First, “shithole country” is a bad category. Specifics matter, and there are way more dimensions of preference than you probably have considered (or can consider). Second, the US is not one country, in terms of lived experience. There’s more variance between different parts of the US (and between city/suburb/rural within a part) than between many countries.
I can’t disagree with wanting to live elsewhere, especially if you’re young and don’t have many local personal connections. That’s actually a really good exploration, and you should try it. But it won’t make everything better—some things will be surprisingly worse. The good news is this is a reversible decision—if you don’t like it, move somewhere else or move back.
But it won’t make everything better—some things will be surprisingly worse.
Based on the 1 1⁄2 years I spent living in Denmark, that doesn’t really ring true to me. The few bad things that do stand out, stand out precisely because so much else seemed so much better in Denmark than in the US (Specifically, I live in California, but my main problems feel more like national problems than state-level problems). There are a lot of differences, of course, that I could approximately go either way on.
I love Denmark, and can easily imagine that living there is better than California, for many people. For me, the language difference would weigh pretty heavily after awhile, but that’s less important for some. More importantly, my work and career likely would take a bit of a hit outside of US coastal cities—that’ll be worth it at some point, but it’s real.
And most importantly, I do have social and family connections that matter, and living abroad made that enough harder to maintain that the other differences in location weren’t worth it.
First, “shithole country” is a bad category. Specifics matter, and there are way more dimensions of preference than you probably have considered (or can consider). Second, the US is not one country, in terms of lived experience. There’s more variance between different parts of the US (and between city/suburb/rural within a part) than between many countries.
I can’t disagree with wanting to live elsewhere, especially if you’re young and don’t have many local personal connections. That’s actually a really good exploration, and you should try it. But it won’t make everything better—some things will be surprisingly worse. The good news is this is a reversible decision—if you don’t like it, move somewhere else or move back.
Based on the 1 1⁄2 years I spent living in Denmark, that doesn’t really ring true to me. The few bad things that do stand out, stand out precisely because so much else seemed so much better in Denmark than in the US (Specifically, I live in California, but my main problems feel more like national problems than state-level problems). There are a lot of differences, of course, that I could approximately go either way on.
I love Denmark, and can easily imagine that living there is better than California, for many people. For me, the language difference would weigh pretty heavily after awhile, but that’s less important for some. More importantly, my work and career likely would take a bit of a hit outside of US coastal cities—that’ll be worth it at some point, but it’s real.
And most importantly, I do have social and family connections that matter, and living abroad made that enough harder to maintain that the other differences in location weren’t worth it.