Where would you live if you could live anywhere?

May 22, 2009 10:16 PM

I just finished undergrad. I don't have any particular attachment to this city and I don't think I can handle another winter here, so I want to buy a one-way ticket to somewhere interesting and find a new place to live. I've done this before and I'm not really concerned about the logistics, I just need somewhere cool to start my life. I want to leave the US and I'm thinking South America, but all suggestions welcome!

If I had my druthers I'd pick a medium-sized city with great weather (leaning towards hot is better) and a lot of young people/creative types. Who wouldn't, I guess. All the obvious stuff, too - cheap, easy to get work visas, etc. I want to become a photographer, but I taught English for a year and I'm sure I can use that anywhere.

I also want to be outside of America. I know there are cool places in this country, but if I'm going to go to all the trouble to move I'd like it to be somewhere a little more off the wall than San Francisco. I've spent about a year and a half total between Japan and Southeast Asia, and while I love them both I'd like to see something new. Many people who know these kinds of things have told me South America is fantastic, so I'm leaning in that direction. I'm pretty sure I could figure Spanish out, and a plane ticket to Lima is only 300 bucks.

I've got enough savings to bum around for two or three months, but instead of backpacking like a jackass I want to go with the pointed intention of finding someplace I want to live. I once asked "What's your favorite place in the world?," but I feel like that's a different question.

So, Metafilter, if you could live anywhere, where would it be?

posted by borkingchikapa to travel & transportation (12 comments total)

Within your parameters, Argentina, hands down. Buenos Aries is amazing, of course, but so are smaller places like La Plata and Cordoba. Smaller regional centres could be much cheaper than the big cities -- I spent a month in Olavarria for instance and the people watching and cafes were great, and the people themselves were really friendly. A place on the Pampean Atlantic coast could be nice. (I also spent 3 months in La Plata and two months camping in a sunflower field an hour from Loberia).

The good thing about a smaller place is there is way less chance you will fall into an expat community and spend all your time speaking English.

Argentina is not all that cheap, though.
posted by Rumple at 10:50 PM on May 22

I don't have any particular attachment to this city and I don't think I can handle another winter here

Your profile suggests you're in Washington, DC. Is that so?

And so you want milder winters and hotter summers than Washington, DC?
posted by gum at 11:42 PM on May 22

Have a look at Malta: "superbly sunny weather, expansive beaches, a thriving nightlife and 7,000 years of intriguing history."
posted by angiep at 12:11 AM on May 23

my wife and i split our time between the philippines and central america; actually we have websites about each one: philippines and costa rica / central america. But friend you've got to either have a lot of money in the bank, or else be willing to eat rice and beans and sleep in close quarters if you're going anywhere as a recent grad now.
posted by peter_meta_kbd at 1:44 AM on May 23

One of my good friends is from Malta-he's on facebook and he'll gladly friend you and talk your ear off about the place.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:09 AM on May 23

Not South America but how about Barcelona? Beautiful city. Decent climate. And a very creative atmosphere.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 4:34 AM on May 23

Fly to Buenos Aires, it's a great city, hotels and restos are cheap, weather is good. If you find it too big, take a cama bus to Mendoza, a nice little city filled with terasses and ice cream spots and surrounded by most of the best wineries in Argentina! (I'll see you there when I retire!)
posted by ddaavviidd at 6:23 AM on May 23

I love the spring, fall and summer in DC, actually, I think it's just about perfect. Milder winters would be nice though, I can't take the clouds anymore.
posted by borkingchikapa at 7:19 AM on May 23

While I was in Costa Rica, I met several college-age Americans who took a year to live/work there, and they all sounded like they were having a good time. My impression was that they took whatever work they could get (in touristy places, mostly), and were able to rent a cheap place just based on the wages they were taking in that job.
posted by pemberkins at 7:27 AM on May 23

Buenos Aires is a great suggestion. Brazil could be a really cool place to go, too. It does get pretty hot in the summers in a lot of Brazil, hotter than D.C., but the winters are milder in most parts, as well. I've never been to anything but huge megacity places in Brazil, so I can't advise on a smaller town. You could live in a suburb of Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. Rio is probably better if you don't speak Portuguese because the Sao Paulo folk aren't very patient with foreigners who don't speak the language.
posted by ishotjr at 10:07 AM on May 23

How does one backpack like a jackass?
posted by gman at 11:52 AM on May 23

Scratch that. I'm wondering if you think backpacking and jackassery have to go hand in hand?
posted by gman at 11:57 AM on May 23