Anyone wonder where you would be now if you grew up somewhere else? - General

I've never really thought of the concept that thoroughly until recently. There have been so many variables that could have easily changed where I lived with my family. What if your parents decided to settle in a different part of the country, or a completely different country? Would you have had a similar experience through schooling? How different do you think your job prospects would be? Do you think your friends and best friends would be parts of completely different crowds to what yours are right now? Have you ever wished that you grew up in a specific place, and why? I personally was born in South Africa, but did all 12 years of schooling in a coastal rural Australian town. Not bad compared to some other places, and I have a lot to be grateful for. But I guess as a gay male who isn't super obvious, at times I found certain social circumstances difficult to interact with, being in a super conservative town. It feels like the majority of my teen years were wasted, the majority of people from my school were anything but genuine, and it was impossible to find anyone to be best friends with. As such it felt like even my mental and personal development was brought to a halt until I moved away. Now it's all different, I study a law and accounting degree in a city, living in a country where I'm lucky enough to get an interest-free government loan to pay for tuition. I don't need a car, because public transport is cheap, safe and reliable. I'd say I'm in a good position now with little complaints. Now I have many genuine friends. I suppose the only complaint is that Australia is far from EVERYTHING. Visiting friends in the US and England seems pretty much impossible at this point, but otherwise, it could have been so much worse. I hear of so many experiences American teens like me got to have that I wish I could have received. I meet many European people my age who have had the opportunity to travel so easily because of where they lived. My parents almost moved to Canada when I was young. Sometimes I feel a bit disappointed that they didn't, I could have been skiing and snowboarding every winter. I could have traveled to many parts of the United States. But when I think of the mild winters and tropical beaches here, I thought I should just appreciate what I have instead. Has anyone had any similar feelings? I'd love to hear what others actually think about it :)

As someone whose lived (and not traveled) in 7 cites between 2 countries in my meager 20 years, yea, I know what you mean. It's actually a topic I chat with my family a lot about, since it has quite the interesting effect on all of us. I'll go into more detail in a later post, got to do something productive.

As someone who grew up in California I feel like I would have been a totally different person.

I wouldn't be used to the cold in Northwest Ohio.

I grew up in the miserable blast furnace of liberal hippyism that is Southern California. My parents were originally from Oregon but moved down here in the early 80's to start the worlds first all-digital recording studio, EFX. Sometimes I wish I had grown up in Oregon instead. The people are way nicer and the weather is far more pleasant, and my guns would be able to have magazines larger than 10 rounds.

I often wonder what would have happened if my parents didn't flee Vietnam during the war. When I see the current situation over there, I'm really glad they did. If they didn't, I would probably have a really shitty underpaid job at the moment, or maybe I wouldn't even exist, who knows.

In my fourth year at the University of Guelph, probably preparing to leave with an engineering degree. My computer collection would be incredibly small, if a hobby at all. There was a massive upheaval in my assistive learning when we moved across Canada. A lot of things changed. None of it was good.

But even if you grew up somewhere else, and still end up being the person you are right now. Is that destiny or just some major coincidence ?

Well, I grew up in Atlanta and I didn't turn out black, so I feel like I would have been the same anywhere.

I grew up in Poland but I moved here a few years ago, and I think that I'd still be the same person if I grew up in the United States. I like it here but sometimes I wanna go back to Poland.

[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;46016190]You should make another thread with your amazing retrocomputing collection[/QUOTE] Now that I've withdrawn from university for terrible grades and watched 14 years of work go to waste I'm not all that proud of it anymore...

when my dad was in Indonesia and was deciding where to go for graduate school, he had the choice to go to either the US or Japan, but he chose the US. so I could've been Japanese

personally if I could choose where I wanted to grow up it would probably be Canada. Superior schools, economy, and jobs. Whats not to crave, plus I am only 10 minutes from Canada

I think that my life would be far better if I was not born in a third world country, but my family makes up for it

My parents kept telling me the story of, how after a year of working in Japan after moving over from Russia, my dad had gotten job offers from France and from Australia. The offers came in when my mother was pregnant so they told me that they made the decision on sort of a coin-flip basis, they'd have moved to France if I were born a girl, but since I was born a dude they took up the offer in Australia. so, my sex determined a lot more than my sex, apparently, had i been born a girl I'd be speaking French chowing baguettes on the other side of the world.

yeah sometimes I do often think of where I would be if not in hicktown mcnorthern indiana. It was nice growing up when the cities gave a damn but it sucks here now. There's literally nothing to do but go to restaurants and witness obese people. Any small shred of local business or local life vanished 6 years ago. A fucking sinkhole of a town where you can't afford to leave until you finish a college something because getting a job is impossible without inside connections. The city is dying and (I'm really not joking here) the only high-knowledge career in demand is nursing. [editline]18th September 2014[/editline] who the fuck prides them self on living in the [I]crossroads[/I] state? "[I]The Crossroads state... You have to pass through here to get to somewhere better!"[/I]

I would have probably stayed in school, but other than that I wouldn't really want to change anything about myself.

Both my parents are from Pittsburgh and had lived there their whole life before moving to New Jersey two years before I was born. If I had been born while they lived there, I would have grown up there instead. On one hand, I love my girlfriend and all my friends in New Jersey that I grew up around and with, but if I had been born in Pittsburgh, I would have known all of my cousins, aunts and uncles much better. To me, extended family is just a list of names of people I barely know where as it could have been real people to be with and around every day. I honestly don't know which would have been better for me, but it's slightly comforting that I don't really have the option to go back and try it all again. [editline]19th September 2014[/editline] It's the cards I was dealt and I'll play them as best I can.

You wouldn't be yourself if you grew up somewhere else.

When I travel internationally, especially to 3rd world countries, I think about this all the time. And all the grand notions that my success was all due to hard work is humbled by the face punch reality that I lucked out being born in a country that gives me the opportunity excel.

My mother immigrated to the US from Portugal when she was sixteen so... I'd either be living in a third world country right now or would've never existed at all. I'd be in a worse position too, maybe would've lived a life of working two dead-end jobs like my mother had I decided to immigrat given the chance or be working a farm my whole life.

If most of us were born anywhere else then statistically we would have been born somewhere with next to no opportunities and we wouldn't have this thread because we'd all still be in abject poverty or dead. Happy funtimes post

My mum considered leaving my dad and moving back to the philippines when she was pregnant with me. God that would have sucked.

My mums from Canada. I've never seen snow in my life. Thanks mum

I moved from Los Angeles to a quiet town elsewhere in California at a young age. My street before was like a small community, everyone knew eachother and I had a lot of friends my age who I saw frequently. When I moved, it took awhile to adjust and make good friends again, and here nobody on my street talks to eachother. And there's really nothing to do- which I think it contributed to my attachment to staying inside & gaming. So yeah, sometimes I wonder how different things would be. I kind of wish I had grown up in the city, maybe it would've been more interesting, at least. But, my parents moved for work reasons, so if we had stayed, we might not be as well off as we are now. Which is moderately so.

Lived in England all my life, my parents considered moving to Canada when my and my brother were very little but they decided against it I apologise for stuff all the time that isn't necessarily my fault, so I guess it basically had the same outcome

I lived half of my life in The Bahamas on one of the three more well known islands, Abaco. During the last few years of living there I was heavily into drugs, I had some sort of god-complex and I took advantage of connections and had people steal cuban cigars for me or give me their prescription meds. I got very full of myself at some point and turned my good reputation into a very bad one which started spreading around a lot (Gossip gets around on an island quite quickly). I decided to jump ship and get off the island after trying to kick some of my drug habits and I was nearly killed and left in a ditch a few days before my flight. Now I'm clean, in Canada, working two jobs and the only substance in me is a cold beer after work every once in a while. If I'd had stayed down south I'm sure I wouldn't be around to talk about it. Also; I love asses, damn, nothing like a girl with some good buns. That's a part of me that's never gonna change.

[QUOTE=Tarzy;46049525]I lived half of my life in The Bahamas on one of the three more well known islands, Abaco. During the last few years of living there I was heavily into drugs, I had some sort of god-complex and I took advantage of connections and had people steal cuban cigars for me or give me their prescription meds. I got very full of myself at some point and turned my good reputation into a very bad one which started spreading around a lot (Gossip gets around on an island quite quickly). I decided to jump ship and get off the island after trying to kick some of my drug habits and I was nearly killed and left in a ditch a few days before my flight. Now I'm clean, in Canada, working two jobs and the only substance in me is a cold beer after work every once in a while. If I'd had stayed down south I'm sure I wouldn't be around to talk about it. Also; I love asses, damn, nothing like a girl with some good buns. That's a part of me that's never gonna change.[/QUOTE] Your life seems like it would make a great movie.

My family moved to Japan when I was little so I pretty much grew up following Japanese traditions and customs, I still follow half of them today and as a result I keep a very sentimental value on Japan, I love it and feel indebted to it as much as my own country, we moved back when I entered Elementary School. The public schools in Malaysia wouldn't accept me and as a result I had to go to a Private School which had English as the medium language. A majority of students in public schools couldn't enter universities overseas because of the bad English education in those schools. Had I not go to the Private School, I probably wouldn't be able to speak English, discover things like Technology/Computers/Steam/Internet/Facepunch which became part of my life today. I wouldn't be able to go and study overseas in Australia and I probably would not met my good friends. In short my family moving to Japan was a big life changing movement. All these experiences defined who I am today and I have no regrets about it, because I know that if we stayed in Malaysia I would probably end up either with bad grades and stuck as some McDonalds cashier, or entered a local Uni and not be able to find a job after I graduate. [editline]24th September 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=elitehakor;46017720]when my dad was in Indonesia and was deciding where to go for graduate school, he had the choice to go to either the US or Japan, but he chose the US. so I could've been Japanese[/QUOTE] Oh hey my family had the choice of either moving to Japan or US too. But we chose Japan.

yeah the main problem with going to japan is that my dad would've had to go back to indonesia which I'm pretty sure he didn't want to do so I guess I'm happy he didn't choose japan