weather...

Overall... I found that Ireland is nice to go on vacation but that's it.

Our plans for the future include owning a house in Germany and one in Portugal, where we plan to retire.

 

I live in the United States of America. I don't really like it.

But it's where I was born and where I'm stuck. There many many countries that are much much worse, but there are also many countries that much much better in my opinion. People in (Western and Northern) European countries don't realize how good they have it compared to the backward USA, where so many people buy into religious fundamentalist insanity and vote in insane far-right politicians who keep this country backward. The Republican Party is comparable to extreme far-right parties in Europe. But instead of being marginalized and getting single-digit support, the Republican Party is one of only two real choices on the ballot in the USA, and it wields a tremendous amount of power at all levels of the U.S. government. As we're finding out right now, the Republican Party is so evil and powerful that it's on the verge of destroying the entire world's economy be refusing to raise the U.S. debt ceiling to keep all of global finance afloat.

Also the culture and quality of life is just better in Europe than in the U.S.

Besides having better political and economic systems and all that, Europeans also just make themselves more attractive than Americans, especially when it comes to men. American men consider showing any concern about their appearance to be "gay" and "girly", so they let themselves get all fat and dress like crap. Seriously walk down the street of a European city and it's amazing how all the guys you see are skinny, fit, well-dressed, attractive packages, whereas walk down the street of an American city and find men with their guts hanging out over their shitty sports jerseys they bought at WalMart. Every cute guy I meet online turns out to be European or Latin American.


Also circumcision. USA is the only non-Muslim country where this barbaric practice is widespread, so much so that Americans consider the cut penis to be 'normal' and are freaked out by foreskin. That pisses me off greatly. Again Europeans don't realize how good they have it being spared the knife just because they were lucky enough to be born in a civilised country. When I'm chatting with a guy and we share pics, if they have a foreskin, right away I know they are from Europe or Latin America. It's very difficult to find an intact guy in the USA, so many American men have their bodies destroyed against their will in this way. Hopefully that will change soon and we can start joining the civilised world.

 

I'm indifferent to Australia. I was born and raised here, so I have no opinion of elsewhere and I'm afraid I can't make any comparisons. I'm fortunate that I grew up in Melbourne, considering this city is very socially-liberal, progressive, cultural and clean, but I have no strong feelings towards my state nor my country. I can't really relate much to the culture here, either, and I despise the Australian liberal party. But, I would much rather live there than the US. I just have no strong feelings to this country, is all.

If I had a choice, I would love to live in Canada, Northern Europe, or Spain. I would say Latin-America for the sake of inclusiveness, but I'd prefer only staying temporarily rather than making Chile, or Argentina a permanent residence.

 

Plenty of that in UK and Ireland. The locals call them chavs and yobs, aka, scum you don't want to mingle with.

I even saw people outside, doing their groceries and going about in town in their damn PAJAMAS! :tantrum::bang:

 

Hah well maybe in the U.K. and Ireland, that's where U.S.A. traces its national origins to, after all. I know the Brits invented the idea of eatting huge breakfasts of eggs and bacon and sausage other fattening crap, so popular in the states.

But I spent my junior year studying abroad in Rome, Italy, and I've been to a few other European cities, and it seems that for the most part European guys keep themselves thin and fit and are always well-dressed (and were routinely mocked and made fun of as "gay" and "metrosexual" by the straight American guys I was studying with). Even in Moscow, Russia, the average young Russian guy would be looked at as "gay" if he were on the streets of some Middle American U.S. city, with his tight-fitting pink clothing and man bag over his shoulder. The ratio of attractive-to-unattractive guys is definitely higher in Europe than in the U.S. Then again, my image of 'attractive' is basically the "stereotypically gay" look.

Of course I was able to fit in much better in Europe than my fellow American straight men, but that's because I was just being myself, loudly and proudly gay. The same outfits and looks that identified me as gay in the U.S., allowed me to fit in in Europe. When people in the states see a thin well-dressed guy who takes care of his appearance, the question people around him will ask is "gay or just European?" :lol:

 

I don't think it's about fear of looking feminine, I think it's more about the fact that the working poor in the US can't afford to look nice, and don't have time to eat healthy.

 

I live in Greece and i am from Greece... hehehehe
It is not a bad place to live but people are not so open-minded as they want to believe. People outside the big cities are at least fifty years ago in their beliefs. idk...
Right now our government is a mess... a really big f* mess and the worst is their is no party to vote that could make it better (I blame the globalization and Europe's rich countries... lol)
I want to get out of here... I was thinking Austria or something(without family of course)
I want to eventually come back some day (for vacation only) and just start anew... I want no one to recognize me....
At least in Athens it is a little better because you have many choices... I live happily and I enjoy university but I still will get my master's degree somewhere else...

 

I don't know a whole lot about Greece other than some historical events and that currently you're in political/economic bad shape (sounds familiar lol) but to me at least, it's a dense collection of some of the most beautiful places imaginable. Dramatic white cliffs, turquoise water, tranquil architecture, I could go on. Florida has precisely none of that save some nice water further south. I'm jealous. >.<

 

I live in Merica! My country is not perfect, but it could be worse. I can't say that America is the absolute best place to live, because I have only been in the U.S.A. and Canada. I would like to try Switzerland maybe, because the high standard of living.

 

Well there are some great places here for vacation and it is mostly sunny and I too believe that it is a really great place..(could be really better). The thing is I get bored easily. I used to live in a rural town for 7 years and got bored. Now I live in Athens haven't been bored yet but I know I am gonna.. I want to learn new places.

 

1. I like in the UK. It is a nice country overall. I like that we have free education and health-care system. I dislike the current government interference in these sectors. I think they are doing more harm than good.

2. I would stay in the UK. My family come from Pakistan, though I was born in Britain. I feel more comfortable in the UK because I can speak the language fluently and familiar with the culture.

 

I live in the US, and I am very glad that I do.

I was born in Massachusetts and even though I love the environment there I can't stand the politics of New England. I now live in Arizona and the politics are a perfect fit for me.

I do feel very much at home here. America is my country and I love her. We have TONS of issues and society is going to shit, but I believe that the US is #1. I would be ok living in any of the first world nations but I love the US and would not leave by any choice of my own.

I was at the gay pride parade here in Tucson just the other day and when the Color Guard marched out and presented the flags I was filled with pride as all the other LGBT people there stood, removed their hats and placed their hands over their hearts. I have strong patriotic pride running through my veins.

I would very much like to visit Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK at some point in my life simply because those are the countries that I feel are pretty much level with the US in most aspects and I would feel pretty safe traveling there.

You won't catch me dead traveling back to Mexico. Did it once, never again.

 

I like living in Sweden. It has its share of racism and sexism etc. but generally people are open minded. The current government's doing their best to ruin this country though. They ruin a system that worked great, just to make rich people richer, then they blame someone else or the economy.

I can't think of anywhere I'd rather live. Maybe it's because I've lived here all my life and I'm deeply rooted in this culture. But I could probably live in another western European country.