At 10/23/06 09:49 AM, AloneInTheDark wrote:
I think it's better if you go on a long vacation first to the country you want to move to, before you actually move.
True that. I used to think Seattle was the place for me till I actually spent some time there. I love the weather, but there's something inherently (in my opionion anyway) apathetic and closed to progress there. At the same time though, I can see the good things too, it's just that I couldn't deal with the self defeating attitude every day for more than a month. I'd have to start slapping people and tell them to go out and do something!
I'm sorry if I just offended anyone from Seattle. =p
Spent some time in Vancouver on the other hand (not NEARLY enough), and now I'm obsessed with moving there. Lucky for me, housing costs are literally the same as for where I live now, so it won't be a shock.
On the other hand, Monteal and Toronto are awesome cities as well, but I don't know if I could actually live there for too long (aside from the fact that I don't speak French)... maybe. I'd like to give it a try, but it'd definately be out of my comfort zone. I guess that's another East Coast/West Coast thing... poor Midwest, they always get written off! But I've also been to the Midwest... not somewhere I ever plan on going again.
Ultimately though, I would like to move to Canada. Heritage aside, I just really like how liberal they are about everyday things that people in the US make major issues about that don't need to be taken so seriously all the time (nudity, language, drugs, etc.) There's also a stigma about the US that I've noticed doesn't exist there in that this country can't escape its past and present racial issues. It's very refreshing to actually see people be treated as equally as I've ever seen in my life... makes me sad to come back with a different lens and the ability to see that even our most progressive cities have been divided up by race. =(