Has anyone of you emigrated?

[Kyriakos]

Apart from Luiz, who said he now lives in Chile (originally lived in Brazil) has anyone else emigrated?

I ask because what seemed like an utter impossibility in the past, namely my return to England, now is not deemed as so out of the question.

Frankly i don't know what to think currently. This Prime Minister has single-handedly caused a massive destabilization of the country in a few hours.I doubt there is much room for anything else apart from an immediate election now. But even with the election who knows what will happen?

And although surely, economically and perhaps also socially, the England i lived in for three years is long gone by now, surely the mere fact that it has its own currency allow it to stay a bit away from the ongoing crisis in Europe, and Greece.

If it comes to emigration i am not in an utterly hopeless position. I have a university degree, from a decent english university, and can find some sort of white-collar work. Of course it would mean that i would never return to Thessaloniki, or not return in any foreseeable future. This is not that bad either, at least from one perspective since i have minimal ties here and they could even be severed.

But it is a crisis, a personal, atomic crisis as well as a national one. Emigrating is no easy move. It is the decision of a lifetime...

 

[amadeus]

Ask me again in six months.

 

[Bugfatty300]

USA to Mexico. I go back for a few months every year though.

 

[Cheetah]

Like amadeus, I'm strongly considering moving to Japan next year. No idea how long I'll stay there, but let's see what happens.

The main difference between me and you, Kyriakos, seems to be that you see emigration in this day and age as some sort of absolute, definite decision. This isn't the 19th century, where you would sell your little piece of dirt and join 12 others in an 8-man cabin on a once-in-a-lifetime journey over the ocean to make a new life for yourself. Hell, even refugees these days fly back to their homelands for vacations!

You're actually talking of moving a couple hours away by plane, and getting a job and a place to live in another country.

If you don't like it at your new location, or something changes (there or in Greece or somewhere else), you can move again! If you could emigrate once, you can (re-)emigrate again!

I just don't get why you consider it as such an extreme choice? Especially since you already have three years experience of living in England. You know what you're getting yourself into.

Personally, my biggest problem is that my family would be okay with me living somewhere in Europe, but they think Japan is just too far away. So I get some indirect, but very real, pressure to not go...

 

[Silurian]

Do not make any quick decisions.

Thessalonike is not that far from the border with that country just to the north or Bulgaria. So you can leave quickly if needed.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well i am pretty sure that actually living in England, again, won't be a problem. Of course in every society where you are a foreigner there are some issues, but England is not the worst zenophobic place by far.

However i was just beginning to break through as a writer, and now don't know what will happen. Also actually moving to England will take time, i cannot just move there and hope for a job, i have to plan and apply and go to interviews.

Anyway, i still hope that it can be avoided. Maybe it is just the tragic climax before the final katharsis. Who knows.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

But the Daily Mail is one of the best selling papers in the UK.

 

[Silurian]

But the Daily Mail is one of the best selling papers in the UK.

Now that everyone buys toilet paper you would have thought that the sales would have gone down.

 

[Cheetah]

Well i am pretty sure that actually living in England, again, won't be a problem. Of course in every society where you are a foreigner there are some issues, but England is not the worst zenophobic place by far.

However i was just beginning to break through as a writer, and now don't know what will happen. Also actually moving to England will take time, i cannot just move there and hope for a job, i have to plan and apply and go to interviews.

Anyway, i still hope that it can be avoided. Maybe it is just the tragic climax before the final katharsis. Who knows.

Why do you need to be physically present in Greece to write in Greek magazines (and (trying to) publish other stuff)?

 

[Kyriakos]

Why do you need to be physically present in Greece to write in Greek magazines (and (trying to) publish other stuff)?

I don't, but this all assumes that they will exist. If there is a power vacuum it may tend to devour everything on its way.

 

[Perfection]

No, I only immigrated.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I don't, but this all assumes that they will exist. If there is a power vacuum it may tend to devour everything on its way.

Buy shares in Dyson, then?

 

[Cheetah]

Buy shares in Dyson, then?

When I fall asleep tonight, I will be smiling.

@Kyriakos: It won't be that bad.

 

[innonimatu]

Apart from Luiz, who said he now lives in Chile (originally lived in Brazil) has anyone else emigrated?

Nope, and I don't think I'd easily leave my country for economic reasons. It'd feel like giving up on it. I don't like giving up on anything, and I'm also more than a bit nationalistic.

The bunch of useless idiots in government here are, believe it or not, actually going on record in TV encouraging your people to emigrate ans a solution to the economic problems worsened by... their bad government!

Frankly i don't know what to think currently. This Prime Minister has single-handedly caused a massive destabilization of the country in a few hours.I doubt there is much room for anything else apart from an immediate election now. But even with the election who knows what will happen?
...
But it is a crisis, a personal, atomic crisis as well as a national one. Emigrating is no easy move. It is the decision of a lifetime...

Shouldn't living through that also be exactly the kind of thing which would supply a treasure of material for a writer?

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

I lived in the UK for 2 years.

 

[MantaRevan]

I fled to Sweden after deciding that the U.S. was too religious.

 

[Arwon]

Not permamently. Temporary transcontinental moves aren't really the same thing as one-way emigration.

 

[luiz]

You have to keep in mind what Cheetah said. Nowadays emmigration is not like in the 19th century at all. You can visit your home country almost as much as you like, it's not particularly expensive or complicated. With Skype and etc you can talk to your relatives and friends essentially for free, and you can share pictures and etc.

And if things don't turn out as you expected, just pack and get on the next plane back home. Or better yet, try some other place! The world is huge and awesome, there is no need to be limited by accident of birth to a single place, especially if that place is severely limiting your opportunities, as surely is the case in Greece. If I was Greek I would leave as soon as possible, the horizon for your country is very dark indeed.

 

[stormerne]

Yes. I emigrated from the UK and immigrated to the US in 2009. Came in on a fiance visa that took best part of a year to get. Got married the day after arrival.

This time next year I'll be kicking off the US citizenship application process. I'm not going back...

 

[bhsup]

Yes. My family escaped and crossed the border in 1976.