# Europe Forum > Travelling & Living in Europe >  Moving to Europe

## clintDempsey23

Hi, I am planning to move to Europe and I was looking for help with making the best choice of where I should look to go. I currently live in the United States. My first language is English. I have some limited skills with Spanish, Italian and French. Two of the big concerns for me are cost of living and ease of assimilation into the culture (specifically with language barrier).

If you have any thoughts or recommendations or things you think I should consider in my decision it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time and input.

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## Mycernius

Well the easist is the UK for obvious reasons, the language and probably the easier country to intergrate into. Only problem is the UK is an expensive country to live in, espcially at the moment with a strong pound against the weak dollar, but that hold for most countries within the Eurozone as well. Could always try Ireland. Again there is not a language problem. Another problem, though, is both the UK and Ireland, whilst having a temperate climate (Birmingham is as north as Calgary), it does rain and if you like the sun you would be better looking at the south of France or even Spain, as you have experience in both Spanish and French. You will also find that a lot of UK citizens have a second property in France or Spain, so you could end up living in an area with predominately English speakers and thus help you slip into French or Spainish culture more easily.

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## Maciamo

If you are planning to work, then the cost of living shouldn't be a big concern, as salaries are usually adapted to local costs. Salaries in London are much higher than in the remote Spanish countryside, but the cost of life also is.

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## clintDempsey23

Maciamo and Mycernius, thank you both for your replies... some things I did not know :)


Few follow-up questions...

In terms of getting the necessary visas, etc. to accomplish what I'm trying to do can you suggest what my best options might be? 

Also, from what I've read and heard it is somewhat difficult to get work permits in European countries. Are there certain countries that are easier than others to get permits to work?

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## miu

I think a good way to start thinking about it is to simply think what kind of work you could do. There are a lot of stuff you can do without having to speak the language perfectly or at all but they probably don't pay too well. I guess it all depends on what kind of experience you want and how long you're going to stay :)

I don't know about the permits but all countries have websites for their embassies, so those are a good way to find out what you need when you want to go there.

Finland probably wasn't in your mind but a forum with lots of info on studying, working and moving to Finland http://www.finlandforum.org/bb/ It ight be useful also even if you want to go somewhere else. 

Good luck! :Cool:

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## Mycernius

Just curious on your age and whether you are married, or have children? After all if you have dependents then you must alos consider how they would fit into a new country.

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## clintDempsey23

Sorry this is a long post, a lot to say...

To Miu:
Thank you for your reply. The experience I'm looking for is mainly to experience other cultures and people's ways of life. I would ideally like to find a way to stay there for 3-6 months to start with, doing any kind of work that would permit me to pay my costs to live there, and then see where it goes from there. Moreover, in terms of working I am very open to the possibilities. From other places I have read that the IT field is in demand in Europe, which is my background, so I've considered trying to get a full time job taking that route. I'm not sure if you or anyone else who might read this could verify that IT is in demand.

And actually I was considering Finland and Sweden. I actually met a girl from Finland who I discussed areas of Europe that are nice to live and she was telling me a lot about Finland. I'm not really averse to cold weather and I'm not looking to go just to lay on beaches. Like I said I want to experience other cultures and ways of life, so I am pretty much open to going anywhere.


To Mycernius:
I am 24, no children, no wife. A free man, so to speak haha. So it would only be me that would need to get assimilated.


To anyone:
I have also looked into doing summer work/internship programs in Europe. I have found some various things that might be alright but many tend to be geared more towards high school or college students. I was curious if anyone knew about any such programs that are reputable and if so, how I could get information about it.

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## sonex

*clintDempsey23*

With your native English only you will definitely survive in any of the countries. UK and Ireland are on the top of the list of course, however, I would also consider Denmark or Norway - around 90% of people speak fluent English there and Nordic countries are easy to adopt ....

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## Mitsuo

You should consider becoming an Au pair. Go to www.au-pair-world.co.uk/index.php/faq/

I have a friend that is currently doing this. She is an anthropology major, so it's right up her ally.

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## Frecklez

Im accually looking at moving to Europe with my boyfriend.... and if you guys could help me out here, again im not to sure where to go i was thinking Scotland, as thats where my family was from originally. But costs of living, and i am prepared to work.... but what all would i be needing to move him and my dog over there... and if at all possible could i get an aprox of how much it would be.. i live in Canada right now.

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## Sybilla

If you desire to assimilate I suggest you Italy or Spain. Everyone knows that they probably are the most friendly people of Europe. I am Italian and here you won't have difficulties to make a group of friends. We also like to make suppers all together with friends or go out to disco, cinema and pubs. I am sure in few years you'll be assimilated and will learn Spanish or Italian very easy.

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## rensen

> If you are planning to work, then the cost of living shouldn't be a big concern, as salaries are usually adapted to local costs. Salaries in London are much higher than in the remote Spanish countryside, but the cost of life also is.


I agree! eventhough the language barrier isn't a great in the UK, I'd go to Italy or Spain as the living costs are far less than in the UK. Plus I cdonsider the food as way better as well ;)

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