Life in Europe is hard. Life in America is also hard. The difference is what you get for the hard. In America, the hard is: working constantly, affording nothing, fearing everything, sacrificing time with family, and knowing it's only getting worse. You endure that hard and get... more hard. In Europe, the hard is: adjusting to systems that don't prioritize convenience, navigating bureaucracy, waiting for things that used to be instant. You endure that hard and get: safety, affordability, time, sanity, and a life that doesn't require constant grinding to maintain. One type of hard is permanent with no payoff. The other type of hard is temporary adjustment for long-term peace. Living in Europe as an American isn't about escaping hard. It's about choosing hard that leads somewhere instead of hard that just... continues. Link in bio when you're ready to choose hard with a return on investment. 🆘🇺🇸 #CreatorSearchInsights #TikTokCreatorSearchInsightsIncentive
@nomadveronicaTranscript
Stop romanticizing everything about living in Europe, like it's going to solve all of your problems. As an American who's been living in Europe for the last year and a half, here are three things that you probably aren't thinking of that are actually pretty difficult about living in Europe. Number one, businesses have hours that you will not be accustomed to. Businesses open very late, so if you want to go to dinner, there's restaurants that you would want to eat at that don't open for dinner until 7 or 7.30 at night. Plus, I live in Portugal, so many businesses take a Ciesta, which means they close in the middle of the day for periods of time. So from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., our grocery store actually closes, and that includes things like pharmacies in addition to restaurants and other businesses. So that kind of middle of the day closure is something that Americans are not going to be used to. Because restaurants take in very seriously in Europe, you're not going to find a lot of businesses that are open on Sunday. And sometimes that's even true for Saturday as well. Also, the 24-hour cycle that you're used to businesses being open, especially pharmacies or places like Walmart in the United States, that just doesn't exist over in Europe. You're not going to find that middle of the night grocery store run or middle of the night pharmacy run, like you might be used to. Number 2 is that dealing with bureaucracy is an actual mess. I know in the United States we joke about how bad going to the DMV is, but multiply that times 100 in dealing with bureaucracy over in Europe. My family all went to their immigration appointments on the same day, but two members of my family got their residence cards after two weeks from that appointment, and the other two members of the family had to wait eight months inexplicably. Three members of my family already have their health insurance numbers, but a year and a half in one member of my family still does not have a health insurance number. I turned in my application to get my driver's license six months ago and have not heard a peep, and it's still just on pending status. So during all these times where you're just waiting for things, you're in legal gray areas, and that makes living life extremely difficult. Number 3 is that the costs are not always as cheap as you might expect. Now, I know a lot of people hammer in, the cost of living is so much cheaper throughout Europe. But the reason the cost of living is cheaper for you is because you're coming in with your American dollars. The cost of living is not cheap for the people who actually live in these countries, because their salaries are much lower. And while that would be a huge benefit to you, that doesn't always directly benefit you because you choose the things that are the most expensive. You choose the most expensive neighborhoods in the most expensive cities, and you go do the most expensive things. You go to the restaurants that cater to the foreigners, which charge tourist prices. You go do expensive activities because those are the things that go viral, and that is how your budget ends up being a lot higher than you think when you get attracted to Europe because it's supposedly some cheap, amazing cost of living place. That's only true if you go live much more like a local, and you don't do everything in the Americanized version of what they're doing over here. Despite these challenges, living in Europe as an American is much better than living in the United States as an American. You are safer, you have more freedom, and you can be calmer over here in Europe. And even though things can be hard at times, it's always worth it to get the trade-offs that you get by living in Europe. If you don't know me, I'm Veronica. And five years ago, I left the United States for good. I've lived on three different continents now with my family of four, and now I teach other Americans how they can do the same. If you're ready to leave the United States and find your new European home, the links to work with me are in my bio.
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