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[Chiggs]

Can't believe I'm writing this...

There exists a small chance (Green Card Lottery) I will be moving with my family (3 kids) to the US in the next 12-18 months. We don't have a fixed place yet, probably Austin / Texas or North Carolina.

Here is my view of the US:
Dystopian state
Excellent at accumulating capital to maximise shareholders returns
Market is very flexible, people are willing to bet on idea or just "we will figure it out as we go along" (unless you are talking about technical field, best no to play with people's lives there)
Terrible place for everyone below the average in terms of education, resources, wealth, etc.
Americans are kind and friendly people but all that is surface-level
People love guns
Serial murderer or mass pedophile at every corner


Any advice someone (both Freedom People as well as Europeans that moved there) that can give me a rundown of key points I need to pay attention to or that will be a huge shock when coming from Europe?

It's a rapacious dump if you don't have money.

 

[TDiddyLive]

I live in a red state. Rural areas are annoying. Cops would follow me around town (and i'm white with no history of getting in trouble). Dudes in pickups are always riding your ass and drive too aggressively. I had one older guy give me shit because i was wearing a Megadeth shirt when i went to walmart out in the country.
Cops stole money from these innocent folks. https://kfor.com/news/local/busines...r-140000-of-their-money-and-10000-is-missing/
On New years day one of my neighbors posted a pic on Nextdoor of a bullet that almost killed him when he went outside and smoked. Some people posted damage too. People unload clips left and right for about an hour on NYE. Plenty of articles out there of people getting hurt or dying from stray bullets. Yes it's rare but it does happen.
I've worked with people at different jobs who went to jail for the night and lost their job because they couldnt call to let someone know. They can hold you on anything. I also knew someone who was thrown in jail for weeks, held on a $250k bond all because his buddy was dealing drugs to someone else. They held him for questioning then let him go. He was innocent the whole entire time.

Let’s just go down the list.

Cops followed you. There are a thousand reasons this could have happened, or they were going the same direction as you.

People tailgate and drive aggressively absolutely everywhere in this country.

You had a dispute with someone over your shirt? Not sure where you’re going with that one.

That cop story is literally one side of the story where the money was seized due to possible narcotics transaction and they claim the money seized was more than the paperwork claimed. I go back to my previous statement about using a bank.

I never said bullets coming down doesn’t happen, I just pointed out that people dying from it is rare.

Once you’re booked in jail, you have the right to make phone calls, so that one is absolute bullshit.

You cannot be held for weeks for questioning. You can only be held a reasonable amount of time (usually a few hours, but other factors play into this), for the police to go over any evidence already acquired and then conduct questioning. Once placed in jail, at which time you have already been charged with a crime (not before) you cannot be held for more than 72 hours from time of arrest without a judge agreeing there is sufficient probable cause to continue seeking the charge brought forth.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Any advice someone (both Freedom People as well as Europeans that moved there) that can give me a rundown of key points I need to pay attention to or that will be a huge shock when coming from Europe?

Based on your understanding of the US, I would say this is not a place you should be moving to.
What sort of hellscape do you live in where you would choose to up-root your family and MOVE to a place that fits the description in your OP?

Not trying to offend here, just it's shocking to see someone choose to put their family in peril and mortal danger based on your research.

Anyway best of luck! I would provide you more advice but I need to go pick up my guns that came in today. It snowed here in Texas and the only way I can think to clear that snow away is by blasting all of it off the ground with bullets and explosives. I need to get my 15 cars out of the driveway so I can use my old one to drive into the less "affluent" parts of the city I live in, what else am I to do?!?!?!

 

[Complistic]

I tried Googling it, I don't understand why you would have a Stop sign from every direction. Then again as Eastern European by origin I found French obsession with roundabouts hilarious where you can just have two roads intersection in the middle of nowhere. French will still build a roundabout there just because.

We do have 4 way and 2 way, imo the 2 ways are kinda dangerous because if the car that's supposed to stop doesn't you can just get insta-gibbed.

I do like round abouts personally.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Just avoid cities or neighbourhoods where there's tons of ghetto folks. Stay in the nicer suburban areas. US cities I've visited seem to have a knack for extremes. Super slums in one part of town and really snazzy in another.

Visited Raleigh NC once and it was super chill and nice. The friendliest folks ever. This was 20 years ago though. Dont forget to pig out at Coopers BBQ.

 

[Blade2.0]

Texas has the worst traffic in all of America. They'd rather build toll roads than to invest even a fraction of their money into working public transit. Stay the eff away from Houston. Austin ain't much better. Unless you live smack dab downtown prepare to have your 3rd spaces taken away. There's almost no corner stores and small coffee shops close to your homes unless you get very lucky with where you are located. Sidewalks won't be full at all and if you even see them, they'll probably be completely empty. Get good insurance otherwise stay the eff away. It can literally get you killed, the American healthcare system, that is. Otherwise have fun. There are genuinely good people here. We're just genuinely stuck in a system that doesn't care about us.

 

[Richard Packer]

Where a maga hat everywhere you go.

 

[Hari Seldon]

I work in tech and have seen educated professionals from Europe and Korea move to the US. The biggest mistake they make is if they have kids they screw up the schooling. Your decision on where to live should 100% be based around your job and schools. What is tricky is that the schooling situation in the US is entirely run by states. Each state is completely different. I love Texas, I am friends with people who live in San Antonio and go there a lot. However, their schools are complete trash. Same with CA. I don't know a single person in tech that sends their kids to public school in CA lol. Not that public schools everywhere are bad, where I live they are absolutely amazing and largely better than private. But I don't live in CA or Texas, I live in PA where you can self segregate yourself into 11/10 public schools provided you move to the correct neighborhood. If you move into the wrong neighborhood it is every bit as bad as the worst stereotypes.

 

[Raven117]

Why are you moving to the US when it seems like you don’t like the US?

Either way, assuming you secretly do want to live in the US, Texas is fine place to raise a family. Certain areas are tougher than others, but in every city you can find good neighborhoods.

 

[jufonuk]

Trust me, no matter how bad it is, Paris is still worse.

Fuck, I was thinking about Raleigh.

Ahh you’re a Parisian.

Do you know my friend Jean Phillip ? He lives in Marseille.

If the above sends you into a rage.
Please note you will encounter some Americans who will do this unintentionally.

 

[Varteras]

Come to Ohio. I have a spare sex dung.... baseme... room you can use. I also have plenty of lotion.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

You don't want to move to Texas. Seriously. I lived north of Houston for 7 years and the construction was hellicious.

Austin is so expensive. All the small towns on the way to Austin have been getting their character and culture torn out. It's pathetic. Plus the energy infrastructure is literally killing people.

North Carolina is better. Different life style. I would suggest Charleston in south Carolina. The beaches are great. Humid in the summer but also nice in the winter. Charleston is a medium sized city and has a cool walkable downtown.

I've lived in both Austin and Charleston.

Charleston is gorgeous, but there's not a whole lot going on outside of downtown. Cost of living (rent, food, and gas) make it tough to get by comfortably unless you're bringing in $200k a year (did I mention state income tax?), and you can forget about buying a house unless you buy somewhere north like Summerville. That said, the weather, food, people, and laid back lifestyle contributed to some of my happiest years. The wife and I go back to visit from time to time since we enjoyed living there so much.

Austin has a lot more to offer imo, and the cost of living is a lot more manageable since you have a lot more levers to pull - there's lots of fun areas outside of downtown. Beautiful nature nearby in the hill country, food, live music, friendly people, and generally safe. Lots of tech-oriented folks too considering OP is working in IT sales.

All major cities in Texas are blue not just Austin. Dallas, San Antonio, Houston are blue dots also and unlike Austin it's not racist. I don't have any issue with you saying we drive crazy I do have an issue with someone who visited trying to paint Austin as some Utopia in a sea of red it is only that for young white virtue signaling liberals everyone else needs to get out of dodge.

Not sure where the whole "Austin is racist" narrative is coming from, but I won't deny that gentrification of East Austin has pushed a lot of historically Black and Latino populations out of the area due to cost of living increases.

I visit Houston fairly often (best friend lives there) and I agree that it's probably the most diverse city in Texas while also feeling the most like an actual "big city".

Texas has the worst traffic in all of America. They'd rather build toll roads than to invest even a fraction of their money into working public transit. Stay the eff away from Houston. Austin ain't much better. .

Yeah, and it fucking sucks. Road construction and traffic congestion everywhere, so you're forced to use toll roads to maintain the last semblance of sanity you have. Public transportation options are a joke, but there's at least been some development on the Metro rail system in Austin...

I work in tech and have seen educated professionals from Europe and Korea move to the US. The biggest mistake they make is if they have kids they screw up the schooling. Your decision on where to live should 100% be based around your job and schools. What is tricky is that the schooling situation in the US is entirely run by states. Each state is completely different. I love Texas, I am friends with people who live in San Antonio and go there a lot. However, their schools are complete trash. Same with CA. I don't know a single person in tech that sends their kids to public school in CA lol. Not that public schools everywhere are bad, where I live they are absolutely amazing and largely better than private. But I don't live in CA or Texas, I live in PA where you can self segregate yourself into 11/10 public schools provided you move to the correct neighborhood. If you move into the wrong neighborhood it is every bit as bad as the worst stereotypes.

100% this. If you're thinking of moving to Austin, try looking at Cedar Park or Leander - the school districts there are much better than what you'll get with AISD, and are some of the best public schools in all of Texas.