We need to get back to being human beings and human doings
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I had a friend who was studying Buddhism and moved to south-west Asia for a time. He described this phenomena as “it’s hard to dry off if you don’t get out of the pool.”
Southern Europe just means Spain and Portugal to me. Maybe Greece and Sicily too.
So… two hour lunches. But I thought they still had a 40 hour workweek in most places. So do they work 8 to 6? Or is the 2nd hour of lunch technically work time?
Yes we have a 40 hour work week (germany). Standard working hours are 8.5 hours a day, which includes 8 hours of paid work and a mandatory 30 minute unpaid break (So it’s really a 42,5h week). I have never heard of a 2 hour lunch ever from anyone I know that works a regular job. On the contrary, many people simply work through their 30 minute break (Which is against the law but it can be difficult to enforce and you get singled out and bullied by management very quickly if you start acting up about it in many low income jobs)
Housing prices have been skyrocketing for decades and many people are struggling to pay for rent and groceries because wages have been stagnating when adjusted for cost of living at the same time. The welfare state has been and continues to be gutted in most parts of europe under the guise of saving money for war efforts or the covid crisis or climate change or whatever issue is available to justify it in the current moment.
Police are increasingly militarized and overly aggressive although they kill less people (Unjust killings are still happening all the time though).
Censorship is also ever increasing. For example targeting all shades of the “Pro-Palestinian” political movements, or incidents where people get their house raided etc. for posting unfavorable remarks about politicians on the internet. There are also incidents of courts making overly harsh judgements to create examples out of cases against leftist lawbreakers to send a signal to the populous.
It’s the same shit over here, just slightly milder. As a poor person in europe these posts read like either pure propaganda or uneducated statements made by comfortably wealthy european workers and small business owners or american tourists. I think it’s sad that being slightly better than the USA seems to be enough for so many people to proudly support all the deplorable shit that is happening in their own home countries.
It is a lot milder in key aspects. In Germany it is way less common that people go bankrupt over health issues. People can usually stay home when sick, paid, and those days aren’t deducted from holidays either or similar nonsense. Of course there are problems and things are moving rather in the wrong direction but things are not almost the same (“slightly better”). If you think the social system is almost as bad in Germany I doubt you have experienced how things are for the poor in the US. It is not just a little bit worse. And lets not even start about the privatised prison system and laws designed to fill those privatised prisons instead of reducing crime. Then there are laws deliberately designed to prevent poor people from voting etc.
Really depends on where you work. I’d say the vast majority does not have 2h lunches. That only happens in pretty relaxed jobs or for upper management, who probably bill it as work meeting anyway. Probably not all that different from America.
Edit: At least in Germany. Italy or Spain might might be more relaxed.
The original post said southern Europe, so Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. In these places many businesses close around lunchtime and reopen later in the afternoon. So typical opening hours may look like 8am-12:30pm, 3:30pm-7pm. That’s not all places (restaurants or large grocery stores don’t follow that format, obviously), but many shops do it.
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I travel for work a lot, and the vibe truely is different in Europe in general, it’s not just rich folks.
The better post that I saw was someone saying how ex-USA citizens jumped at loud sounds because we fear gunfire and Europeans took them in stride.
Lol, being afraid to die. Where in america do they live, Hawaii?
i am one generation too late to get dual citizenship in finland via bloodline, and i will never get over that. i hate it here
You are not too late, you can still get finnish citizenship the same way as every other immigrant: you have to live there for 8 years, and learn the beautiful agglutinative language!
Yay, new word for me!
i would loooove to learn the language but it is daunting. i know one phrase i learned from my granpa, i know how to ask what time it is. lol
If you’ve heard the language spoken to you as a child, you might be surprised by your ability to learn it.
Perkele
Torille
Then there are people like me whose ancestors came here before the Civil War. My last name comes from a German immigrant who came here during the German 1848 revolution.
If your parents acquire citizenship would you not be fewer generations removed?
sure but they are maga who think america is the best country ever, so they would never consider it and would fucking flip if i mentioned wanting to leave lol
Rip
I read moving to Finland is really difficult now. They simply don’t hire immigrants.
Just got back from southern France. Yeah this lifestyle here is bullshit.
But what about da freedums?
Can’t glorify the nazi’s in most European countries… So, yeah. 1984
What you earn and what you do….never understand asking that when you meet someone. Canadians seem to do it too.
The vast majority of us spend 40 hours per week on that thing, it’s a big part of our identity.
North America was the industrial powerhouse of the world until quite recently, and it also happened to be completely organized around the need for settlers to buy up and captialize on property. It is a culture centered on adversarial productivity; there’s a reason fascism has always boiled under the surface.
Can… can I move to southern Europe?
as a fellow american stuck here until i hit the lotto - best we can do is an occasional debt filled trip to the hospital.
Assuming you’re a privileged white person with an employer who is willing to fill out paperwork and vouch for you with the government before they’ve even hired you and aren’t trying to stay permanently
It’s not as bad as you think. I know many people who moved here (Germany) from outside the EU and are now on their way to citizenship or already have it.
You don’t have to be a “privileged white person” for that either.
The thousands of African immigrants crossing the see in boats, getting jobs and residency permits would like to disagree with you.
Spain has massively increased it’s population. Even though the birthrate is below replacement level. All of that is immigration.
You can move to basically anywhere. Most countries offer legal immigration paths. Some are of course harder than others, but it’s possible.
Especially if you are highly skilled. Such as a medical doctor.
Countries love already educated professionals, since they basically get all the benefit of a fully working adult without the downside of paying for its childcare or education.
And even if low educated, most first world countries want low educated foreigners that can do the “dirty” physical work that the locals don’t want to do, such as construction.
Quick reminder that if you have german ancestors that had to flee the nazis, you can claim their citizenship back. Once you got the german passport the whole EU allows you to be a resident.
My stupid ancestors moved here like 6 generations ago. 😞
You can still apply for immigration. If you’re lgbtq maybe even asylum at this point idk
Then they need to grieve the time spend grieving over a time, that they didn’t know they could be grieving about.
School closed early due to heat today. So I dropped a line in work slack, picked up my kid and went swimming in a great open air pool for 4.50. Europe is wonderful place to live.
And it’s not even southern.
London?
It’s really just laughing at us at this point.
There is very little chance of most of us escaping to Europe. Every program that I’ve looked at for moving over there has been entirely has been closed within a day or two due to the amount of applications being sent in.
Your mind is under control, your defeatism is maxed out
Check this out
If you’re a U.S. citizen, you can move to the Netherlands under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT). You need to start or register a business in the Netherlands (freelancing counts), maintain at least €4,500 in the business, and apply for a DAFT residence permit. The permit is initially granted for 2 years and can be renewed as long as you’re actively running the business. It’s one of the easiest ways for Americans to legally live in the Netherlands as a self-employed person.
Recovery takes 3-4 years.
If people would stop voting for conservatives we could all have better lives.
