IRELAND OR THE USA

[full back]

Do you have to live in the shoe box in NYC.
What about moving just outside city?

[heganboy]

interesting thread.
I have lived in New York for a while and just bought a house and moved out to the burbs a few months ago. I work right in the middle of New York and now it takes me just over half an hour to get in, which isn't really that much different to when I lived in Manhattan (15/20 mins). I have a one year old who was born in NYC and we moved out as we weren't sure about having him grow up in the city itself, and the space in the show box was starting to get cramped.
My wife is Irish too, and I think our view at the moment is that we will probably go home when its time for the wee fella to start primary school. Its a difficult choice as it isn't going to be easy for me to do the kind of work that I do anywhere in Ireland. However on the flip side all of our family and friends are at home, and we both attach a lot of importance to family.
We have a few years here to figure it out, but for the minute I'd say we're moving back in a few years.

[FL/MAYO]

I am in the same boat and at the moment plan to move back in another 10 years. I have lived in the states now since the mid eighties so over half my life has been over here, but I can never consider the U.S my home for some reason. My wife has only lived here for 5 years and though she likes it in some ways she misses her family an awful lot and is home sick sometimes. I expect it to be hard to readjust when I make the move with the climate been the biggest problem. But on the plus side as others have mentioned their is a quality of life in Ireland that is missing in the states.

[J70]

There are loud mouths and arseholes everywhere, even Ireland! I find Americans fine - they're a mixed bunch, just like any society.

Regarding the education system, the quality of public schools depends very much on where you live. Public schools are paid for by local taxes, so funding varies widely from district to district. New York City is very poor, but the schools in the suburbs, being more well-off, are fine, and that is probably the case all over the country.

[stiffler]

Pick Ireland, America sports are the worst, no other country has a sport that can compete for excitement with GAA.

[blast05]

and buy a  house in the meath countryside on a few acres .........   Plenty of work for me in dublin

So that would be a million or so  .......  and 3 hours a day in traffic.
If i were in your shoes and were going to make the move then it would be all the way home to Mayo ..... no traffic and the house and few acres would cost half the price

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Pick Ireland, America sports are the worst, no other country has a sport that can compete for excitement with GAA.

You'd choose were you lived based on sports?

[stiffler]

Pick Ireland, America sports are the worst, no other country has a sport that can compete for excitement with GAA.

You'd choose were you lived based on sports?

Not just sports, but its a major factor for me.

[Puckoon]

Mannix
Ive been over here for 6 years now, and it opened my eyes to alot. I love living here. Its warm, people are pleasant (small town west coast), the cost of living is superb. I can eat almost any cuisine I want for the price of a fish supper back home. I cant get a good fish supper though. Or a battered sausage. Its only recently I can get lucozade and I drank so much it cut the hole of me. Theres no gaelic games (unless I want a four hour commute to train). Its hard to watch the hurling on setanta. Sometimes the football too. The women are beautiful. They dont wear alot, and most of them arent beefed to the ankles like a mullingar heifer. But I cant read the irish news and bitch about paddy heaney. They've started charging for the ulster hearld now too. But in a couple of months Ill give up the lake and all you can eat sushi for the ski slopes (and all you can eat sushi). I have to drive everywhere, cos Reno is so sparse. Theres no walkin over to the spar for a ham and cheese jambon and a bottle of club orange. My kid thats being born in december is going to cost a fortune. Ive already paid 600$ to the OBGYN for regular check ups. The insurance for 6 months is going to be over 1000$. Plus 1900$ to deliver the baby. 20000$ a day if for some reason the baby is sick and needs to go to the NICU. I cant get a good pint of stout and it costs at least 50$ to play one round of golf.
America is beautiful - if you find the right place - but so is Ireland
America is cheap - if you dont need to pay for something really expensive like medical care
America has good weather
Ireland is home.

[mannix]

Congrats puckoon, i hope it works out for you.
I would live in Mayo no bother but its not entirely my decision, a nice mansion like the hundreds or even thousands I see scattered around Mayo would suit me fine or even a plain ould house would do.
For all the rain they get its still a nice place to live, if you like fishing,hiking and the outdoor stuff its great.It was pointed out to me that there is no theatre or fancy restaurants.I said nothing but thought of the local on saturday night where the pass around sausages around eleven o clock, class.

[Mayo4Sam]

Mannix, from the way ur talking i think deep down u know u could never call the USA home.
And i dont think its got anything to do with the stereotype of the loud mouths, i'm sure theres as many nice people to meet there as anywhere else
Having lived at home for the last year and having moved back to dublin i can tell u even going that far is too far, i'd love to go back and get a job somewhere closer to home. Without trying to insult anyone i think the people from the west of ireland are the people i'd like to spend my life with. Maybe everyone things the same about their home area but i for me quality of life involves more the people ur around than the size of ur house or car.
Mannix i think u need to look at ur reasons for moving to america and weight them against what ur missing out on.
If like me u'd be happy heading back to a league match in kiltane or louisburgh or taking ur kids to U-8 training then u'll have to realise if u do go then it'll be hard to move back.

[stew]

I would rather die than live in the US again.

Why? I highly doubt you mean that donagh, either that or you don't really like to live that much.

I love it over here and will live both here and in Ireland when I  retire. I will live in the states until I retire however because that is where my children will live. I have 9 years left to go before I retire as I am done working at 52 and I am going to enjoy life to it's fullest without having to work 50-60 hours a week.

[mannix]

Thats the problem, if We do go back i am not moving again.I am 35, the moving is getting tiresome.Stuff stored here there and everywhere.NY will never be home,ever.Maybe I am destined to live a life where i just dream about having a home i would really call home and not a house.Would you live in a place that you would not call home?Lots of irish lads did in england and america.

[FL/MAYO]

I often wonder what will be the biggest pitfalls awaiting us on our return? Will it be the climate, the long winter evenings, the cost of living or will we just ease back into it as if we had never left. My sister moved back from the states about 8 years ago and did not last 6 months in Ireland, she could not settle.In my opinion she did not give it enough time, you would have to give it at least 2 years just to come near settling back into the Irish lifestyle. It will be an adventure and something to look forward to.

[Tyrones own]

  Great thread lads, i can find truth in nearly all of the posts here.
As for me, its pretty good here most of the time but there are
times when I'd love nothing more to be heading out with the lads
that you grew up with on a Fri night or the family get togethers,
especially when their on the phone to you at 2.30 in the morning
their time blocked out of their heads and me at work with the long face
questioning what in under a fcuk I'm even doing here 
Jaysus, this is making me homesick 
Mannix, i think its just that you're at that age now where it's
make or break, the fun "don't give a fcuk days" are behind us,
Nothing stays the same anyhow, make a call, go with it and never look back!