Alicja

...in about ten years time.

Hello

I'm 47, and a piano/flute/classical guitar teacher. Along with hubby we're vaguely thinking of retiring to a city - Amsterdam/Oslo/Rome/? - where we can get by without a car for our twilight years. I'd like to keep a little part-time teaching going till I drop.

This forum looks like a wonderful resource to find out the realities of living abroad. If we can at least decide on a country in the next few years we can set about taking some breaks there and learning the language.

Jerseygirl

Hello and welcome to BE.

Sounds like a good plan and you have given yourself plenty of time to visit the various countries before you make your choice.

We have an excellent General Europe forum...within that forum you will see sub forums dedicated to various European countries. The people who post in those forums will try to answer any questions you may have about living/visiting there.

We have a team of concierges who will help you find your way around the forums if you get a little lost. You can find a list of their names at the bottom right hand side of this page.

Complaints or problems should be addressed to a moderator...Mitzyboy is the mod for the Europe forums but if he's not around any mod or admin will be pleased to help you.

Please give me a shout if you need any help.

dreadsoc

Hi Alicja

I see Jerseygirl has given you the link to the Gneeral Europe forum, which is a great place to start chatting to expats living in various parts of Europe and I am sure they will be only to happy to give you a realistic lowdown on life in these places.
There are also specific forums for European countries including Italy and the Netherlands which may be worth having a read through or joining in some of the discussions as this can also give you a good feel for a place. You will find them all under the Europe heading on the main forum index page.

If you need any help navigating the forum, pop back here and let us know.

Other than that welcome to BE and all the best in your search for your future home

Dread - x

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

Alicja

Thanks for the warm welcome.

bakedbean

Interesting choice of cities you've picked. Not the usual ones. Have fun planning. all the best.

christmasoompa

Sounds a wonderful way to spend your retirement, I've never been to Oslo but love Amsterdam and Rome.

Good luck with it and welcome to BE.

Christian

Hello, Alicja, and welcome to B.E.,

I see you've given this some careful thought ... my only caveat —as one who is not getting any younger, myself— might be to shy away from the Scandinavian cold ... but the rest sounds wonderfully inviting, and you've certainly put careful planning into it!

With every good wish in your future, wherever that may find you!
Best,
Christian

P.S. And I don't half envy you your musical talents! Should have loved to have studied music, but I came from a walk of life where it was difficult to scrape up a 1s 6d for so much as a tin flute! (Yet have always had a passion for classical music! )

Alicja

Thanks for your good wishes.

I played a few instruments badly as a child (I dabbled on the piano at school, and a battered flute I bought that didn't work properly) but never had lessons and couldn't read music. We had no money for instrumental lessons either.

I started properly in 2001 (at the age of 36.75) and now have grade 8 flute, grade 8 theory of music, grade 7 piano, (I've no plans to take grade 8 piano as I find piano exams terrifying) and a few other grades in classical guitar and classical singing. I've also taken a couple of courses in instrumental teaching. I now specialise in teaching adults - I've got 30 pupils aged 25 to 72. Many of my pupils always wanted to learn an instrument but it wasn't possible until later in life.

Christian

Thank you for sharing that! How wonderfully inspirational. (If you lived closer, I might make that 31 pupils ).

I'll want to give things a more whole-hearted go ... I had simply thought myself as past it; that it was the exclusive province of the young.

You're story really made my day! ... and thank you for that!

Best,
Christian