Emigration: details, info and chat

[Slim Buddha]

Marlene Dietrich - Das ist Berlin - YouTube

'so wie gestern..' Es ist dein publikum

Only spent a few weeks there cos of a bad experience slaving away cleaning books. Was never a good slave. I didn't organize it very well and was very low on funds thanks to my student grant being 6 months late(dont ask me how I paid for France) so I just flew home with last of my money after getting an offer of slightly less slaving work in Dublin. Living with a boss and Not having enough time to wait a month for the first wages did me off. Now I wish to christ I could have stayed all summer. The impression that city made on me in a few short weeks was great. Really thinking of heading back though must plan it better. Maybe a masters or something. Have a friend over there who i'll be visiting next spring anyways so I'm sure I'll know my plan early in the new year.

Ive since visited West Austria and Munich/Bayern but they both fade next to Berlin. I always tease the Germans how much better Switzerland is for holidays, but Berlin freue mich more. I like how different the place is more than anything. It'd be really cheap to study in anyways. You could live there on 5-6 grand a year. One thing i noted though was how many Irish work over there without a word of German. Though they'd be easy to avoid in a big city.

And avoid them you should. Always ask yourself "Would I be talking to this individual if I was in Ireland?" and if the answer is No, then do what should come naturally.

[Apjp]

And avoid them you should. Always ask yourself "Would I be talking to this individual if I was in Ireland?" and if the answer is No, then do what should come naturally.

You know its funny. Ive talked to a few people in different situations since Ive come home in late May. The first was a man at the airport who waited for the bus for near an hour with me. 'Ive only come back for a confirmation' says he 'been in Spain 5 years and Im sorry Ive bothered coming back even to visit' before he'd even left the airport.

In my own experience visiting home last Christmas was very unpleasant in the main and I felt very unwelcome. Others in the office where I work(a small minority of 3-4 people) said they already have plans to leave in October as they hate the place so much. I talked to another girl who felt embarassed to be showing her algerian boyfriend around dublin on her first trip back after 6 years in France because of the state of the place.

I wouldnt particularly avoid every Irish person I met(though whether I stayed in touch would depend on exactly as you say-would I have bothered with this person back home) but I definitely wouldn't seek them out. Best thing to do is just to try and mix with the locals or other foreigners who offer something different as much as you can. Personally, aside from the 15-20% of people who live in Ireland who are trapped here and would otherwise be gone in the morning if they could or who else keep the head down to avoid the sharks around them, I think most Irish people are content in their miserable mediocre lives. The place is stifling.

[Apjp]

Bump. Got offered a contract teaching English in Prague at the end of next May after graduation. Decided to take it as a stepping stone to some sort of enjoyable life outside of this place. The sister, who left for a music teaching job in Tennessee during the summer straight after she graduated and who is now working 2 part time jobs in Pennsylvania for a move down south early next year, is coming back from America for her graduation next week.

I decided I'd like to travel, especially around smaller Euorpean states, for a few years. Was going to apply for a few scholarships but just need a break from exams for a while. Cannot wait to get out of here. It was either Prague or Warsaw, but I have 3 friends in Prague and a few more spread around the Czech republic, so it seemed doable. Gave English classes voluntarily and as a back alley money earner during my year abroad in France, so seems like something I can handle. Just need to find a beginner's Czech cd now.

Out of my class, the only few people staying are looking at doing a masters and then leaving after that. As a lot of my Irish friends and family are over in Australia, I suppose I could have chosen to head there with some classmates but I thought it would be a good idea to start somewhere where practically nobody knows you(aside from 1 or 2 Czech friends who will make settling in a bit easier). I think as Ireland is likely to continue to combust under the stupidity of our gombeen leaders and the diktats of the troika, for at least the foreseeable future, the best place to be is in Europe where I have friends all over the continent. Maybe if more of us had a second language, or were willing to throw ourselves in an unknown culture at the deep end, we might not all have to head off to Australia on a one way ticket.

Also I hate spiders so that option was out for me from the start

[Slim Buddha]

Bump. Got offered a contract teaching English in Prague at the end of next May after graduation. Decided to take it as a stepping stone to some sort of enjoyable life outside of this place. The sister, who left for a music teaching job in Tennessee during the summer straight after she graduated and who is now working 2 part time jobs in Pennsylvania for a move down south early next year, is coming back from America for her graduation next week.

I decided I'd like to travel, especially around smaller Euorpean states, for a few years. Was going to apply for a few scholarships but just need a break from exams for a while. Cannot wait to get out of here. It was either Prague or Warsaw, but I have 3 friends in Prague and a few more spread around the Czech republic, so it seemed doable. Gave English classes voluntarily and as a back alley money earner during my year abroad in France, so seems like something I can handle. Just need to find a beginner's Czech cd now.

Out of my class, the only few people staying are looking at doing a masters and then leaving after that. As a lot of my Irish friends and family are over in Australia, I suppose I could have chosen to head there with some classmates but I thought it would be a good idea to start somewhere where practically nobody knows you(aside from 1 or 2 Czech friends who will make settling in a bit easier). I think as Ireland is likely to continue to combust under the stupidity of our gombeen leaders and the diktats of the troika, for at least the foreseeable future, the best place to be is in Europe where I have friends all over the continent. Maybe if more of us had a second language, or were willing to throw ourselves in an unknown culture at the deep end, we might not all have to head off to Australia on a one way ticket.

Also I hate spiders so that option was out for me from the start

I applaud your choice, Apjp, and wish you the very best of luck. The Czech Republic is a good place to be and I like going to it myself. And you can reach so many other places too - Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia to start with.

[Apjp]

I applaud your choice, Apjp, and wish you the very best of luck. The Czech Republic is a good place to be and I like going to it myself. And you can reach so many other places too - Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia to start with.

Thanks. That was a big influence in my decision. I decided it was the right time to be in the middle of things as well for more than one reason, rather than laying isolated from everything back here. I have friends in each one of those countries, and with one eye on the future it is a good gate to visit the rest of Europe from both jobwise and otherwise, leaving out my political views for a moment. Of course I got the usual comments from people here, friends family and others, about how money there must be terrible and how you'd want to watch thosse eastern europeans et cetera . The usual guff that a lifetime in Ireland seems to restrict people to. I'm not interested in a big wage anyways as not interested in buying land back home, though the money will be good by local standards. Staying in Ireland all your life risks making people narrow minded and begrudging.

[Slim Buddha]

Thanks. That was a big influence in my decision. I decided it was the right time to be in the middle of things as well for more than one reason, rather than laying isolated from everything back here. I have friends in each one of those countries, and with one eye on the future it is a good gate to visit the rest of Europe from both jobwise and otherwise, leaving out my political views for a moment. Of course I got the usual comments from people here, friends family and others, about how money there must be terrible and how you'd want to watch thosse eastern europeans et cetera . The usual guff that a lifetime in Ireland seems to restrict people to. I'm not interested in a big wage anyways as not interested in buying land back home, though the money will be good by local standards. Staying in Ireland all your life risks making people narrow minded and begrudging.

Ignore these cretins. Their knowledge of life can be wirtten in crayon on the back of a stamp. Enjoy the experience, immerse yourself in the culture, try and pick up as much of the language as you can, get to know people in Prague and elsewhere, avoid Irish pubs unless it is absolutely necessary to go into one and marry a Czech girl. Well, maybe not but whatever you do, have no regrets.

[Apjp]

Ignore these cretins. Their knowledge of life can be wirtten in crayon on the back of a stamp. Enjoy the experience, immerse yourself in the culture, try and pick up as much of the language as you can, get to know people in Prague and elsewhere, avoid Irish pubs unless it is absolutely necessary to go into one and marry a Czech girl. Well, maybe not but whatever you do, have no regrets.

Good advice, (most of which aside from the marriage part just yet), I'll take on board with me. I'd like to think things will be so bad 5-10 years down the line that people leaving now could return home and effect change, but the Irish population seems incapable of collective resistance and immune to 'troublemaking'. Just have to focus on the next 6 months then its all ahead of me.

[Slim Buddha]

Good advice, (most of which aside from the marriage part just yet), I'll take on board with me. I'd like to think things will be so bad 5-10 years down the line that people leaving now could return home and effect change, but the Irish population seems incapable of collective resistance and immune to 'troublemaking'. Just have to focus on the next 6 months then its all ahead of me.

I once thought about "change" too, Apjp, but there is a large section of the population, a depressingly large section, who do not really want change. Some of them can be found here but in the neighbouring parish, it is full of nutcases believing that the present system will deliver them form the crap they are enduring (and for which many of the voted) I may not use SIdey's florid language to describe the state of the place but I understand exactly where he is coming from.

Don't even think about going back because those who are there have made choices of their own. Paddle your own canoe and do what is right for you. You owe them nothing.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Good advice, (most of which aside from the marriage part just yet), I'll take on board with me. I'd like to think things will be so bad 5-10 years down the line that people leaving now could return home and effect change, but the Irish population seems incapable of collective resistance and immune to 'troublemaking'. Just have to focus on the next 6 months then its all ahead of me.

Prediction ... in ten years time anyone settling back in Ireland will face the noble savage at home with its sneers of 'we saw it through and ye ran away'.

In good times you'd be looked down on as a member of the diaspora, through bad times those who stay at home will have reconstructed themselves as heroes. It is part of the protective mechanism for a rejection of any kind of change and has to do with a form of peasant conservatism.

Whatever happens the peasant will be the hero in his own backyard. Be prepared for that.

Mind, if you go back worth millions they'd be so far up your ass you could polish their bald patches with your toothbrush in the morning. Solution- go out and have a decent life and don't go back.

[Apjp]

For me SB whoever commented earlier on Ireland being an intellectual prison was dead on the nail. I can't say that I know anyone who will stay that is serious about change. One of my economics teachers presents it as a choice, and a prick of an accounting teacher says it is all too easy to **** off. The only people who figure it is worth staying are those with a stake in the status quo, or else their serfs who are either hoping to kiss arse to get them up the top of the gravy train one day, or who are too afraid to leave.

[Apjp]

Prediction ... in ten years time anyone settling back in Ireland will face the noble savage at home with its sneers of 'we saw it through and ye ran away'.

In good times you'd be looked down on as a member of the diaspora, through bad times those who stay at home will have reconstructed themselves as heroes. It is part of the protective mechanism for a rejection of any kind of change and has to do with a form of peasant conservatism.

Whatever happens the peasant will be the hero in his own backyard. Be prepared for that.

Mind, if you go back worth millions they'd be so far up your ass you could polish their bald patches with your toothbrush in the morning. Solution- go out and have a decent life and don't go back.

I'd agree with you yet again, as I often do. The only thing I would feel sorry for is the guilt at my Da and others like him in my family facing indentured servitude, too busy trying to survive to demand anything better. In 5-10 years time we will all be left the place and he will still be slaving away. That's the other side of the coin. Will just have to send a good bit of money home. Personally I think him and his soon to be French wife should go back to France. He is getting better at the auld lingo so maybe that is on their minds long term as well. This is certainly no place to retire.

Having said that, I know exactly the type of charlatanism you're referring to. Well worth a lifetime of exile you'd imagine just to avoid. I've a good few unemployed relatives who came back from other places, an uncle who spent 5 years in Japan with a baby on the way, another Uncle who spent a lifetime in London where all of his family are now, all of whom wish they'd never been hoodwinked into coming back, but stuck here nonetheless.

[toxic avenger]

Thanks. That was a big influence in my decision. I decided it was the right time to be in the middle of things as well for more than one reason, rather than laying isolated from everything back here. I have friends in each one of those countries, and with one eye on the future it is a good gate to visit the rest of Europe from both jobwise and otherwise, leaving out my political views for a moment. Of course I got the usual comments from people here, friends family and others, about how money there must be terrible and how you'd want to watch thosse eastern europeans et cetera . The usual guff that a lifetime in Ireland seems to restrict people to. I'm not interested in a big wage anyways as not interested in buying land back home, though the money will be good by local standards. Staying in Ireland all your life risks making people narrow minded and begrudging.

Prague is a fantastic place, the qualiy of life is high, it's very safe, there are loads of Irish there, and I love going there - the people are friendly (though they can be a bit dour too)... Do not heed the people coming out with this kind of crap - limited horizons...

[toxic avenger]

For me SB whoever commented earlier on Ireland being an intellectual prison was dead on the nail. I can't say that I know anyone who will stay that is serious about change. One of my economics teachers presents it as a choice, and a prick of an accounting teacher says it is all too easy to **** off. The only people who figure it is worth staying are those with a stake in the status quo, or else their serfs who are either hoping to kiss arse to get them up the top of the gravy train one day, or who are too afraid to leave.

Again, such people are narrow-minded twats with no ambition and a comfortable sinecure. Just ask them one question - if they're such stars at accounting and economics that they're fit to teach those subjects, why aren't they themselves out there opening businesses or making fortunes?....

What emigrants find is that they're treated like traitors when they return home. It's as if they're fit only to be fleeced or treated with contempt. No-one wants to know about emigrants, despite all the fancy talk about 'cherishing the diaspora' - the dominant attitude is ***** off and stay f*cked off....

UNLESS YOU'RE FAMOUS OR WEALTHY, of course - then, no matter how tenuous the link, you're claimed and fawned over and asked all about how Irish you consider ypurself on the Late Late Show. Utterly pathetic. JFK was a 'son of Ireland', despite having been generations removed and considering his primary allegiance to another nation, but the ordinary non-famous son or daughter of emigrants could spend every year in Ireland or even live there and still be just a 'blow-in' or 'plastic'.

Go take the job and don't look back...

[Slim Buddha]

Well, Apjp, you have heard from me, the Captain and TA and the message is more or less the same. Sidey may come with his own insight couched in his own unique fashion but I think the sentiment wil be similar.

You do it your way and the best of luck to you. Staying in Ireland, given your natural curiosity in foreign countries and languages and cultures is a recipe for madness.

[Apjp]

Prague is a fantastic place, the qualiy of life is high, it's very safe, there are loads of Irish there, and I love going there - the people are friendly (though they can be a bit dour too)... Do not heed the people coming out with this kind of crap - limited horizons...

Loads of Irish? Might ask to be changed to Brno so!