Time off and a healthy lifestyle are driving some young Americans to Europe: 'You are a person first and a worker 2nd'

Same with the resentment! Lots of people in the US don't want to hear how much better it is elsewhere. GrEaTesT NaTiOn oN eArTh!

looks like you should stop talking to that family of yours

Seriously been considering moving the family to the Netherlands or Sweden.

Lived in a few places in Europe over the years. Currently in Canada, which is slowly sliding into being a hellhole like America. 😓

I also moved to the Netherlands recently (but from Germany) and their holiday schedule feels really weird to me. You get a lot from April to June and then nothing until Christmas. They should've spaced that out better.

Why the resentment though? Is it because they're thinking that they had it terrible and therefore you should too? That you're not a loyal worker and therefore less of a person because of that?

Or can it be that they feel left behind and you talking about how great it is to them sounds like you don't miss them or regret moving away?

Jealous! I'd love to be able to move out of the US, but seems you need certain jobs in order to go. Don't think I qualify, so will continue to be a slave to the system here.

sick days even

What are you supposed to do?

Turn up, shit yourself, keep helping customers?

Or do you turn up, shit yourself, then get fired?

Last year was super shitty, I had COVID twice and Shingles with nerve pains, I've been on sick leave for more than a month over the year, it would have been a disaster without socialized healthcare and workers' insurance

Always was

(••) (••)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

The paperwork and logistics is going to be a removed, but if you can start looking for a job in Europe from your current location, the move itself might be less expansive than you expect.

My boyfriend only has a year left of nursing school. With so many countries having a shortage, we are thinking that might help us. Like apperantly in Japan they have a program to get people in for nursing and you can buy a house for cheap. But I'm not sure if I want to love in Japan. About 3-4 months ago I actually had some people from Australia on reddit giving me a lot of good info to help us get over there, and one person was talking to me about New Zealand.

So here's to hoping. I'm gonna miss my family and friends. It's gonna be hard, but I'm tired of this place.

Don't worry. It's also going to shit on this side of the pond.

There is no bad weather, just bad clothes.

What's wrong with winter?

American here - this stuff is actually widely known and accepted among our progressives, who are the people most likely by far to leave.

We just get fucked out of political power at the federal level by the outsized representation of small-population, rural, die-hard-conservative states. For example if the presidency was by popular vote we likely wouldn't have had a Republican president since 93 which would have made the supreme court liberal by 8-1.

At the most fundamental level, the US political system just wasn't built to handle the increasing rural/urban population disparity, and at some point things will need to change. What that change looks like is anybody's guess. One scenario is that with the economic failure of the backwaters, plus the housing crisis and additional automation, it becomes economically feasible to just build/buy enough housing in the backwaters to be able to have a controlling share in the vote. Which obviously sucks in a lot of ways but it might be the solution with the lowest barrier to entry.

Clumping 332 million people together and expecting that they're all the exact same.

Come on, buddy.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The most reactionary people in the US, those who think socialism is communism and horrible labor laws are "freedom," are too heavily indoctrinated into their own little death cult. They honestly believe there is no country more free than the US and are genuinely fearful of the idea of living anywhere else, they would never move to Europe.

People who live in reality, on the other hand, see how horrible it has become in the US and are looking for a real "land of opportunity," where you do not have to be a willing slave to capital in order to have the right to the basic necessities of life. They are fully disillusioned with the "American dream," and so are more open-minded toward socialism, and are more willing to agree that maybe most countries in Europe provide them with real, actual freedom far more that what they have living in the US.

This has been my experience with immigrants from the US, anyways (and, full disclosure, I am an immigrant as well, just not in Europe).

That’s a weird take on the subject, most American I’ve met or worked with where surprised but happy about our ways.

We might have met totally different kinds of people.

I think you should take the time to actually talk to people rather than throw rancied judgments all around

Wow you're generalizing way too much! An American that had the will to move out of the US is proof enough they think differently, probably. Give them a chance.

Damn, isn't 8 years a bit much?

I'm in Asia and receive OOTO emails all the time, meanwhile we work even during holidays 🙃. A co worker is a Chilean, and during her 3 weeks leave to go back home after years of not taking any leave, she worked day and night, slept only 3 hours the whole stay. We Asians were successfully brainwashed into the hustle culture

You can get a new family and kids! Or bring em I guess

Generell lustiger Artikel, danke.

Was für ein dämlicher Artikel. Wäh, wäh, ich wohne in einem kleinen Dorf und habe nicht Zugang zu allen Modern conveniences wie in einer grossen Stadt. Wäääh... Echt, jetzt?

Moving abroad is always challenging and not for everyone, some people can't adapt to a different way of life.

/s is easier to point out it is a joke

I went as a student (free university!) and managed to stay.

I'm approaching the end of a four-year stay in Italy, and I'm considering chaining myself to a fence post or something. The country is a mess, but the quality of life just cannot be beat.

just a heads up, retiring to europe is only possible in very few places and a few more if you're loaded.

That depends a lot of the country. In some EU countries is rather easy and cheap.

Yeah they weren't looking for people like me last I checked

Depends entirely on your values and perspective

If you're coming from the upper echelons of US income then it might not.

Otherwise you'll potentially find the increase in quality of life to be significant.

Americans work too much, commute to much and don't take enough holidays. Europeans work significantly less hours day to day, have significantly shorter commutes on average and have legally required and protected minimum annual leave that vastly outstrips US workers.

E.g. Take myself and a US friend in a very similar job into account. Yes he earns roughly double what I do.

• However I average 10-15 hours less work a week than he does.
• My commute is half what his is and I have actual public transport options that aren't trash if my car broke down.
• I get 38 days of paid leave a year. 8 national holidays and the time between Christmas and Jan 1st by default.. That leaves me with 27 days to use with some degree of freedom. He's lucky if he takes ten days total per year.
• I get private healthcare but also know that if that was removed from my benefits I'd have access to state healthcare without the risk of bankruptcy.

Those listed things are just employment based. Culture is also a factor. I've never once worried about being shot in my entire life. Our food quality standards are higher whilst also costing significantly less. We don't have the institutionalised national self delusion of tipping culture. Our religious and crazy right wing aren't politically powerful enough to be dragging us kicking and screaming inti the 18th century like the US is. We aren't completely and utterly dependent on cars, so being car free is a viable way to live.

My final note is this. I'm not some US hating zealot. I literally booked flights for a two week holiday in the US yesterday. I adore the NBA and find American people to be absolutely lovely on average. But I couldn't live the way most Americans do.

look at it this way, necessities in USA are largely out of reach (health care, education, housing, funded retirement) and luxaries are easy to come by (phones, sneakers, branded clothing, streaming etc).

Whereas in Europe, the necessities are much more attainable for the population at any income bracket. Do you have much more "free cash"? No. Do you need it? No, you have a social safety net.

Even vacas in Europe are cheaper bc for an American to travel to Europe is very expensive by means of airplane. In Europe you can take a high speed train and be in any climate.

On the topic of trains, Public transit is more efficient there than it is to drive cars in the states. Imagine not having to buy a ~$30k car every 10 years? Not to mention fuel and maintain it.

Without an atom of doubt. I've experienced both, and I will make the choice of paycut again a hundred times if I had to choose again.

I cannot speak to what working in Europe is like, but as someone who works in the public sector in a very blue state, the work/life balance and benefits are unmatched. Yes, the pay is slightly less, but it is more than worth it imo if it means I only have to work 4 days and 35 hours a week, and not 6 days and 70 hours a week.

Coders in the US can make six figures easy. In Spain it's like 20-40k, 60kish un Luxembourg if you're a specialist and got a masters degree, etc. I've looked at the tech jobs in Europe in general and I'm unimpressed.

Bad take. There aren't droves of people leaving the U.S.

High skilled immigration to the U.S is still big. Hell, its a problem for European tech companies, as their best engineers get poached by the U.S.

Might be a surprising take for some, but Europeans still move to the U.S today. Not in the droves of the 20th century, but still an amount. 12% of all immigrants to the U.S are from Europe in 2021.

I don't think that's really true. The US is still the largest economy and attracts many educated and highly skilled people in the tech sector.

Certain parts are declining for sure, but I don't think that applies to the whole country.

The educated are paid way more in the US. Americans buy houses and stuff. Unimaginable for most Europeans who don't get to inherit one. Also Europe is on the decline. Due to terrible demographics mostly.

I get the reference, youre not alone

Church? Easy. Catholic in the South, EKD in the North, take it or be a weirdo cultist. Orthodox is acceptable.

There’s plenty of churches. If you live in a city there are usually many churches to choose from.

It’s because you’re living these events through the prism of TV News. I live in France, I was born here, I’ve lived in other countries too, but here is where I chose to stay.

I haven’t seen any of the events depicted in the news. I know bad events are taking place, I know the president and government are morons. This has zero impact on my daily life. I just mind my business and do my thing.

The US is rough but I’m hopeful we’ve already weathered that storm.

We haven't. Not by a long shot. We've only barely passed the "Beer Hall Putsch" phase of our descent, and we didn't even manage to arrest our Hitler. In other words, we're doing even worse than the Weimar Republic.