Requesting European/Western Comparision Ask Me Thread

[omnimirage the II]

Can someone who has lived in a Western country, defined as Canada/Australia/USA/Britain, and a European country, East/West/whatever, please create a thread so I can ask them a bunch of questions on comparisons?

[the4bettingmonk]

yeah no sweat- gonna create it and title it "lets compare the world"- should go smoothly

[omnimirage the II]

cheers, should do, but let's not get over ambitious with comparing the whole world

[dc_publius]

I've spent 40% of my life in Europe, and 60% in US. (also spent about 1 year in Asia)

Not really sure what you hope to gather from such a thread. There is simply too much diversity within USA and within Europe. That will probably be a recurring theme of all the answers or people will not think about it and start bickering that EU/US is not like this or not like that.

Just ask here since you already started this thread, imo.

[omnimirage the II]

aaaaah, that makes it a bit difficult than, somewhat figured English Western countries are more or less the same, and Europe was divided up into a few regions culturally.

Pretty impressive that you have had such diversity; what part of Europe/Asia, wanna give your background =D

I created OP due to somewhat despising my culture(Australian) and have picked up pieces of information over the years of Europe being a much more sophisticated culture, with just generally less morons and more warmth felt traditions + beautiful woman, not sure how much of this is just some romanticized dream and how much it maps reality but.

[dc_publius]

Travel has always been extensively romanticized.

Euros go to US/Asia/Aus and usually harp about how great it is.
Americans go to EU/Asia/Aus and usually harp about how great it is.
Asians go to EU/US/Aus and usually harp about how great it is.
Aus go to EU/US/Asia and usually harp about how great it is.

Clearly, all of this just doesn't add up. What happens is that people are looking through their own personal prisms and see what they want to see.

Plus, many people simply get a travel itch and a change of pace and environment can be fun for them. It's a preselected group that qualified itself towards a certain opinion.

[omnimirage the II]

Yeah exactly, hence why it's so hard to figure out and why I wanted to find someone who's actually lived in both.

[NCSU07]

Moved from the USA to euroland and I couldnt be happier. Yeah its standard for Americans to love europe, but I have freedom to play poker and the women are far more attractive.

[Bishop22]

I've only been living in Vienna for 2 months but someone asked me a few weeks ago what do you like better about the US and there was a long pause.

There is a big difference between traveling somewhere and living there. The Viennese people I have met love traveling to the US but I don't think most of them would be happy living there.

[dc_publius]

Pretty much everyone who stays anywhere for a few months or even a year or two enjoys it.

It's only after that "honeymoon" period that they look at the big picture, take off the rose colored glasses, and things don't look super-great or super-bad anywhere.

Happiness and satisfaction has very little to do with actual location. There are plenty of very happy people everywhere. It comes down to the quality of your social circle, family, quality of job and ability to achieve personal goals. You will not find happiness anywhere, unless these criteria change for you as well.

[BingoBango]

I'm not sure you know what a Western country is, OP. Anglo-Saxon would have been a more accurate term

[BingoBango]

Originally Posted by dc_publius

I've spent 40% of my life in Europe, and 60% in US. (also spent about 1 year in Asia)

Not really sure what you hope to gather from such a thread. There is simply too much diversity within USA and within Europe. That will probably be a recurring theme of all the answers or people will not think about it and start bickering that EU/US is not like this or not like that.

Just ask here since you already started this thread, imo.

The diversity within the United States is not comparable to the diversity within Europe. Sure, there are differences among Americans but it doesn't scratch the surface of what you see in Europe.

[swimrun]

OP - I think dc_publius posts itt have pretty much nailed it. If you're not happy in Australia, you need to ask yourself why, and only when you are sure of the problem, look to take steps towards a solution. I'm a Londoner (UK) originally, and I can show you a huge number of British morons, as well as a huge number of intelligent, interesting and engaging Brits. Beauty spans a similarly wide spectrum. And just by statistics alone, that will be true for any country.

Unless you spend some serious time and effort thinking what you want to achieve by moving country, you might well find that after a few months of being in your new place, you feel as you do now.

I don't mean don't do it: for example, if you live in a small town now and think you'd prefer to live in a large city (definitely my preference) then go! If you have a hankering to learn Italian; Italy would be the sensible choice. If you want to spend a few years experiencing Chinese culture; look for a job based in China. But if it's just a general malaise of life, then moving is not going to change that: for that you'll need to look at your own customs, habits and approach to life.

Just be wary of "the grass is always greener" mentality: and be sure you yourself know why you are making a change. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[omnimirage the II]

Yeah, I understand what youse all are saying, hence why I made thread. I am fairly unhappy atm, and I've nailed it down to basically not liking my culture, that is, the way my countrymen behave. I think they're a bunch of moronic monkeys who constantly engage in trivial dick waving contests to determine who's the better man. I am from a low-socio-economic area, so my perception is not a valid representation of the total population, but nonetheless it's very tilting/alienating. Also the woman aren't very feminine/pretty, and all the girls that I'm really attracted to are the European backpackers, eh. I also live a much different life style than my peers, something that I changed because I was deeply unhappy living like they do. I don't watch TV at all, don't really like movies, cook and eat my own wholesome food, basically just do lots of different stuff and it's hard for me to connect to the average person when all they talk about is how great their car is and how tough they are and how much $$ they're making.

I have this impression that some European countries aren't like this, but I'm trying to verify this, hence thread. I read stuff like this:
http://www.happierabroad.com/comparison.htm

and have no idea how valid it is.

[jspill]

Originally Posted by omnimirage the II

I read stuff like this:
http://www.happierabroad.com/comparison.htm

and have no idea how valid it is.

funny link, if a bit depressing. i think it's very valid, about 70% true

for me personally, the right column is england though, and the right thailand. i moved from london to bangkok 3 years ago and love it here. rose-tinted glasses aside, there are many objective facts like more women, lower rent costs, the respectful open buddhist culture, hot weather, beaches, list goes on...

i've also heard several people echo your sentiments about australia, and worse

i'd say based on your posts you should definitely move abroad, as it will be hard to end up any unhappier than you are now. and i'd lean towards an asian or latin american culture. good luck