US ex pat here:
I think you will find more success in this if you find a place or two you want to live in and run TO something instead of AWAY from something. It’ll always be a bit of both, but this post reads more like (very understandably) “get me out of here” than “I want to be somewhere new”.
Being an ex pat has plenty of hard aspects of course. I think some of them are made quite a bit easier when you passionately dive into the culture and life in a new place. At least to me it would be impossible if my head was still in the US.
Of course you’re doing nothing wrong! Just some advice if it gets a bit more serious.
Like many in the thread: Canada, Australia/New Zealand, Scandinavia, Germany, UK (not that they’re doing fantastic right now), Netherlands would be my top choices with your criteria. Most large companies will be more likely to have English speaking as the working language and you’ll learn the local language (s) while living there. Best of luck!
US ex pat here:
I agree with a big decision, but I strongly disagree with needing the language down pat before you go. You should know some for sure, and mostly have a willingness to learn it. You’re going to learn so much faster while there than you will studying in the US.
Just need enough language to get by at first
I just want to comment on how good Gboard is with multiple languages that share a keyboard (or nearly do). It’s gonna be the hardest thing to give up in my slow de googling process.
I used to have English/Spanish and now English/Danish. It will autocorrect mostly to whichever mode you’re in first, but will do some and not fight you on the secondary. Very good for like a conversation in English but an address in another language.
I don’t think it adds anything to my Japanese keyboard layout, just have to swap each way
This is extremely relevant to me as well.
I need even less interaction than most. I just need to check a private group I’m part of for events. Any way to extract that info into something else nicely?
I see the recommendations for FBPurity and the Firefox container, both of which I’ll use on desktop. I was hoping for something for mobile too but just desktop is probably fine
Compared to the US, I’d say they’re extremely socially progressive.
Healthcare, low gender pay gap, higher “minimum” wages (I know there’s no legal minimum most places but there are commonly accepted lowest wages), very low homelessness, very LGBT+ accepting.
Socially progressive enough? Not for my tastes. But it’s a lot better than the US in social systems
Yeah, certainly depends exactly where you go. A capital city and a rural town will feel extremely different on English speaking (and cultural/political views at that).
I think it’s quite possible to do though. Happy to chat or answer any specific questions you have, especially if they’re Scandinavia based.
It’s a tough choice to do something like you’re talking about but extremely fulfilling. I wouldn’t trade the decision for the world at this point. I wish you the best of luck!