

Ask HN: Have you emigrated from the USA? - percept

If so, care to share your story? Where&#x27;d you go and how did it turn out?<p>How&#x27;s the cost of living and quality of life?
======
mjn
Moved to Copenhagen, and have been here for a few years. It's nice. Moved
mainly for work: there was a job opening at a university exactly in my field
of research, and it seemed too good to pass up.

How the cost of living compares depends a lot on where you're coming from, and
what your lifestyle is like. I would say overall it's cheaper than the SF Bay
Area, though the first few prices a tourist sees are likely to be shockingly
expensive ($8 coffee, $10 beer). The main thing that is more expensive is
eating out, mostly because there is less income inequality (even McDonald's
employees make ~$40k/yr). Food at supermarkets is roughly the same price,
maybe a bit more expensive. Rent is much, _much_ cheaper; I have a really nice
2-bd apartment in a great walkable area, near the city center and with a view,
and it's under $1500/mo. Transit depends on your lifestyle; it would be much
more expensive to own a car, but I found I didn't need one anymore, because
public transportation is very good, and you can walk/bike most anywhere
anyway. So my transit costs went down, but those of others might well go up.

Good quality of life I'd say. Lots of parks, nice city, interesting
neighborhoods, good work/life balance, low crime, fairly multicultural. Easy
to get by in English as well (even when dealing with the government or
healthcare). The large role of English in public life surprised me a bit; it's
not just that people speak English, but many public events are also held
largely in English (especially at museums, universities, festivals,
hackerspaces, etc.). That makes it a fairly easy place to meet non-Danish
Europeans, because there are a lot of them and they come to such events. So
I've met a bunch of Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Poles, etc. who I doubt I
would've met in their own countries. On the other hand, the general English-
friendliness of Copenhagen makes it harder to learn Danish, or to meet Danes
who aren't also part of the mixed-nationality social scene (especially those
who aren't part of the academic or tech scenes, which are more internationally
oriented than society in general is).

Biggest downside imo is that it's gray and overcast about 6-7 months a year,
and for 3-4 of those months the days are also very short. On the plus side,
people as a result _really_ appreciate nice days, and almost literally the
entire city will be outdoors grilling and lounging in parks on nice summer
days, with a palpably positive mood.

~~~
MadMoogle
Here's an odd question: how's the soundproofing in your apartment? Can you
hear lots of street noise even with all the windows closed?

~~~
mjn
Street noise isn't really an issue for me. The windows are double-pane with a
thick space between the panes, and in my particular case the apartment isn't
on a street with much automobile traffic anyway. Unlike an NYC-style grid
where every street is a major street, Copenhagen has a lot of "neighborhood"
streets that are deliberately designed to be hard for cars to use as through
streets (chicanes, changes of one-way direction, etc).

The bigger noise problem in older buildings (this one's from 1910) is internal
noise; they're not very well isolated between floors and units. Newer
buildings are better for that.

~~~
MadMoogle
Ah, thank you! Poor sound isolation is one of the biggest reasons I don't live
in a city at present.

------
istorical
I'm building a site that collects stories like these (from expats and slow
travelers) if you're interested:

[http://www.istorical.com](http://www.istorical.com)

An interesting post from a man who's lived in Japan for 17 years:

[http://www.istorical.com/countries/japan/experiences/78](http://www.istorical.com/countries/japan/experiences/78)

A rather well-written post about living in Hong Kong:

[http://www.istorical.com/cities/hong-
kong/experiences/88](http://www.istorical.com/cities/hong-kong/experiences/88)

A good post about Berlin:

[http://www.istorical.com/cities/berlin/experiences/138](http://www.istorical.com/cities/berlin/experiences/138)

~~~
noir_lord
The guy who lives in Japan sounds like a complete dickhead.

Not sure he'd by my poster boy.

This comment appears to be unpopular, from the link

> Western women don't last because they realize they are fat and they can't
> get laid and this makes them bitter.

I'm sorry that makes him a complete dickhead.

~~~
S4M
I agree with you. This quote as well is quite dickish: "I'm a white male which
is the most awesome thing to be anywhere on the planet. "

------
rdl
I left the USA (I'm a US citizen, born in the US) for several years at a time
under fairly different circumstances each time.

1997: I moved to Anguilla to (legally) get around ITAR and other stuff. Stayed
until we had visa problems there, just before e-gold disintegrated. My salary
was nominally $1500/mo with a bunch of equity and all living costs met; it was
fine.

2000-2002: Sealand. Lived in London for a while, then out on Sealand. Traveled
a lot. Startup. Was fun. Went back when it imploded.

2003-2010: Iraq/Afghanistan/etc., as a civilian company founder, and then
defense contractor. Was...interesting.

I'd probably like to do Asia for a year (CloudFlare's going to open an Asian
office before the end of the year somewhere, so that's an option, at least for
weeks/months at a time), and probably someday Berlin for a few years at least.

~~~
cschep
You lived on Sealand? I would love to hear more about that.

~~~
allenbrunson
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3766509](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3766509)

------
david927
I'm originally from California but I've lived for about 20 years in Europe. I
lived first in Berlin, then Zurich, then Prague, and more lately the south of
France.

I love it here. It matches my personality more than the States. But it's
always a mixed bag; every country has its pros and cons. I wouldn't have
changed a thing, though. The cost of living is much higher in Europe for
almost everything, strangely, but the quality of life (which is a personal
metric) is unmatched, and everything I hoped it would be.

My email is in my profile if you want more details.

------
nobullet
Do you accept the answers from those who had immigrated to USA?

~~~
pouzy
Haha, there will be a lot more stories there, it almost gets boring. Being a
European in the US, I'm actually interested in knowing where Americans in tech
want to go.

------
doxydexydroxide
A 3rd Generation US born Citizen, his wife & 3 children turn their backs on
the corrupt and apostate citizenry of the USA:living the American dream in
Vienna, Austria:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7793292](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7793292)

