Show me a globe and I will point to a dozen places readily that I would love to live in and experience the native culture, if only for a few weeks to a year and assuming I would have no familia or monetary obligations and language would not be an issue.
In Random Order:
China The city and rural life. Probably six months in each. Everything about China has interested me since I can remember. While my love of chinese food would not transfer over to there, I am sure, as it would not be the same as Baby Back Ribs in Paris and Baby Back Ribs in Atlanta would be completely seperate experiences, I think the entire experience of such an incredible civilization would be worth it. This love for chinese thingies can all be traced back to the Buddha my mom has a garden decoration. Nice Catholic gal that she is. A buddha. Australia I think this place rocks in general and the Aussie Government should pay me to be a cultural anthropologist or something. What is not to love about an nation that is descended from inmates, hookers,lunatics and criminals? It’s just like here, only better cause its so far away and the guys are all hot and have accents. droooooooool.
New Zealand For over 20+ years I’ve wanted to do a Kiwi experience and I haven’t even watched much of the LOTRx3 flicks. Maybe it is the isolation. Maybe its the sheep…don’t laugh. Getting lamb up here is nearly impossible. why is that? Discuss. and I don’t even really know if I like lamb, per se. India, Nepal, Tibet the religious & cultural aspect and, naturally, the curry. Anywhere in the UK & Ireland: This would probably be the easiest for me to make the transition as I am a huge anglophile, like curry and understand about 2% of the slang. The art, the plays, the movies, the countryside, Coronation Street, the movies. Alan Rickman, Harry Potter, Brambley Hedge…oh I could go on…
There are about 24 dozen other places that I would want to live, but I need more coffee.
As you can see from my location, I have lived in a lot of places…so for me, Las Vegas is perfect for right now. Generally, I stay somewhere for about 10 years or so and move on…have been here almost seven years now and feel no urge to leave.
That said, I have always wondered about living in Thailand…but have also considered selling the house and travelling around the world and finding some little nook somewhere and buy DMark’s Bar & Grill & Bookstore and running naked on a beach.
Luckily, I have always been able to move and go wherever I wanted to go. Just not sure how many times I want to do that again…but who knows?
Hong Kong is the place for me. The food, the people, the vibrancy of the place, the hiking, going to Macau, travelling to the mainland and easier access to Thailand (#2), Vietnam, et al. Oh, and the food (yeah, I know I mentioned it twice but it is good).
It’s a great joke in our family that people play thousand of dollars in this country for searches to hopefully establish that they had convict relatives 200 years ago when in our family you only have to go back 18 months to find them.
As for where I would live if I could - Acquitaine France, Norway or Argentina. Savannah Georgia would be fine too (more pretty girls per square mile than any city in the world, I’m sure…)
Hmmm… I don’t really want to live anywhere except where I live right now, but if I had the choice of 3-6 months stints somewhere else once a year, here’s the short list:
I’d love to spend a few months in New York City. As far as I’m concerned, it’s about as different as my day-to-day life as anywhere farther away.
Would love to live in Greece again for a while, probably on one of the islands but would like to spend time in Athens as well.
Japan would be fun, too.
As would China, although it’s a little scary to me. China seems to be going a little to fast nowadays.
Thailand
New Zealand, to look for hobbits.
And about a gazillion others. Hey Shirley, let’s ditch our families and blow this state!
Places I’ve never been:
1-Alaska - somewhere on the frayed edge between wilderness and civilization.
2-Australia - same as above (but only if they repeal their restrictive firearms legislation, which has precisely the same chance of happening as the number of R’s in “Fat Chance”)
3-Any place Mark Burnett would choose as a prospective location for next year’s season of Survivor.
Places I’ve been:
West Texas - God, I love open spaces
East Texas - The nicest folks I’ve ever met, ANYWHERE
St. John, USVI - Where else can you be in Paradise and in the US at the same time (yeah, I know there’s a town in Pennsylvania called Paradise)?
Jost Van Dyke, BVI - Paradise AND Cuban cigars? Sign me up.
That’s hard. Iceland would be nice; so would Wales; and, if I could only live there in the summer, Ottawa would be lovely, too (though the winters might be a bit much, unless I could live downtown).
Some little tiny town in the middle of nowhere, America. Driving across the country, I passed through a number of towns like this in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota. I became completely fascinated with what life would be like living in such rural surroundings. I absolutely intend on trying it for a couple years at some point. I realize most of my fellow urbanites think this sounds bizarre, but I majored in anthropology and am endlessly intrigued by different ways people can live. This is probably the most easily accessible “foreign” culture I could experience (I’ve lived my entire life in various metropolitan areas) considering I wouldn’t have to get a work visa or a grant to travel somewhere.
Ireland, if someone promises me that I wont’ get blown up/killed for being nominally Protestant.
Norway–always wanted to see the Northern Lights. Or Finland. Met a woman from Finland a few years ago–sounds like a beautiful country.
Prince Edward Island
Maine
Nova Scotia
Scotland (oh, covered that already)
Australia–but the wild life seems a bit too untamed for me. I love nature, but Down Under seems to have alot of deadly nature…maybe New Zealand, instead.
eleanorigby, I have the perfect place for you in Maine. It’s where I would most like to live. Camden is a village on mid-coast Maine. Mt. Battie is just behind the village – small enough to climb for an hour or so – with a beatiful view of Penobscot Bay and its tall ships. There’s an island in the harbor, a waterfall of sorts, a pond for ice skating, some smiling cows, a place for skiing, nice shops, antique stores and bookstores, artists, writers, a park at the harbor, a library on the waterfront, an opera house, a nearby state park, a theater, great seafood, a village green, a nearby art gallery, an occasional familiar face, warm and intelligent people with wry senses of humor…
I would go there more often, but I cry so hard when I have to leave.
I’d like to live in Australia, Ireland, or the UK because girls with those accents tend to find me wrapped around their little finger rather quickly. Failing that, I could stand to live in Central/Southeast Texas, and I’m told that I would like Austin a lot (even if the town IS full of a bunch a’ tea-sippin Bevo-lovin hippies! )
Also, Puerto Rico could be fun. Rum and Puerto Rican girls.
I’d like to live someplace where my family has a bit of history. So Cosgrove, England, Somerset Co., MD or Sastin, Slovakia. Those are the three that interest me the most.
San Diego. Sure, it’s not exotic, but I want to go to a place that gets no cold weather, but also not any horribly hot weather. From what I’ve heard, San Diego stays within the 70-85 degree range a good amount of the time.
What is not to love about an nation that is descended from inmates, hookers,lunatics and criminals? It’s just like here, only better cause its so far away and the guys are all hot and have accents. droooooooool.
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