Are you ready to leave your country forever?

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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it was really hard to stop him talking about you and pay a bit of his attention to me

looks like true love. are you ready for serious relationships, kyle?

Matt keeps telling me that since I just got out of one, I'm not ready for a serious relationship. But methinks he is just playing hard to get.

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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I'm from Russia and I may say it's not a country that can give you wide view on the world. Due to our soviet period of history a lot of people still don't go out of the country or leave the country just for holidays once or twice a year. Very small amount of russians go to other countries for study or work as it is usual for europeans and americans. Though I think most of students go back home after finishing their universities in other countries. I'm also thinking now about moving to another country... may be not forever, but anyway I have no plans to come back to Russia after. I'm kind of open minded person, but still think it won't be easy to get used. What about you? Do you live in your original country now? If not, why have you moved from there and how long will stay away? What difficulties have you met while getting used to your new place in the world? Are you ready to leave your original country forever? Which country would you prefer for this?
I love Russian broken English I have been in the US for 26 years now... I would like to leave as I'm not crazy about the politics or grind here, but I have to do some traveling to see my alternatives. I would leave if I could find a place me and my girlfriend could agree on.

Originally Posted by Cool The Kid

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I love Russian broken English

lol

i think this is more my broken english, then russian in general. and imagine how funny it sounds in reality then. when i'm drunk i absolutely can't speak english seriously - i'm only laughing at myself

Originally Posted by spb_lady

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lol

i think this is more my broken english, then russian in general. and imagine how funny it sounds in reality then. when i'm drunk i absolutely can't speak english seriously - i'm only laughing at myself

CSFLMM - my only long-term exposure to Russians was through a friend of mine whose dad was somehow tight with the Gorbachevs. Gorbie's nephews, always accompanied by smoking hot eurotrash girls, would come over during the winter and hang out with my friend. I remember thinking them gods - we were seventeen and these guys were groping the women right in front of us, chugging vodka like it was beer, and giving us as much as we wanted.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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these guys were groping the women right in front of us, chugging vodka like it was beer, and giving us as much as we wanted

i'm not a common russian person... have never tried vodka yet

I've been to about 25 countries on 4 continents (nearly half were third world) and lived a year or so in about 4 them (all of them third world or developing). There were many things I enjoyed about living in those places, mostly the pace of life and an emphasis on who you are and not what you do. However, even the latter emphasis on being rather than doing was a two-edged sword. I found it very difficult to deal with the fact that, as a white American I was automatically rich (which is true by global standards) and that I was perpetually feeling like the outsider, even though I learned to speak the language. Coming back to America definitely made me look at incoming legal immigrants who have to overcome language barriers in a new light.

Anyway, that said, the best advice I learned was to really push and explore the boundaries of your own cultural limitations anytime you travel or holiday. Doing so allowed me to get closer to people in the countries I was living in, but it also made me see where my own limitations were in terms of what kinds of countries I could live in for a long period of time. For example, I absolutely loved living in several of the sub-Saharan African countries I stayed at, but could never see myself remaining there long term due to just being a white American in predominantly black countries whose only interaction with my own country consisted of satellite broadcasts of prosperity gospel programs and reruns of Beverly Hills 90210. By year's end I had learned and grown a lot as a person but found myself struggling with loneliness when I got tired of wearing the foreigner label. It's nice to be seen as the different person from another country at times but there are other times when you just want to talk about an episode of Family Guy or something and you can't because nobody knows what you're talking about, much less understands your sense of humor. In short, you want the comforts of home.

So there are little things like that which often heap up into a big pile of reasons to stay where you are. Granted, I'm also speaking from a very unique position as an American who has freedoms and opportunities that 4 or 5 billion other people can only dream about (or misconstrue from satellite broadcasts). I'm sure that living in a place with fewer freedoms and opportunities would give a person some incentive to learn to adapt to strange customs and rituals, as many new American citizens try and do. That and it's fairly safe to maintain your own cultural practices from your home country (provided it doesn't involve chopping off body parts or anything of that ilk).

As an American I also have the unique perspective of having come from "somewhere else." Being Scots-Irish American to me means that I feel as if I have several possible homes. Whenever I'm in Ireland or Scotland I feel an instant connection to the people, land, and history around me because I was raised as a child to appreciate and celebrate my heritage and ancestry. I could easily see myself living in either of those countries long-term because of that kinship which words I don't think could ever describe.

Which leads me to ask: does anybody living outside of a "New World" country have this feeling or sense of connection to another place and would that be enough for you to make a permanent or long-term move to that country?

Forever sounds like a long time, but I have lived basically all of my adult life outside of my hometown, and the vast majority of it outside my home country.

I was an exchange student from 18-20 in the US, and if I did not do that then, I would probably still be in Adelaide now, married with a steady job, a wide detached house and wide detached wife.

After the US, I went back to Adelaide to clean up the degree, couldn't handle the smalltown thing after living in Los Angeles, so I moved to Melbourne when I graduated. Then left Australia again, first Singapore for like 2 yrs, then Vietnam for over 6 and for the foreseeable.

I guess at some point I will go back to Australia, although under what circumstances, I am really not sure.

Already left my homeland of Wales, and am living in the Southeastern Colonies.

I miss home terribly though, and visit as often as possible.

Have plans to move. It's 2-3 years off though. Have to be at the right point in my career for it to be worth the pain (since we're talking middle east here).

I've lived in several countries, and I have left my main "homeland" twice with the intention of it being for good. I will probrably retire in yet another country, when the time comes.

Home is where one prospers. You should move to wherever you and your family have the greatest opportunities to succeed economically, that is owning horses with a giant swimming pool with live dolphins.

I think the OP is wrong in one thing: most Americans never leave the country. Only a small percentage of Americans even have passports, so staying in the country forever is not unique to Russia and Russians, it's also true of America and Americans.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I think the OP is wrong in one thing: most Americans never leave the country. Only a small percentage of Americans even have passports, so staying in the country forever is not unique to Russia and Russians, it's also true of America and Americans.

May be you are right, i just meant that student exchange programs are much more developed in US, then in Russia now.

Barcelona!

I'd love to leave my country. Maybe not forever...but there are so many other places that I want to live in.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I think the OP is wrong in one thing: most Americans never leave the country. Only a small percentage of Americans even have passports, so staying in the country forever is not unique to Russia and Russians, it's also true of America and Americans.
What? I thought all Americans (US citizens) have passports? What about the people who came to the US from another country, eventually becoming naturalized citizens? Would they count as "traveled abroad" Americans?