returning home

7aken

hey guys,

im not even considering heading back to ireland for at least another year but am curious as to how people who've lived abroad settle back in. i only got thinking about this cos i was wondering about tax and revenue. how do those leeches view you if you've been out of the country and not given them any money for a few years?

i suppose the less time your away, the easier it would be to get back to the swing of things. anybody got any experiences?

Jean05

I'm back 3 days after a year abroad and there's one word that really sums up Ireland for me - cold. It's flippin' freezing here!
It's great to be home though, I'd forgotten how beautiful Ireland is.

mossym

3 months back after 6 years in california...not finding it easy at all...

Ruu_Old

Im due a trip home soon, I think I need it badly. Im over a year in the US and no sign of the homesick going away.

The Sweeper

I'm in the UK four years this summer. Can't imagine going back to Ireland - even visits make me uncomfortable after a while. The first few days are fine, then after a few more of navigating the public transport system, goggling at the price of groceries and getting rogered by taxi fares I end up champing to flee the country!

My aim is to leave the UK inside five years and move to Australia - but I'm not committing to that as a final destination either. Four or five years and I may want to move on again...

eiretamicha

Ruu wrote:

Im due a trip home soon, I think I need it badly. Im over a year in the US and no sign of the homesick going away.

What part of the states are you in, Ruu?

The husband and I are going back for a visit in December, he'll have been away for over a year by then. He doesn't talk about it much, but I think he's pretty homesick. Hell, I'm homesick and I only lived there 7 months. We're gonna be looking at houses when we go back in December, though, so I'm just sitting here counting the days til then.

Did you make a permanent move to the states, or will you be returning home in the future?

Ruu_Old

Im in Illinois. Its permanent but somedays I am tested, lets put it that way.:) I doubt I'll ever move back to Ireland but I will go for a visit sometime soon, who knows though.

Afuera

Ruu wrote:

Im due a trip home soon, I think I need it badly. Im over a year in the US and no sign of the homesick going away.

What do you miss the most?

For me it's the friends and family. I get around this by going back at least a couple of times a year to catch up and by having them call out to me whenever they want to (usually falls into the summer months).

I guess it helps that I'm only a couple of hours flight away from home. But, maybe in your case inviting some friends or family out to see you would help with the homesickness??? It's funny the way they can start to make you feel lucky for being able to live where you are when they start ooh-ing and ahh-ing at your everyday.

mossym

Ruu wrote:

Im in Illinois. Its permanent but somedays I am tested, lets put it that way.:) I doubt I'll ever move back to Ireland but I will go for a visit sometime soon, who knows though.

yeah i said the same, things can change though, i thought i had left for good, but i'm back now..

Ruu_Old

I miss going to my favourite club every Saturday, people knowing who I am and the same old people being there (come from a small town even though I complain about them all the time). I miss RTE for some strange reason. Im worried about folks because they are getting old, though 3 of my brothers are at home, I still worry. I realise I have to get on with my own thing. Yeah my folks were going to come over for a visit but it fell through at the last minute, will have to sort out something shortly though. The thought of having to fly again, ugh 7-8 hours on the plane, maybe I'll try and get into first class or something and not in the sardine can.

Afuera

Yeah, I know what you mean about RTE. I go to rte.ie now and again to watch their RealPlayer offerings to get my fix

Maybe if you were living in a similarly sized town to what you're used to you'd get a similar social network to what it's like back home? I'm living in a smallish city where people chat to you on the street, the shopkeepers know you and it's not a hell of a lot different to the social structure I grew up in (albeit in a different language and obviously some different social norms thrown in).

Morlar

I came back last year and the biggest thing to look out for is that house prices have risen 15% each year for the last 10 years (30% in 1998). You will have to see some of the adverts to believe them.

Generally drinking in pubs is comparatively heaps more expensive too (e4.70 for a hotel-mini bar sized can or 'Shark' - not even real redbull! thats before you get around to adding alcohol).

I think in Ireland the service industry still has a long way to go but seems to be getting better. There are gagillions more immigrants here thesedays -mostly polish people who work their asses off but can be a bit gruff at times. Oh and recently train drivers almost went on strike because they were given new trains which had more carriages and they wanted more pay as a result of driving trains with more carriages. Taxi drivers had a stoppage last weekend too despite being more expensive than any anywhere else I have ever taken a taxi. On the upside though its still pretty friendly and a beautiful place to live.

empirix

Back 6 months...heading back to OZ for good in January/February, country has gone mad and worse still us Irish are just accepting it as usual(sure what can ya do attitude), sad, i love Ireland and am very proud to be Irish but i just can't live here anymore

Morlar

Just out of curiosity what would you say were the worse parts or returning ? What bothered you the most?

Ruu_Old

The town I used to live in was about 1,000 in population but the town I live in the US is 150,000 (about 50,000 students)

7aken

Ruu wrote:

the town I live in the US is 150,000 (about 50,000 students)

!!! the country im living in doesnt even have that many people !!! i live here

motormatic

7aken wrote:

!!! the country im living in doesnt even have that many people !!! i live here

damn! the town i lived in in ireland had a population of 500, the city i live in now has a population of 4, 000, 000. i want some space!!!

deisemum

I moved back from London in 1997 after 12+ years away. It took me about 18 months to settle. I suppose it didn't help that I got pregnant with my second child within a month of returning and was ill for most of pregnancy that I couldn't even get a job and meet people.

Once I met one person I was introduced to lots of other people and now have a good circle of friends and lovely neighbours. I've been back to London most years since I returned and even though I liked it when I lived there I couldn't bear the thoughts of ever living there again. Our quality of life is much better over here.

I think once you have children it influences your choice on whether to return or not.

Pepe LeFrits

Still living away but back in Ireland for a couple of days now on a break and I can't say I like it too much. Nice to see the family and friends and all, but the rip-off culture makes me angry and I constantly find myself noticing things that are completely arseways. I want myself to like it but it's a struggle.

€4.60 for a box of ****ing cereal! Went to make a call from a payphone yesterday as I'm short on credit on my phone (which is a UK mobile), and it wouldn't let me make a call with 50c. No, no, you must put in €1. 30 second phone call, and it takes it all. Would've been ****ing cheaper to make the call on my UK mobile.

The LUAS, you give the machine a €20 note, and we'll give you €18 in shrapnel back...

Still, it's better than the ****ing train service, and it's cheaper than the taxis. The whole place reflects that it's run by Bertie (Hood) and his corrupt (merry) henchmen really.

Samhildanach

I'm heading back to Ireland to live after almost 4 years living in Shanghai. I really hate going back as the standard of living here is great, everything is really cheap and affordable. I have to go back to Ireland for family reasons and I have to say I'm dreading it. I've gotten used to living cheaply here, eating out every second day, not having to think about affording stuff - but I'll have to constantly worry about that in Ireland.

Ruu_Old

I'm going home for a few days in November which should be fun catching up with all the gossip.

galwaydude

We are heading home at xmas for a week. Still have to book the tickets.Will wait until i am legally allowed to work here next month. Before anything decised to come to this country legally think again as US immigration are so slow to do anything.