American mom in Germany shares why she'll NEVER return to the US!
Recently, one TikTok user wanted to hear from American emigrants who are happy to have settled abroad. The user, Brittney Ariane Vela asked, "If you're an American living abroad, please tell me why you would never go back?." Responding to this, another TikTok user Aly, who goes by the name of 'USA Mom in Germany,' gave an extensive answer.
There are roughly 300,000-350,000 Americans living in Germany. Aly is one of them. She moved to Europe with her husband, who is a German. Currently, she resides in Munich, capital of Bavaria and is known for sharing the differences between USA and Germany with her TikTok followers.
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Aly began considering leaving the United States after she got engaged to her partner. She said, "We created a pro/con list regarding moving to Germany and/or moving to the US. The most significant selling points for moving to Germany were universal healthcare, tuition-free education for our children, lower crime rates, and the lowest cost of living, which were all at the top of our list."
In the past, the TikTok user made a separate video where she gave her first hand experience and talked in-depth about the thoughts she had when making this choice. Some of the main points that she mentioned in the video were:
- Because I don't have to worry about affording my health insurance.
- Because my kids can go outside and play without me having to worry because the crime rates are so much lower.
- Because of public transportation.
- Because of 30+ vacation days a year.
- Because of so much paid parental leave.
Aly told Bored Panda, "The purpose of my Tiktok account is not to slam, drag, or put down the USA. My videos are meant to combat US propaganda that sells the USA as the best country in the world and, through this rhetoric, discourages a realistic view of other countries who often have social systems that function better for their people." Some of the other reasons in her exhaustive list include — having a son who is now bilingual and working on becoming trilingual; saving $100,000 on her son's already-paid university tuition; no longer having to worry about her own student loans; for not being shamed for being an atheist even though she lives in the most religious state; being able to afford daycare; safety of kids at school with no mass shootings or other incidents of violence; and how her taxes actually go towards helping other families.
Overall, Aly loves living in Germany and she prefers the country for its slower pace of life compared to the US. She also talked about the challenges she faced when she first moved, mostly centering around language barriers. "There were many things to get used to including overcoming the language barrier, which affected life in many ways outside of daily conversation and temporarily affected my autonomy and ability to operate independently," she explained. The Tiktok user also added, "One of my biggest realizations had to do with gun culture in the USA and how conditioned I was to be afraid of guns in daily life. On a lighter note, I also had a variety of culture shock experiences around the relaxed attitudes towards drinking and nudity, said Aly.