Where should i move?
i am a 24 year old german, currently going to college, but i think i might not want to continue. i worked before going to college and have 25k €.
i'm currently living with my parents but i think i'm getting too old for that and decided to move out next year. i planned to stay in my crappy hometown and keep studying, but if i dont continue studying, there's nothing keeping me here.
i first considered moving to a rather cheap town in germany and just hang out for a few years. i mean not having a job and working on my personal projects (which might or might not get me money).
but i now realized that moving to a different country is also an option. this would also make for a better story. i wouldn't be a dropout bum wasting his money, i would be brave and adventurous! ;)
im rather overwhelmed by the options. :) i think i would prefer a place that has a whole bunch of other foreigners, but not just tourists or old people of course. it should be really cheap so my money will last longer.
i liked the idea of moving to argentina, but i think it's probably not cheap enough. :( or is it? i mostly read about buenos aires.
what do you think?
Posted Jun 30, 2010, 10:50 PM UTC
With that kind of cash on hand, in the current economic environment, you could live comfortably for five years here in Buenos Aires (longer if you were willing to live 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city center in the province). The city is very diverse and has a lot to offer. Though I've not really sought them out, there are plenty of foreigners here, particularly in the neighborhoods of Palermo (generally longer-term stays) and San Telmo (more passing-through tourists).
I moved here from the US this past October without any friends, a job, or knowledge of Spanish. I found it very easy to adapt to life here, and I found all three of those very quickly. If you're seriously considering coming here, let me know what kind of specific information you're looking for, and I'll try to be as of much help as I can.
Buenos Aires is awesome (I got to go once about 15 years ago). Right across is Montevideo, too. Both have alot of Italians, I always figured if I had to flee NY, I'd go there and try to get taken in by that community. Great food and wine, weather, women. The Paris of the western hemisphere!
Isn't the Paris of the western hemisphere.... Paris?
Paris is east of the prime meridian.
cool, i was afraid it wouldn't last as long.
have you found a job yet? why did you decide to move?
He said he did find one quickly. The question is what type?
I'm living the cliché-- teaching English for now. I have a degree in chemistry and a job offer from the father of a friend I made here, but I'm procrastinating grad school, and I decided that I'd rather have a bit of a break from lab work. There are a lot of options here for programmers, though, as well. I'm told that Buenos Aires is second only to India in outsourced development handling, and that if you're particularly skilled, you can do pretty well for yourself here.
That said, I know nothing of the task of finding legal work here. Companies generally don't want to bother with securing visas for foreigners, and they'd rather not pay taxes to the corrupt government if they can avoid it. Though I've never experienced any problems with it, if I decide to stay here for the long term, I'll definitely want to investigate this.
How is the teaching english thing working out for you? I was considering doing it. We're kind of in the same boat cuz right now I'm working in biotech and holding off grad school too!
Well-- there's an important distinction to make. If you want to make that last, you can't live the way that most expatriates and foreign visitors here do. The nightlife and entertainment options here are endless. Clubs and bars are frequently open until sunrise on weeknights, and on weekends parties can continue into the afternoon. Most clubs charge an entrance cover, though, and the alcohol markup (compared to grocery stores) can be as much as 500-600%. I've met a few people here who burn Euros faster than they did at home. That said, it's very possible to find cheap apartments (or rented rooms, if you can deal with that). It's just a matter of finding the Argentine landlords who aren't looking to simply take advantage of foreigners. I live very cheap here compared to back in the states (~$500 US/month), and I do so in an apartment that's centrally located. I sampled the party environment my first few weeks here, but now I'm a little more sane about it. If you shop in grocery stores and limit expensive outings to once every week or two (I prefer a few quiet beers with friends and conversation generally, anyway), you can live comfortably for cheap.
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