Which is the *best* European country?

[Zappo]

However, I don't speak Italian and I think it would be too hard to learn. It would certainly be a great place to visit, at least.

Yeah, I was just trying to talk about Europe and give you the kind of information you seem to be looking for, while making clear that I may be biased. I wouldn't advise an american to move to Italy right now. The language is very hard for an English-speaker (and few people speak good English), and at the moment you can get good jobs much more easily in the countries you listed. You're not escaping the metric system, though.

How's the cost of living, etc. in Britain? I imagine it depends on where exactly you are...probably be looking at London, 'cause I always wanted to live in a big city.

London is very costly. But that's not necessarily true of the rest of England. I'm living in Manchester, and as a student-based city, it's cheap enough (still more costly than Italy, though). You also have to find out what kind of jobs you can find; it's all relative: costly places generally have well-paid jobs.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

EDIT: Oh, btw, AR .. good thing you're not here. Releasing a picture like that will get you fined.

tell me you're kidding.

(if i've offended you by posting the image, it was a joke, I'm sorry, and I'll remove it pronto if you ask me to)

AR

 

[AGGEMAM]

tell me you're kidding.

Not quite, actually. Offending the Royal family in public is a felony here (felony, not misdemeanor). But I can't think of anyone ever getting a fine or jailed because of it, and I've seen far worse thing than the picture you posted.

Besides I really think the Queen would instantly pardon anyone who ever got fined and/or convicted because of it. It's an old old law dating back at least 550 year (the Jute Law from 1441) which still is in effect but no one really takes that seriously.

 

[MonsterMash]

May as well add my 2p worth as a Londoner.

Generally the UK is fairly expensive place compared to the US, but not that different to a lot of Europe. In London living without a car is pretty easy unlike many parts of the US, though public transport is not as good as the Netherlands or Germany. The main problem with the public transport in London is it lacks resiliency, e.g. most of the time it runs pretty well, but problems seemt to take ages to recover from. Housing costs (on purchase at least) are crazy.

As far as jobs go, in my field (IT) there is still a fairly weak job situation at the moment, but it has started to recover in the UK. For IT jobs in Scandinavia/Netherlands/Germany it'd be hard to get in unless you spoke the local language, and generally unemployment is higher in these countries than the UK.

In terms of crime the UK isn't that great, but due to the illegallity of possessing firearms our murder rates are a lot lower than the US. Environmentally scandinavia tends to be a lot better as a strong emphasis on protection and less traffic pollution.

 

[AGGEMAM]

For IT jobs in Scandinavia/Netherlands/Germany it'd be hard to get in unless you spoke the local language, and generally unemployment is higher in these countries than the UK.

That's nonsense. unemployment here is about 4-5%, and since just about every leading IT and mobile company (Nokia, SonyEricsson, Samsung, etc) in the world has their main R&D here because of a very relaxed tax on 'experts' especially foreign experts. I'd say that it's relatively easy to get a job here. In many (especially of those) companies the official internal language is even english.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

(and few people speak good English),

Yeah, tell me about it.... proper English is a second language for most people in the American south...

You're not escaping the metric system, though.

Yeah. I realized after I posted the comments about gas prices that you said "liter" not "gallon." Then, AGGEMAM pointed it out too. That's Ok though. We Americans were supposed to convert to the metric system by the year 2000, so when I was in school (10-20 years ago) they took it seriously and made sure we learned it, even though the country never got around to making the conversion....

Housing costs (on purchase at least) are crazy (in London).

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember reading a news article about a year ago that discussed the insane prices people had to pay for even the smallest apartments in London. I can't remember too many details of the article now, but it seems to me that the reason was a severe lack of new housing construction, leading to a lot of competition for the limited housing that exists.

I spent the better part of today thinking about all this and Europe seems to be a better and better idea all the time. One of my issues with America is the way everyone seems to be enslaved by capitalism. Americans put in more man-hours than any one else in the world. We just work constantly. Americans even work while they are on vacation. Hell, I just worked a 12-hour shift at my job, and when I was about to leave, my boss actually asked me to stay another hour or two longer! I see my parents and how they have worked for the past 30 years and I just think, "There has to be more to life than that. I don't want to wake up 30 years from now and wonder where my life went."
European attitudes seem to be a lot more in line with that sort of thinking. A home in Denmark, vacations in Italy and Germany, occasional trips to England, Ireland and Scotland, 5 weeks of vacation (and I still get the 4th of July off).... yeah, that sounds just like what the doctor ordered....

Now I just need to get the money together for a trip to Europe so I can scope it out first hand.

 

[Arnwyn]

You could try transitioning by Canada. Real nice place (especially Montreal, Quebec - for me). You can get by in English in Quebec (Canada is, after all, a bilingual country), especially in big cities. Montreal has a real European feel (or so I've heard from visiting Europeans), and plenty of gamers. It's cheaper than Europe, and the people are real nice (not that Europens arent! )

Bloodstone Press: If you do consider Canada, then I do not recommend Montreal (or anywhere in Quebec). Draconian language laws, actual honest-to-goodness racially-motivated firebombings (pretty much unheard of in Canada - except Montreal and Vancouver), and a surprisingly large separatist movement for a country like Canada makes Quebec a sub-optimal choice compared to other provinces.

I agree with everything else Altamont said, though.

 

[SSquirrel]

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember reading a news article about a year ago that discussed the insane prices people had to pay for even the smallest apartments in London.

Sounds like New York City.

I spent the better part of today thinking about all this and Europe seems to be a better and better idea all the time. One of my issues with America is the way everyone seems to be enslaved by capitalism. Americans put in more man-hours than any one else in the world. We just work constantly. Americans even work while they are on vacation. Hell, I just worked a 12-hour shift at my job, and when I was about to leave, my boss actually asked me to stay another hour or two longer! I see my parents and how they have worked for the past 30 years and I just think, "There has to be more to life than that. I don't want to wake up 30 years from now and wonder where my life went."
European attitudes seem to be a lot more in line with that sort of thinking. A home in Denmark, vacations in Italy and Germany, occasional trips to England, Ireland and Scotland, 5 weeks of vacation (and I still get the 4th of July off).... yeah, that sounds just like what the doctor ordered....

My wife, our gf and I have all pretty much been of the opinion that if the incumbent candidate wins the election in November, we move elsewhere. Canada has been knocked around as has the Netherlands. Neither of the girls would mind legal weed (I don't smoke up myself, altho marijuana can stop an epileptic seizure cold I'm told..convenient as I'm epileptic) and it's a nice country, we have a couple of friends there already, etc.

If ya do end up moving let us know what happens. We'll hafta start an ENWorld US Expatriate Collective heh.

Hagen

 

[johnsemlak]

you can go here without a VISA (well you can in most european countries) and you can start working immediately, you don't need a green card.

Really?

Hmm, interesting.

What kind of work is available for people who only speak English, I wonder?

 

[Darkness]

What kind of work is available for people who only speak English, I wonder?

English teacher?