immigrants, expatriates, longterm residents in a foreign land, whatever you want to be called

i lived for long periods outside of my native country or the country of my birth but have now returned home

seemed most apt. Total of six years in the US, incl. three from 2015-2018.

not to mention that in any other country on earth I would remain an American by temperament, and therefore somewhat of an alien being in my new country, until my death.

I mean, this is not a bad thing, being a foreigner in Brexit has at least given me the framework of "at least I can move back if I have to, I know it's within my capacity"

(Obviously of course this is one of the things that I approve of in other people - big cities are made by those who come there rather than raised there etc)

In the States right now. Feel like I could move back here tomorrow, and like I never ever will want to move back here again ever. The internalized American exceptionalism wears off right quick if you don't exclusively hang with ex pats.

Leaving the US for The Netherlands in a few months. Starting again from scratch in my middle age but that's fine. Learning Dutch and my brain is slowly catching on to this most difficult of languages. I'll only be back to visit family and get my stuff out of storage in a year's time. Good effing Riddance.

I don't spend time with Americans here except the ones I live with. I mean I encounter tourists now & then but as far as daily life goes, I don't know any other americans.

I feel like my most american temperament thing is that I drink coffee in too large vessels. And maybe drink too much water.

Welkom Capitaine! :)

Lived where I've been born (Netherlands, The North) most of my time. Lived in The North of England for over a year, and a couple of months writing in Basque Country. For someone who's made a living out of 'localness' (running a paper where I'm from, partly in a tiny local language passed on to me at birth; sure death of the tiny language accepted as fate but not without putting up a fight) I can see myself living in a different country more easily as I get older, to my own surprise. If it's on the cards it will probably be Basque Country.

I'd actually like to live in more different places than time permits.

Dank je, LBI!

not to mention that in any other country on earth I would remain an American by temperament, and therefore somewhat of an alien being in my new country, until my death.

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Born in the UK, lived in Italy for a year around the turn of the century, moved to the US in 2009 and Australia in 2013. Would move again if i could but my wife seems pretty rooted here. I’d love to move to Japan or to a non-Uk European country but not till I’ve locked down Australian citizenship. Brexit really destroyed any remaining desire to return to the UK, being european in the EU sense as well as a cultural sense was alway part of my identity and I don’t want to be part of a UK that denies that. Australia is a much better place to have a cosmopolitan identity.

If I'd had my choice I'd be living outside the U.S., but fate completely shat on me/my plans and I'm still living in this podunk town (though it's ever so slightly improving). I try not to get angry about it but it's very, very difficult at times.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I had like four abortive attempts to leave my hometown over the years until one attempt finally took a few years ago (left the country as well). At times it felt impossible, maybe like how NASA engineers felt trying to make a rocket to escape Earth's gravitational pull. Hope you get there someday, dee

good participation on this poll!

and a surprising number of immigrants/expats/transplants/exiles, think.

I had like four abortive attempts to leave my hometown over the years until one attempt finally took a few years ago (left the country as well). At times it felt impossible, maybe like how NASA engineers felt trying to make a rocket to escape Earth's gravitational pull. Hope you get there someday, dee

You're sweet, thank you. I was simply never able to attempt leaving because I spent my twenties and much of my thirties caring for one parent or another. To be fair, this "podunk town" had a population of about 800,000 residents at its least populous for as long as I've been alive and is officially one of the top ten biggest cities in the U.S., but it feels infinitely more restrictive than its size and I guess it doesn't help matters that I've made so many bad memories here throughout the years. Maybe one day I'll get to live in my dream city (of London).

Hm. London was never my 'dream city', but it's where I ended up. When I moved to the UK in 2007 I thought I'd go for Bristol or Brighton, but London was where the job offer happened. Now I've been here 11 years, pretty much 1/3 of my life. The first five or so years were fine, but seven-year-itch was definitely a thing, and it made me deeply unhappy to be living in London. I thought constantly about going home for a couple years, which wasn't helped by being in a stressful job and going though the grief of the sudden death of a parent 7000 km away. Everything about being in London irritated me: the high cost of living ('I could afford to buy an entire house in Canada, grumble grumble'); the long travel times to see/do anything interesting ('At home everything's within a 30 minute journey, grumble grumble'); how hard it was/is to make friends ('All my friends are at home, having fun without me, grumble grumble').

I ended up getting a much better job, which drastically improved my relationship with the city (I do research on city stuff so I get to travel to all sorts of weird and wonderful place in London). And in the last few years my own neighbourhood has exploded with stuff so I have more to do within a 30 minute walk. It's good for now, but London is not a place I want to grow old, and Brexit is a bummer... but I don't know where else to go.

not sure why JJJS got jumped on upthread, I thought he made a good point.

i never thought I felt particularly British until I moved to the US where everything is sort-of similar/familiar but in ways that seem 'off' when you're actually living there. and having to learn whole new systems / ways of doing things from people who have never considered any other way, so find it hard to explain to an outsider!

I'm not particularly overjoyed to be more culturally "British" than I thought but living elsewhere did help me realise what was important to me.

I suppose that's pretty common. I never feel more Canadian than when I'm not in Canada. It really brings home the uncomfortable extent to which I say 'sorry' to people and things, including when the other party is in the wrong.

maybe since i have a limited connection to canada, haven't been back in years, spent some of my childhood and most of my adult life outside of it. and maybe some resentment toward the country? maybe growing up in a cultural wasteland? but now most importantly, most english language media i consume is made in the u.s.a., music/books/tv at least (a few weeks ago i re-read a margaret laurence novel after finding it in a jinbocho bookstore), and i live in a country right now that is more american, superficially at least, than most places in the world, and i have mostly american friends... when i have to answer where i'm from, these days, i feel like answering, as i spit a ropey shot of grizzly wintergreen into a mountain dew can, that i grew up outside traverse city (i hold up my hand, point right around the knuckle of my middle finger) and went to the university of oregon and then turning the conversation to things real americans are discussing like jussie smollett theories and how heroic ilhan omar is.

japan is the ideal country to pretend to be american, too, and many of its subcultures have civil war reenactor-level dedication to sister city american subcultures.

I used to feel like I learned what it's like to be American when I was abroad, but I've been away long enough now that I don't anymore. I get annoyed when people find out I'm American and ask why I'm here, as if the USA is somehow a good place to live. Some here still think that, but their knowledge of the usa is mostly through movies and they seem only to know two cities, Miami and New York, and I have spent like 50 hours total in those two places combined, so it's just more alienating. Fortunately by my (French) accent people usually think I'm Belgian, a much easier situation to pass through.

I totally get where you're coming from (I don't much care about Canadian and Québécois culture, barring a few key exceptions, and for all the US's unforgivable flaws as a nation, Americans have produced so much more stuff that matters to me), and yet I still get mildly flustered whenever anyone assumes I'm from the States. Then again, I've never lived there (nor would I ever, for reasons I outlined upthread), so it makes it easier to play the offended-Canuck-who-manifestly-suffers-from-an-inferiority-complex card.

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When I am in France and tell people I am from New York they want to talk about the show Friends. If I say I am from Chile there is always an abrupt and long pause.

xpost I was a little surprised how much Japan is in a love affair with Brooklyn.

i once told someone that i was half-chilean and after a beat they said "pinochet and that?"

At least they knew Pinochet!

I assume most people think (in this order): Pinochet, Andes, wine, Pablo Neruda.

I've had conversations with adult americans that went to college that didn't know pinochet, patagonia, pablo neruda or san padro de atacama. I always figured these were the main range of things chile is known for that I could somehow jostle their recognition of the country.

in britain after pinochet footballers would be the thing people would think of. alexis sanchez, arturo vidal, and then maybe zamorano and salas

with wine they think malbec first as their affordable wine from chile confusing it with argentina. xpost

seb rosenthal

More people have heard of Patagonia the brand in my experience.

I have found that "chilean miners" is the sweet spot for the average american's knowledge of chile.

Try bringing up Bolivia! At best they'll talk about cocaine.

seb rosenthal

― PaulDananVEVO (||||||||), Monday, March 11, 2019 9:31 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yes, this was definitely a reference that hit hard in 90s lanarkshire

When we were gone for a year we rented out our apartment to a chilean footballer. That was not a good idea.

When people find out I'm Romanian it's either 'I have a Romanian friend, do you know him/her?' or something about Ceaușescu/Dracula/Gypsies. The only one I really mind is 'so you speak Russian, right?'

I only knew Patagonia from Madeleine L'Engle's "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" until I went there for a few weeks. Now it makes me think of stunningly beautiful landscapes and tasty beer.

I like to talk to Romanians about the Black Sea coast, to which I have never been but which I believe to a magical fantasy land.

The Black Sea is nice but if you visit Romania (assuming you haven't already) you should prioritize Transylvania, Bucharest and parts of Moldova.

I know that Romania has nice pinot noir, sweet wines and they produce the most wine in central europe.

Keep saying Romania is in 'central Europe' and you'll ingratiate yourself to us in no time. ;)

I'm actually not too keen on our wines but that's because France has spoiled me.

Ha, what do people normally say? I am terrible with geography so everything I know about places comes from either going there or from wine.

The first thing I think of when Romania comes up is the girl I heard about from some backpackers who had just been to Bucharest, she had been bitten by a stray dog and they got the news that she'd died of rabies while I was with them, it was big enough of a trauma for them that I feel like I knew her too (We were in a hostel called The Station Guesthouse in Budapest in I think 2003)

Sure this is not a fair reflection on Romania, sorry, but it put me off going.

Everything that lay behind the Iron Curtain is usually called 'Eastern Europe'. As far as Romania goes, that's fairly accurate (going from West to East, it's one of the last stops before Russia) but it drives certain Czechs and Poles up the wall.

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I have been to Bucharest but nowhere else...yet. My wife has traveled more extensively in Romania than I have.

in britain generally everywhere that was in the warsaw pact is referred to as eastern europe, even say the czech republic which is only a bit more easterly than austria

Stray dogs were a massive issue in the 90s and the early 00s. The situation has improved considerably in the interim, although there's still an ongoing tug-of-war between dogcatchers and animal rescue organizations.

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