NationStates Jolt Archive

I live in America, and have my whole life, I always thought it sucked, and that Europe was better and couldnt wait to go there, I wanted to move there. But than I traveled there and after a few weeks wanted to go home. While it was a lot of fun, I just couldnt see myself living there. It seemed alien, kind of boring, and just unfamilier. (I also hated there cars) many US residents say they dont like living here. But travel to other parts of the world and you might, and probably will change your mind. Just try to reflect on that. And look around at the US, instead of just focusing on the Shrub in the whitehouse.

where did you go? western europe, england, scandinavia, or eastern europe?

Ah, and here's my America story just after 9-11...

I spent some time at my daughter’s elementary school, which despite its presence in a fairly good neighborhood is probably as old as I am. I met her music teacher. She had gathered two classes of vocal students, separated by age, and gave private lessons in piano and a few other instruments. Things wore out, things atrophied; and yet so much of what I remember from my own experience in elementary school remained, essentially intact.

“Come see my primary chorus, John. You know, the little ones really have better voices than the older kids; it's always that way. Your can eat lunch with us, and then you can stay and listen till you get bored.” And so I lunched with them, and stayed and listened. The children arrived promptly, in clusters, obviously experienced pupils—feral out of doors, noisy but tractable as soon as they crossed the threshold. It was true that their voices had not yet lost the sweet clarity that their souls, being human, had never had; and she had schooled them into a lusty approximation of accuracy and order. They sang “John Peel” and “Auld Lang Syne” and “I've Been Workin’ on the Railroad.” They sang, pristinely as an inspiration:

Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow,
Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow.
Do you, or I, or anyone know
How oats, peas, beans, and barley grow?

I stayed longer than I had expected. They sang “America the Beautiful.”

How long since I had heard that song, or any such song? At least a few years, it must have been. I tried to recall some real or plausible last occasion from my disintegrated memories of the Time Before, and could not. And since that lost last time, my ears had been filled with the sad, wild anthems of the sterile plateaus.

Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

And suddenly a real beauty trembled vainly up from the foolish words, and I was homesick, soul sick, for those alabaster cities that had never been and would never be. There people lived whose right name was patriots, and fed upon the golden wine of pride, the snowy bread of love. But there had never been a past from which that future might have come.

Had there been? I had been a child, too young to do anything real, too young really to understand; and when I began to understand, and to be old enough, it was too late for doing. That was easy to say.

I live in America, and have my whole life, I always thought it sucked, and that Europe was better and couldnt wait to go there, I wanted to move there. But than I traveled there and after a few weeks wanted to go home. While it was a lot of fun, I just couldnt see myself living there. It seemed alien, kind of boring, and just unfamilier. (I also hated there cars) many US residents say they dont like living here. But travel to other parts of the world and you might, and probably will change your mind. Just try to reflect on that. And look around at the US, instead of just focusing on the Shrub in the whitehouse.

Welcome to a larger world!
I saw my first foreign country (the then Communist, then Czechoslovakia) in 1983 at the ripe old age of 9. Needless to say, it was quite an eye opener.

In the 20 years since then, I've been to Canada, Iceland, Belgium, England, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

This year, I will take in Japan and Belize.

Travel is great because it broadens the mind, but also makes you really appreciate what you have at home.

Amen, it was the same with me when I was in the US this summer.

My fiancé is living in VA right now and there was talk of moving over so I spent 5 weeks there.

It was a really nice place and I could see mysely living there, but in the end I just felt restless. It was pretty, and god damn it was hot and sunny, but it just wasn't home...

I agree people, but may I ask this: Do you think that the world is shifting in this sense, with the US loosing some(perhaps not much at all) and other locations abroad are improving much to what America has? Maybe it's just me, but I can see the landscape shifting somewhere else and in the last 20 years huges improvements have been made and will continue to be made abroad.

If you're talking about the standard of living.. I don't know, for my family I would say that the standard of living in the UK has improved over the last 15 years very noticably to be comparable to the US.

As for the rest of Europe or the world, I can't really say.

Eitherway, I think that people moving between countries in the west isn't really based on a standard of living anymore, its more based on how much you like a place and the pace at which things move there.

Here is MY America story.

I was born in Worcester(pronounced Whis-TER), Massachusetts, in the wee hours of December 18th, 1991. Some time in late January, I got on a Plane with my family and flew to Bangladesh. We stayed there till '93, then we moved to Zimbabwe. I don't remember Bangladesh at ALL!

My memories of Zimbabwe are few but good. Playign with transformers, hanging out at pools with my 2 year old friends, and havign a blast. This was BEFORE it went down the drain, mind ye, so life there was excelent fro people in the Foreign Service and everyone else. A few years after I left, Mr. Mugabe goes pyscho and ruins it. Anyhoo, back on topic. In '95 i go back to the states for a few months then go to Maputo, Mozambique.

My memories of there are better. I remember a GIGANTIC(and i mean GIGANTIC) house, a puny yard, nice weather, nice beaches, watching Jurassic Park for the first time, Ice Cream shops, crowded markets, and how every 2-3 weeks i would go on a day-long trip to South Africa to buy good's (the super-markets in Maputo were less than perfect). In '96 i left Maputo to live in the states.

For the year of '97-'99, i lived in the town of Springfield, Virginia. 'Twas a fun place, my first years of real school and i made many friends. That's when i discovered Mech Warrior's, Pokemon, and that the middle finger is a baaaaaad finger. In the summer o' '99, however, me grandpappy died so I had to move to my home-town of Auburn, Massachusetts(a suburb of Worcester). I stayed there 'till Jan 2000, when i moved to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Contrary to popular belief, Pakistan is a WONDERFUL country. The people are friendly, the food is good, the capital of Islamabad is one of the cleanest cities in the world! It's nicely designed, there isn't much poverty(that's mostly in the sister-city of Rawalpindi), the houses are good, and the parks are green. I lived at the foot of the great hills that are at the northern tip of the city, and the world's largest mosque was only 5 minutes drive down the road.

My years there were excelent. The school was top-notch, and I was exposed to more cultures than I imagined. I met Swedes, Brits, Canadians, Indians, Malaysians, Germans, Poles, Naicaraguans, Pakistanis, Irish people, Eritreans, Arab's, you name it, it was there. The school(the International School of Islamabad, or I.S.O.I.), was aruagbly the best in South Asia, and constant news of our sport's team trumping the other South Asian's(ranging from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Katmandu, Nepal) kept us in high spirit's. For me, life was good. That all changed on September 11th.

That horrible, horrible day marked the decline of the International School of Islamabad. After the attacks, GWB quickly ordered that all American's leave the country, which we did. I then spent the entire year until Jan, 02 in Auburn. I came back in January, but in March terrorists bombed a near-by church(killing two family friends) and causing me to leave Pakistan forever.

For the rest of '02 until summer '03, I lived in Jamestown, Rhode Island. It was a cool place, with nice houses. My dad went to the Naval War College(even though he's a diplomat. I don't understand why he went either) and got his masters degree. I played Baseball(i sucked. Big Time. But i had fun), i hung out with friends, i went swimming at the beach, and did all sorts of stuff. In June, '03 though, I took my latest journey: To Panama.

Now, Panama City is the most developed city in Central America, due to the fact of the 97 year occupation of the Panama Canal by the United States. Going down Balboa Avenue on the bay, passing all these sky-scraper's and mall's, you would think you were in any Southern American city if it weren't for the signs all being in Spanish. There are pool's, there are EXCELENT school's (the most notable being the Internation School of Panama and BAlboa Academy. I go to the latter), there is a Hard Rock Cafe, a gillion internet cafe's, and more. Life here is sweet.

Now, this is more like an autobiography, but meh. I'm, and American, and since I've gone EVERYWHERE in the service of my country, this is my American Story. Where will my story go from here? No one know's, but I can be sure it will have to do with America.

The standard of living in the EU is generally higher than in the US, as more of us have access to free health care, state-benefits, etc.
Our life expectancy is generally higher, fewer of us live in poverty, we don't have any malnourished children in the western european states, and this is being abolished in the new EU states.

The only place I feel more connected to than the US is Israel. I went this past summer and fell in love with it. Do NOT start a flame-war over this!

Hey, nobody's going to start a flame war over the fact that you enjoyed a visit to Israel. I hope not, anyway.

The standard of living in the EU is generally higher than in the US, as more of us have access to free health care, state-benefits, etc.
Our life expectancy is generally higher, fewer of us live in poverty, we don't have any malnourished children in the western european states, and this is being abolished in the new EU states.
True, true indeed. This is not be meant in a condescending way, but thankfully, as of now, I need not worry PERSONALLY about that. I would love to see some reforms made to increase the scope and size of anti-poverty programs.

Hey, nobody's going to start a flame war over the fact that you enjoyed a visit to Israel. I hope not, anyway.
You'd be surprised. Watch out for Defensor Fidei.

The standard of living in the EU is generally higher than in the US, as more of us have access to free health care, state-benefits, etc.
Our life expectancy is generally higher, fewer of us live in poverty, we don't have any malnourished children in the western european states, and this is being abolished in the new EU states.

Um, we don't have many malnourished children either.

And whiel lif emay be of lower quality in the U.S. than in Europe, we have advantages too. We have some of the best police in the world, the best hospitals (but they're not free.), the best firefighters, the best Army,and the best economy. We have a variety of different land-form's, our lives are good, our jobs pay fair wages, we have alot of entertainment, and so forth.

You'd be surprised. Watch out for Defensor Fidei.

Yeah, I have a feeling I'm going to regret sayig that. Saying there isn't going to be a flamewar is tempting fate.

I live in America, and have my whole life, I always thought it sucked, and that Europe was better and couldnt wait to go there, I wanted to move there. But than I traveled there and after a few weeks wanted to go home. While it was a lot of fun, I just couldnt see myself living there. It seemed alien, kind of boring, and just unfamilier. (I also hated there cars) many US residents say they dont like living here. But travel to other parts of the world and you might, and probably will change your mind. Just try to reflect on that. And look around at the US, instead of just focusing on the Shrub in the whitehouse.

Having been to Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Rep. Austria, France, England, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and a couple other places I can't remember at the moment in the past year and a half, I can honestly say I wouldn't mind living in most of those places. Each have positives and negatives, however, the rural parts of the U.S. are still my first choice. If I had to live in a big city, it might be different.

The standard of living in the EU is generally higher than in the US, as more of us have access to free health care, state-benefits, etc.

Not free, subsidized. You pay for it in your much higher taxes. And we also have government subsidy programs like welfare and medicade.

Our life expectancy is generally higher,

We are just shy of 80, what are you at?

fewer of us live in poverty,

Poverty seems to be one of those hard to nail down type of words. Technically, the South Bronx has the most poverty stricken people per square mile in the US. Yet, its perfectly bormal for the people there to have cable television, extensive cd and dvd collections as well as expenisve clothes.

we don't have any malnourished children in the western european states, and this is being abolished in the new EU states.

You do have them, just a negligable rate. Also, you won't be solving any of Eastern Europe's problems by trying to choke off their economies the way the EU seems to want to.

Standard of living is a complicated issue. How is it measured? By the amount of people living in poverty (another hard to define word)? By how much the average person has? By how much they can acheive?