*I'm very sleepy, so I forgot to add, after everybody having valuable skills, that we can all learn from each other. No doubt Keti and I could teach each other a lot of things we didn't previously know through some kind of communicative exchange.
It's all good.
:o)
languages that i speak:
serbian,german = native level
croatian, bosnian, montenegrino = fluent
english, slovene = good
finnish, swedish, norwegian, french = decent (still improving)
hebrew, latin =basic (forgot a lot in hebrew, havent used it in 10 years unfortunatelly)
can understand but not talk: macedonian, bulgarian, estonian to a degree, dutch, italian, danish.
Estonia, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech republic, Cyprus, Sweden, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Hungary and Portugal.
This is a list of countries where persons with Bulgarian passports can work without being self employed or obtaining a work permit. This is it. In any other country your mother will have to have a job and a work permit which is extremely unlikely and you would have no right of residence without a job.
Your Australian passports won't help you in the EU. Both you and your mother would need jobs to legally live in these and all other countries.
Another option we could explore is to try the San Francisco Bay area or perhaps southern California (not LA, though, it's too polluted)...
You both can forget about the US. You and your mother would have to find jobs. In order to get a job in the US any school would need to show that there was no US applicant with the necessary qualifications. How likely do you think that is? Not likely in my opinion, especially when you further limit the possibilities to cities that appeal to you.
Any finally, there is your attitude. This is an internet forum. Few people bother to proof their writing or their typing. Errors will be made but generally speaking, the ideas are well presented. You need to learn to cut people some slack or to expect that others will dump on you.
Most of the people who have responded in this thread have offered you thoughtful advice. As is the case with many who post here you are getting a dose of reality that is not what you want to hear and thus you seem to prefer to shoot the messenger rather than to understand the message.
Let me be clear. The message is that your desire to relocate to some city elsewhere in the world
>with a strong literary/arts scene (I will learn the language) and bohemian community, some kind of active gay scene (I'm bi and love my GLBT community. I'm aware that every city I'm considering pales in comparison to Sydney in that respect, so I'm looking for the gayest place possible), a significant immigrant presence (I love immigrants, the more the better), and pretty architecture / urban environment
is VERY unrealistic given:
1. the limitations of your passport
2. the limitations of your mother's job prospects
3. the self imposed limitations of your new city's requirements
4. your attitude towards receiving information from others
The fact that at 26 you are still living with your mother, expecting her to fully support you without any suggestion of contribution on your part, bothers me as well.
Ruth
in regards to finland, i might have said it before, unless one has a very strong reason for staying permanently in finland (work, study, partner), not even EU members can stay longer than 3 months.
and chances of getting a job in finland in only english with the mentioned work qualifications is next to zero. in finland unless somebody is an IT expert and works for nokia, chances of getting a job without knowing finnish is almost non existant.
Few people bother to proof their writing or their typing.
I correctly distinguished between a non-proofread spelling and a habitual error.
You know what, people? This is not a European forum. Lonely Planet is an Australian company, actually. Cultural exchange works both ways and, yes, this forum is conducted in English. Excuse me for having high standards.
Now Ruth, if you're going to make such incredibly ignorant judgments about me based on next to no information, I would be extremely pleased if you never responded to anything I posted again. Kthxbai
IT is rather rude to expect people to speak perfect english because the forum happens to be australian (btw, australian english can just barely be considered proper english..moreoever, ive seen native english speakers make more mistakes in spelling than non native ones).
furthermore, you asked a question about europe, so you should expect mostly non-english speaking europeans to answer. you want to move to our countries and YET you expect us to speak perfect english?? well, excuse me, you want to live in italy or spain, ask you question in
well, excuse me, you want to live in italy or spain, ask you question in ITALIAN or SPANISH!
NONE of us when youre asking about non english speaking countries are obliged to answer you in english nor are we obliged to accept people into our countries that dont speak the native language!
you want to move to spain? fine, learn spanish! you want to move to denmark, learn danish! none of these languages is less important than english, particularly in their own countries, and it would be wise for you to start learning because NOBODY will care socialising with you or bothering in any other way only in english.
and mind you, why would ANYBODY hire your mother, when there are actual native english speakers close by? your mother from what i understand is a bulgarian woman who moved to australia at an adult age (considering that you were 7 or so when you moved). shes NOT an english native speaker thats for sure and nobody will hire you as such.
neither are you by definition a native english speaker, you were already pretty big when you moved to australia. yes, you might speak english perfectly, but its considered your second language.
learn to respect other people and languages..because believe me, if you really manage to move which i highly doubt, youll fall of your high english speaking horses, because you will learn fast the hard reality that in everyday life in non english speaking countries people english is held oh so high and mighty, YOU will have to adjust, not the other way around!
OP - so tell me exactly what incredibly ignorant judgments I made without any information? Seems to me that the only judgment I made was about your attitude, which anyone can draw conclusions from based on your comments to and about others. Sorry but that's my opinion and despite what you think, I am entitled to my opinions. I wasn't looking for your agreement. I was hoping you would reexamine your behavior. Instead you insist upon your high standards. Sorry this doesn't fly in my book.
Ruth
Ruth - You wrote that it bothers you that I'm living with my mother and she supports me. Presumably it bothers you because all adults should be independent of their parents by a certain age. Yet you know nothing about my situation in life, i.e. why I am dependent.
I'm only interested in the opinions of nice people who don't jump to conclusions. Truth be told, I can get information on this topic elsewhere - there are tons of websites oriented towards people seeking to immigrate to Europe. There are even forums dedicated especially to this. I don't even know why I bother with TT - people are so rude.
Keti - you're so narrow-minded that there's no point responding to you.