The Emigration thread


Where are you living Bronte, and can I come?

A.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Good article on the topic from Fergus O'Rourke on The Journal.ie

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/col...nd-we-have-to-stop-being-hysterical-about-it/
Click to expand...

Just read that ,and it is excellent.

What I have found is that so many young couples had to move very far away from where they were brought up in Ireland ,that they dont have family living around the corner anyway..of course on special occasions or in an emergency they can go the distance,but with money being so tight this may not even be an option anymore ..
My brother moved to the USA in the 80s, we see more of him and now his grown up children than we do of one or two of our relations who live on the other side of the country.
Its not the end of the world ,just a different one..
 
1
Things are ok for me financially and both my wife and I have businesses here.
That said if I did leave it wouldn't bother me too much though my wife wouldn't leave her parents.
I'd be happy enough moving to the USA. I could get a job there and Mrs. Purple would have no problems at all getting a job there. We'd definitely be better off financially but there's more to life than money as long as you have enough to get by and anyway, there's no reason to go.

A friend of mine was asked by his employer to move to one of their 4 major offices. One is in Atlanta, one in London, one in Geneva and one in Beirut. He worked in their Atlanta office so didn’t want to go back there and so he said if he had to move he’d go to London. He also said that if he didn’t have children he’s go to Beirut before living in Geneva. I’ve never been there so I can’t comment (though I’ve visited Zurich and it’s lovely).
 
5
But I always planned to leave Ireland. I've shared a house with people who grew up in mainland Europe and maybe it opened my horizons a bit. I like many things about where we live...gorgeous German town, weather is much better without being too hot, Germans are nice and cheerful here. I work in an international company where I can meet up with a few Irish head-the-balls every so often and with loads of other interesting characters too. I'm well paid for what I do and we get good value for money both in rent and living costs where we live. The downside is I have to commute and I'm not using my degree which I left work to get in Ireland. Also, I'm not sure if health care is much better, if the queue at the GP is anything to go by. But I get to go cycling and hiking every weekend, I live near vineyards which are beautiful to go walking by in the evening and we can go visit many places/countries by car and I don't have to be petrified by Ryanair's check-in staff to do it. A big plus for me
I was lucky to get the opportunity to move and although it's not perfect, it's pretty damn good. I miss my good friends of course, but they were busy with their new families anyway and we all lived so far apart it was impossible to see them on a regular basis anyway.
I suppose it depends on your perspective of what you're leaving behind and what you stand to gain and what your choices are. Also, I think it would be much harder to leave if you have elderly parents in Ireland. Mine, God rest them, are already gone to their reward, so that's not something I ever had to face. And I'm glad I didn't have to...but then I wish I could have shared this wonderful place with them because they would have loved it.
I wish Ireland and the Irish well though, follow the news daily and keep hoping things will get better soon. But not to come home...we're happy abroad and coming back to visit for now.
 

I am at 3.

I lived and worked in the UK for about 5 years in the late 90's and would strongly think about going back to London.

In the UK, there is far less of a "woe is me" mentality, and people just forge ahead without expecting the government to pay them a couple of hundred euro a week to sit at home watching the telly, nor do they accept that government employees should be wildly overpaid as they are here.
 
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