Why did you move to a foreign country?

For my pleasure... Ce qui est un luxe, de nos jours!

You forgot a very common reason : Fell in love

Hi Kim,

Yes I forgot that very good reason

I have added the "I felt in love" option to the poll

Just wanted to live something new.

We weren't 30, had good steady jobs, nice condo appartment, the most beautiful daughter in the world...

All we had to do is wait for retirement time.

SCA-RY!

Had to move on.

1- Just offer me much more money

2- a new challenge

3- I wanted some changes, I got them

But the first time I moved in Germany (in 1991, I am getting old) I was student and was in love so that I cover the full range I think ....

I came back in France 1994 and in 2003 I felt like I would like to move again and I did it in 2005

I felt in love

Et puis, j'avais envie depuis longtemps de faire un tour en Californie, alors, j'ai fait d'un pierre deux coups... et j'y suis resté

I felt in love, I found a new job and I really wanted to move somewhere else, to change the situation... I needed it from many points of view... and I made it 

Did you fell in love before you definitely move? 

Something strange, nobody voted for "Fell in love" ... is there is a problem with the poll system?

I felt in love... with a man... and with the country.
I always loved the USA that I used to visit for vacations. Then I felt in love with Jorge who was living here and who is now my husband.

Julien wrote:

Did you fell in love before you definitely move?

Well... yes... hum... a long story... as I'm no more with the one for which I left (moved)... and... I'm with an other one... I'm in love too and for which I don't want to go back to France a bit complicated I must say... but I'm OK according to my psy

Oh yes. I felt in love with the country first when I came here in vacation many years ago. And then I felt in love with an American man when he came to visit Paris for vacations. I came to the US to be with him, and we get married last October.

Fell in love with the country at first. That led to me doing to part-time Japanese study.

That then led me to my wife! That accelerated my original "maybe I could go to Japan for a bit" plan to "I will be going to Japan".
Probably won't stay here though.

Because I wanted to
For my job (Professional reason)
I fell in love
All 3.
I answered "I fell in love" , but even if I hadn't, I would still most probably be living in a foreign country now.

Hi there!

a very interesting survey!

I have always wanted to move abroad (from France) for as long as I can remember and my favourite subjects at school were foreign languages.
What made me more determined to move as far away as I could was the fact that I had to "escape" from harm, litterally.

My childhood years were very difficult and I took the opportunity, while I was studying at university, to apply for a job as a language assistant in the UK,  got the job ( ! and rebuilt a new life ! it was a one-year contract only but I got another job to afford my stay in England....
then I met my wonderful husband (yes, my life is like a fairy tale!), he is Dutch and I therefore, as you can guess, moved to Holland...beautiful country, but it has changed a lot over the last couple of years.

I won't annoy any further with telling you about my life, so I stop talking about it right here.

all the best to you all!

Urielle.

I fell in love and moved to Greece. But I didn't fall in love with a Greek man as is usual. My love, now my husband is an Iranian who was living in London when we met. He was in love with Greece and wanted to move back. OOH big decision. It took about five minutes to make up my mind and three months to convince friend and family that I wasn't insane. Ten years and a son later, some are still not convinced that it was a good move.  If someone had told 12 years ago that I would leave my beloved london and move to Greece and become a rock chick and direct theatre productions and have a child, I would have laughed in their face. One thing I learned along the way. The course of your life is never set in stone.

You can say that again DeviousDiva! 

I was someone who had lived in the same apartment in Nashville for almost 10 years.  I never took trips, I had a settled life and no one ever thought I'd leave Nashville.  I was so weird about relationships my friends worried I'd never fall in love.  But, I fell in love with a Greek man and made the decision to move to Greece.  It was a MAJOR step for me, mainly because of the type of person I am.  I don't regret it, but life here is more difficult emotionally than it was in the U.S. (I was used to a large network of friends and family).  Here yes, I have a large family network of in-laws whom I love and are very welcoming, but I haven't made any friends of my own.  But that seems to be a common thing for ex-pats around the world.

It's kind of sad to me that you haven't been able to build a network of friends here too. I think being in small places in Greece is far harder than if you were in Athens. I never heard of the village where you are living right now. I think once you are in Thes. it will be easier. How long have you been in Greece and what do you do for a living? If you don't mind me asking
Take care. Happy Moving
Cassi

Well, I've been here 3 years but we've moved each year because my husband is in the Greek army.  So that has made it difficult.  I am still working on my masters thesis so I haven't been working either.

The village where we are now is on Mt. Olympus.  The closest "big" place to us is Katerini I guess.  When we move to Thessaloniki I'll have my husband's friends, my sister-in-law, and more places to meet people.  It seems also that most Greeks come from a very different background/lifestyle than I had in America - most Greeks seem more, hmm, "white bread" to me, if that makes any sense.  So I am not sure how easily it will be to relate to Greeks.  But we'll see.

Oh I so know what you mean about "white bread" You know it's hard and most of my close friends are british expats. Sadly, upbringing does make a difference when it comes to making friends. Humour is a big factor. I relate to people because of the humour we share and the misunderstandings of my sarcastic Brit humour has caused offence many times here. For example, I used to find the fact that Greek people hardly ever say please or thank you or excuse me very rude in the beginning. Now I hardly notice, but the point is when you speak different languages not only literally, it can be hard to relate. One of my best friends is a New Yorker, now sadly moved from here back to New York. Often, in the beginning, we didn't have the foggiest what the other was talking about. As they say. We can be the same people divided by the same language. Sorry this is so jumbled. I sent my husband and my kid off to England tonight for the holidays. (Asher, my kid is going for a month and hubby I willl see tomorrow)  It's hard to see my baby, who's 9 but still my baby, fly off for a month. (Tears in my eyes) This is a big part of being an expat for me. So far away from family. I am expecting a call so I'm off. I will get back tomorrow.
Bye

Yea, I know how that goes.  Being away from family and friends is really hard.  It is good that your "baby" (will always be baby I am sure!) will get to see your family though.  I'm sure its fun to get spoiled by relatives he doesn't see much!

As far as rudeness here, yea, I see it all the time, and I guess I'm still a newbie here so it bothers me.  Of course, I spent plenty of time in the North so I know how people can be rude.  In the South, people are polite even if they hate your guts.

I can be ok without many friends, I can hardly keep up with emails with friends and family back home (god, and my mother keeps wanting a handwritten letter, is she crazy??), but it would be nice to have one or two friends of my own here.

I moved from France to Canada with my love

Some people told us it was a bit of a challenge to move as a couple, but we survived !

We moved abroad for our pleasure too, without any jobs ! And the best part of it was to start all over I have to say.

Now that we are settled, are we going to be bored soon?

Wow, I certainly feel like an outcast now.  I moved for the nicer, kinder weather.   If it rains I no longer have to shovel it and I am almost never cold anymore.

The women in the Dominican Republic are absolutely stunning.   Just about Each and Every one is a work of art.

I live across the street from the ocean.  The beach in Sosua Dominican Republic is as nice a beach as I have ever been to.

I am also 3 hours and 20 minutes by direct flight to my previous home and only 8 minutes from the airport and there is NEVER any traffic.

This place ROCKS.  Well with a couple of exceptions:)

Scott

We moved here from Nova Scotia Brrrrrrrr.  After our home was destroyed by Hurricane Juan  followed less than three months later by eight feet of snow in six hours. To see our piece of Paradise have a look to our blog ...

I've lived in England before but I then went back to Greece for my national service. Lots of things had happened ever since. I'd been through unemployment, a disorganized state, it costs me a great deal of money just to be a few hours online, the starting pay in career jobs is extremely low, there was no perspectives back there whatsoever. So I then decided to pack up and go. Now I'm at a much better state and I'm feeling much calmer. The back story is a lot richer, though, and you can find it here http://hecktopay.blogspot.com

I have to second Escott here, I fell in love with the lifestyle and with the country, and after having coming here, going, coming again..we ( my son and I ) desided this is more home than some other place have ever been.

Dominican men --- Hmmm Great looking... but its hard anyway, as this, even though it is paradise is a country of poverty. Many, too many, think white skin means money. And in a way it does, even though I am not rich, I will always have more money than most people here... Because I work, because of the western mentality to plan a little more and so on..

So result, I stay single!

As for friends, real friends and not just people you know, I think many wise words have been said in this thread. It takes time, it requires an open mind for both attitude and culture.
Humour is a big portion of a friendship, and when the base of humour comes from different worlds, as it often does for us ex-pats vv society, it is not as natural as "back home". But it is not impossible. It is give and take, and a journey we all experience, having chosen to live in another country.

i moved to another country without a job, simply because i wanted to.
i'm currently finishing my masters in comp science, and together with some 5 years of working experience (next to studying) i never had a problem to find a job. must be lucky.

Another IT men on board!!

I think we're lucky as we're needed almost everywhere

i move to Holland for a job. and i hope my lover and i will be in the same country next year, but we don't know where for the moment...

Julien wrote:

Another IT men on board!!

I think we're lucky as we're needed almost everywhere

that's so true. wherever there's power, there are computers, and wherever there are computers, there's work for us. and the best thing is: in the field of programming, the companies finally get more accustomed to telework. so i could literally work from my home beach for a company in europe or northern america.

life's gooooood...

Two different answers:

Firstly I felt in love for my host country and secondly I applied for an European project in this same country.

I first went to Japan for work.  But I returned to be with my then boyfriend (now husband).

I feel in love first. I was in France, he was in Sweden.
It was 7 years ago, and I'm still in love with the same guy, so I think it was a good thing to move. I don't regret anything !

I fell in love with the country also. I love winter, spring, summer and autumn in Sweden. The nature is beautiful.

Because i wanted to; get away for awhile from the all too well-known life in Amsterdam. Though not without a job; I've been looking for jobs abroad for some time, and from 3 nice job offers, I rejected the ones in London, and chose the south of France instead.

I moved to Germany with my boyfriend who is german. We met in London and although we both still love London we decided we would have a better quality of life here. i have to say I have actually found it much harder than i expected as i don't speak german.

In one way i think it was good to have someone who does speak the language but on the other hand maybe it would have been easier if we were both starting over and both learning a new language.

At the moment I am having a very hard time because we have just moved to a new city and although my boyfriends family and friends live here i have no real friends of my own.

i can only guess it will get easier.

Went out to be with my family after university, fell into an easy job and have been doing it ever since, although I have moved country since then and my family have gone back to the UK.

My boyfriend, who is german, already spent 2 years in Texas. I had no prior experience with Europe other than a high school graduation trip to London...and that's a stretch, being that it is an island. He spoke English better than most newscasters. I knew nothing about German. (Try learning to say "fünf", it's not easy)

It was really important for me to know where my bestfriend come from and what its like to see through his rose-colored lens.  I need to remind myself of that from time to time because the culture adjustment can be overwhelming.

Classic Trailing Spouse Syndrome (Not that I minded it !)

I first move to Montreal to see something different, meet new people, and because I was young and curious! The big opportunity was my studies. Then I felt in love with Montreal.

Second, I had to move to Toulouse for one year - not a choice - but finally a really good destination.

Then I move back to Montreal, because I was working with some people there. And I finally get bored with Montreal. Not Montreal : winter :-)

So I applied for jobs, and I have to say that my job is quite good for that : observatories are always localised in amazing place. Hawaii, Canaries Island, Australia and .. Chile.

So I moved to Santiago !

Lastly, I moved to Grenoble, where I come from, because I wanted :-) I was fed up to leave abroad, have the family there, see them one per year, and now I hate plane (so not so cool).

As I already said in the forum, coming to France was for me as going to a new country. everything change so much during the last 12 years !

I fell in love with an English woman.  Then I fell in love with England.