Life is too short to learn German.

Well, as long as I get my Polish passport and an ESL certificate, I'll be able to teach English in Germany. They love native speakers who have a degree in an English concentration and that almighty ESL certificate. Of course, eventually I'd like to learn German. But it's not a necessity. Like Sweden, it has a great education system dedicated to teaching English among other languages so most people speak it. America and too many other countries lack in this department (emphasize grammar instead of simply having conversational classroom instruction).

I definitely have some things to take care of before making this leap of faith, but I'm pretty much set on it. If I took all the research of my family and ended up writing my memoir in Poland/Germany/Europe, it'd also make for a great story (a full circle type of story that really can't even be made up). But yea, awesome replies guys and gals. I like the kick in the ass sometimes - even if it's from you I used to be so free spirited in my traveling adventures before I got tied down that I'm now working toward gaining that old "swagger" back.

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Originally posted by Viber Life is too short to learn German.

Unpleasant sounding too.

While it's great to travel, there is the tendancy to idealize the unfamiliar and to attribute your current location as the reason for one's unhappiness.

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Originally posted by Jon_Snow Unpleasant sounding too. While it's great to travel, there is the tendancy to idealize the unfamiliar and to attribute your current location as the reason for one's unhappiness.

Wow. I finally agree with you, buddy. Good points.

With that said, YOLO!

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Originally posted by OrangestO What would you say was the biggest takeaway from this experience? How much of an impact has it had on your life since, would you say?

Because I was so young at the time, the biggest thing for me was learning to rely on myself and no one else. Being half a world away from any kind of family/friends safety net was a pretty big deal for me, and I did get myself into some pretty shitty situations that I then had to dig my own way out of. That's a good feeling, you know? That might not be such a big deal for you, since while I have no idea exactly how old you are, you definitely don't come across as a 19 year old You probably already have a lot more life experience than I did back then.

The other part, without trying to sound like a massive hippy, is that traveling and experiencing so many different places and cultures... it really does open your mind and give you a whole new perspective on everything. I wouldn't trade that for a single thing, ever.

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Originally posted by Sushipunk Because I was so young at the time, the biggest thing for me was learning to rely on myself and no one else. Being half a world away from any kind of family/friends safety net was a pretty big deal for me, and I did get myself into some pretty shitty situations that I then had to dig my own way out of. That's a good feeling, you know? That might not be such a big deal for you, since while I have no idea exactly how old you are, you definitely don't come across as a 19 year old You probably already have a lot more life experience than I did back then. The other part, without trying to sound like a massive hippy, is that traveling and experiencing so many different places and cultures... it really does open your mind and give you a whole new perspective on everything. I wouldn't trade that for a single thing, ever.

^ This.

Orange, do it, seriously. I've met countless people while couchsurfing who have backpacked and hitchhiked all over the world. If you're worried about money, you can always try 'woofing'. Woofing is where you get free accommodation and food in return for your work at a farm. This is especially prevalent in Ireland. A bunch of the people I've met this past weekend in Ireland have done it and have stayed in the country for a while. If you couple that with couchsurfing when you go to the cities you want to travel to, you cut down costs considerably.

I save enormous amounts of money couchsurfing. It does mean you need to eat shit food more often than not because you want to save for alcohol (frozen pizza's, pasta/pasta sauce, etc). Also, you have to resort to sometimes some unpleasant sleeping situations (there was a time I had to use the cushions from three chairs as a mattress because the guy I was surfing didn't have a couch available). However, most hosts have an air mattress or a couch available. The benefit of experiencing another culture and hanging out with your host and possibly other surfers is well worth the trade off.

I mean, realistically, you could have your job/place in Berlin, save up money for travels, grab your bag, and hitchhike across a country, staying at couches along the way. If you run out of money, start woofing. If you don't want to hitchhike, coaches/buses are usually pretty competitively priced. If you are serious about this, go to couchsurfing.com and set up a profile page. Also look into Woofing for more info: http://wwoofinternational.org/

it's one thing to say fuck it and go backpacking/couchsurfing around the world when you're really young (late teens/early 20s) but beyond say your mid 20s you really ought to start planning a bit for the long term.

i've got my own fantasy of just up and moving to europe, i've traveled there before and the ability to just hop from one country to another, each having it's own culture/language/etc just seems too good to pass on. not to mention the women, you hardly see any fatties there

but anyway the trick as i see it is to do in on the cheap but in a way that will not screw up your long term career plans. if you have a good career going now (let's say you're in your mid-late 20s), taking a break for more than 6 months (let alone a few years) can really set you back if you ever decide to return to your country of origin. i'm speaking here from the POV of a regular joe schmoe in the US. the older you are, the more you have to worry about because many potential employers will see that gap on your resume and pass you off as a whimsical loony with wandering eyes. i know there are some that might actually see your worldliness as a plus, depending on your field and so on, but i'd wager that many more than not would see it as a negative.

i don't mean to be a killjoy and if this is what you have your heart set on then by all means you should go for it. YOLO etc etc. just thought i'd toss in what's been goin through my head, because lately i've been harboring much of the same sentiment as you in this regard.

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Originally posted by AnotherWay83 it's one thing to say fuck it and go backpacking/couchsurfing around the world when you're really young (late teens/early 20s) but beyond say your mid 20s you really ought to start planning a bit for the long term. i've got my own fantasy of just up and moving to europe, i've traveled there before and the ability to just hop from one country to another, each having it's own culture/language/etc just seems too good to pass on. not to mention the women, you hardly see any fatties there but anyway the trick as i see it is to do in on the cheap but in a way that will not screw up your long term career plans. if you have a good career going now (let's say you're in your mid-late 20s), taking a break for more than 6 months (let alone a few years) can really set you back if you ever decide to return to your country of origin. i'm speaking here from the POV of a regular joe schmoe in the US. the older you are, the more you have to worry about because many potential employers will see that gap on your resume and pass you off as a whimsical loony with wandering eyes. i know there are some that might actually see your worldliness as a plus, depending on your field and so on, but i'd wager that many more than not would see it as a negative. i don't mean to be a killjoy and if this is what you have your heart set on then by all means you should go for it. YOLO etc etc. just thought i'd toss in what's been goin through my head, because lately i've been harboring much of the same sentiment as you in this regard.

How did you manage to hack into the real AnotherWay83's account?

kruezberg reminds me of the old new york

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I PUT TRADEMARKS AROUND YO MOTHAFUCKIN EYE
JUST ME N YOU

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Originally posted by Jon_Snow Wow must have been a pretty bad breakup to make you want to get polish citizenship. Want to tell us about it?

fixed for accuracy....

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN I have 3 hobbies: gaming, DJing & correcting maladjusted fools on the internet.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN Yeah, I’d like to know what horrible, scarring incident in your childhood turned you into such an ignorant, intellectual-hating philistine?

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Originally posted by colonelcrisp fixed for accuracy....

lol