Why I Shouldn’t Move to Europe, According to My Friends
Or, how they try to persuade me to stay and how effective their tactics are.
Don’t get me wrong, I like our life in the US. We have great friends, we’ve enjoyed a lot of cool places nearby and in neighboring states, and we remarkably got on the housing ladder in our 20s before the pandemic drove costs through the roof. But I think that puts us in a better position to evaluate where we’d actually like to live. We’re not desperate and miserable, we’re making it work here.
However, there are a few compelling reasons why my husband and I have been entertaining the idea of moving to Europe one the near future. We’ve narrowed it down to a few specific places, and we’re slowly making plans for a move within the next couple of years. We’ve lived abroad before (we actually met and got married abroad), so we aren’t starry-eyed romantics. We know the realities of living abroad and most of the downsides.
Most of our friends are very supportive and excited to have the possibility of couch surfing with us in the future wherever we end up. But there are a few very specific downsides that some people like to bring up in the hopes of keeping us in the neighborhood a little longer.
