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Time off and a healthy lifestyle are driving some young Americans to Europe: 'You are a person first and a worker 2nd'
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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25 years I’ve been abroad (The Netherlands) and the work-life balance is why I stayed. They insist I take days off (still foolishly work like an American) and have already booked out a 3 week vacation for later in the year…and I’ll still have nearly 2 weeks of vacation left. We can roll a few weeks of vacation over to the next year if not used. Even though the Dutch have NO holidays from June to Christmas, I’m still able to take 4 day weekends when I want to.
The downside is family left behind may begin to resent you. My family have developed this red-hat victim culture. I can’t bring up how I live abroad or else it starts fights - they don’t want to talk to me now.
Jealous! I'd love to be able to move out of the US, but seems you need certain jobs in order to go. Don't think I qualify, so will continue to be a slave to the system here.
Dunno how old you are, but you can take a loan to study in Europe, get a job, and decide whether you want to pay back the loan or not. If you plan on never returning to the US, then AFAIK, you don't have to pay back shit and there's nothing they can do. Although, maybe that changed when the USA started demanding taxes from Americans abroad and forcing banks to close their accounts abroad too... who knows.
Anyway, it'll probably be cheaper for you to move to Europe.
I'm 33 and have a 1 year old son, I feel like the ship has sailed for me.
You might not know how much you can do. If refugees can travel from Afghanistan all the way to France with their entire family, you can do it from the US. Dunno what you're doing, but crafts and trades jobs are also understaffed across Europe. Germany is even trying to be attractive to nurses all the way from India!
Don't underestimate yourself.
I wish I had gone a trade route, all my experience is in auto insurance, claims adjusting, damage estimates, appraisals. Makes me feel limited even over here. Hard to switch careers right now with the baby. I appreciate the words of encouragement though!
Pretty much what u/woobwub said, I just want to add that here in Germany, all kinds of craftspeople (like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, construction workers, tile setters, you name it) are in desperate demand, with demographic change probably being the biggest reason. Companies offering these services are overbooked and can demand ludicrous prices, while simultaneously lamenting about not being able to get young, motivated apprentices.
To be fair, a lot of said companies still pay their apprentices peanuts while treating them like shit and blaming their staff shortage on the lazy young generation not wanting to work. But if you're a qualified worker in any of these professions, most companies would gladly hire someone like you. If, and here's the big catch, if you can speak German somewhat fluently. And our language is a confusing clusterfuck to learn, or so I've heard.
Anyhow, best of wishes to you and your son (and family), whether you manage to emigrate to a less latestage-capitalism-infested country or try and build up a good life in the US.