Anyone lived in the US?

Affable

How did you find it?(NOT literally)

ChocolateSauce

Affable wrote: »

How did you find it?(NOT literally)

On a map, unlike some Americans. But seriously, I lived there from August 96-July 97, in the San Francisco bay area. It was very hot and very, very wealthy compared to Ireland at the time. I hear the tables have turned somewhat. I personally hated it, but I was a child and was homesick. Can't really say how I'd find it now.

devereaux17

I didn't think San Francisco was very good, just a city really, nice design to it but not so good. I lived for a year with my parents in Alameda, near enough to San Francisco and it was a nice place to bring up kids I reckon but very very boring(but with good weather)

ChocolateSauce

devereaux17 wrote: »

I didn't think San Francisco was very good, just a city really, nice design to it but not so good. I lived for a year with my parents in Alameda, near enough to San Francisco and it was a nice place to bring up kids I reckon but very very boring(but with good weather)

Well, Alameda is kind of boring tbh :pac:. Did you visit the USS Hornet at all? I've never been to SF in my adult life so I can't say how fun it would be, but it's supposed to be one of the hottest places on earth. My mother went to college there in the late 60's and said it was "groovy".

Whatever that means :rolleyes:.

devereaux17

san francisco? didn't think it was that hot, i was there in august, it was very cold at night time, didn't seem any hotter than barcelona or rome really.

ChocolateSauce

devereaux17 wrote: »

san francisco? didn't think it was that hot, i was there in august, it was very cold at night time, didn't seem any hotter than barcelona or rome really.

The city of San Francisco is very mild because it's surrounded on three sides by water, but the region in general is very hot. I lived about an hours drive south of SF. The year I lived there it was regularly over 35 in the summer, sometimes 45. Even in winter at night it never went below 15.

devereaux17

oh damn yeah you are right, sorry

Astrogeek

I haven't lived over there, but has anyone else been to the walmarts / other american tescos?
Their food doesn't look real! I was in a very touristy part of Florida so I don't know what the rest of america is like, food shopping wise. But that experience plus any restaurant we went into just showed very clearly why they are (in general) so huge!

ChocolateSauce

Oh, when I said hottest places on earth I didn't mean it's actual temperature, I meant it's coolness. Hope that clarifies things:pac:.

Astrogeek wrote: »

I haven't lived over there, but has anyone else been to the walmarts / other american tescos?
Their food doesn't look real! I was in a very touristy part of Florida so I don't know what the rest of america is like, food shopping wise. But that experience plus any restaurant we went into just showed very clearly why they are (in general) so huge!

Yeah, Walmarts are usually the size of aircraft hangers or bigger. Food shopping wise, the variety of food (both in terms of choice and in terms of quality) is vast. Food portions over there are huge too. A "small" coke in a McD's is 500ml.

Ponster

Astrogeek wrote: »

Their food doesn't look real! I was in a very touristy part of Florida so I don't know what the rest of america is like, food shopping wise. But that experience plus any restaurant we went into just showed very clearly why they are (in general) so huge!

Visit a Wholefoods.

I lived in LA County for 6 months from June 1999 to Xmas 1999. Great experience all in all.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

fiveyears

I never lived in America. But Id really like to move to LA or New York and become a actor or writer smething like that

Aoife9

I lived in Chicago for 7 years and mostly really liked it (but I do have family there) the Summers are hot and the winters are really really cold I hated it in winter it regularly snows quite heavy but the roads etc.. are kept quite clear so it's not hard to get around unlike here in Ireland all hell breaks loose if we get more than an inch of snow.
The food portions are huge but a lot of Americans ask for their food to be wrapped if they don't finish it.
I still visit there every other year or so but only in summer

Ajos

I've lived in New York since October 2003. Six months in Brooklyn, eighteen months in Queens, another eighteen months in Manhattan (Harlem) and then back to Brooklyn, where I am trapped because I bought at the top of the market! I don't mind though - I plan to be here long enough to see it rebound and it's a pretty sweet apartment.

I would agree that it's impossible to generalise about America - it's like generalising about Europe - so take what I say in that spirit.

I love it here, in ways that I can only properly express by descending to cliche. There's a real "can do" spirit. Americans seem much more focused on how to do things than how not to do them. Success is celebrated, and failure is never the end.

People feel responsible for their own fortunes in a way that you just don't find in Ireland. I know a number of Irish people who have moved here only to have their inner entrepreneur suddenly, and often unexpectedly, flower. There's really no outlet for it back in the old country, or at least it's not as respected.

Nothing has made me see the depth of Irish begrudgery and the way it permeates so much of irish life than living somewhere where it just doesn't exist. I was just as begrudging as everybody else - now it feels as if the scales have fallen from my eyes.

Basically, what I'm saying is, nostalgia hasn't set in yet. From my observations that tends to start creeping up on us immigrants around the ten year mark. I have four years of revelling left!

devereaux17

Nice post, doesn't seem to be like an americanphile talking but someone whose just telling it like it is.

My impression always was that if you want to live comfortable but not great europe is the place, but if you want to be somebody then USA is the place for you. I don't know if this applies to Ireland as I read that we adopt more the American model rather than the European one.

irish_bob

devereaux17 wrote: »

Nice post, doesn't seem to be like an americanphile talking but someone whose just telling it like it is.

My impression always was that if you want to live comfortable but not great europe is the place, but if you want to be somebody then USA is the place for you. I don't know if this applies to Ireland as I read that we adopt more the American model rather than the European one.

the whole notion of ireland adopting an american model is totally exagerated if you ask me , people in ireland think the state should help them out all the time , americans dont have that attitude at all , in ireland we have an extrordinarily generous wellfare system , the usa doesnt have anything comparable in this regard

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

I've lived in New York since October 2003. Six months in Brooklyn, eighteen months in Queens, another eighteen months in Manhattan (Harlem) and then back to Brooklyn, where I am trapped because I bought at the top of the market! I don't mind though - I plan to be here long enough to see it rebound and it's a pretty sweet apartment.

I would agree that it's impossible to generalise about America - it's like generalising about Europe - so take what I say in that spirit.

I love it here, in ways that I can only properly express by descending to cliche. There's a real "can do" spirit. Americans seem much more focused on how to do things than how not to do them. Success is celebrated, and failure is never the end.

People feel responsible for their own fortunes in a way that you just don't find in Ireland. I know a number of Irish people who have moved here only to have their inner entrepreneur suddenly, and often unexpectedly, flower. There's really no outlet for it back in the old country, or at least it's not as respected.

Nothing has made me see the depth of Irish begrudgery and the way it permeates so much of irish life than living somewhere where it just doesn't exist. I was just as begrudging as everybody else - now it feels as if the scales have fallen from my eyes.

Basically, what I'm saying is, nostalgia hasn't set in yet. From my observations that tends to start creeping up on us immigrants around the ten year mark. I have four years of revelling left!

See, I'm English not Irish, but I got a suspicion of that vulgarity or pushiness about ambition. It makes me uncomfortable.

Ajos

Affable wrote: »

See, I'm English not Irish, but I got a suspicion of that vulgarity or pushiness about ambition. It makes me uncomfortable.

Yes, it takes some getting used to. I had to unlearn my Irish habits of self effacement. In Ireland if someone tells you you did a great job on something it's perfectly acceptable, indeed expected, for you to respond with something like "Ah, no, it was nothing really" or "Thanks! Well, I had a lot of help". Over here they will take you at your word - if you say it was nothing they will believe you!

You really have to put yourself out there in a way I was extremely uncomfortable with - indeed, I still am. But really it's more honest. Dammit, I did do a great job on that! Ultimately, it's freeing.

K4t

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

My mother went to college there in the late 60's and said it was "groovy".

Whatever that means :rolleyes:.

I think it means that she had a lot of sex (probably unprotected) and smoked a lot of 'pot'! Sorry for the possible mental images my post may evoke in your mind. :pac:

irish_bob wrote: »

in ireland we have an extrordinarily generous wellfare system , the usa doesnt have anything comparable in this regard

Both systems are seriously flawed but I certainly know which one I'd prefer to be living in.

I've never even been to America but I have a general perception of it from all the tv I do be watching. I've also read Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. That told me pretty much everything I need to know!!!

Ponster

K4t wrote: »

I've never even been to America but I have a general perception of it from all the tv I do be watching.

And if an American judged Ireland based on "Father Ted" ?

K4t

Ponster wrote: »

And if an American judged Ireland based on "Father Ted" ?

No need for sweeping generalisations now :pac:

Ajos

Milos Forman, the director of Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest among other films, had a good analogy. I can't find the exact quote, and I'm not comparing Ireland to Czechslovakia under communist rule, but it's still illuminating.

He said that living under communism was like living in the zoo. You were fed, and watered, and you lived safely in a nice comfortable cage - but you couldn't go anywhere, or do anything they didn't let you do. America is like the jungle. You can roam free, and be as big as you can make yourself - but nobody will feed you, and there are other animals out to get you.

It's a little extreme - America is not at all the libertarian fantasy that this simile implies, and Ireland is certainly a long way from being a totalitarian state, but there is an element of truth to it.

K4t wrote: »

Both systems are seriously flawed but I certainly know which one I'd prefer to be living in.

Me too!

At first when I moved over I took comfort in the way that living in New York is not that different from living in Dublin, in that they're both cities with shops, and bars, and public transportation and everybody (well, almost) speaks English. I was able to navigate around fairly easily. Because of these surface similarities it took me a while to really appreciate the profound differences that exist in the outlook of the people.

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

Milos Forman, the director of Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest among other films, had a good analogy. I can't find the exact quote, and I'm not comparing Ireland to Czechslovakia under communist rule, but it's still illuminating.

He said that living under communism was like living in the zoo. You were fed, and watered, and you lived safely in a nice comfortable cage - but you couldn't go anywhere, or do anything they didn't let you do. America is like the jungle. You can roam free, and be as big as you can make yourself - but nobody will feed you, and there are other animals out to get you.

It's a little extreme - America is not at all the libertarian fantasy that this simile implies, and Ireland is certainly a long way from being a totalitarian state, but there is an element of truth to it.



Me too!

At first when I moved over I took comfort in the way that living in New York is not that different from living in Dublin, in that they're both cities with shops, and bars, and public transportation and everybody (well, almost) speaks English. I was able to navigate around fairly easily. Because of these surface similarities it took me a while to really appreciate the profound differences that exist in the outlook of the people.

Know anything about Australia and how it compares?

Ajos

Affable wrote: »

Know anything about Australia and how it compares?

Not much. I worked in Brisbane for a couple of months back in 1999 so I formed some impressions, but I don't consider that long enough to have any really valuable insight. It took me longer than that to even begin to figure out New York.

But for what it's worth - I was disappointed in Australia. There is a pub culture there like in Ireland, but I didn't find the Australians as friendly as they're cracked up to be. Also I found the general culture to be very macho - lots of weightlifting and discussions about porn. And I was working with sound editors! The nerds of the film business!

I guess it's a kind of "beach culture", if that's a thing. The women I met were uniformly intelligent and interesting, but they were all chained to these lunkhead guys they would do anything for. Plus, lots of racism towards the aborigines. Oh, yeah - nasty.

As I said, these are very superficial opinions, formed in the short time I was there. I believe it was GK Chesterton who said "travel narrows the mind".

I had a good time in Australia - it was my first time really away from home with absolutely no support system within thousands of miles, so I learned a lot about myself. If I hadn't had that experience I doubt I would have had the guts to move to New York on my own four years later. But I'm in no hurry to go back there.

At the end of my stay I spent a week in Sydney with some Irish people, one of whom I knew vaguely. That was an eye opener! I was appalled at the way they were completely indifferent to the fact that they were in a different culture - they seemed to have imported their entire village from Ireland with them. It was as if they lived exactly the same life as back home, just in the sun with great beaches! They barely spoke to any Australians outside of being served in shops.

I say I was appalled, but deep down I know that if I had had that option in Brisbane I would have embraced it totally because it's much easier than trying to create a whole social life from scratch, and I can see how you might not even realise what you were missing in the hedonistic fun of it all. I'm glad I was forced to broaden my horizons a bit.

devereaux17

Thats the thing compare Irish people who move to mainland Europe and Irish people who move to Australia, let me say in the best possible way, generally they are more open-minded.

Ajos

devereaux17 wrote: »

Thats the thing compare Irish people who move to mainland Europe and Irish people who move to Australia, let me say in the best possible way, generally they are more open-minded.

Well, to be fair, we were all pretty young, and they were just doing the year abroad thing for a laugh - they weren't proper immigrants. I was over for an internship organised by Screen Training Ireland, so I was traveling alone.

The way I see it they weren't necessarily closed minded people, they just fell into a trap - the trap of easy laughs and a ready-made social life. I probably would have fallen into it myself given the opportunity.

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

At the end of my stay I spent a week in Sydney with some Irish people, one of whom I knew vaguely. That was an eye opener! I was appalled at the way they were completely indifferent to the fact that they were in a different culture - they seemed to have imported their entire village from Ireland with them. It was as if they lived exactly the same life as back home, just in the sun with great beaches! They barely spoke to any Australians outside of being served in shops.
.

You should see how much Aussies do that in Britain though!!

Ajos

Affable wrote: »

You should see how much Aussies do that in Britain though!!

I'm sure, and for much the same reasons, I imagine. Like I say, I think it's a trap that's very easy to fall into, and you probably wouldn't even realise it was a trap until you came to reflect on the experience later on. If then!

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

Milos Forman, the director of Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest among other films, had a good analogy. I can't find the exact quote, and I'm not comparing Ireland to Czechslovakia under communist rule, but it's still illuminating.

He said that living under communism was like living in the zoo. You were fed, and watered, and you lived safely in a nice comfortable cage - but you couldn't go anywhere, or do anything they didn't let you do. America is like the jungle. You can roam free, and be as big as you can make yourself - but nobody will feed you, and there are other animals out to get you.
.

That's fine. But they take that to extremes and in my experience can be annoyingly righteous. Tbh it is very much a persolla thing, I don't think I'd have much fun in America. They take life far too seriously.

Hookey

Ajos wrote: »

At the end of my stay I spent a week in Sydney with some Irish people, one of whom I knew vaguely. That was an eye opener! I was appalled at the way they were completely indifferent to the fact that they were in a different culture - they seemed to have imported their entire village from Ireland with them. It was as if they lived exactly the same life as back home, just in the sun with great beaches! They barely spoke to any Australians outside of being served in shops.

Almost everyone does that if they have the option. I know what you mean about Sydney though; Bondi should be renamed Dublin South.

I had a similar experience to you in Australia; I don't think it helps that you were in Brisbane either; the racism towards Aborigines and the blokey culture seems to be at its worst in Queensland. Melbourne is more...civilised (and NZ is nicer than either - especially the people).

Affable

Hookey wrote: »

(and NZ is nicer than either - especially the people).

Scenery looks absoluteyl stunnning too.

Ajos

Affable wrote: »

That's fine. But they take that to extremes and in my experience can be annoyingly righteous. Tbh it is very much a persolla thing, I don't think I'd have much fun in America. They take life far too seriously.

It indeed is a personal thing, and to each their own. I'm not sure where the "takes life too seriously" thing comes from. It's not my experience. I have a great group of friends here, and as far as I can tell we have a comparable amount of good times to what I remember from Ireland. In fact, if I'm ever in the mood to hear a good moan I have to pop across the Atlantic for it!

Hookey wrote: »

Almost everyone does that if they have the option. I know what you mean about Sydney though; Bondi should be renamed Dublin South.

I had a similar experience to you in Australia; I don't think it helps that you were in Brisbane either; the racism towards Aborigines and the blokey culture seems to be at its worst in Queensland. Melbourne is more...civilised (and NZ is nicer than either - especially the people).

Yes, I would have liked to have seen Melbourne. And I know Brisbane is on the top of nobody's fantasy holiday list! I've also heard that NZ is much nicer all around from several people who have done both. Someday!

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

It indeed is a personal thing, and to each their own. I'm not sure where the "takes life too seriously" thing comes from. It's not my experience. I have a great group of friends here, and as far as I can tell we have a comparable amount of good times to what I remember from Ireland. In fact, if I'm ever in the mood to hear a good moan I have to pop across the Atlantic for it!

You could be right. I may have just encountered the wrong kind.

Ajos

Affable wrote: »

You could be right. I may have just encountered the wrong kind.

I have no problem believing that. I've been lucky enough to encounter the right kind! Well, not exclusively, but sufficiently. The more Americans I get to know, the harder it becomes to generalise about them, but I guess that's a universal truth.

As a matter of interest, what was it you wanted to know when you started the thread? Has your curiosity been satisfied at all?

Affable

Ajos wrote: »

I have no problem believing that. I've been lucky enough to encounter the right kind! Well, not exclusively, but sufficiently. The more Americans I get to know, the harder it becomes to generalise about them, but I guess that's a universal truth.

As a matter of interest, what was it you wanted to know when you started the thread? Has your curiosity been satisfied at all?

I suppose just want kind of folk like it, and if it's as pushy as all that. I got family who went out but it's not my cup o tea.