Quote: (04-08-2016 04:32 AM)Quaestum Wrote:
TigerMandigo, you should take his post with a grain of salt. I'm European too and see it like this:
Quote:rottenapple Wrote:
-Asocial culture (people really don't talk to each other, difficult to meet people, no basic friendliness like saying hi on the street).
This will be mostly the case in the big cities and particularly in the Germanic and Scandinavian countries. I haven't met too many Dutch people before but always had a picture in my mind they're more open than, say, Germans. Is this not true?
-Ugly women (this is the Nr.1 reason to be honest, I'm in Latin America, there is no comparison really).
There many ugly women, granted, not least because of obesity and feminism-related appearance choices. Plus women in Latin/South America look exotic to us.
-Failed multiculturalism (no need to explain this here I guess).
Agreed.
-People work too much, too much stress.
People work way less than in the States. Of course this differs from country to country but where I come from it's fairly balanced.
-Expensive.
Compared to South America - certainly. Central and Southern Europe however are still very affordable, save for Switzerland.
-My social status; here I am exotic and of high value, in my home country I'm just above average.
Agreed.
-I got good friends in my home country, but it sickens me to see them do nothing significant with their lives. They are also very passive while I live to experience new shit, to learn, to meet new people, ...
Agreed (however I still need to be a bit more outgoing too).
-Many of them settled down, so my life there would be much more boring then what it was when I was a student.
Agreed. But this will happen pretty much everywhere unless you only surround yourself with people living the bachelor lifestyle.
-Nature in Europe is not as spectacular as here. Also for sports it doesn't come close.
Depends on what you like I guess. Personally I love mountains and it's hard to beat places like Norway - there are heaps of beautiful spots in Europe, no rainforest though.
-Living in Europe is unhealthy. Shitty processed food, chemicals everywhere, bad air quality, ... These for me are important factors.
Not sure what you are referring to? Fresh foods are widely available and more popular than in the US/Canada from what I've read on the forum, chemicals are widely regulated within the EU and the bad stuff is not more present than elsewhere but less (this is one of the good things), and you can avoid them if you want to. Without having been I dare to say it wouldn't be much different from what you can find in Ecuadorian supermarkets? Air quality is perfectly fine in my opinion, I would be curious where you used to live?
Nevertheless a good post and it inspires me to try out more in the near future.
As for the thread subject, I've been an expat for three years now and I can see myself living in other countries...but forever? At present that would probably be a "no", as I miss a lot of things from my home country. Also I've never appreciated its location nor all the things you can see within proximity of the place you live. I might go back in a couple of years, only to hit the road again later - fortunately the opportunities are out there, it's all matter of being aware of them (and for that, I have to thank this forum at this occasion!).
To be an expat for an extended period of time I find it crucial to have some people around you you can connect to, something I don't have at the moment and probably the main reason why I will wave farewell sometime in the next two years.
Ok let me clarify. First of all, it was a personal opinion coming from my perspective and offcourse Europe has a lot of diversity. This plays a huge role in my analysis. I am from Central Europe.
-Dutch people are more open than Germans, but they are kind of the strange bird in Central Europe. Besides Germans, I wouldn´t call Belgians, French, Austrians, Swiss as being socially open. People are overall more serious and introvert than what I am used to in South America/Africa and the States.
-Ugly women: I exclude Eastern Europe here, I love women from those countries and I can´t comment on Scandinavia. However, Latin American women are my ideal, not only in looks, but in general feminine attitude as well. Many men will agree.
-Work: Yes, we work a lot less than Americans. I truly pity the Americans that take one week holiday a year. However Europeans also work very hard, in less time. They might not be sitting ten hours at their desk every day, but in the 8 hours when they do, they are under pressure and they work hard. My comparison is not with the US, but with most of second and third world. The general work athmosphere is more relaxed. People have less stress, no doubt about it. One thing I forgot to mention is the weather. When you arrive at work soaked by rain and cold, you tend to be in a less mood than when here I arrive at my work after a nice walk through the park in the sun.
-Expensive: Yes talking about Central and Northern Europe, Eastern Europe is fine, Southern Europe is ok as well. Still L.A. and Africa beat them easily.
-Settling down: Yes, but one thing I noticed is people here in Latin America still go out a lot even when married or with children. You can see 60 year olds on the dancefloor here, how many times does that happen in Europe? The difference between settling down here and in Europe is big and that is part of what I am referring to. In Europe, I have friends that really dissapeared from social life once they had a fixed girl. Might be country specific or just related to my own life, but that is what I mean.
-Nature: Agreed nature in Norway or many other places is very beautiful. However, Norway is extremely expensive. In Ecuador with 15 bucks from Quito I can reach or tropical beaches, or some of the highest and most spectacular volcanoes and mountains in the world or the Amazon rainforest. The country can´t be beat in this regard. Probably Nr.1 spot in the world in terms of diversity, spectacular beauty and affordability. Other countries in the area, as well as in Africa or the States beat Central Europe easily in this regard.
"Not sure what you are referring to? Fresh foods are widely available and more popular than in the US/Canada from what I've read on the forum, chemicals are widely regulated within the EU and the bad stuff is not more present than elsewhere but less (this is one of the good things), and you can avoid them if you want to. Without having been I dare to say it wouldn't be much different from what you can find in Ecuadorian supermarkets? Air quality is perfectly fine in my opinion, I would be curious where you used to live"
I think we have to disagree on this one. Fresh foods are available in bio shops where you pay the double of what is already expensive. How many guys under 30 do you know that can afford to buy all their food in bio shops? Once again the US is worse off, but that is not what I am comparing to. Chemicals are more prevalent in Europe than in Africa/South America and I imagine most of Asia, that is a fact. You can avoid them? Good for you if you can but you must be an expert on the matter then, because they are everywhere. In your food, your furniture, anything plastic, the toys of your children, all cosmetics, etc. If you study the matter and really think about it continuously, you could avoid it for a big part. However, air quality, wow I have no idea what you refer too. Air quality is absolute shit in Central Europe. Maybe if you live in the South of France or the Schwarzwalde area in Germany it can be ok, Switzerland perhaps is ok as well. The rest is among the worst of the world. Belgium, Holland, the Ruhr area have dramatic air quality. There is no official data, but you can be assured many disseases are linked to this. You cannot compare it to anywhere in Latin America or Africa (perhaps Sao Paolo/Cairo could have similar problems but those are extremes). And a majority of the fruits I buy here in a supermarket in Ecuador are organic and dirt cheap. The food industry here is not as developed so a lot of food still comes from small time farmers. It is no issue at all to find unprocessed, high quality food for a very good price. They can even deliver fruit and vegetable baskets at your place. The diversity of the food is very high as well and in general if you want the processed imported crap, you pay extra, so you would not only be damaging your health but also your wallet.
Hope that clears it up a bit.
