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Emigration - Impressions and differences of your new/old land?


Kejan

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Considering the tropical backdrop of P&B (well, taking away the most likely 97% white male demographic) there are a lot of people on here and a few of us don't live in Scotland.

For the ones who moved from Scotland ; even if you just did a gap year/work/uni exchange ; or been away for at least a year or more. What are the similarities/differences between your new country and Scotland (or your original country - maybe you've moved to Scotland from elsewhere).

Are there things that you really miss or don't at all? Things that annoy you about home or the new country? Things that are done better/worse in either nation?

Do you feel that you are ''insert citizenship'' or at least a little bit of the new country? Or do you feel like your old nationality? Or do you feel a mixture of both, or oddly nothing at all?

I know a Turkish-Swede  who grew up in Sweden to Turkish parents - spoke the language, and lived a 'Swedish' life celebrating most of their social and cultural events yet after a while felt oddly isolated from being fully integrated in to the culture or 'accepted' as a Swede and felt that locals seen him as being a bit brash,loud ; yet the reversal when he tried to live in Turkey for a bit - it was even a more alien culture he said and most people seen him as a Swede - more socially reserved ; quieter.  So much so that he says he doesn't particularly feel any nationality, but more European if anything. 

 

 

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Lived in That London and various places in  England. They definitely do public transport better, especially Sheffield. Pubs are more about socialising compared to getting absolutely smashed as quickly as possible. The whole place needs a lick of paint, especially the coastal towns which are run-down shiteholes in the main. Imagine a hundred Greenocks and you're not far wrong.  A country looking backward whereas I genuinely feel Scotland is a more positive and forward-looking country. Having said that, southern girls are way dirtier so swings and roundabouts. 

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2 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

I moved from Elgin to Dundee nearly 30 years ago. Still don’t understand a fucking word they’re saying.

Here is a song Sinead wrote about the motherland, the city of discovery that is, Dundee. 

Tear tae a glass eh Sinead hen. 

Edited by Dele
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Left Scotland early 2013, moved to Miami, and then on to Chicago late 2016.I don't know so much if you miss 'things'; things just are what they are and you deal with them how they come up, it's more people you miss. The scale of the US kinda renders comparison points a bit moot – Miami-Dade County is 3.5m people and Chicagoland is 10m. We went to see The Twilight Sad a few months back, and were talking away to the merch guy and it turned out we knew quite a lot of the same people despite being from different bits of Scotland (Glasgow and Bathgate respectively). Football is definitely done better in Scotland. Anytime you go to see the Fire, you're stunned at how much more of a sanitised experience it is, but then Scotland's had 150 years to develop that culture and all that goes along with it. I don't know the States ever will, again, simply due to size – the only 'derbies' here are the 2 LA clubs, the 2 NY clubs and Portland/Seattle. You don't even hear chants slagging off Mormons if Salt Lake City are in town. Although they'd be kinda pointless anyway because distance means there's no away fans. Miami is a really easy place to move to, because nobody's from there – around 65% of folks are born outside the US, and everyone's just thrown together. This is good for building up social circles, as everyone's kinda in the same boat, and a bit shit because nobody is there for very long, it's a very transient place. People do come together over sports tho, in Miami the Heat are the only show in town and fans are loyal – while the bandwagon fans might have left with LeBron, attendances only dropped 5% that season, even after Chris Bosh getting hurt and Miami going from championship finalists to stinking up the league in the space of a year. Chicago you could legitimately feel the atmosphere change in the place when the Bears signed Khalil Mack, it was all anyone would talk about for ages.

 

I don't think I feel American at all as of yet – again, this is probably because very few people in Miami are – 'where you from?' is pretty much the first thing anyone asks you there and my friends there were pretty much all from Latin America (as is most of the city, so it's unsurprising). Also the US do a pretty good job of 'othering' you – we had no particular desire to leave Miami, but the working visa ties you to the company you come here to work for, so until you get a green card, you don't get a whole lot of say in where you want to be. We got our green cards last week. We're pretty happy in Chicago just now, but NYC might be looming in our future and the Mrs doesn't think she fancies it, so we are at least masters of our domain in that respect now. Chicago is more like a giant Glasgow than it is NYC or London, people are nice, people are normal.Things like if I'm on the train at rush hour and there's no seats and I've got the kid in tow, 99 times out of 100 someone will get up and tell me to give her theirs. There's not a lot of airs and graces about folks here; I've been insulated from the whole 'don't talk politics or religion' thing here because nobody in either city gives a f**k about religion (other than voodoo/santeria in certain bits of Miami, but you'll know where they are by the amount of feral chickens knocking about the neighborhood) and Chicagoland is a republican-free zone (officially, as of the last election cycle). We've always lived in flats here and our neighbours have always been sound.

 

The cartel that is the US medical system is endlessly terrifying, and bollocks to being skint in this country, although immigration strictures mean we'd be getting hauled out of it before we could claim public assistance, so it's a bit moot. The bill for the wee one coming into the world was $32.5k, thank Christ we have good insurance. (we paid $1000 of it. Still!). I definitely still feel Scottish, although I don't go out of my way to do 'Scottish' things; there's a shop about 3 miles west of us has Irn Bru (and we still get the OG stuff that goes to Canada) although I very rarely bother. I've lost track of the football to a fair degree. I do appreciate there being a ton of Indian food in Chicago, there was pretty much none in Miami.

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7 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

I moved from Elgin to Dundee nearly 30 years ago. Still don’t understand a fucking word they’re saying.

 

5 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Fit?

 

4 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Used to be but I’ve let myself go tbh.

I think you're more assimilated to Dundee spik than you realise...

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Moved to South Wales ages ago. 

More ethnically diverse than Scotland but weirdly folk seem more homogeneous. Fewer big personalities. 

Chip shops are shite. The pies are a disgrace. It is wet. They like rugby, a lot. 

Bilingual signs get on my tits. Especially when trying to read warning signs on the motorway. 

I have tried to integrate into their culture but I gave up. f**k Max Boyce. 

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35 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Moved to South Wales ages ago. 

More ethnically diverse than Scotland but weirdly folk seem more homogeneous. Fewer big personalities. 

Chip shops are shite. The pies are a disgrace. It is wet. They like rugby, a lot. 

Bilingual signs get on my tits. Especially when trying to read warning signs on the motorway. 

I have tried to integrate into their culture but I gave up. f**k Max Boyce. 

Looks like you've integrated.

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Moved to South Wales ages ago. 
More ethnically diverse than Scotland but weirdly folk seem more homogeneous. Fewer big personalities. 
Chip shops are shite. The pies are a disgrace. It is wet. They like rugby, a lot. 
Bilingual signs get on my tits. Especially when trying to read warning signs on the motorway. 
I have tried to integrate into their culture but I gave up. f**k Max Boyce. 


No idea why, but this had me laughing hysterically.
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