1e4e6: Cizí jazyky pro život

[garyb]

That is interesting that you mentioned that, because Bologna was actually my first choice in Italy. It is not called "La Rossa" for nothing. But even Torino--they have a big politecnico there. Milano have a big politecnico too, but that city is probably almost the antithesis of me. I get the impression that every street must have Gucci, Rolex, Tag Heuer and Victoria's Secret stores on them. I have a friend who is of Vietnamese descent and went to Milan on holiday, but encountered racism almost everyday (even by non-White immigrants). Not sure if that was just coincidence or a frequency.

Actually I was speaking to some people my age from that area literally about 4 hours ago. Life seems pretty tranquil there, and when I asked about Bologna, they gave me the impression that it is a "happening" city with a lot of students. I guess kind of like Manchester, Newcastle or Edinburgh.

Yeah, I've been to Bologna several times and I have friends from there, so I know it quite well. It's definitely a place that's full of life and energy, with lots of young people. Certainly comparable to Edinburgh, but with a less conservative feeling more like Glasgow or Manchester. It would probably be my choice too, not for the politics as much as just the atmosphere and people. Plus, while nowhere in Italy is great for employment prospects right now, it is still one of the better-off regions.

I've spent a few days in Torino and again I have a couple of friends there. It's more calm and less chaotic than Bologna, but it indeed also has a big university and a political tradition. Many people say that it's the most "liveable" Italian city.

[garyb]

To be honest, I really do not know much about Northern Italy, but it does seem appealing. I find it interesting that some of those Northern cities are left-wing, when the big financial and fashion capital Milano is right next door.

Did you say that you were thinking of moving to Italy too? That is why I am going pretty fast on Italian, and it helps that I already have Spanish, Catalan, French and Portuguese alongside Italian.

Italy can be a strange mix. Also in Bologna and Torino there are main streets full of designer fashion boutiques, then you walk five minutes to the University district and there's a real counter-culture feel and political posters everywhere. I've only spent half a day in Milan so I can't say much about it, but I remember walking a bit outside the centre and finding an anarchist bookshop that seemed to have some kind of event going on inside, with a lot of alternative-looking types.

Moving there has crossed my mind, but right now I'm not considering it too seriously. The economic situation discourages me: I know it's not everything, but all the young people I know there are either struggling to find work or are being exploited and working long hours for low pay. Compared to that, my current situation is very comfortable. I don't think the grass is always greener on the other side. But I'm also not happy with the way the UK is going and with some aspects of the culture, and I have no idea what's going happen here in Scotland, so a move has been on the back of my mind. I've also thought about Barcelona/Catalonia: it seems to have better employment prospects than Italy but still a laid-back lifestyle.

[coldrainwater]

Some of your earlier posts helped me quite a bit in my journey, so thanks for those and great to see you back! I knew you must play chess based on your forum name, but I definitely did not know you were rated at a national master level. That is awesome. I definitely look forward to reading and enjoying your Spanish chess blog since I love both the language and the game. I don't play often, but it is very peaceful and relaxing for me to analyze games and theory and it is great to have a link to it via LLORG. Best of luck in your move, tons of great insight there as well.

[PeterMollenburg]

Hi 1e4e6,

Wow, it has been a while! Glad to hear you continued improving on your languages. I can relate, at times, to your not feeling a part of the dominant anglo culture you reside in, although I perhaps don't feel it as strongly as you, although I think I once did. I think we certainly think alike politically a lot of ways (correct me if I'm wrong). Good luck with your future plans and I hope your languages serve you well in any upcoming move.

Mr McPeter

[crush]

A blast from the past! Ja pensava que reconneixia aquest nom!

Jo també vaig deixar els "estats", vaig viure un temps a Xina i ara em trobo al Païs Basc on vaig aprenent el basc. Espero que puguis realitzar els teus somnis, a veure si un dia et veurem per aquí

[Cavesa]

Good to see you back

Some plans have changed. Whilst I am still home in California, I am ready to finally take steps to leave this place and move to Europe permanently. I really am not happy here in USA, and I honestly do not fit in nor can connect with people here due to difference in mentality. I have decided that I shall apply to medical schools in Europe and study medicine like I always wanted to since I was a small boy. I am looking to emigrate to countries that permit multiple citizenship. This means no Spain (unless Catalonia formally secede from that authorarian country) and no Germany.

I have travelled by myself a few times to Europe recently. I needed some time to recuperate from the stress at home. I recently returned from a holiday to Portugal, and fell in love with the country. Despite being part Spanish by blood, I have serious reservations about Spain as a country ever since Franco came to power in 1939. For this reason, I no longer have much desire to move to Spain. Portugal and Italy are my first and second choices for emigration, and they both allow multiple citizenship. I am also looking at Czechia for study/emigration. All of the three aforementioned countries seem to be nice places where one can live like a normal person with low cost and fairly relaxed. Norway also introduced multiple citizenship just months ago. Norway, Sweden and Denmark are probably my 4th, 5th and 6th choices.

These two bolded points are a very problematic combination. You know, doctors in the US are rather rich. Many might even be very rich. In Europe, not so much. In the Czech Republic, you'll actually make better money and have much better living conditions in any other field. Even a cashier in a supermarket has a better salary than the younger doctors, not kidding, and the older ones are not paid that much better. Do not believe the official numbers by the ministry, they add up two or three contracts and pretend that is the money a doctor gets for normal work hours.

And it is not just the Czech Republic. If you want a decent middle class life, medicine is a bad choice in most european countries, which never stop reminding us stuff like "we pay your studies, so serve us, slave" or "why should you care about your personal life, isn't it your calling to serve the patients?" and so on.

I found out too late, so I am trying to get all I can from having destroyed my youth in medicine. In France, it is much better than in the Czech Republic, but there are still some huge problems, such as obligatory city changes that destroy families of the doctors (really, if they try to keep me from having children at the appropriate age, I will sue this country for breaking my human right. Even illegal immigrants have rights to not have their families broken.

The medicine in the Czech Republic is very good in some aspects, not in others. The low quality in everything I am really interested in has been one of the big reasons to leave (outdated methods, no research in what I am interested in, low ethical standards,etc). Combined with impossibility to sue the doctors and nurses for physically harming and psychologically abusing and humiliating the patients, it is a huge problem. I have twenty years of very rich experience with this, I am not some moron saying ugly things based on one or two newspaper articles. You will not find anyone, who understands this better than I do, unfortunately.

Why would you want to study medicine in the Czech Republic? The faculties are trash, compared to the better european countries. The czechs just read powerpoints, while the others really teach medicine. Too few teachers (=minimum of practical education), too old ones (=the main point being reciting lists of crap including obsolete things, and no objectivity at the oral exams), horrible system that produces worse doctors (on purpose, I guess, to limit our options to leave), bad curriculum, and one of the worst residency program after the faculty. Sure, if you pay a lot to study in English on a Czech faculty, you will at least profit from much easier exams, much more polite teachers, and so on. You will be treated as a valued customer, not like us. But you'll learn even less.

Going to the Czech Republic for a good quality of life makes a lot of sense, if you want a typical expat job (you will even get paid much more than the locals for the same job, some companies even kick out the czechs and get only expats). It makes sense in many other fields that require university education and allow being hired on a truly free job market. Healthcare is not one of them.

Sure, if you were from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, or Bolivia, you'd probably find this to be a dream. But coming from US, I don't think you'll like what you find. Think of all this while you still can, before you'll have lost years of your life and face the sunk cost fallacy.

If you want high quality medical education in Europe: France, Germany, Austria, the Switzerland, Sweden, Norway,...
If you want a good life as a doctor, then Germany, the Switzerland, Austria, France (if they manage to stop some parts of the reform), Sweden, Norway,...