Have you immigrated?

This is a room for the discussion of travel plans or experiences and the culture of places you have visited or plan to visit.
jimmy
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby jimmy » Sun Jul 10, 2022 1:11 pm

Elsa Maria wrote:Yes, I moved from the USA to Denmark. I was a 47 year old monolingual. I stayed there five years and now I have been back in the USA for five years. I did not do a great job of learning Danish but I didn’t completely fail either. If I knew then what I know now…You will fare much better in that regard.

If I had known how complicated it was going to be to immigrate and then deal with the challenges of returning, I probably wouldn’t have done it. So I’m glad I didn’t know because I’m glad that I did it :)

this experience was one of important among others or similar. because of age parameter.
generally people will be more anxious if they are older (specifically than 40-45) ...
especially if they are anxious also about money.
this is my logic prediction ,it does not mean that it would be valid for everyone ..
thank you for your contribution.
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Elsa Maria
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby Elsa Maria » Sun Jul 10, 2022 1:56 pm

Le Baron wrote:
Elsa Maria wrote:If I had known how complicated it was going to be to immigrate and then deal with the challenges of returning, I probably wouldn’t have done it.

Yes. This is often left unspoken. Usually the stories are often about successful immigration, or periods of time spent and then successful return. There are many for whom the process isn't ideal and they either end up permanently in a place where they are only functioning under par, or back to where they came from with a bit of a hole in their lives.


In my case, I moved there as part of a family. The challenges included coping with various international schools for the kids (some schools were fine others were awful), dealing with renting out our house in the USA (what a nightmare), worrying about elderly parents back home, the neverending paperwork, and struggling to work our way through the complexities of our tax situation. Honestly, the language challenge was a fun challenge in comparison.

We only expected to be there three years, and our decisions were influenced by that. A single person planning a permanent move eyes a different scenario.

Then there was the impact of reverse culture shock - some family members felt it more than others.

And in spite of all that fuss and bother, I would do it again. It was life-changing.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby Le Baron » Sun Jul 10, 2022 2:42 pm

Elsa Maria wrote:And in spite of all that fuss and bother, I would do it again. It was life-changing.

So it would be correct to say you had an overall good experience? That's a good thing.

I have had good things, but if I had a time machine I would go back and advise my 20 year-old self probably not to move to the Netherlands. Or at least to do some other adjustments.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Jul 10, 2022 4:16 pm

Xenops wrote:Have you packed up your bags and moved to another country? Or have you seriously considered it, and but something got in the way?


I've never even had the idea. There was a time many years ago when I almost considered moving to some green island in the west, but it never happened. Now? No chance in h*ll. I barely go out of town. 8-)
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby garyb » Sun Jul 10, 2022 7:03 pm

No, but I've daydreamed about it a lot and seriously considered it several times. I'm not going to tell my life story either (although much of it as relates to possible moves is in my log by now...) but a few years ago I applied for a job in Barcelona that I would've taken in a heartbeat but I failed at the final interview stage, and a month or two later I was offered one in Berlin after I had already accepted an offer where I am, which I seriously considered but I wasn't quite convinced enough. I did have regrets around that, but I still feel that the job here was a more appropriate choice for me.

Then the job here didn't go well at first so I started to think about it again, then Covid happened and I decided to stay put and make the most of my current situation... and now I'm enjoying my life here more than ever and I'm starting to get older and lose interest in big cities and think about settling down. I'm still open to the idea, but also recognise that staying open to the idea is holding me back from making commitments where I am, so it's a hard one. Maybe the fact that I've not done it yet even when the opportunity was offered to me on a plate means that I'm not truly that way inclined, even if the idea is nice.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby BalancingAct » Sun Jul 10, 2022 11:17 pm

Yes, more than once.

The first destination is where you are now.

The first thing I bought is a copy of Boston Globe, due to its international fame and my strong curiosity (this is before Internet age). It was nighttime, after some hesitation (as every penny counted), I decided to do it for this one time. During daytime, I had seen three newspaper vending machines (boxes) on the roadside near a bus stop, the other two being for the also famous Christian Science Monitor and Qingdao Ri Bao, a leading Chinese newspaper in North America.

I still remember the happiness I felt when I ran down the flights of stairs, crossed the exotic dimly lit street, inserted coins into the vending machine with a little uncertainty and great expectation (never saw such a setup before), got a real copy of Boston Globe in hands, ran back up, and read it lying on an abandoned old mattress that a new friend and I dragged up to my room during the day.

My room was bare, except for my new bed and two full suitcases. It was illuminated by one bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. I had never handled a newspaper with such a thick stack and so large a size of pages. I had my arms wide open to hold up a double page side by side. I was intrigued and surprised by the simultaneously presented, vastly different opinions about an educational issue. I was so impressed by this that I mentioned it on the phone a day later to someone who had settled in Illinois a decade earlier and he said yes that was normal for all kinds of issues in America.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby zenmonkey » Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:28 am

Yes. Several times. I’m sort of a permanent immigrant.

Born in France. Parents imported me into Mexico at 1.
To the US as a child. Had no choice.
Back to Mexico at 16.
Back to the US at 18.
To France at 23.
To Germany in my 40s.
To USA in my 50s. (Currently in process).
Don’t regret any move. Actually wish I had done more. The last one isn’t really my choice but I see the positive aspects of this compromise.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby lingohot » Mon Jul 11, 2022 6:01 am

Le Baron wrote:I have had good things, but if I had a time machine I would go back and advise my 20 year-old self probably not to move to the Netherlands. Or at least to do some other adjustments.


Would you mind tell us why you wouldn't do it anymore? That would be interesting.

I never migrated, I have spent all my life in Germany, I did have some study stays abroad in the past, 1 month, 2 months... And there were some attempts, culminating in the signature of an employment contract from which I withdrawed on the same day.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby Le Baron » Mon Jul 11, 2022 12:00 pm

lingohot wrote:Would you mind tell us why you wouldn't do it anymore? That would be interesting.

I never migrated, I have spent all my life in Germany, I did have some study stays abroad in the past, 1 month, 2 months... And there were some attempts, culminating in the signature of an employment contract from which I withdrawed on the same day.

It's more about here specifically in NL. Not that I especially dislike it here, but I would have preferred to have spent 'some' time here and finished up somewhere else. I much preferred living in France and Belgium (and also the time in Cologne). The culture and language of the first two is more to my taste. Brexit has undone this possibility for me now.

I also sometimes wish I was back in England. I know there are disadvantages like being more cut-off from the continent with much less access to other L2 speakers and the like, but I do miss England. I am not one of those 'citizen of the world' types. I grew up between two places and cultures - England and a limited part of south Belgium - and I think perhaps I was mistaken in thinking I could move around at will with few repercussions. You also need to have a bit of cash behind you to do that sort of thing beyond student wandering. Those gallivanting between continents, especially with entire families to support, are not minimum wage earners.
Last edited by Le Baron on Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Have you immigrated?

Postby galaxyrocker » Mon Jul 11, 2022 12:28 pm

Le Baron wrote:and I think perhaps I was mistaken in thinking I could move around at will with few repercussions.


This is honestly something I've felt, and part of what's holding me back from firmly committing to the France masters. Ireland was a special case for me as I already knew people, especially in Dublin, from various Irish language activities online. So it was much easier to go into and get some semblance of a social life. Plus, everyone speaks English so there's always that for other events. It'll be much different in France, even if I'll have "ready-made" social connections with the other people doing the masters, and it's one of the reasons I've been hesitating.

I like visiting other places, and living there for a while doing immersion programmes, but I don't know if I'm really one of those people who could city hop every few years. I'd rather just end up back as a teacher and spend my summers in a different country doing language courses and interacting that way. Seems to be the best of both worlds.
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