Or Australia? I know they have a pretty good green/permaculture movement down there, which is something I'm a big fan of...
-Lots of crazy, pro-American goons from what I've seen (foreign policy wise)
-Hot
-Angry racist types (though they exist in France and Spain as well)
-Very dirty politics
-Morally active video game censors (though Germany has that too I suppose)
-Deadly snakes, deadly fish, etc
on the plus side
-Cool accents
-Cool hats
-Pleasant enough people
There seem to be plenty of misconceptions about Australia around here; Our foreign policy goons aren't just trying to get in bed with the US, but China as well.
We're reasonably hot, but the southeast (i.e. the civilised bit) only rarely gets to 40 degrees C, and you get used to it. No snow anywhere but the mountains is a downside, I suppose, but eh.
The angry racist types are news to me; I mean, sure we have racists, like you have racists anywhere, but it's not nearly to the same degree as the US. I'd certainly not say you could characterise Australia by our particularly vehement racists.
The politics are a very different kettle of fish from the US; there are basically no differences between the two major parties; the Liberals (currently out of power) are the more conservative, but only slightly. There's a ridiculous ongoing debate about 'boat people', illegal immigrants who arrive on boats for no real reason; they represent a tiny, tiny fraction of illegal immigrants to Australia.
The video game censorship is going away come January; the one South Australian git who was blocking the R18+ rating left power or died or something, so legislation is going through to make that a thing.
The rumours of your inevitable death in Australia have been greatly exaggerated. Having lived here my entire eighteen years (five of those on a farm) I have seen a snake (outside of captivity) exactly once, and it didn't bite anybody, just slithered off into a bush. Spiders I've seen more of, but I've never been bitten; it's really just a matter of caution when you're moving stuff that's been providing shade outside for a long time.
The biggest downside I know of is definitely the cost of living; a small part of this is the cost of video games, but they're really a luxury. On the upside, pay is pretty good; I get more than $15 an hour for pushing trolleys around a supermarket, and once I'm 21, that'll be more than $20 an hour.
If you want to live in Australia without actually living in Australia, though, I've heard many times that Canada and Australia are the same country with different weather.
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Topic: Moving from America (Read 14543 times)