Ambition...to call the USA home (split from Tom12's thread in the US Imm. Forum)
 

"I like many on this and other forums have the ultimate ambition of being able to call the United States of America my home"

That's a strange ambition...how did it develop?
The United States is not particularly any better than UK/Europe, and in many ways it's worse.

Especially given your admission regarding a Mickey Mouse degree and...

"due to my weak academic background. I would say I am a C student of average intelligence. "

For example, do you think you'd be content being poor, working a menial job, in a poor part of a small town with little prospect for improving your situation?

(assuming you could find a job...)

Re: Against all odds...
 

Like Hotscot, I am unclear as to why you have set up this 'dream'.

Re: Against all odds...
 

I don't think that it is a strange ambition at all. If you look at studies of places where in an ideal world people would live, the USA comes on top every time. It has been a life long development really, I won't bore you by going into detail.

I'm certain I could improve my academic performance if I really put my mind to it, I wasn't given the support for dyslexia I needed throughout school but that's another story. That's a hard question to answer Hotscot! My ambitions don't necessarily include wealth though.

Re: Against all odds...
 

Yes, yes give us details. That's what we're here for.

It's strange ambition to have if you have little experience of visiting or living here. Not so strange if you have lived or visited enough to know where you'd be interested in living specifically and what you'd do to survive.

And I'm not talking about a job in terms of wealth, but in just existing in the first place.
There's little to no safety net and you could be one small step from being homeless.

For those with little financial resources it's a very, very harsh place to be.

(Me, successful business in Southern California, big house, cars, etc. Dying to go back home to Scotland. Can't happen soon enough.)

Re: Against all odds...
 

If you are talking about rankings of quality of life, which are always rather subjective, USA is not that high.

Eg

How U.S. is lagging on quality of life – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Re: Against all odds...
 

Yes but apparently it ranks high with those who think it ranks high.

Re: Against all odds...
 

No denying that.

Re: Against all odds...
 

Perhaps... but this isn't the forum for such discussions. That's best done in the main USA forum.

Ian

Re: Against all odds...
 

It is quite hard to put into words as really mainly due to fact that I didn't intend to share my opinion. Ideally I would like to live at the top of the Southern United States, anywhere near to the coast in North Carolina or Virginia would be great!

I have recently returned from a year long working holiday in Australia which I thoroughly enjoyed. For most of my trip I did not feel one morsel of homesickness and was dreading returning to my life in London. On further contemplation, I grew fonder of the idea of being reunited with friends and summer at home. After not even a few weeks of being back I soon returned to resenting the realities of home life.

I understand that hearing a 22 year old talk like this must make me seem naive and probably have most people thinking that I have watched too many Hollywood films.

Hotscot, if you're intention was to make me turn green with envy you have succeeded!

Re: Against all odds...
 

Life anywhere is about the realities of home life. But I will leave it there, as Ian says, this is not the right part of the site for lifestyle discussions.

It is now!

Re: Against all odds...
 

Yes, come chat about your ideas in the main forum. There will also be people who can give you feedback on those locations.

Re: Against all odds...
 

I sympathize, it was a dream of mine too, but unless/until you can get a job on substantially above average income I recommend caution about actually moving over here. Life here on low pay, or even average pay, isn't going to be much fun and many people are literally only one pay cheque away from living on the street.

Not only is life on a low/average income job not much fun, but the holiday allowance is low to none existent. You're lucky to get any holiday allowance in the first year, other than perhaps six "big" bank holidays, then you might get 5 days/yr, and it may increase slowly after that, though many jobs may never give more than 10 days/yr. :(

Re: Against all odds...
 

People who live in dire economic circumstances or under oppression want to move to the US as they believe it will offer them --or at least their children -- a better life, and it certainly does, for many of them. But for people moving from the UK, those goals aren't relevant, and moving from the UK's social "safety net" to the US's every-man-for-himself outlook can be difficult. Which parts of the US have you previously spent time in that fueled this desire to move here?

Re: Against all odds...
 

Those words highlighted. It frequently isn't.

Re: Against all odds...
 

Hmmm. These meta studies of 'health', or 'quality of life', or 'education', or 'happiness' are all flawed; especially when dealing with the USA. They are more a measure of the diversity of your country.

The USA is a diverse place. More diverse than any other country in these lists. When the authors of these studies take averages of their values they combine values of professionals that live in New York along with values from people that live in rural Alabama. This results in meaningless data. This happens for other countries, but the result for the USA is skewed by the large inequalities and geographic disparities that exist.

The lesson from these, and every other study, is that if you are a college educated then your life will be similar in any country. The results for professionals are essentially the same across all countries.

If Tom moves to the USA he will do well, just as well as in the UK, or Finland, or Australia.