Hi there, I’m American living in French Switzerland.
Because of my nationality and my family here, we’re trying to fit-in to our local area and being a family there is a lot of adjustment for what we have to do and it’s a process. I’ve noticed that Swiss-Germany, the Nordics, Germany and the Netherlands people are a lot more serious when you meet them and just kind of live a normal, steady and stable life without a lot of flexibility. And they hope that us foreigners that will kind of ‘fit-in’ to this lifestyle…which I think is more or less fair as I’m a guest in their country and trying to fit-in. But…at the end of the day…are they happier in this normal, steady and stable life? No criticism, genuine question.
I mean I get it, with a crazy, chaotic life we left in America, which has its fair share of problems…which is not the point I’m trying to make…we all know them. But there is more flexibility, more openness and acceptance of other social norms but it leads to these problems if unchecked…in my opinion…what do you think?
Thoughts? Experiences? What do you think?
I mean, I first moved to the US as a high school exchange student because I found my teenage existence in small-town Norway to be, frankly, a bit boring. It’s not that there weren’t things to do, it’s just that a lot of it was organized and at fixed (sports, music lessons and such) or things that didn’t interest me (partying, getting drunk, doing drugs.) If you wanted to do things that weren’t “normal”, you’d probably be doing them alone. I was a computer geek, but we had no computer clubs or similar. Perhaps I could’ve tried to start one. But being a geek wasn’t “cool” back then; in fact, it was something I got bullied for.
One thing I like about the US is that American culture encourages individualism. It encourages you to do your own thing. There’s not the same pressure to fit into an existing mold.
In fact, I’d say that’s a large reason why I live in the US today, not in Norway.
I hope you make the most of it!