Topic: Cities to live in? (USA)
Hello guys!
This is crazy how cold it is in the US!?
I'm Belgian American, waiting my visa to live in the USA, I have a list of cities in mind, all of them are located in the South, according to sites the average temperatures are warmer than Belgium but actually it's colder than here, though it's really warm for the season 55° F in my city, but sometimes it snows in April ahahah!
But the weather can change drastically, it can be 55° F today, and tomorrow 32° F lol
So what do you think about these cities to live in? Normally I'll receive my visa in 2020-2021.
Here's my top 3
1 Virginia Beach, VA (Reading the local news, etc, since 3-4 years to know the city)
2 Charleston, SC
3 Myrtle Beach, NC
I speak English, French, Spanish fluently and a little bit Dutch but I won't need it anymore. I worked in an administration (searching for a new job right now). There's few job offers in Belgium and there's a big competition because there's a high unemployment rate here.
I learned Spanish to have better chance getting a job, as you can see, I'm more looking into southern coastal cities. I've seen nice houses around 250k. And according to sites like job indeed, there's a lot of jobs that would suit me.
Sometimes I'm worry, but I guess it's normal, it's gonna be a change! I want it because I get enough of e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g here :
1 No jobs
2 No security/Justice is lax and really slow
3 I don't feel Belgian... I always felt American, even if I never been outside Europe... Each time I talked with Americans it was different... Better!
4 Culture : I'm really American, well maybe has-been lol because I love the 70's
When people ask me what's your favorite band/actor/etc. they never know who/what I'm talking about and that's insane because they're really famous (Will Ferrell, nobody knows him even if i'm pretty sure they already saw one of his movies).
Musically it seems there's still a lot of country/folk/rock bands in the USA, from 7 to 77. Here rock is almost dead, except maybe in Brussels and in the Flanders. But generally you'll hear Stromae, or DJ music... (things like Tomorrowland)
5 People from here use to tell me "yeah they have guns, it's violent, blablabla" but there's no real figures about crime in belgium compare to the USA. In Belgium they don't always classify the crimes in the same category so it's difficult to compare them years after years... In the US, the FBI is clear and there's also a lot of other sites like neighborhoodscout.
6 I really get enough of people saying things about the US without knowing a single thing about the US except California, New York, Washington, Las Vegas and Texas...
7 I know the US National Anthem while I don't know the Belgian one, but there's no patriotic feeling here and almost no idendity, everything is goin' on all directions.
8 I read (on a blog) that Americans are bad at driving, but here it's the jungle... I'm in the french speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia), roads are a disaster here (while it's pretty good in the dutch part, the Flanders).
There's a lot of potholes, even on highways and most drivers aren't polite...
9 The density... It's huge in Belgium. There's only 11 millions resident but for a tiny 11,787 sq mi. 370 people by sq mi.
10 The politics... There's always someone I like in the US, while here... We're not reaching the same goals.
11 When I was a kid Belgium wasn't bad... In the early 90's, but everything is different now.
Well well well, that's it. I'm not saying everything is better in the US, healthcare insurance are way higher than Belgium for example, but It's not enough for me to stay here.
I hope I didn't miss a particular law, or something that could disadvantage me, so far, USA seems better. (Tax, jobs, laws, justice, ...).
If you know something you think better in Europe tell me ^^
I hope I'm not just fooled by my American roots.