u/Ill_Foundation_3339

I’m at point in life where I’m seriously reconsidering where I actually want to build a base long term.

For context: I’m Mexican, and for the last 4 years I’ve mostly been working remotely for an American company while moving around between Europe, Africa and Latin America as a digital nomad.

I spent a long time in Spain and honestly loved a lot about it: the culture, food, climate, aesthetics, social life, and just feeling culturally connected to people around me. But at the same time, salaries and housing seem pretty brutal unless you have a foreign remote income (that leaves you in this weird legal/tax zone; plus I want to work into getting my EU passport).

Then I moved to Germany for a master’s because I thought it would offer better long-term opportunities and a better salary. But after a year there, I realized the country really wasn’t for me personally.

Now I’m trying to figure out if there’s some kind of middle ground in Europe.

What I’m looking for is something like:

• Decent salaries / professional opportunities
• Cool or pleasant cities (ideally with good aesthetics)
• Food and culture
• Relatively healthy social atmosphere
• Decent weather
• Possibility of building an actual long-term life there as a non-EU citizen

For people who’ve lived around Europe: which countries/cities do you feel currently offer the best balance between quality of life, social atmosphere, and economic opportunity?

Or does everywhere eventually end up having the same problems, just with different aesthetics and weather?

I’ve been living in Germany for the last year doing a master’s, and honestly I’ve realized the country just isn’t for me. The salaries and opportunities looked attractive from the outside, but in practice I’ve struggled a lot with the social atmosphere, bureaucracy, lack of warmth, and overall quality of everyday life. I also found my program extremely theoretical and disconnected from real work.

Before Germany, I spent a long time living between Spain and Mexico while working remotely (for an american company), and personally I loved life in Spain: the culture, food, weather, aesthetics, social life, and just feeling culturally connected to people around me. The problem is that every time I seriously consider moving back long-term, I run into the same issue: salaries and housing. It feels like the only realistic way to live comfortably there is with a foreign remote salary, which also leaves you in this weird legal/tax/autónomo limbo; specially cause I don't have an EU passport.

So lately I’ve started wondering if France could maybe be a middle ground between northern and southern Europe.

What I’m looking for is basically:

• Decent salaries and professional opportunities
• Cities that feel alive and aesthetically pleasant
• Good food and culture
• Somewhat decent weather
• A healthier social atmosphere

Do people here feel France offers that kind of balance? Or does it end up having the same problems as Spain/Germany, just in different proportions?

Como contexto, soy mexicano y pasé los últimos 4 años viajando como digital nomad. Durante ese tiempo, casi un año entero lo viví entre Valencia y Sevilla, y disfrute bastante de la experiencia.

Después me mudé a Alemania para hacer un máster, pero tras un año allá me di cuenta de que ni el programa ni el país terminaron de convencerme, así que ahora mismo mi opción número uno es volver a España.

Para mí, España tiene cosas difíciles de encontrar juntas en otros lugares: cultura, clima, comida, vida social y una conexión directa con mi cultura.

Pero al mismo tiempo, el contenido en redes, comentarios de conocidos, y noticias sobre bajos salarios, malas condiciones laborales, dificultad para crecer profesionalmente y el tema de la vivienda me genera dudas.

¿De verdad está tan mal como se pinta? ¿O sienten que también hay bastante exageración y negatividad?

Incluso me gustaría eventualmente abrir mi propio negocio, aunque también sé que el tema de ser autónomo puede ser complicado.

Como referencia, cuando vivía ahí tenía un salario remoto de aprox. 2400 USD netos, y con eso vivía relativamente cómodo.

Me interesa mucho escuchar experiencias de gente que viva en España actualmente, especialmente personas que hayan vivido en otros países de Europa/América y puedan comparar.

About a year ago I moved to Leipzig from Spain. For context, I’m Mexican, and I usually split my time between Spain and Mexico depending on the season, although for the last 4 years I’ve also spent a big part of my life traveling as a digital nomad.

After years of constantly moving around, I felt like I needed a break and wanted to build a more stable base somewhere. At the same time, I wanted to start a master’s program to change the direction of my career a bit.

I chose Leipzig because the program initially looked interesting, and Germany in general seemed attractive because of salaries and work opportunities (my income was already around 2300 USD net remotely). I also already had quite a few German friends from traveling, plus some Mexican friends doing their own master’s in other German cities, so it didn’t feel like jumping into the unknown.

At first everything felt fine, but over the months (especially during winter) I started feeling increasingly miserable there. People often felt angry, cold, or emotionally checked out. There was also this strange lack of aesthetics and quality in everyday life. Add endless bureaucracy, constant tension, and a general feeling of insecurity in the city, and little by little it became exhausting.

At the same time, my master’s program started feeling extremely theoretical, impractical, and honestly pretty boring.

Eventually I decided to spend my second semester in southern Austria just to get away for a while, and now I’m seriously considering leaving both the master’s and Germany completely.

During all this, I also started dating someone, and we’ve now been together for a bit over 6 months, which obviously also makes me think more carefully about where I actually want to build a life as she is also considering leaving the country.

Right now I don’t really see myself going back to Germany. But sometimes I look at other parts of Europe (and the world in general) and wonder if maybe everywhere is becoming kind of the same: socially disconnected, low-energy, cultural/political tensions, etc. Just with different levels of sunlight, food quality, and friendliness.

I know no place is perfect, obviously. But living in Austria these past months has made me question whether maybe Germany just wasn’t the right fit geographically. People here feel much calmer and more polite, cities look significantly better, and overall quality of life feels higher.

So now I’m wondering: could southern Germany/Bavaria maybe feel completely different from Leipzig and eastern Germany in general? Or is it more or less the same underneath?