Quote: (04-20-2014 05:16 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:
Quote: (04-20-2014 06:48 AM)Inspired Wrote:
I'm also just back in America and will be staying here for at least a couple of months. I also already want to leave.
This is one of the strangest returns I've made......
The country has changed. I just have that feeling from what I'm seeing, but things like prices and customer service have worsened greatly. Prices have really gone up. I am shocked. It's actually cheaper to live in Europe and pay euro prices for most things it seems. Especially food. I spent $70 in a grocery store and bought nothing. In Europe I'd have twice as much food, and way higher quality.
In any Chaim restaurant you go to, portions have shrunk and prices are up. I got a Burger half the size and got like 18 pitiful French fries instead of what was normally the whole plate filled with fries. And service? Nobody cares anymore. Americans have really lost their special and unique get up and go energy and seem to just not give a fuck.
I'm also noticing more and more how the American accent and other Americanisms are highly irritating to me. I've become repulsed. The fake, loud mouthed, empty showoff way of talking etc is such a turn off. I get seriously annoyed when I hear anyone talk.
But this return is a strange one. Despite dealing with some significant personal issues at this time (which may negatively color my perspective), I just finally have the feeling like America is finally maybe not the place for me or where I'd have an interest in permanently returning to or residing.
And this is significant because I've always been very torn on whether to remain in Europe or America. And I always blamed Europe for some of my failings and always dreamed of how I could be doing better in America. But now I almost feel a sense of closure about this issue. I sort of feel like I really don't belong in America. And I feel like I should maybe get serious about a life staying in Europe permanently and abandon the American option.
I've never felt like this before. This is quite a serious moment in my life.
Maybe I need to resolve some issues and get out more and adjust to things, but there's no doubt that things are different now.
???Food is cheaper in USA than most of Europe... are you sure? Food is even cheaper in NYC than parts of Ukraine,Poland i was at. Realize in America MOST folks don't pay full price..so yeah I guess brand name shit can cost.
I don't want to derail the current conversation or anything. Perhaps I posted to soon. I had just arrived and went out to a more expensive supermarket and some other places. The prices there were shockingly more expensive, and I know now that this isn't representative of the average prices. But, prices have gone up, a lot. And the American dominating advantage of being plentiful and cheap in comparison to Europe, is starting to disappear. That was the one thing that America always had. And that was one thing that I always considered, praised, or missed when I compared America to Europe etc. That factor is now, for me, for the first time, becoming a non factor, and that is hugely significant, as well as being another confirmation of the US decline that others are discussing in this thread.
Also, in addition to the price increases and poorer quality, I find myself spending a shitload more money here than i would in Europe. It's just easier to spend more money in America because of the increased selection of products and the need for commercialism (buying shit) as a substitute for the empty sort of living that I see going on here.
Since I posted last, I've made many more observations. But generally, I'm seeing a society that's grown spoiled, too comfortable, and is no doubt, in rapid decline. I thought I saw this the last time I was here in early 2012, but I had no idea how much worse things would have gotten. There is this pervasive "don't give a fuck" attitude and aura everywhere that is just IN YOUR FACE if you've been away for a bit and have the observational skills to see it for what it is.
Everything is half assed. And the girls? They're a lost cause. They can't be rehabilitated. At the same time, I don't think I can be rehabilitated either. Especially when I'm completely repulsed whenever these bitches open their mouths (if I haven't already been turned off by the visual aspects of their mannerisms etc).