Help me decide where to live after Buenos Aires (Preliminary Thread)

[TheMetetron]

So, I've always known I don't want to live in Buenos Aires forever as much as I love this city. It is pretty far away from the time when I am going to leave - I am currently planning for sometime in March/April of 2008 as my time for me to move somewhere new - but I'd like to start thinking about it so I can be prepared.

Here are the potential places I have interest in living; note this is very, very preliminary and very little thought has gone into this as of yet:

Spain - Cities Unknown

I'd like to continue my Spanish lessons after I leave Buenos Aires in Spain for a while. Also this is the country that influenced my culture a great deal and I'd love to live in it and see it function. This has the obvious plus of being a Spanish-speaking country which makes it easier for me than almost any other country on this list. I'm not entirely sure where exactly I want to live in Spain, but a visit to Barcelona and Madrid this summer should help me decide.

Copenhagen, Denmark

I never lived in big cities in Scandinavia, but the limited time I spent in Copenhagen was very enjoyable. My main goal here is to really suck up the culture as best as I can and to continue my Danish language study. I know I don't need to learn Danish to function here, but I'd like to get better than I currently am. I've also come to the conclusion I really like big cities so I think I'll enjoy Copenhagen even more than my last stint in Scandinavia.

France - Paris & Countryside

I've yet to visit Paris, but that will be done this summer. I'm quite certain from what I've read so far that this is a city that I would absolutely love to live in. It is also obviously the ideal place for me to learn French which is the front-runner for my 4th language to pick up. I'd like to initially spend at least 3 months in Paris itself and a few months in the countryside (probably Southern France) as well. I'm certain that return visits to live here again are likely.

Italy - Cities Unknown

This list is just full of places I've never been. Doing a short trip to Rome this summer, but I've long wanted to spend a year in Italy and just live in a different city every few months. I've had a plan for many years now to just rent a house in Tuscany and go exploring. I could easily spend a year in Italy, but due to constraints that you will soon see, I'm not sure what I am going to do with Italy.

Prague, Czech Republic

Eastern Europe. Cheap. That's pretty much my reasons for wanting to go there. I hear a lot of good things from people who have lived there and I'm not sure if it would be my cup of tea, but it would keep my expenses incredibly low for a while and I'd get to experience something new. That's really all the reason I require.

Bangkok, Thailand

Well, what to say here. This is really only on my radar because of Bill's thread in OOT. I'm not sure that this is my cup of tea either as I'd probably make zero effort to learn Thai which is usually a bad thing when you go live somewhere new. Also, the rampant whores or real women who are really just whores turns me off. This would definitely be the poorest country I would ever live in and the biggest thing it has going for it is being cheap, being Asian, and not being a part of the Schengen Agreement (herein referred to as the Devil).

Australia - Cities Unknown

At some point I'd like to live in Australia just to give it a shot. Not sure why I want to and it isn't the strongest desire, but I can't really think of many other places I'm currently too interested in living besides the ones I've already listed. This is also the place I probably know the least about.

Now, the logistics of living in all these places is going to be the biggest problem. I'm not going to worry about it too much at this point in time (there will be another logistics thread that will wrap this whole thing up). What I really want to get out of this is more information about these places from people who lived/visited there.

Examples include:

- Furnished rentals
- Public transit
- Language schools
- Cost of living
- Areas to live in/avoid
- Visas for Americans (resident, tourist, whatever)
- Safety concerns
- Reasons for/against the city
- Other relevant things I can't think of right now

I'm also open to new suggestions for places or if you want to offer specific suggestions within countries I'm not too sure about (Spain/Italy/Australia).

I'm going to take all the information I get here, do some more research to round everything out, then come up with a loose plan for the next few years of where I'd like to live and how I am going to achieve it.

My biggest obstacle is going to be visas. Spain, Denmark, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic will all be implementing members of the Schengen Agreement by 2008. This means I am limited to only being allowed in ALL countries combined for 91 out of every 182 days, unless I can somehow secure a residence visa in one of the countries. The only European countries not a part of this agreement are UK, Ireland, and Switzerland. I don't have much desire to live in any of those countries, but I'm open to suggestions.

That should be enough to get some discussion started. Thanks for any help you may be able to offer.

Edit: It should also be noted that before I ever make it through this list I will definitely be back living in Buenos Aires for sure.