“Nietzsche was right. I won’t take the time to tell you who Nietzsche was, but he was right. The world belongs to the strong – to the strong who are noble as well and who do not wallow in the swine-trough of trade and exchange. The world belongs to the true nobleman, to the great blond beasts, to the non compromisers, to the ‘yes-sayers.” – Jack London, Martin Eden
Do you ever thought “I wish I had enough money to leave everything behind and go start a new life far away from here” ?
I did. In between my late teenage years and early twenties all I was thinking about was winning a scholarship and continuing my study far away from my country. I never thought about never returning back.
The idea of being alone or starting something new seemed really attractive to me. What did I do for that idea? I can say I did mostly everything – searching and finding universities, applying, having interviews and even passing the exams. But by the time I started to work and making my career my dreams changed drastically. I was more concerned about making my life better than changing it – working, learning, becoming a better person. My dreams became plans and to do lists.
And right after I achieved the first step of my goals in Armenia I had to forget about everything and move to the States to live with my husband. We both are Armenians, but unlike me my husband was born in America.
Was it an easy step? No. An easy decision? No. An easy goodbye? No. Was it similar to my “moving to another country” dream? No. Was is worth it? Yes.
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
I remember my first day waking up in LA which is 11.565 km far away from my homeland and realizing that I already miss my family. Most importantly, I wasn’t going to attend every family event, I won’t be able to meet my friends when I need them most or even work. But I was happy with my husband and that’s all that matters.
It’s already about my second year in the United States.
Cultural differences?
It’s pretty difficult to start everything from scratch – study, work, starting to socialize in a new country, getting used to cultural differences. If you are moving from Europe to USA you will most probably find a lot of differences and difficulties with coping with your adjustment process. For example, there are a lot outside activities in European style cities, while people in California are more tend to do indoor activities. After living in a small urban style city Los Angeles may seem “strange”. Los Angeles is a massive city and sometimes considered as a car city. And Outdoor activities of LA is more about hiking and camping which is mostly happening during the weekend breaks.
It’s not even going to be that easy to find a new job. No matter what you did in your country USA wants your experience directly in its country. In other words, it will be better if you start doing some freelance/remote work before you come here.
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