Living Abroad

[Scepticalscribe]

Well put.

As TS Eliot wrote,
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Now, I am away for months, - and sometimes - years at a time.

Now - as happened this morning, when I saw my doctor, my pharmacist, my tailor, and the lovely little antiques store where I buy solid antique crystal wine glasses (Waterford, Lismore pattern) - some of these people have begun to mix up the places I have been to in recent years: "Oh, we haven't seen you in ages. Have you been away/Are you just back from Russia/Afghanistan/Australia/Africa"?

In fairness, the doctor and pharmacist - as they supply relevant and geographical specific medication - know exactly where I have been; the others just know that I "have been away" (and for months, if not years).

But, things change; college classmates develop cancer, or get divorced, or their businesses go terminally pear-shaped, whereas once they just worried about getting girls pregnant, or being caught smoking pot (or something stronger), or caught speeding in daddy's powerful two-litre car, or failing their exams.

Parents die - and commodious and pleasant family homes that were in the possession of a family for half a century or more have to be sold - "bricks and mortar, it's only bricks and mortar" shrugged one classmate when I commiserated. And sometimes, children do, too.

Their lives move on, and so do yours.

 

[annk]

Hi, have you been to the Lofoten Islands ? Tromso ? Seen the Northern Lights ?

Norway is my dream destination ... someday.

Tromsø yes, Northern lights yes, maybe Lofoten (I toured all over Northern Norway as a district musician in 1988/89, can't remember everywhere I was, memory isn't what it used to be!).

 

[Acronyc]

I'm not sure how to answer this question as I have lived "abroad" so long - 22 years in Geneva - that Switzerland is now home and Canada feels like "abroad" to me. Also, most neighbouring countries (France, Italy, Germany) are more accessible to me than many provinces were in Canada.

I have been home every year, or rather to visit family as we moved quite a bit in Canada, and my parents were both immigrants so I suppose being nomadic was somewhat in my nature. I also have family in the US and in Greece.

I myself have visited a lot of North America, Europe, North Africa and Central Asia.

Lots more to see but am staying put for now here as Geneva is a great jumping off point.

Nice to see a fellow macrumors member here in Geneva! I just moved here from Japan last year. It’s a big change from Tokyo, but a good change in a lot of ways.

 

[Moccasin]

I moved from Birmingham UK to Auckland in New Zealand in 2004. I’d been there on a 4 week holiday the year before but had no intention of going there to live. In the intervening months though, the opportunity cake up and I knew I’d regret not giving it a go. I was lucky that as an engineer, my skills were in demand.

I lived there for 2.5 years before my parents’ ill health brought me home. In those 2.5 years though I met a lot of great people, fell in love with the country and (since I also came out as gay while there) with a man.

That move abroad was the making of me in many ways and made me a stronger person. I sometimes regret coming home but if I hadn’t, I’d have missed out on my father’s last years and the birth of my nephew.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Aside from a couple early years living in New York, I grew up in the Fairfield County area of Connecticut- nice suburban living but with the convenience of having NYC less than an hour away. I’ve spent nearly my entire adulthood in the Boston area. I like Boston, it’s a very “livable” city compared to New York City- the pace is far more comfortable, everything feels quite a bit cleaner, etc.

I spent a couple months living in Israel when I was in high school during summer vacation and another few months in Israel in colllege during summer vacation. I can’t say I particularly loved living there. I’m not a huge fan of the summer climate there- it’s brutal. The latter trip involved terrorist rockets falling out of the sky on a daily basis which was a little scary to say the least. I also avoided taking the bus in Israel whenever possible. It’s also expensive- things tend to be very costly compared to the US. It is an interesting place where a lot of different cultures come together. I speak, read, and write Hebrew fluently so language isn’t a problem (though most people speak some level of English).

Would I recommend traveling there- yes. There is some grest cousine, great history, and generally friendly people. Would I ever want to live there long term- absolutely not.

 

[decafjava]

Aside from a couple early years living in New York, I grew up in the Fairfield County area of Connecticut- nice suburban living but with the convenience of having NYC less than an hour away. I’ve spent nearly my entire adulthood in the Boston area. I like Boston, it’s a very “livable” city compared to New York City- the pace is far more comfortable, everything feels quite a bit cleaner, etc.

I spent a couple months living in Israel when I was in high school during summer vacation and another few months in Israel in colllege during summer vacation. I can’t say I particularly loved living there. I’m not a huge fan of the summer climate there- it’s brutal. The latter trip involved terrorist rockets falling out of the sky on a daily basis which was a little scary to say the least. I also avoided taking the bus in Israel whenever possible. It’s also expensive- things tend to be very costly compared to the US. It is an interesting place where a lot of different cultures come together. I speak, read, and write Hebrew fluently so language isn’t a problem (though most people speak some level of English).

Would I recommend traveling there- yes. There is some grest cousine, great history, and generally friendly people. Would I ever want to live there long term- absolutely not.

I visited briefly (Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) in 2011 and concur with your assessment. Met friendly people on all sides there, and was surprised (well actually not) to see how many immigrants from the former USSR were there.

 

[lowendlinux]

I've spent a couple weeks in Tel Aviv so not really living there but I did like it quite a bit.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I visited briefly (Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) in 2011 and concur with your assessment. Met friendly people on all sides there, and was surprised (well actually not) to see how many immigrants from the former USSR were there.

I spent most of my time in Tel Aviv, though I’ve been around to all the major areas. In addition to “living” in Israel for a two and three month stints, I’ve vacationed there probably a dozen other times for a week or two. I also have some family and family friends over there. I wouldn’t say I have enough experience to say I’ve lived as an Israeli, but I feel pretty comfortable with it.

I think a lot of people underestimate the diversity of Israel. Obviously there’s a lot of Jews- but there’s a lot of diversity within the Jewish population both on the religious spectrum but also racially and culturally speaking. Almost 20% of the population is Muslim and there’s a bunch of Christians.

There’s people who will condemn Israel as being a divisive, racist place (not even getting into the Palestine debate). I haven’t really found that to be true. Sure, there are racist people out there, but I’m not sure it’s anymore bigoted than any other place on earth.