Happier Abroad Forum Community

jamesbond wrote:

well-informed wrote:Also if you like your privacy, then the US is perfect for that person. Although being a loner will eventually decay your soul from the inside

Yeah, America is a great place to live if you like your privacy. Nobody will talk to you or acknowledge your existence. Most people don't talk to their neighbors and of course people don't talk to strangers either.

I have not seen my neighbors in 2-3 months and I currently live in a apt building where we all use the same doors to get in. I also know a guy who lives in a 5000SF million dollar home and he told me he rarely ever speaks to his neighbors.


This S*** it crazy, there is no way I'm living in a country where people don't talk to each other. It's insane.

Northamericanguy wrote:

jamesbond wrote:

well-informed wrote:Also if you like your privacy, then the US is perfect for that person. Although being a loner will eventually decay your soul from the inside

Yeah, America is a great place to live if you like your privacy. Nobody will talk to you or acknowledge your existence. Most people don't talk to their neighbors and of course people don't talk to strangers either.

I have not seen my neighbors in 2-3 months and I currently live in a apt building where we all use the same doors to get in. I also know a guy who lives in a 5000SF million dollar home and he told me he rarely ever speaks to his neighbors.


This S*** it crazy, there is no way I'm living in a country where people don't talk to each other. It's insane.

Co-f***ing-sign! +1

I did a topic like this before. I'll list the pros and cons about America (some are new). The United States of America has more cons than pros and since that is the case, you need to get out. Men and women who are very aware of the toxic culture of the USA need to get out.

Pros:
-Gas is cheaper compared to other countries (I wonder what would happen if the gas prices went to $10. Americans would urinate in their pants.)
-You can make a lot of money (only if you get a job)
-Things can be of high quality (clothes, machines, etc)
-Privacy (like someone typed)
-The men and women in the uniform are very brave people (I give them props). People in uniform (any country) are brave
-People of many nationalities come here
-Americans can be extremely intelligent

Cons:
-Very arduous to find a job
-The majority of women are extremely impossible to date, impress, approach, give logic to, etc (even in bars, parties, school, etc)
-There are very little women in American with beauty (the ones that do have many suitors and/or they're taken)
-The USA is the most racist and bigoted place in the western hemisphere (maybe the world)
-The USA is a "every man or woman for themselves" culture
-The USA is a "cliquish" culture
-Crime is very high (especially the more populated cities like Charlotte, Chicago, Houston). Everytime I watch the news, something is always happening. I don't watch the news very often either because of this
-Americans can be extremely cruel people
-It's a live to work society (thank you very much Think Different for the correction, brother)
-Your mental health will deteriorate because of numerous factors (if you know the culture, you may be able to adapt to it)
-The politics need a makeover
-Divorce rate is one of the highest in the world. Getting married is like gambling because if you bet something, you'll either get a big prize or lose everything. If you're a man and you get divorced, you'll lose more than a woman
-Very expensive place to live
-Corruption in the workplace happens (police, etc)
-Food is unhealthy
-Americans can be extremely dumb

Conclusion: The USA is a very abysmal place to live. It should be everyone's goal to plan and move away from the USA. I know not immediately because of funds, but when we get funds, save up.

the culture tends to respect promptness and actually showing up to confirmed dates and meetings.

consumerism has afforded most people tons of options to buy a large variety of shit.

not much else....

Iawesome60 wrote:I did a topic like this before. I'll list the pros and cons about America (some are new). The United States of America has more cons than pros and since that is the case, you need to get out. Men and women who are very aware of the toxic culture of the USA need to get out.

Pros:
-Gas is cheaper compared to other countries (I wonder what would happen if the gas prices went to $10. Americans would urinate in their pants.)
-You can make a lot of money (only if you get a job)
-Things can be of high quality (clothes, machines, etc)
-Privacy (like someone typed)
-The men and women in the uniform are very brave people (I give them props). People in uniform (any country) are brave

Cons:
-Very arduous to find a job
-The majority of women are extremely impossible to date, impress, approach, give logic to, etc (even in bars, parties, school, etc)
-There are very little women in American with beauty (the ones that do have many suitors and/or they're taken)
-The USA is the most racist and bigoted place in the western hemisphere (maybe the world)
-The USA is a "every man or woman for themselves" culture
-The USA is a "cliquish" culture
-Crime is very high (especially the more populated cities like Charlotte, Chicago, Houston). Everytime I watch the news, something is always happening. I don't watch the news as much, either
-Americans can be extremely cruel people
-It's a work to live society
-Your mental health will deteriorate because of numerous factors (if you know the culture, you may be able to adapt to it)
-The politics need a makeover
-Divorce rate is one of the highest in the world. Getting married is like gambling because if you bet something, you'll either get a big prize or lose everything. If you're a man and you get divorced, you'll lose more than a woman
-Very expensive place to live
-Corruption in the workplace happens (police, etc)
-Food is unhealthy

Conclusion: The USA is a very abysmal place to live. It should be everyone's goal to plan and move away from the USA. I know not immediately because of funds, but when we get funds, save up!

You probably meant to say that it's a "live to work" society, not the other way around.

an aside:

my opinion is that E_Irizarry has the coolest avatar-pic in this joint@!!

I miss the beer scene in America, especially San Diego. One of the top cities in the country for beer variety, beer festivals, microbrews, etc.

I lived four blocks away from O'Briens, rated one of the top places in San Diego to have a beer with 25 rotating taps and a bottle list of over 100 entries as well as meads for sale. Most beers (tiered system) cost either $3.50 or $4.00 per pint. Also, I became friendly to a couple local brewmasters to the point where I received "employee pricing" on their kegs, resulting in award winning microbrew kegs with around $1 per pint pricing on the beer inside.

I have experienced nothing as wonderful in any other country as of yet. (Fukuoka, Tokyo/Yokohama, Busan, Hong Kong, Pattaya, Perth, Hobart, Kuala Lumpur, Honolulu/Waikiki, Guam, Singapore, Dubai, and Victoria/Vancouver) Closest was Tokyo/Yokohama which has some beer festivals and quite a few breweries and beer bars. Popeyes being my favorite with 70 beers on tap. The problem is the price. 1000 yen which is $13.33 USD due to extremely poor exchange rate for a single beer. Contrasted with the $1 at home and $4 away I was used to.

So yeah, I miss the US beer scene (in San Diego).

BigDug wrote:I miss the beer scene in America, especially San Diego. One of the top cities in the country for beer variety, beer festivals, microbrews, etc.

I lived four blocks away from O'Briens, rated one of the top places in San Diego to have a beer with 25 rotating taps and a bottle list of over 100 entries as well as meads for sale. Most beers (tiered system) cost either $3.50 or $4.00 per pint. Also, I became friendly to a couple local brewmasters to the point where I received "employee pricing" on their kegs, resulting in award winning microbrew kegs with around $1 per pint pricing on the beer inside.

I have experienced nothing as wonderful in any other country as of yet. (Fukuoka, Tokyo/Yokohama, Busan, Hong Kong, Pattaya, Perth, Hobart, Kuala Lumpur, Honolulu/Waikiki, Guam, Singapore, Dubai, and Victoria/Vancouver) Closest was Tokyo/Yokohama which has some beer festivals and quite a few breweries and beer bars. Popeyes being my favorite with 70 beers on tap. The problem is the price. 1000 yen which is $13.33 USD due to extremely poor exchange rate for a single beer. Contrasted with the $1 at home and $4 away I was used to.

So yeah, I miss the US beer scene (in San Diego).

Spend your next vacation in the Czech Republic. A half-liter of beer there (high quality, and in abundance) costs less than 50 cents. My favorite is Gambrinus on tap.

Well, it is relatively easy to commit suicide (not sure that most here would see that as a positive though).

Seriously:
- Good place to provide cynical cultural commentary
- Gun laws (?)
- Decent albeit weakened dollar
- Decent place to make money
- Still easy to travel on an American passport
- Has borders with places like Mexico (unlike Australia, which has NO land borders)
- Privacy
- Good if you like superficial politeness and friendliness.

People have mentioned other things, too.

That's about it.

I decided to write 10 things I dislike, followed by 10 things I like about the United States.

The things I dislike:

1. The women (which is why I'm on Happier Abroad)
2. Having to drive everywhere; being unable to just walk to a grocery store
3. Completely pedestrian unfriendly (in other words: cars rule, walkers drool)
4. Prices ending in 99 cents instead of just using whole dollars
5. The stupidest white people on the planet who rather than looking out for one another let their white brothers and sisters be attacked and harassed by non-whites
6. The Federal Reserve
7. Most people seem absolutely incapable of learning a foreign language
8. Still using the backwards Imperial Units (ounces and pounds) to weigh things instead of the much easier Metric system (kilograms divided into 1000 grams)
9. Acts like it's the world's policeman and starts too many unnecessary wars
10. The people think that it's the only "legitimate" country on the planet and that anyone who isn't an American is a less complete human being because of it.


As for the things I like:

1. Very good work ethic
2. Good postal service
3. Very efficient capitalist system enables things to get produced
4. Ability to easily own guns
5. People believe in upward mobility and don't just accept their lot in life
6. Lack of police corruption (although we definitely have a problem with police brutality)
7. PEANUT BUTTER! Nobody makes peanut butter better than Americans and I have eaten it in five different countries (US, Mexico, England, France, Kuwait)
8. High safety standards on commercial goods
9. Able to drink the water from the faucet
10. Lots of open land means that meat prices are relatively low compared to most other countries.

Other than gun rights this country offers nothing else that i like.

Without the USA we would have to greet with "HEIL HITLER"- Or we would be suffering in working camps.

Having lived in Asia for awhile, there are certain things that I always miss.

The first thing is the air quality. Whenever I go back to the U.S. I immediately notice how fresh and clean the air is. You can be at the airport and take a deep breath in, filling your lungs with clean air and not worry about hacking or coughing. Of course there are great places for clean air in Asia including New Zealand but if you spend a lot of time in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, etc. you begin to appreciate the air quality in the U.S. and Canada. I'm not a smoker so I appreciate the non smoking laws in the U.S. They'll never pass that kind of law in China.

I always miss certain types of foods like all beef hot dogs. Very hard to find Nathan's hot dogs and fries in Asia. Or any good all beef hot dogs for that matter. Certain types of sandwiches that people in Asia don't like to eat much, e.g. corned beef and pastrami on rye or the types of sandwiches you would get in a New York City delicatessen. While I have eaten reubens and Philly cheese steaks abroad, they don't taste the same as what I can get in the U.S., especially if I'm near Philadelphia.

Pizza is a big one for me. I don't know what it is but people in Asia don't know how to make pizza. I'll take a couple of sloppy slices of New York pizza or deep dish Chicago pizza any time over the Asian versions. I hate it when they mess up pizza by trying to make it cater to Asian tastes, e.g. adding hoisin sauce into everything. A good piece of steak at a reasonable price is hard to find in many parts of Asia. You won't find the 30 ounce porterhouse steak from Charley's Steakhouse unless you pay through the nose for it. Even if you do, it still doesn't taste right.

Watching certain American sports in person, e.g. baseball and football (not soccer). Even though I just watched the NFL championship games over the Internet with my Slingbox, it's not the same as being in the stadium with the noise and the crowds.

And believe it or not, water out of the tap. I can easily drink a clean, fresh tasting glass of water from a New York City faucet. But you are taking your life into your own hands if you try to do that in many parts of the world.

Konradzsky wrote:You guys can cry and whine about the horrible Nazi regime called America. But would you rather live in North Korea? America isn't perfect, but at least it isn't as f***ed up as other countries are. Cuba has zero economic upward mobility and a police state that locks up suspected pimps and whores.

If you don't like a country, get the f**k out. Just like if you hate your job, quit it and find something better. Nobody has a gun to your head forcing you to stay here or work a crappy job. America allows the individual to pursue his own happiness at his own pace. Of course there are risks to every choice made. But if we always play it safe, we would regret not reaching the fullest potential. Americans are gamblers by nature similar to the Japanese. You would be shocked to hear the Japanese are gamblers, but they are (honorable samurais, stealthy ninjas, Tokyo drifting, bombing Pearl Harbor, Godzilla) which are all calculated risks for greatness.

You can cry, rant, complain, but it won't change a damn thing. So you either deal with it or get the f**k out. Deuces!

What? I thought you hated the U.S.? In your other posts you ranted about how horrible the country was and now you are suddenly a patriotic American? Dude, you are just a bottle of contradictions aren't you!

If you like your comfort, then the US is ideal for that person . Being a loner will gradually corrosion your soul from the inside.I desire US meals, though I have a very unadventurous taste. Consuming well is the issue when I go overseas.