Moving abroad?

[Pedro Teixeira]

I'm from Portugal. And don't you guys dare say such horrible things about your countries... This IS the shittiest country ever, it's just so awful in so many ways, yeah it's good for going on vacations to Algarve and has some beautiful historical monuments, otherwise, it's a piece of shit. It's even in the lowest rank of recycling countries in Europe (and I recycle mind you). The only country that's worse than us is Greece, and now they are catching up, because this piece of shit government instead of investing in real problems, invest in 1bilion dollar football stadiums. Economy is in such a HUGE crisis here right now, I know it's pretty global, but gosh... this is really shitty in here. I'm going in September to UK to carry on my studies, and don't you dare telling me UK sucks and all, IT MUST BE BETTER THAN THIS SHIT!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I'm from Portugal. And don't you guys dare say such horrible things about your countries... This IS the shittiest country ever, it's just so awful in so many ways, yeah it's good for going on vacations to Algarve and has some beautiful historical monuments, otherwise, it's a piece of shit. It's even in the lowest rank of recycling countries in Europe (and I recycle mind you). The only country that's worse than us is Greece, and now they are catching up, because this piece of shit government instead of investing in real problems, invest in 1bilion dollar football stadiums. Economy is in such a HUGE crisis here right now, I know it's pretty global, but gosh... this is really shitty in here. I'm going in September to UK to carry on my studies, and don't you dare telling me UK sucks and all, IT MUST BE BETTER THAN THIS SHIT!

Eeeeek, doesn't sound too good dude!

Although I must say, you have some hot women!

-Joe

 

[kev]

I have no idea about NZ, short of being aware of their fondness for the word 'bro' & having absolutely hilarious accents, even by Aussie standards.

Yeah I've heard of that chain before. I never realized anyone in the US ever really thought about Oz. There's nothing remarkable here compared to the US, apart from the ability to walk down the street not armed to the teeth and still feel relatively safe (in some areas). I've always thought of this place as a smaller version of the US, except with a shit ton more Asians per capita. From what I understand we overtook you guys in the obesity race, and are now the most obese country on the planet. So perhaps your Outback Steakhouse ads should change to reflect that. Maybe just run a camera through the local supermarket and see how many trunk-arsed, elephants one can count and zoom in to one of them buying a few dozen porterhouses. And then sing the Jenny Craig jingle.

The government is less about corruption and more about ineptitude. We can't really win with any of the political parties here. It's either a party that supports the upper class and increases taxes across the board, or a party that supports the lower classes and in the process destroys all remnants of our economy, treasury savings etc. Most of our core services are privatized. So that means public transport, our largest telecommunications holder, a large amount of the health care system etc. Health care here is shit, which is something I imagine you're used to up your way. Our telephone charges and broadband internet access are ridiculous. My plan costs $70 per month and I'm capped at 40 gigs of downloads during peak times. Another 110gb on offpeak. That's for a whole month, and that's the most generous plan in the country, AFAIK. Traffic is ridiculous at peak times because the city's road infrastructure simply can't handle the population (or should I say immigration?) boom we've had over the last several years. We actually have trams sharing the road with cars on single-lane, main roads. Our trains travel level to the ground, so there are level crossings which stop the flow of traffic every time a train passes. It's all just so inefficient.

I mean, come here for a holiday or something, but don't ever live here. It's just not pleasant. That's about the best way I can put it. I write this now with fucking sweat dripping off my arms because I've been in my room mixing all day and the temperature has spiked, even though we're nearing the end of summer and have already gone through our slew of 40+C degree days... It's just shit man, that's the best way I can put it. The very atmosphere here wants to kill you - this thing isn't meant to be inhabited by humans. Oh, also, good luck getting anywhere here by playing metal. There's no market for it, nor any space to move for local producers, so my #1 goal is to get the hell out of here as soon as humanly possible.

lol dude ouch. Here in the UK i pay £7.49 per month for 8meg on BE* and thats probably the best provider in the UK atm. I do only see 5 meg of this though, as when they gave me 7 meg i was getting dropouts thanks to high noise. P.s its unlimited So yeh, wtf This country is behind the times though imo, we need to get this fricken optical network in pronto. Im sick of the swedish kids in my source clan with their 100meg fibre connections

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Eeeeek, doesn't sound too good dude!

Although I must say, you have some hot women!

-Joe

Well... I won't argue with you on that :

 

[Joematthews]

Australia isn't the place to go in my opinion. My dad has been searching for a job for 18 months and has only just found one, he is top level polymer scientist with over 20 years experience.

He finally landed a job in canberra but now can't find anywhere to live because there are not enough houses, and too many people. Also there are too many morons in the buy to let industry that don't maintain the houses they let out.

Sydney is a great city, but not to live IMHO. Darwin is a shit hole. I haven't been to perth (apart from when I was 6) or melbourne so I can't coment.

However, out of all the places I've lived Australia has been my favourite. New Zealand was too wet and boring for me, but I was too young to remember it properly. I never fitted in in the USA, and where I live at the moment in england is shit appart from the standard of the schools.

Joe

*Edit +1 on shit broadband, when I was last over I couldn't believe they were making my dad pay $30 a month for 2gb broadband haha

 

[Meisterjäger]

Well, definitely not thinking Australia! Don't you need some kind of skill, or be some kind of benefit to the country to move there?

 

[Joematthews]

I think so but I'm not sure because I still have my australian passport and british one

Joe

 

[jrt12]

wow, this is really interesting to see how so many people are really unhappy with their country/state/city. really drives the whole "grass is always greener" mentality. i suffer from this alot, having been here in southern California for 7 years now, my whole take on this place has done a 180. i mean, almost every teenage actor/musician/writer/set designer/etc who graduates from high school has a dream of packing up the car and heading west to the promised land (more appropriately La-La Land). and despite the high cost of living, outrageous housing prices, overcrowding, traffic that inspires rampage on a regular basis, and taxes that just keep growing, they continue to come here in droves year after year.

dont get me wrong, there is alot of good about LA, its just easy to forget that at times. so hearing from whats pissing you guys off about other places around the world is really eye-opening. esp since i think many places have a stereotypical image about them that is often quite far off the mark. but then again, some perspective needs to be kept. at least we're not in Darfur, or Iran, or China...

 

[Metaltastic]

FWIW I'm happy in the NYC area, but that may change when I graduate college this may and have to get a job and eventually move out from my folks' house! Still, I don't think I'll ever leave, NYC rules! (though I couldn't live IN the city again, now that I've been away from a few years I enjoy it from a quick suburb drive)

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I'm fine in MASS even though I hate everyone.
I wouldn't want to live outside the US. Even though it's not ideal here right now or whatever, it's still a lot better than anywhere else I can imagine.

I'm pretty sure people suck EVERYWHERE, so I just gotta man up and take what I get.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hear hear!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Hear hear!

+2, love my country!

-Joe

 

[OctoberRust]

I don't like Köln at all. One time I took my camera with me on a three hours walk through the city and there wasn't anything beautiful worth taking a picture of.

I don't know you but if I had to I'd suggest Hamburg.

 

[Ermz]

Well, definitely not thinking Australia! Don't you need some kind of skill, or be some kind of benefit to the country to move there?

The amount of Mustafas in my close proximity with 10+ person families, living solely off welfare say otherwise.

You know, I actually get deeply angry every time I have to describe anything about this place, because there really isn't anything positive I can think of... short of us being in the middle of freakin nowhere and nobody ever wanting to invade because it makes no tactical sense whatsoever. The invasion is happening via immigration anyway. Within a few years this place will just be an extension of China, so if you're gonna visit for the surfer cliches, do it soon.

 

[kaomao]

This country is behind the times though imo, we need to get this fricken optical network in pronto. Im sick of the swedish kids in my source clan with their 100meg fibre connections

lol you think uk is behind?
In italy I pay 45€/month for a 6megabits connection that works like a 2-4megabits lol
There are other providers giving you the same conncetion for half the price, but at least mine is working, the other may not work at all........

LOL

 

[Ermz]

The worst is having a 20 megabit connection and a ridiculous cap on what you can download per month. It's like giving you a giant schlong, but shoving a poker in your eye every time you give it to some bitch.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I don't like Köln at all. One time I took my camera with me on a three hours walk through the city and there wasn't anything beautiful worth taking a picture of.

I don't know you but if I had to I'd suggest Hamburg.

The cathedral was pretty impressive to me when I was there!

-Joe

 

[slashvanyoung]

Cologne has definitely a fuckton more historical sights than Hamburg due to its (Roman) heritage. The only thing worth taking a photo of in Hamburg, that's not marine-related, are the hookers...

 

[Skinny Viking]

The only thing worth taking a photo of in Hamburg, that's not marine-related, are the hookers...

Got them

If I wasn't at work I'd dig one out and post

 

[sparkyness]

Quite looking forward to moving back to Melbourne in April. Have been living abroad for most of the last 13 years with 7 years in London, a couple in New York, the last 3 in Dublin and stints in Chicago, Tokyo, and work postings in Europe along the way....a few months in Cologne included (I loved it).

I know what I'm in for in Melbourne as I grew up there and am back there quite often. Yeah, the summers there are too hot in Melb, there's shitty people, cultural/racial issues, and the economy is heading south, but in my experience you get that anywhere in the world right now. I think it's a matter of finding out what you like about a place, and being able to tolerate the things you don't. Right now I can't tolerate the uglier aspects of life in Dublin, but can deal with Melbourne's issues. Having seen a lot of the world and lived elsewhere I've grown to appreciate certain things in Australia I took for granted. It's not perfect, but I'm quite looking forward to calling it home again.