I do agree with a lot of this, especially the sentiment or "je ne sais quoi" you are trying to communicate! I do think you capture the general culture of both places perfectly.
However, speaking from my own experience as a founder, I would disagree with the statement that entrepreneurs in Europe are less *empowered*. It is not about limitations in practice or regulation, rather I would argue that it's both easier (and yes, safer) to start a business in Europe in MANY ways. The exception being the venture capital aspect of things. Rather I think this almost only comes down to the cultural aspects that you describe so well. Perhaps people in Europe take less risk, but mainly because we, as a culture and society, are not encouraged to do so.
Outside of entrepreneurship, I think homeschooling is a great example of a more practical and legal aspect stopping some people to live this way in Europe. If you have any other such examples it would be interesting to hear about them.
I have never lived a classical dirtbag life, I have exited the traditional work life on a much more privileged basis. But I'm still truly hooked by your writing and interviews and find them all very empowering for me to continue living like this and perhaps also challenge myself to take even more risk in this regard.
Yeah - I'm fascinated to hear your thoughts on this and I like the narrative you're forming here. A thing I'd throw in is that there are some parallels between what "the West" and "wilderness" represented to dirtbags, and what "the East" represented to the Hippies and the first Lonely Planet-style backpackers. Both of them are making this interesting attempt to correct modern problems via immersion in primeval or ancient environments. Broadly speaking, in the US that impulse often looks like immersing yourself in wilderness. In Europe, the pull was more towards ancient or foreign cultures. Nowadays you do still find some similar characters on (for instance) the PCT that you'll also find in hostels in SE Asia, with slightly different accents.
Also, on a more personal note, trying to access that neutral feeling towards the US as neither good nor bad has been a thing I've been wrestling around with too. It's an easy time to be mad at the US, but also...
This was an interesting and helpful piece for me, as someone who unschools my kids and lives in Colorado. I love Europe and immersing myself in cultures of all kinds.
I have long wanted to take our family to live somewhere else for extended periods of time (the rest of my family wasn’t so keen, which is why we didn’t become world schoolers, and instead I started a doctoral program for my own adventure).
We have a teen who attended community college, one class per semester, for his “9th grade” year. He’ll have up to five years of this arrangement free for us while he is in “high school.” In looking at other countries, I haven’t found anything else that would be such a good fit going from unschooling to getting some kind of credential. And just as importantly, being able to titrate how much of his day and week he’s willing to devote to such a project.
We have two more unschooled kids growing as well, so I’ve come to accept we’ll probably stay rooted in Colorado until they find their paths to adulthood. None of them would have thrived in conventional education for various reasons. I’m grateful for the freedom and opportunities we have here as unschoolers. I also wish we had more of the security you talked about in social democracies, and just less of the painful inequality.
I do agree with a lot of this, especially the sentiment or "je ne sais quoi" you are trying to communicate! I do think you capture the general culture of both places perfectly.
However, speaking from my own experience as a founder, I would disagree with the statement that entrepreneurs in Europe are less *empowered*. It is not about limitations in practice or regulation, rather I would argue that it's both easier (and yes, safer) to start a business in Europe in MANY ways. The exception being the venture capital aspect of things. Rather I think this almost only comes down to the cultural aspects that you describe so well. Perhaps people in Europe take less risk, but mainly because we, as a culture and society, are not encouraged to do so.
Outside of entrepreneurship, I think homeschooling is a great example of a more practical and legal aspect stopping some people to live this way in Europe. If you have any other such examples it would be interesting to hear about them.
I have never lived a classical dirtbag life, I have exited the traditional work life on a much more privileged basis. But I'm still truly hooked by your writing and interviews and find them all very empowering for me to continue living like this and perhaps also challenge myself to take even more risk in this regard.
Yeah - I'm fascinated to hear your thoughts on this and I like the narrative you're forming here. A thing I'd throw in is that there are some parallels between what "the West" and "wilderness" represented to dirtbags, and what "the East" represented to the Hippies and the first Lonely Planet-style backpackers. Both of them are making this interesting attempt to correct modern problems via immersion in primeval or ancient environments. Broadly speaking, in the US that impulse often looks like immersing yourself in wilderness. In Europe, the pull was more towards ancient or foreign cultures. Nowadays you do still find some similar characters on (for instance) the PCT that you'll also find in hostels in SE Asia, with slightly different accents.
Also, on a more personal note, trying to access that neutral feeling towards the US as neither good nor bad has been a thing I've been wrestling around with too. It's an easy time to be mad at the US, but also...
As always, I'm delighted to be on a parallel journey as you, Tim!
This was an interesting and helpful piece for me, as someone who unschools my kids and lives in Colorado. I love Europe and immersing myself in cultures of all kinds.
I have long wanted to take our family to live somewhere else for extended periods of time (the rest of my family wasn’t so keen, which is why we didn’t become world schoolers, and instead I started a doctoral program for my own adventure).
We have a teen who attended community college, one class per semester, for his “9th grade” year. He’ll have up to five years of this arrangement free for us while he is in “high school.” In looking at other countries, I haven’t found anything else that would be such a good fit going from unschooling to getting some kind of credential. And just as importantly, being able to titrate how much of his day and week he’s willing to devote to such a project.
We have two more unschooled kids growing as well, so I’ve come to accept we’ll probably stay rooted in Colorado until they find their paths to adulthood. None of them would have thrived in conventional education for various reasons. I’m grateful for the freedom and opportunities we have here as unschoolers. I also wish we had more of the security you talked about in social democracies, and just less of the painful inequality.