I moved to Europe in 1995, after three years of managing a project between Chicago, Singapore and Amsterdam. I have to say, I have never regretted moving - but I do miss some things, like school friends and family. But even in a Europe which seems to have more far right politics now than in the past 30 years, I still find it less polariz…
I moved to Europe in 1995, after three years of managing a project between Chicago, Singapore and Amsterdam. I have to say, I have never regretted moving - but I do miss some things, like school friends and family. But even in a Europe which seems to have more far right politics now than in the past 30 years, I still find it less polarized than the US. And I do think that there is something comforting that here in the Netherlands, we also don’t have guns in homes. You can own a gun, you go to a gun club to shoot it and it stays there, there is training and licensing. And I walk my dogs in our middle-sized town quite happily at midnight without worry of being shot (or knifed, or pickpocketed). I enjoy the fact people don’t drive to go a half-mile to the grocery store, they walk or bike. That we separate or glass, cans, paper and garden rubbish without complaining about it. That no one I know minds that there are deposits on tin cans and plastic bottles, which you can take back to get your deposit. I am still an American, I pay US taxes, and I carry a US passport. But I am quite happy to spend the majority of my time in Europe. I could totally understand your blog - which I did find because it was highlighted by Substack in their newsletter. And I enjoyed it. And I think that the fact so much of social media is about people dumping on other people really does drive me crazy. I am pretty much off Twitter, my Facebook is just my actual friends, and my Instagram is rare - and of my dogs.
I moved to Europe in 1995, after three years of managing a project between Chicago, Singapore and Amsterdam. I have to say, I have never regretted moving - but I do miss some things, like school friends and family. But even in a Europe which seems to have more far right politics now than in the past 30 years, I still find it less polarized than the US. And I do think that there is something comforting that here in the Netherlands, we also don’t have guns in homes. You can own a gun, you go to a gun club to shoot it and it stays there, there is training and licensing. And I walk my dogs in our middle-sized town quite happily at midnight without worry of being shot (or knifed, or pickpocketed). I enjoy the fact people don’t drive to go a half-mile to the grocery store, they walk or bike. That we separate or glass, cans, paper and garden rubbish without complaining about it. That no one I know minds that there are deposits on tin cans and plastic bottles, which you can take back to get your deposit. I am still an American, I pay US taxes, and I carry a US passport. But I am quite happy to spend the majority of my time in Europe. I could totally understand your blog - which I did find because it was highlighted by Substack in their newsletter. And I enjoyed it. And I think that the fact so much of social media is about people dumping on other people really does drive me crazy. I am pretty much off Twitter, my Facebook is just my actual friends, and my Instagram is rare - and of my dogs.