Best country to live: Switzerland vs USA vs (insert other here) ???

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
41
Again your preconceptions are clouding your....mmm...posts. Check this study by Harvard University: Americans overestimate social mobility in their country

I recently watched a fascinating TedTalk about this exact same topic by sociologist Harald Elia, which also proves with clear numbers that it's exactly the opposite.

I kindly ask that if you are going to make statements like that, that you first check your sources. If you're shooting from the hip...well, it's not gonna fly here.

42
I'm so confused, they speak english in New England?

43
New England is near New Scotland.

And New York!

Tom

44
So most people do speak at least some English.

45
Australia still wins the first place. In spite of their racism and red necks.

46
There is also one in Australia. As even the Trump thread kind of went Australian, maybe it's epidemic and OP talks about that one?

47
New England or New England North West is the name given to a generally undefined region in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia about 60 kilometres (37 miles) inland, that includes the Northern Tablelands (or New England Tablelands) and the North West Slopes regions.[2]

48
I'm Swiss and absolutely love the USA and have lived in LA. Switzerland is a well-functionning country where everything works quite fine but geez do I find it boring. People have all quite similar backgrounds and education. You don't find a lot of people who deviate from the norm here. Social care prevents people from becoming homeless. Those who suffer from a mental illness are taken care of. It's not the case in the USA so a lot of people come from very rough backgrounds and are in hustling mode 24/7. They make some interesting characters.

What I love about LA (also why some people hate it):

- diversity of people and backgrounds

You find types of people you will hardly find in Switzerland: people with excentric styles: tattoo'ed from head toes. Women dressing in super sexy clothes when they go out. Dumb blond plastic bimbos. Very hot people trying to use their physique to make a living out of it. You can see world famous actors in the streets and homeless teenagers. Hippies. Folks deep in spirituality. Very rich people in the nice hoods but also surrounded by poverty. Homeless people with mental issues. Weird people. Communities living in the same area. For example the famous China towns. Some people lived their entire life in their asian/south american hood without speaking a word of English.

- more products

We find a lot more choice in the supermarkets than what we find in Coop and Migros. I love checking products I'm not familiar with.

- vast territory, one country, one language

You have everything in the USA: mountains, deserts, lakes, oceans, skyscrapers, big cities, rural areas, forests, etc. You can also find a lot of those things in Europe (except desert I guess) but the + is that it's in the same country and you can communicate in English with everyone. You have way more space than in Switzerland outside of cities.

- LA is chaotic and more exciting in general

All that makes it more exciting for someone like me born in Switzerland. Going to the supermarket (by foot) was always an adventure. On the way to it I would find crazy people doing crazy stuff. For example that lady staying at the same spot and yelling at cars all day long. I would also see a lot of strange people everywhere and I absolutely loved it. The city is full of broken dreams. In my appartment complex there was a suicidal hottie who tried to make it as an actress, ended up being a stripper. A addicted model, a failed musician who was occasionally fighting at night with a hooker and she ended up throwing all his stuff into the pool. The cat lady who stank. The murder scene down my block (a robber shot the store owner) so there was a helicopter patrolling, a dozen of police cars blocking the roads. That feeling at night when you're in downtown LA after workers left the buildings and the homeless take over the streets. Watching the chaos of that immense city from the quiet hills at night (an absolute favourite): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_UuM5lioDg

But sure I can understand why foreigners love our peaceful, functionning but predictable Switzerland.