Any American Expatriates

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I hate American culture. I want to move to another country and renounce my citizenship. However I don't know how life is in other countries. Has anyone emigrated from the U.S.? If so, what has been your experience?

Believe me america is better than madness out here.

I haven't emigrated, but I know Americans who have moved here. They are much happier working and raising children here than in the US, but they sometimes are very confused by learning a new culture. People here in Scandinavia won't tell you stuff, you're supposed to figure it out by observing body language, being modest and torturing your friends to explain stuff to you

I'm an expat living in the UK now. I don't think the US is rosey either. I have lived here four years now and during this time I have gained a great appreciation for the people and US culture I previous thought irritating. Many people have different experiences when they move to another country. If you are curious find the country you are interested in and start reading their expat forums. I can tell you however that Americans are not well liked in a lot of parts and that can severely impact your new life. If you are curious about my experiences in depth you are welcome to PM me.

Thanks. I'm thinking of Canada or New Zealand. I'll research them.

I'm interested in other peoples experiences as well. I'd love to live in another country, at least for a year or 2. I'm not a huge fan of American culture and I would think it would be a adventure to live amongst others. I've always dreamed about traveling extensively.

I've looked around at other countries and right now Sweden is my favorite for a multitude of reasons. Introverted and outdoorsy culture, everyone speaks English, Swedish is supposedly easy to learn for English speakers, beautiful cities, other European countries are within driving distance, very high standard of living, and from what I hear, best pizza in Europe.

Yes, I myself moved out of America approximately 9 months ago, for the very same reasons. Many things about the American culture I found detestable, and I especially hated being grouped within my demographic, the mindless orangutans that seem to constitute my age group. I hated the expectations that follow Americans, the party culture, etc. However, I found MUCH happiness as soon as I moved out of the country. I currently live in Bangkok, Thailand, and although it's not always rosey, and it's not always a dream come true, it certainly has given me extraordinary freedoms in expressing/coming to terms with my true self. I certainly think you can find this in another country as well. The most amazing thing that tends to happen is, yes, you do start to appreciate a lot of distinctly American concepts more the further you are removed from it. But largely speaking, this is because YOU get to define you as an American, and not by the impositions of the culture while you are there.

What I mean is you can hold all of the time-honored beliefs of many Americans without the imprisonment of the smaller, more modern cultural nuances that only weigh you down and make you feel less of who you really are. If that makes sense anyway. I consider myself a true-hearted American, NOW, that I've moved, because I still believe in our fundamental concepts, but it is more comfortable without the added restraints of: well, I'm a young white female, so I must buy lattes at Starbucks and wear Uggz because this is what white, young American girls do...that sort of thing. I can appreciate the ideas postulated by our forefathers and say that THIS is the only thing that makes me truly American, whilst cropping my hair short and what have you, and not having the difficulty of not quite feeling American or conformist enough because I am not living in the said environment where these are all firmly established cultural ideals. Hope that helps, it's worth a shot!

I think about this to and wonder about Canada.

I'm actually going to a 2 year tech school right now and wonder if education can be used to facilitate this using Study Abroad programs to going to a Canadian University.

You're in good company, em_tsuj. My "big American dream" is immigrating to the UK or perhaps Australia. My mum was a British citizen, I was born on a military base, and carried duel citizenship until I took the Oaths of Allegiance to the United Kingdom (using the non-religious affirmation version) after I reached adulthood. (More about that on my TTFN thread).
I'm now considered an expatriated legal US resident. I am no longer eligible for military service here (thank God) and can never be elected to a Federal office. I did have to serve jury duty twice in civil cases, however, and I can still vote.
I've not thought of myself as an American citizen since taking those oaths, but I'm unable to renounce my American citizenship compleatly until I set foot on British soil due to US constitutional rules. I have taken courses on "the Queens' English" so you'll see me using British spellings of everything I post here. In addition I've started an online British History course, which unfortunatly seems to have a lot more religious background to it than I expected, but I realise it will be stuff I need to know once I arrive in England someday and appeare before a citizenship board.
Every July 4th I now proudly sport my Union Jack shirt and eat fish and chips in a British style pub with UK artists on the jukebox while everyone else is out shooting off those stupid fireworks. I'm really looking forward to the day I'm in a place where 4 July is just another day on the calendar and I can celebrate Boxing Day as well as 5 November.

It is very hard to emigrate to another country that you may want to live in. I have looked into emigration to Canada many times in my life. Now the best way to get in is to have a job skill they need or a family member who lives there. My father immigrated from an EU country which is the only reason that I and my young adult son could move back there. At this point in my life I would only go if he wanted to. If you don't have the connections, you mostly need a job skill.