Derrygal

tehori

Yep, that is one thing that did stand out, the mindset among so many in the USA that unless one had the education to have work that supplied health care insurance one was a loser that deserved no better than the lack of care one got.

Hell I'm an employer and I found the attitude to be selfish and sad.

Bob

Why not....it's a cheaper flight home than Oz/Kiwi and they can get our accents mixed up for yours just as well as anyone it seems :/

Anyway, my folks used to live in Oz for years way back when and the racism at the time got to be a bit of a grind.

Doesn't hold any appeal to me either.

Brigette

Ummmm yes it really did!

Brigette

too funny

Yorkieabroad

We're here for family reasons - otherwise I probably wouldn't have chosen to come here. Although the USA would have been higher up the list than Australia, mainly because on extended trips down there over a number of years, I found most of the Aussies I met to be smug arrogant tw@ts and most of the (Brit) expats to be either magnified versions of their adopted brethren, or else miserable and wanting to be home. I was normally relieved to be boarding the homeward leg of my flight...
NZ I found totally different - spent a lot of time there, and loved just about everything about it. I think some of the best folk I've met (outside Yorkshire)have been Kiwis - I could easily see us living there, but for one thing - the distance to anywhere else. Given ageing families in Europe and US, it is (sadly) not a realistic option for us.

Egon

I tossed a coin.

SultanOfSwing

I met an American bird. That's the only reason. I wouldn't choose to live here otherwise; the only reason I do was the result of a misguidedly chivalrous bit of self sacrifice because my wife-to-be had a son before we met.

In my massively biased opinion that bears no relevance outside my own situation, the UK is better in every way. I'd never have left if not for meeting my wife, that's the reality for me.

Still, you pays your money and you takes your choice. I only have myself to blame for not exercising my right to be a dickhead in the beginning. The plus side is every so often my wife opines that it might not be so bad after all if we lived in the UK

fatbrit

For the most part, America chooses you -- work or family commitments. It's quite difficult for your average guy to otherwise move across the pond.

Conversely, most who move to the Antipodes chose it as their destination.

retzie

I'm another one for job. Indeed, I am Australian and would much prefer to be back home.

Unfortunately, academic career opportunities (in my field) in the US pretty much eclipse everywhere else on the planet. Which is a bit of a worry, really, since there really aren't so many here these days anyway...

This is a structural issue: the way the US National Science Foundation (NSF) was conceived was to progress all new knowledge. As a 'blue sky' researcher (ie. useless ), this kind of support is crucial, since much of what is offered in Oz/Europe is target driven (cure cancer: yes; learn new mathematical truths: no).

It's not so much that I need (or would get) NSF money to survive, but it has created a critical mass of mathematicians in the US, from which Australia is really isolated.


As a side note: I have to say that this country/career dichotomy is quite the way to explore your priorities. The previously all-powerful career is losing its grip...

caleyjag

I very much agree with this sentiment. Although I do still hold many UK universities in high regard, the US is the place to be for ambitious researchers.

Having said that I've encountered plenty of 'useless' blue sky research in the UK too!

monksb

I got offered a job here and the wife an I decided that if we did not take the chance we would always regret it. And, if we did not like it we could always go home. Well, after thirty odd years we are still here. Yes, there are a lot of things I dont like about the USA, the religious nuts, health system (or lack of it), the armed idiots and how they (people in general) feel that everything is better in the USA. But for all its faults I do like it here.

I love my home town of Manchester more than anything and will always champion it over anywhere else but I find that every time we go back we are always glad to get back to the USA.

The Manchester we left in the 80's will always be better than the Manchester of the present. It is true what they say, you can never go back. I think you have to take everything over here with a grain of salt and just make the best of it. Also, you have to laugh at them at times.

Ethelred_the_Unready

I don't know mate. I've lived in the US for 9 years and still haven't adjusted to the vast cultural differences. Language aside, I would be far more at home in another northern European country. I think that many British immigrants underestimate how "foreign" the USA is.

PaulK

Well said. The last thing my Dad told me before I left was "Remember. America is a completely foreign country, where they happen to speak English".

Also, I thought Oz was hard to get into these days (criminal record no longer guarantees you citizenship)?

Ethelred_the_Unready

Your dad was spot on with those words of wisdom.