WTF is wrong with the senate?

Agreed. I'll take cold and dark over constantly-uncomfortable-because-anything-above-21*-is-cold and hurts-my-eyes-to-leave-the-house any day.

Jeff

I'm originally from Louisiana, so I know what you're talking about. However, after living three years in Anchorage, Alaska, cold and grim really gets old after the first winter. Now living in northeastern Italy, we get hot summers, cold winters, and lots of rain as well...it's quite nice. It's not so extreme; there are four true seasons, which is better than one extreme or the other.
 
I never noticed you were from Richmond...a very good friend of mine here comes from there as well. He hates it. He said the illegal gun problem is the worst in the country.

yeah; we had a 'special' program (project exile) that was supposed to curb illegal guns. except for one thing: the vast majority of guns used in crimes in itself makes them illegal. needless to say it failed and quietly died a slow death.
 
No wonder you hated living in the US

Yeah but I've also lived in Florida, Alaska, and travelled all over the southwest. Aside from Phoenix, the other cities were just too blah for me. Phoenix rules. Roswell had to be one of the strangest places.

If I had to choose where to live in the US, it'd probably be either Seattle, San Francisco, maybe Boston too. I'd like to visit New England. Never been there.

Actually, I think one of these days I'll travel all over the US. I haven't been to the big cities on the east and west coasts, so I'd like to do that someday. If I could somehow meld the lifestyle of Italy with the cities of the US, it would be perfect. There's just too much bullshit to deal with there right now, socially.

I've always maintained that the US is the place you want to live if you are making lots of money. Europe really isn't the place you want to live if you make tons of money due to the taxes and other bullshit, unless you're a millionaire. If you have enough money, you can afford the European lifestyle in the US; the problem is, we don't have that kind of money. For my income and level of living now, Europe is a better place for me...probably for most people at the middle to lower middle class level. Of course we still have problems, but not the kind Americans are facing these days. People working their fingers to the bone just to feed their kids, sick family members dying because health insurance is too expensive, etc. That stuff is bullshit to me...life is not for sale. I don't give a fuck if we are a capitalist nation, they shouldn't refuse treatment just because you don't have enough medical insurance. Things like that are of no worry here because everyone is taken care of.

Here, we work to live, not live to work.
 
What languages do you speak, and how fluently do you speak them? I teach English privately, at companies, at English institutes, etc. I speak Italian almost fluently, but I still need practice. Common, everyday conversation is no problem. More technical matters, however, are another story.

If you exploit your strengths, you shouldn't have a problem getting a job. One of your main strengths is of course, you're American and speak perfect English. People desperately need English-speaking employees, but they also need them to speak in the language of said country. If you can speak Deutsche fluently, you can work anywhere between Germany and Austria.

To be honest, the biggest problem isn't finding jobs; it's being able to stay there legally. You must do a lot of paperwork for visas, passports, etc., and each country is different. If I were you, I'd start working towards dual citizenship after you get settled in Europe somewhere. Of course, make sure it's the country you want to stay in, such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, etc. These are all EU countries, and you can get jobs in all of these countries if you are a citizen of just one of them. The EU is now like the US...the countries are more like states, and you can bounce from one to the other with no problems, work/live between them, etc.

The biggest thing is the queepy, mundane, paperwork shit. University visas are really easy. When you start talking about living and working in the country, you really need to do your homework and start planning yesterday. Europe isn't the most efficient place to live, as we all know.
 
I don't think Germans can have dual citizenship, which means if I were to move here permanently, I would be forsaking my US citizenship, a very foolish thing to do. My German is pretty good, but there's always room for improvement. I have been thinking very much lately about Austria being the place I want to live after I graduate. Beauty is abound there, so why not? But shit, I hope dual citizenship is possible there. Anyone know how to find out these kinds of things? I wish I could write more but I don't want my food on the stove burning.