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.

[ofdabeat]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

What you read is probably way off, please visit one or two month before doing something you will regret. Paris is probably the most overrated city in the world.

It's beautiful and stuff but don't live there.

South of France is very nice but maybe a bit boring during winters.

If you choose to live in europe why not changing country every couple of month? Italy, Spain, Grece, Croatia ect... hell even Germany is worth a look [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[TheMetetron]

I'm visiting Paris for a week and a half this summer, which is obviously way before I'd move there. I also know people who live there. It may not be the best city in the world, but it sure beats a lot of other places.

Also, did you entirely skip over the part about the Schengen Agreement? I get the feeling people from Europe don't know much about it since most people I talked to looked at me with a blank stare. Sort of makes the new country every few months thing hard.

[adsman]

Dude,

There's one very easy way to get around the Schengen thing - just jump across to Switzerland every three months for a few days. Problem sorted. At least that's what all of my mates in the same boat did back in the day.

Interestingly enough I've lived in all your unsure about countries. I'm Australian, I've lived in Barcelona for a brief period and I live in Italy now. They're all good, they all have different things to offer. But in my experience, living in different places is mostly the same. You have to sort the same stuff out, eat, live, party, etc. So it comes down to you identifying why you're making the move and what you want out of it. Once you have that sorted your preferred destination becomes fairly clear.

[TheMetetron]

The reason for moving to different places to experience different cultures and their ways of doing things, to learn a new language in many of the cases, and to see the sights not just in that city but in that entire country.

Seems pretty standard to me so I'm not sure exactly what you are asking. It should also be noted that I will probably live in all of these places eventually, so the purpose of this thread isn't to pick one or two I like most.

As far as the Switzerland thing, that's incorrect. You have to be OUT of the Schengen Region for 91 days every 182. You can't spend 90 days in France, go to Switzerland for 2 days then spend another 90 days in Spain. You'd have to spend 90 day in Switzerland.

That said the one time I went to Switzerland they didn't stamp my passport when I left The Netherlands, but that appeared to be a mistake the guy made because he was lazy/new.

[AZK]

Have you looked into croatia at all? Equally as cheap as prague not as americanized, beautiful, etc... I don't really know any specifics but when I visited I loved it there.

[JaredL]

In Spain the two obvious choices are Sevilla and Barcelona. They are my two favorite cities in the world. San Sebastian would be a great place to live as well.

Sevilla is the most Spanish of cities. Every Spanish stereotype is the norm there - they have the huge religious festivals (despite not being very religious), they love bullfighting, they are very passionate about soccer, flamenco music and dancing (specifically Sevillanas) is very popular there and at least all the females know it, they are pretty much always late, super laid back etc. To me the setting is amazing. It's so incredibly laid back there and the people are very warm. Meeting friends is no problem whatsoever.

Barcelona is larger, more metropolitan, and has a distinct culture. While they have a lot of "immigrants" from Southern Spain and Madrid, it still is very Catalan. People are still friendly relative to a similarly sized city in the US, but not as warm and chatty as in Sevilla. They are much more interested in getting to the point than the discussion. It's similarly more laid back in general than San Francisco or whatever, but not as much as other parts of Spain. One drawback, or it would be for me at least, is the language. While most speak Catalan as their native language instead of Spanish, that's not all that important because they also speak Spanish. The problem is that, perhaps due to their distinct language and culture, they would rather talk to you in English than Spanish. Several time in the 10 days or so that I was there, I would ask some local a question in Spanish and they would just answer it in English. This can be good or bad depending on your perspective.

I should have said above that I did a study abroad in Sevilla living there for 5 months. I spent 6 days in Barcelona during that time. I was planning on going for just a couple as I had already been there for a few days in the past, but loved it so I stayed for pretty much all of my vacation. I also went to San Sebastian, but only for a day. It was very nice as well. The food in particular was fantastic. It's also a coastal town right on the Atlantic so you're on the ocean, although it's colder than what I suspect you're used to. It's in the Basque country but unlike Catalonia, most Basques don't know the language and are native Spanish speakers.

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you looked into croatia at all? Equally as cheap as prague not as americanized, beautiful, etc... I don't really know any specifics but when I visited I loved it there.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, but I will now. Thanks for the suggestion.

[adsman]

[ QUOTE ]


Seems pretty standard to me so I'm not sure exactly what you are asking. It should also be noted that I will probably live in all of these places eventually, so the purpose of this thread isn't to pick one or two I like most.


[/ QUOTE ]

Title of this thread is, "Help me decide where to live after Buenos Aires."

Perhaps you need to clarify this a little better.

As regards to the Swiss guys not stamping the passports, they never do it. You have to actually ask them to. Same goes for Leichenstein.

I can also vouch for Croatia. It is half the price of Western Europe, hot girls, beautiful islands, and you can hop over to Slovenia for your live poker needs.

[TheMetetron]

I know the Swiss guys never stamp, I meant the Dutch when I left which they are supposed to. That's the stamp that matters.

The entire eventual goal is where/when I will go live, but that isn't so much the goal of this thread yet. Just information gathering at this point.

Also, I will never have a live poker need. The last thing I want to do is play more poker "for fun" after doing it for work 30 hours a week.