Immigrants of P&B

[BFTD]

6 hours ago, Dolf said:

Did you live in NYC at the time ?I was living in Inwood

My school was/is located at 99 Chambers street,just a few blocks from the World Trade 

My Political Science professor asked if any of us wanted to come down and observe polling stations that day(mayoral primaries) and I passed thankfully

It was a surreal few months afterwards

No, I was at the entirely opposite end of the country - Arizona.

Imagine adult human beings panicking about the Arabs blowing up their tuppenny-ha'penny college building because of a terrorist attack thousands of miles away.

[BFTD]

9 hours ago, Left Back said:

I think we have a basic grasp of geography, more than the average American at least.

I did wonder if it says more about how utterly inconsequential we are. Everyone knows England/Britain because they were invaded by them at some point.

Other than the weird folk who consider themselves Scottish because someone in their family was born here five generations ago, they've no more reason to know about us than we do about Djibouti or Kyrgyzstan.

[DiegoDiego]

I've been back in Scotland about a year now, but I've lived in a few places abroad. I'd rank them as follows (best first):

Albania
Turkey
Italy
Guatemala
USA
Slovakia
Finland
Denmark.

There were a few things I missed about Scotland. None of the other places I lived in had anything which came close to pub culture. I've noticed a few folk on here advocating for table service only to continue at pubs, but in my experience it's shite. Scottish football was a big miss. The sport was great in Italy and Turkey but despite reading the sports papers every day, watching the matches, collecting the stickers, et cetera I'd never have the understanding of Italian or Turkish football like I do Scottish. Little things like Falkirk fans being crowdwankers, that's the sort of thing it's tough to learn unless you've immersed yourself in that culture.

I missed chatting to folk, too. My Italian and Turkish were good enough to hold a conversation, but they weren't the sort of places you could wander into a bar and strike up a conversation with someone. Albania and Guatemala were better on that front but Finland and Denmark was awful.

I'm sure I'll move abroad again in a few years as I get bored very easily, but I'm certainly not one of those "Scotland's a shitehole, I'm never coming back" people. There's a lot I really like about Scotland. It's the only place that will ever truly be home to me.

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

I've been back in Scotland about a year now, but I've lived in a few places abroad. I'd rank them as follows (best first):

Albania
Turkey
Italy
Guatemala
USA
Slovakia
Finland
Denmark.

There were a few things I missed about Scotland. None of the other places I lived in had anything which came close to pub culture. I've noticed a few folk on here advocating for table service only to continue at pubs, but in my experience it's shite. Scottish football was a big miss. The sport was great in Italy and Turkey but despite reading the sports papers every day, watching the matches, collecting the stickers, et cetera I'd never have the understanding of Italian or Turkish football like I do Scottish. Little things like Falkirk fans being crowdwankers, that's the sort of thing it's tough to learn unless you've immersed yourself in that culture.

I missed chatting to folk, too. My Italian and Turkish were good enough to hold a conversation, but they weren't the sort of places you could wander into a bar and strike up a conversation with someone. Albania and Guatemala were better on that front but Finland and Denmark was awful.

I'm sure I'll move abroad again in a few years as I get bored very easily, but I'm certainly not one of those "Scotland's a shitehole, I'm never coming back" people. There's a lot I really like about Scotland. It's the only place that will ever truly be home to me.

 

[Honest_Man#1]

On 07/08/2021 at 14:37, die hard doonhamer said:

I fancy moving abroad at some point, but so far I haven't even built the nerve to leave the village I've lived in since I was 10. This is a wonderful thread, though, and it certainly evokes a bit of wanderlust.

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.

I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

[Jacksgranda]

7 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

I'm sure I'll move abroad again in a few years as I get bored very easily the police will be closing in, but I'm certainly not one of those "Scotland's a shitehole, I'm never coming back" people. There's a lot I really like about Scotland. It's the only place that will ever truly be home to me.

FTFY

[Jacksgranda]

15 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.

I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

About half, if not more,of the residents of where I live fall into that category.

[welshbairn]

45 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.

I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

There's something about it that I admire and envy in a way, and easily lost when people get sucked into the city lights and find there's no way back. In my case I grew up in Grangemouth so there was no option but to leave when I was 16 and legally able to.

[RH33]

1 hour ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.

I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

I'm from a very small village in the Highlands and left twenty years ago and maybe go back once every 12-18 months. Fair amount families in third/fourth generation never left. 

[Duszek]

8 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

I've been back in Scotland about a year now, but I've lived in a few places abroad. I'd rank them as follows (best first):

Albania…
Denmark.

Interesting. What was it about Albania/Denmark that made them score so highly/lowly?

[effeffsee_the2nd]

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.
I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

Whilst I’m not exactly in a wee village I’m hardly in a big city either . But i have a fucking good paying job 5 miles from my door and in non covid times I could travel wherever i likes at home and abroad. Most of my family live close by but I’m not at all close with any of them
If i had a reason to move, like say my job no longer existed then I would do so without a second thought , I’m not emotionally tied to the place
Am i a hick?

[Raidernation]

Back to accents. I’ve been asked if I’m Irish too many times to remember, but also Dutch and, on one occasion, South African!

At every school I’ve taught in over here I’ve been asked by at least one kid if I had to learn English when I came here. TBF for many of them they’ve never left their ‘hood let alone Chicago or Illinois [emoji51]

[DiegoDiego]

1 hour ago, Duszek said:

Interesting. What was it about Albania/Denmark that made them score so highly/lowly?

Albania was great. Obviously it's a stunning country, both the coastline and the mountains. It's cheap as chips (a belly full of food and a carafe or so of wine will set you back about €10 at the best restaurant in a UNESCO heritage city). I've never been anywhere where I've felt such a sense of community though. The few supermarkets that exist are expensive and don't sell any fresh produce, so you walk down the street and get your onions from your onion guy, your potatoes from the old woman selling potatoes, and so on. You're forced to interact with people on a daily basis. Everyone trusts you implicitly (because the consequences of breaking trust are, well, you've seen Taken). My local wouldn't let me pay for any drinks for over a week until I just started leaving money on the table. It's also such a quirky country due to their isolation and the curious laws of the communist era (e.g. Klinsmann is still a common boys name, all because Jurgen was the top boy when communism ended, I also met a Maldini). I absolutely love the place.

Denmark was just boring and bland. I lived in a place about the size of Elgin which had two bars: one run by a biker gang where you went to buy drugs, and other only frequented by mute alcoholics. When Denmark were in the Olympic handball final (a very big deal) there was nowhere in town I could go and watch the game for a bit of atmosphere. Everyone just stayed at home. It's so fucking flat as well. They have great architecture, interior design, and hot dogs, but that's about it. 

[Theroadlesstravelled]

It’s funny cause it’s accurate -

 

[die hard doonhamer]

3 hours ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

This isn’t a dig, as I’m far from a well-travelled person in terms of living away from Scotland, but I always find this quite shocking when people grow up and live in exactly the same place their entire lives, especially when it’s a village.

I grew up in Ayr which is at least a semi-large town, and can’t imagine living there during my late teens and 20s, never mind a village.

I moved about a bit as a young kid. Was in the same place until I was 8, and then I went to 4 different schools in the space of less than 2 years. I don't know if that partly plays in to it.

In terms of the village I live in, I'm only 3 miles from Perth, it's the best of both worlds in terms of a village life but still being close to everything. Even if I had the inclination to move, finding the balance we have here would be tough.

I did spend a year in student halls in Edinburgh, though was home regularly so don't really count it as having lived there.

[Mon_The_Fife]

I’ve been in Auckland, NZ for 7 years this month. Just fancied a change of scenery from Fife (who wouldn’t right?).

Met my Kiwi partner after a year or so and got married this year, during level 2 lockdown. Luckily got myself onto the property ladder and have a dog too so pretty settled. Auckland is a great city to live. Very multicultural so lots of options for eating although it is quite expensive to live compared to other parts of NZ.

We are guaranteed beautiful summers each year although the sun is a nightmare here with very high rates of skin cancer so have to be extremely careful for half the year. The winters in Auckland aren’t that bad either, lows of around 3 degrees maybe but it doesn’t last long.

I’ve been back twice to Scotland since I’ve moved here with the other half and I found that I appreciated home a lot more coming back as a visitor than when I actually lived there and wish I had traveled a bit more. Scotland is a beautiful country and my advice to people is to experience your own country first before moving abroad. The kiwis are the same, I’ve met so many who haven’t seen their own country (my wife was one of them). If you have a google of Queenstown then you will know what I mean.

I can’t see myself living back in Scotland now, a major downside is the distance from Scotland and none of my family could make our wedding this year and who knows when we will be able to travel freely again. I do miss the football too, although NZ football is growing and I still play here as well as coach now so I’m keeping myself involved.

[Ross.]

On 08/08/2021 at 00:27, German Jag said:

Despite not having lived in Scotland for 30 years, I still have a strong west-coast accent. Have been asked a good few times as to whether I'm Dutch.

I think it is something to do with how we pronounce our S’s. I’ve never ordered from a Starbucks here and seen them put the right name on my fucking cup.

[Jacksgranda]

12 hours ago, Mon_The_Fife said:

I’ve been in Auckland, NZ for 7 years this month. Just fancied a change of scenery from Fife (who wouldn’t right?).

Met my Kiwi partner after a year or so and got married this year, during level 2 lockdown. Luckily got myself onto the property ladder and have a dog too so pretty settled. Auckland is a great city to live. Very multicultural so lots of options for eating although it is quite expensive to live compared to other parts of NZ.

We are guaranteed beautiful summers each year although the sun is a nightmare here with very high rates of skin cancer so have to be extremely careful for half the year. The winters in Auckland aren’t that bad either, lows of around 3 degrees maybe but it doesn’t last long.

I’ve been back twice to Scotland since I’ve moved here with the other half and I found that I appreciated home a lot more coming back as a visitor than when I actually lived there and wish I had traveled a bit more. Scotland is a beautiful country and my advice to people is to experience your own country first before moving abroad. The kiwis are the same, I’ve met so many who haven’t seen their own country (my wife was one of them). If you have a google of Queenstown then you will know what I mean.

I can’t see myself living back in Scotland now, a major downside is the distance from Scotland and none of my family could make our wedding this year and who knows when we will be able to travel freely again. I do miss the football too, although NZ football is growing and I still play here as well as coach now so I’m keeping myself involved.

What more could a man want?

[Left Back]

10 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

What more could a man want?

slippers.

[SANTAN]

17 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

What more could a man want?

Slush puppy maker.