Living Abroad

[STREET FIGHTER]

A question for all you who made the big decision to live abroad.

Where did you go?

Why did you go?

What profession are you involved in?

What is your standard of living?

What do you miss about home the most?

What do you love about being away?

Anything else you'd like to add?


Sorry for all the questions....just find it fascinating

[seafoid]

A question for all you who made the big decision to live abroad.

Where did you go?  UK, Egypt, India, Switzerland

Why did you go?  Thought there was more out there and was sick talking to Evening Herald readers . Dja know that sort of way? but I learnt later that it wasn't a Dublin thing because there are EH readers everywhere  even at home. 

What profession are you involved in?  Finance

What is your standard of living? OK

What do you miss about home the most?  The chilled out nature of the people, the light, not being around for big family events , missing out on championship matches. I would know far less about GAA 2002 to 2010 than 1992 to 2000

What do you love about being away?  The languages and reading magazines in French or German, discovering other societies, ideas , food, talking to foreigners in their own language, seeing how things differ between Ireland and there.

[Beffs]

A question for all you who made the big decision to live abroad.

Where did you go? America - Georgia and Florida for the most part, with a few years in Tennessee.

Why did you go? I Won a Green Card in the Diversity Lottery, shortly after leaving college. I was in a rubbishy job, with no qualifications that were worth a damm & little prospects....so why not?

What profession are you involved in? Retail store manager, wholesale gift sales, then 10 years as a restaurant manager.

What is your standard of living? When I was a restaurant manager, it wasn't great. I stayed in the industry as long as I did, as the craic & the friends I made, were only mighty. I regret staying in it as long as I did, as over all it had shit prospects, pensions, prospects for advancement etc etc. You don't think about it at the beginning, but you sure do after 10 years.

What do you miss about home the most? My family

What do you love about being away? This is going to sound really shallow, but it was the weather. Living in a hot weather climate for 9/10 months of the year makes such an amazing difference to your overall quality of life. Also loved the "can do" attitude of Americans. The petty begrudgery of the Irish really pisses me off.

Anything else you'd like to add? I moved back to Ireland in 2011. I was away for 17 years in total.

[FL/MAYO]

A question for all you who made the big decision to live abroad.

Where did you go? I moved to New York City first and then onto Florida 8 years later.

Why did you go? Ireland in the mid 80's, need I say more!

What profession are you involved in? Firefighter/Paramedic

What is your standard of living? Pretty good.

What do you miss about home the most? Family, friends and the community spirit. Ireland is home and always has been.

What do you love about being away? I love the winters in Florida, also the opportunities that exist here.

Anything else you'd like to add? We plan to move back to Ireland in a couple of years.

[Eamonnca1]

Good topic.

Where did you go? - England first, America later.

Why did you go? - England for University, intended to go back when I was done but then I didn't. Too many career opportunities in Manchester. Made the switch to America when I was hired by a California-based company who made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

What profession are you involved in? - Technology.

What is your standard of living? - Not wealthy, but comfortable.

What do you miss about home the most? - Family, and not much else TBH.

What do you love about being away? - Lifestyle. Freedom to wear what you like or take up any hobby you want without people looking at you like you're not wise.

[omaghjoe]

Eammon I presume you mean software?
Not sure why the nerds where allowed to hijack a term that encompassed so much more than their own narrow field.

[STREET FIGHTER]

All great responses so far.......

Have always been massively impressed by those that have managed to carve out a life in a different part of the world....

The amount of successful Irish people in other parts of the world from as close as England to the USA or Australia is incredible......

[AZOffaly]

A question for all you who made the big decision to live abroad.

Where did you go? Phoenix Arizona, from 1997 to 2001

Why did you go? Got an opportunity with work, and was offered Phoenix or Omaha. Took Phoenix

What profession are you involved in? IT. Was a developer at that time.

What is your standard of living? My standard of living over there was brilliant. Not rich, but good salary, renting with a pool, gym etc in the complex, and the weather, sports and golf were brilliant.

What do you miss about home the most? Family, friends, the GAA and the Irish people in general.

What do you love about being away? I loved seeing and experiencing the US. Played a bit of GAA over there too and got to experience DC, San Francisco, Chicago, Hawaii, Vegas etc. A great country. I also loved being Irish over in Arizona. It was like being a minor celebrity

Anything else you'd like to add? I'm home since 2001, and I miss Arizona a lot, however I'm delighted to be home as well and I wouldn't go back to live. I love this country and it's people.


Sorry for all the questions....just find it fascinating

[gallsman]

Where did you go? Barcelona, Spain. 2015 -

Why did you go? Spoke a good bit of the language and always regretted not keeping it up after school where I was very good at it. Have family in the country. Opportunity came up within work and they footed the cost of the relocation. Girlfriend and I figured that if we didn't do it now, we never would.

What profession are you involved in? Finance.

What is your standard of living? Pretty good. My girlfriend is a solicitor at home and is able to do contracted freelance work from here. Once that picks up, we'll hopefully be laughing. Plan is that we live over here off my salary and anything she makes from teaching English (which is more than enough to get us by) and anything from her legal work will stay in a savings account at home. You also can't overestimate how much easier a warmer, drier climate encourages you to get out of the house and do things. Infrastructure over here in terms of transport is top notch which enables a lot. There are supermarkets everywhere and food is significantly cheaper than at home.

What do you miss about home the most? Family, friends, Irish sense of humour, people respecting personal space.

What do you love about being away? So far, everything. Particularly how cheap booze is compared to home.

Anything else you'd like to add? Don't have a defined plan for coming home but have said we'll suss things out after a couple of years and see what's next.

[Clinker]

What do you miss about home the most?     .........people respecting personal space.

This seems interesting and possibly annoying.
Can you give some examples of how it takes place?

[deiseach]

Where did you go? England from 2001 to 2007.

Why did you go? To follow Liverpool.

What profession were you involved in? None. Ended up doing admin stuff which suited me fine.

What was your standard of living? I was living a studenty life for the first year but I was better off than when I met my wife from the second year onwards and acquired her staggering student debts then a mortgage we could ill afford. As per gallsman on another thread, home ownership is overrated.

What did you miss about home the most? I know it sounds corny, but it was hurling. I managed to get to quite a few Championship matches in my time away, but I missed going to League matches in front of a few hundred in Walsh Park.

What did you love about being away? I'm almost embarrassed to say it for fear of people scoffing at the notions I might hold of being some kind of latter-day Tom Crean, but I enjoyed being a foreigner. The little flickers of recognition of your accent, the lame attempts to ingratiate themselves ("my grandmudder was from May-oo, so I'm Iwish too!"), the gap between what they know about us and what we know about them . . . it was an everyday thing and I enjoyed (almost) all of it.

Anything else you'd like to add? If we won the lotto, England would be home.

[Mikhailov]

Great topic and highly interesting.

I have never actually lived abroad for any sustained period of time and that is my one BIG regret in life. A really big regret I might add. Through work I have travelled extensively all over the world and I mean extensively and have visited all parts of the world so have experience of different cultures, languages and way of life in various other places. Travelled with work since early 90's and now 25 years later I really wish I would have taken up one of the offers to re-locate and give it a go somewhere else but I didn't take it.

Really like the west coast USA, Mid west USA, Queensland, The Florida region or even Middle east. Those places offer a great lifestyle, great weather, no language barriers as such and easy enough access back home if required.

All of Asia fascinates me but although I travelled there quite a lot it was in the 90's and it has only really blossomed as a continent in the last 15-20 years and would appear to be a great option in todays world. 

Now I have family and the risk of change is too high and although it is something that the missus and I have discussed at numerous times I just feel that with teen children involved the risk is too high - we should have done it when they were nippers and taken the chance then as people always say that the younger they are the easier they will settle - maybe I am wrong and would be interested to hear from someone who moved with children who all were at school here before the emigration.

Moving is not easy, be it from here to abroad or from abroad back home again and I admire anyone who has taken that opportunity and made a good life for themselves - well done! I envy you big time.

[laoislad]

Does Dublin count?

[Denn Forever]

Is Laois not now part of Dublin?

[seafoid]

Where did you go? England from 2001 to 2007.

Why did you go? To follow Liverpool.

What profession were you involved in? None. Ended up doing admin stuff which suited me fine.

What was your standard of living? I was living a studenty life for the first year but I was better off than when I met my wife from the second year onwards and acquired her staggering student debts then a mortgage we could ill afford. As per gallsman on another thread, home ownership is overrated.

What did you miss about home the most? I know it sounds corny, but it was hurling. I managed to get to quite a few Championship matches in my time away, but I missed going to League matches in front of a few hundred in Walsh Park.

What did you love about being away? I'm almost embarrassed to say it for fear of people scoffing at the notions I might hold of being some kind of latter-day Tom Crean, but I enjoyed being a foreigner. The little flickers of recognition of your accent, the lame attempts to ingratiate themselves ("my grandmudder was from May-oo, so I'm Iwish too!"), the gap between what they know about us and what we know about them . . . it was an everyday thing and I enjoyed (almost) all of it.

Anything else you'd like to add? If we won the lotto, England would be home.

Is you from novin island o suvin island?
I bet you drink Guinness duntcha