board77

The Last Homely Site on the Web

Emigrated: Going On a German Holiday

Post Reply   Page 1 of 27  [ 526 posts ]
Jump to page 1 2 3 4 527 »
Would you emigrate?
Yes
  
50% [ 14 ]
No
  
36% [ 10 ]
Undecided
  
14% [ 4 ]
Total votes: 28
Author Message
Silwen
Post subject: Emigrated: Going On a German Holiday
Posted: Thu 05 Jun , 2008 7:34 pm
DomiKNITrix
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6597
Joined: Tue 01 Mar , 2005 2:43 pm
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact: Website
 
Where I am, moving to another country seems to be the dream of an astonishing number of people. Especially young people are thinking of moving somewhere where the jobs are better, the weather is nicer, the people friendlier than at home. I, too, am planning to emigrate - though not to a place with better weather: England will have to do. :D

Have you left your home behind and moved abroad too? Are you planning to in the future? Or would you if you had the chance someday, though it may always remain a dream?

If you have emigrated, what problems did you encounter? What would you suggest people look into before actually making the move? Do you regret it?

I am looking forward to everyone's input, ideas and stories! :)

For my part, I emigrated before with my parents, then we returned. Perhas due to all the moving between countries, I have always felt that "home" was somewhere else for me. I think I have found that place and hope to move in the near future. I have the feeling it is definitely the right thing to do because there seem to be better jobs for me, a better mentality, my boyfriend is there so I'd have to move anyway if the relationship were to work, and I felt quite at home when I stayed in his city for a rather long time just recently. It's quite exciting!

Last edited by Silwen on Sun 12 Feb , 2012 10:45 am, edited 22 times in total.

_________________

Abso-knitting-lutely! The knitting blog.


Top
Profile Quote
Nin
Post subject:
Posted: Thu 05 Jun , 2008 9:24 pm
Per aspera ad astra
Offline
 
Posts: 3388
Joined: Thu 28 Oct , 2004 6:53 am
Location: Zu Hause
 
I emigrated.... to Switzerland... if that counts.

:D

I love my city.

Geneva is more home than Germany ever was. Would do it again every day!!!!!

_________________

Nichts Schöneres unter der Sonne als unter der Sonne zu sein.
(Ingeborg Bachmann)


Top
Profile Quote
Jude
Post subject:
Posted: Thu 05 Jun , 2008 9:27 pm
Aspiring to heresy
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 19653
Joined: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 6:54 pm
Location: Canada
 
Um... is something wrong with the software or did I hit the wrong button? I meant to vote "yes" :scratch:

I emigrated to Scotland and back again, as you know. I'll need to take some time to give your question the answer it deserves, but I'm in a hurry just now! :cheers:

_________________

[ img ]

Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


Top
Profile Quote
Dawnnamira
Post subject:
Posted: Thu 05 Jun , 2008 10:19 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 4766
Joined: Sat 06 May , 2006 9:46 pm
Location: Kentucky
Contact: Website
 
I emigrated to a larger city...

I would emigrate to another country, but only if there was a guarantee of better living.

So, I guess I should vote sometimes. :D

_________________

How strange it is to be anything at all


Top
Profile Quote
Leafy
Post subject:
Posted: Thu 05 Jun , 2008 10:42 pm
Lying among the Daisies
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 840
Joined: Sun 06 Feb , 2005 9:00 pm
Location: Teh U of K
 
Sorry, but I think I have a pretty sweet deal where I am thanks! I don't blame you for wanting to emigrate here. :D

Wouldn't say no to a pretty little holiday home in the deeps of France though... ah, je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage!

_________________

~Leafy~

Let's get Fizzical


Top
Profile Quote
Silwen
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 2:07 am
DomiKNITrix
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6597
Joined: Tue 01 Mar , 2005 2:43 pm
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact: Website
 
Leafy, I wouldn't want to move from where you are either. :D

The nice thing is that, as an EU citizen, moving to the UK will be easy-peasy. Finally, something that won't cause any problems! Anyway, if my relationship goes on as well as it has been so far, I will have no choice but to move anyway. :P One of us will have to and it would be far easier for me to do so. Anyway, I always wanted to.

Jude, I am looking forward to reading your next post. :) I am still so jealous that you got to like in my favourite Scottish city!

Although I have always known that I would not stay in Germany forever, it was only after my recent stay in Bath that I had the distinct feeling I do not belong here in Germany at all. I felt completely at home in Bath.

_________________

Abso-knitting-lutely! The knitting blog.


Top
Profile Quote
Lord_Morningstar
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 2:37 am
Offline
 
Posts: 2420
Joined: Thu 03 Mar , 2005 8:22 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia
 
I've got no plans to leave Australia, or ever spend too long away from Queensland for that matter. Subtropical weather, plenty of space, a strong economy and plenty of jobs, one of the highest standards of living in the world - I feel lucky to have been born here.

That said, if I ever did need to leave Australia for some reason, I'd go to New Zealand, or else one of the warmer parts of the United States (Florida, Texas or California most probably, where there'd be cities with jobs on offer).

_________________

[Space for Rent]


Top
Profile Quote
Impenitent
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 4:31 am
Try to stay perky
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 2677
Joined: Wed 29 Dec , 2004 10:54 am
 
I think I'd like to live in Sydney; warmer than Melbourne, and somehow busier. Yes, I like busy-ness - bustle and movement and people and colour.

Queensland would, of course, be perfect weatherwise - but I prefer a really big city, bigger than Brisbane. (Actually, Melbourne is growing at a greater rate than Sydney at the mo, so it will be more populous sooner rather than later - still, not enough sun and heat for me.)

_________________

[ img ]

"Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not;
and oftentimes we call a man cold when he is only sad." ~Robert C. Savage


Top
Profile Quote
Silwen
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 4:40 am
DomiKNITrix
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6597
Joined: Tue 01 Mar , 2005 2:43 pm
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact: Website
 
Lord_Morningstar wrote:
I've got no plans to leave Australia, or ever spend too long away from Queensland for that matter. Subtropical weather, plenty of space, a strong economy and plenty of jobs, one of the highest standards of living in the world - I feel lucky to have been born here.

That said, if I ever did need to leave Australia for some reason, I'd go to New Zealand, or else one of the warmer parts of the United States (Florida, Texas or California most probably, where there'd be cities with jobs on offer).
Yes, it sounds as if you have certainly been born in the right place!

A friend of mine moved from Birmingham to Sydney (every Brit says they know why! Anything is an improvement). Personally, it would be too hot for me, but it is certainly a destination that would make most people jealous. A good economy and jobs are certainly very important reasons to stay or move to a place, in my opinion.

During my travels I also ended up in new Zealand for a bit. I went there wondering if I could live there. It turned out that I did not have the feeling of being at home at all, though I could not say why exactly. It is not like it is such a terribly different culture (or cultures, really), especially if I consider that I emigrated to Bangladesh before, which is something entirely different from what I was used to till then. New Zealand was just different. For some reason I had the impression that it was one or two decades behind the rest - but I assume that depends on where exactly you are in New Zealand (I was in Christchurch). Anyway, whatever the reason, I felt like a visitor only.

Even though I have lived a number of years in Bangladesh, I would not be able to go back now. As a kid it was alright and I did have a good time there. I must also have felt at home at the time, but as I grew older I realised that it wasn't quite right for me. And now, after many years of being back in Germany, I have become too set in my European ways to fit in and be happy in Bangladesh. Significantly, even at that young age I could not imagine what I would do as an adult or even right after leaving school. I had the feeling that there weren't too many options for me, and most people I heard of or went to school with went on to study in the UK or the USA in the end anyway It seemed like nobody stayed because the better opportunities were not in that country.

_________________

Abso-knitting-lutely! The knitting blog.


Top
Profile Quote
Lord_Morningstar
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 7:07 am
Offline
 
Posts: 2420
Joined: Thu 03 Mar , 2005 8:22 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia
 
Impenitent wrote:
I think I'd like to live in Sydney; warmer than Melbourne, and somehow busier. Yes, I like busy-ness - bustle and movement and people and colour.

Queensland would, of course, be perfect weatherwise - but I prefer a really big city, bigger than Brisbane. (Actually, Melbourne is growing at a greater rate than Sydney at the mo, so it will be more populous sooner rather than later - still, not enough sun and heat for me.)


Brisbane is growing faster than either (and the Gold Coast faster still – the rate of building going on down there is absolutely phenomenal), but you’re right that it isn’t really an international city in the style of Melbourne and Sydney.

If I did want to change anything about Brisbane, though, I’d like cooler summers. Winter here is perfect (I’m sitting here in my T-Shirt on a winter evening now), but the really hot, humid summers can get to me. Still, I’d take it over any of those places where you need to wear and coat and put heating in your house and the sun doesn’t come out for weeks. Humans, like all great apes, are meant for the tropics and subtropics after all.

Brisbane is also kind of flood prone (and drought prone – we get flood and drought relief money at the same time sometimes).

Something to keep in mind about Australia’s cities, though, is that they were built to punish the people who were sent to live there. That often explains why their locations are sometimes far from ideal (or why any European power went to the trouble of colonizing the continent in the first place).
Silwen wrote:
During my travels I also ended up in new Zealand for a bit. I went there wondering if I could live there. It turned out that I did not have the feeling of being at home at all, though I could not say why exactly. It is not like it is such a terribly different culture (or cultures, really), especially if I consider that I emigrated to Bangladesh before, which is something entirely different from what I was used to till then. New Zealand was just different. For some reason I had the impression that it was one or two decades behind the rest - but I assume that depends on where exactly you are in New Zealand (I was in Christchurch). Anyway, whatever the reason, I felt like a visitor only.
I’ve spent two hours in NZ, and I’d love to spend some more time there. The only problem that I’d have with the country is that it’s a bit sleepy and not that great for high-end career options (which a young person in my position needs), but the mountains would almost make up for that.

_________________

[Space for Rent]


Top
Profile Quote
Berhael
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 8:37 am
Milk and kisses
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 4417
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 11:03 am
Location: lost in translation
 
I emigrated from Spain to the UK ten years ago, and I feel at home here. I still miss Madrid sometimes, but in general I don't miss Spain that much. And it's close enough to visit often if I do. :)

When Dan and I were in Japan a couple of years ago we felt that we could easily live there. I guess that once you've emigrated once, doing it again is no big deal!

_________________


"The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born [...] Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life."


Top
Profile Quote
Silwen
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 9:29 am
DomiKNITrix
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6597
Joined: Tue 01 Mar , 2005 2:43 pm
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact: Website
 
Berhael wrote:
I emigrated from Spain to the UK ten years ago, and I feel at home here. I still miss Madrid sometimes, but in general I don't miss Spain that much. And it's close enough to visit often if I do. :)

When Dan and I were in Japan a couple of years ago we felt that we could easily live there. I guess that once you've emigrated once, doing it again is no big deal!
Ber, I imagine that Japan is very different. What is it that makes you feel at home in such a far country with an entirely different culture?

Back to New Zealand for a minute: it is an ideal holiday destination for me, but not home. There is so much to see and so many different kinds of landscape. Some of it can't be found anywhere else due to the particular flora and fauna. I see what you mean about it being a bit sleepy though; that is similar to what I thought too.

_________________

Abso-knitting-lutely! The knitting blog.


Top
Profile Quote
Eruname
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 10:06 am
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 8748
Joined: Wed 27 Oct , 2004 6:24 pm
Location: UK
Contact: Website
 
I've emigrated to the UK from the US. I've only been here for 4 weeks and aren't settled yet so I can't say much.

I had a bout of homesickness pretty much immediately when I got here but it was all due to lots of stress. The last month or so in America was stressful as I was having to tie up all the loose ends and leave. Then when I got here it seemed like my inlaws were immediately pressuring me to find a job which freaked me out. I couldn't find my way around let alone go searching for a job. It was a big misunderstanding and things have been cleared up but it was a bad few days.

I've found it overwhelming not knowing how to nagivate, work the buses, and how to do simple things. I expect emigrating to a european country from another one would be simpler as one would already be used to figuring out public transportation.

I think if one is contemplating emigrating, he should figure out whether he is adventurous or not. Being adventurous and confident will help loads. I'm not adventurous at all. I always get stressed when travelling. So I think this move won't be as easy for me.

_________________

Abandon this fleeting world
abandon yourself.
Then the moon and flowers
will guide you along the way.

-Ryokan

http://wanderingthroughmiddleearth.blogspot.com/


Top
Profile Quote
Silwen
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 10:15 am
DomiKNITrix
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 6597
Joined: Tue 01 Mar , 2005 2:43 pm
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact: Website
 
Eru wrote:
I've found it overwhelming not knowing how to nagivate, work the buses, and how to do simple things. I expect emigrating to a european country from another one would be simpler as one would already be used to figuring out public transportation.
I know the feeling. Figuring out public transportation is always stressful to me to even just think about, even though I use public transport a lot in Germany. Every country does things differently in this respect, if only slightly. Something that always worries me in Britain is that not all buses have a digital display telling you what the next stop is. What is more, the stops are so hard to see that I don't think I could easily find the right place I want to go unless I have been there before. That is a big worry! Needing to have exact change on buses sometimes doesn't ake things easier either.

I agree that you have to at least be confident in orer to be somehow comfortable or safe when emigrating. I would imagine it would be impossible to do so on your own otherwise. If the partner is with you it is a bit easier, but still tough on someone uncomfortable and scared about the new situation.

_________________

Abso-knitting-lutely! The knitting blog.


Top
Profile Quote
Estel Dúnadan
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 1:00 pm
Revenge of the Salmon
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Wed 24 Oct , 2007 10:20 am
Location: Krae Glas
 
Better not talk to me about emigration. I'll just say that I prefer six-season places to two-season; I dislike the tropics. Lord_Morningstar, post if you ever come to Melbourne, please! Impenitent, what part are you in?

Erunáme, does the public transport system there have a website to help you find an exact route? Melbourne's has an excellent one.


Top
Profile Quote
Axordil
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 1:02 pm
Not so deep as a well
Offline
 
Posts: 7360
Joined: Tue 11 Jan , 2005 3:02 am
Location: In your wildest dreams
 
I don't see myself needing to emigrate, although every bad election makes Canada look better...and I could do what I do for IBM I can in theory do from anywhere on the planet with a good internet connection. Given the weakness of the USD it might include a de facto raise. :D But the time for relocation, internal or external, for opportunities is long past for me.

Besides, with the US, one can always effectively emigrate by moving to CA...;)

_________________

Destiny is a rhythm track on which we must improvise.

In some cases, firing the drummer helps.


Top
Profile Quote
Jude
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 1:22 pm
Aspiring to heresy
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 19653
Joined: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 6:54 pm
Location: Canada
 
Keep in mind when you tabulate the poll results that one of the "no's" should be a "yes". :oops:

I emigrated to Scotland as a young naïf Canadian that had never been far from home before. At the time, I thought it would be permanent, but events proved me wrong.

Things got better as they went along - at first, I was too focused on what was "wrong" with the place, and missed some of the comforts of back home. But eventually I came to appreciate the things that were better in Edinburgh - better public transport, more pedestrian-friendly cities, better opportunities for musicians, to name a few.

I had no idea when I started out how much I would be changed by the experience. I was a fundamentalist Christian when I left Canada, and believe me, I would have been very surprised (and filled with tons of aagragaah) if you had told me that I wouldn't be so in five years' time. Whether it was because of getting a fresh new perspective on life (I was very sheltered in Canada) or because the church I joined in Scotland just oozed with phoniness, I still wonder. I think you can't helped but be changed by relocating to a different part of the world. In my case, I think the changes were positive.
Lord_Morningstar wrote:
If I did want to change anything about Brisbane, though, I’d like cooler summers. Winter here is perfect (I’m sitting here in my T-Shirt on a winter evening now), but the really hot, humid summers can get to me. Still, I’d take it over any of those places where you need to wear and coat and put heating in your house and the sun doesn’t come out for weeks.
It sounds like we have the worst of both worlds in Ottawa. :bawl: Freezing cold winters and hot humid muggy summers. But our spring and autumn are to die for.

_________________

[ img ]

Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


Top
Profile Quote
LalaithUrwen
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 5:18 pm
The Grey Amaretto as Supermega-awesome Proud Heretic Girl
Offline
 
Posts: 21756
Joined: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 3:46 pm
 
I would consider emigrating (if my life were my own, as you know). Taking the hubby and the kids into consideration, though, I'm happy here in the U.S.

Canada would be lovely, but my personal, number one choice would be Ireland. (Nevermind that I've never been there! This is my fantasy--don't go ruining it! :rage: ) Scotland and England would be close contenders, too.

Anyway, I voted "yes" because I would consider it.


Lali

_________________

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
MariaHobbit
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 6:04 pm
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu 03 Feb , 2005 2:39 pm
Location: MO
 
I lived for 3.5 years in Germany when I was in my 20s. My two oldest children were born there. By the time I left, I felt like there really wasn't all that much difference between there and here. People are people, dogs and cats are still dogs and cats. Trees are trees and shopping centers aren't all that different. I couldn't read my junk mail and could barely puzzle out my bills, but other than that it wasn't all that different. The weather was definitely milder there than here- the summers weren't so hot, the winters not so cold. All in all it left me not needing to travel ever again.

Our weeklong expedition to Barbados two years ago had a similar effect. People are people, cars are cars (even if they are on the *wrong* side of the road! ) Cool, singing tree frogs are... well unmatched by anything in Missouri, that's for sure! :D

Anyway, I like where I am now. The only reason I would move again would be for more acreage.

_________________


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

[ img ]


Top
Profile Quote
Lord_Morningstar
Post subject:
Posted: Fri 06 Jun , 2008 8:53 pm
Offline
 
Posts: 2420
Joined: Thu 03 Mar , 2005 8:22 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia
 
Jude wrote:
Lord_Morningstar wrote:
If I did want to change anything about Brisbane, though, I’d like cooler summers. Winter here is perfect (I’m sitting here in my T-Shirt on a winter evening now), but the really hot, humid summers can get to me. Still, I’d take it over any of those places where you need to wear and coat and put heating in your house and the sun doesn’t come out for weeks.
It sounds like we have the worst of both worlds in Ottawa. :bawl: Freezing cold winters and hot humid muggy summers. But our spring and autumn are to die for.
That's what comes from living in the middle of a large continent ;).

Although your life would be more miserable were it not for the Great Lakes.

_________________

[Space for Rent]


Top
Profile Quote
Display: Sort by: Direction:
Post Reply   Page 1 of 27  [ 526 posts ]
Return to “The Turf” | Jump to page 1 2 3 4 527 »
Jump to: