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Living overseas

Soul City

11 replies

pupsiecola · 02/06/2014 17:09

Me again. Someone on here a while ago posted that Paris is their "soul city" and that they are planning on retiring there. With all the talk of people struggling to settle, I wonder if anyone else has a "soul city"? I thought it was a great way to describe it - just wondered if anyone has found theirs for now, or in the future?

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butterfliesinmytummy · 03/06/2014 17:44

Ooh, that was me!

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pupsiecola · 03/06/2014 19:11

Seems like you're the only one butterflies

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TheSarcasticFringehead · 03/06/2014 20:06

I wouldn't use soul city, but I live just outside Los Angeles (Burbank, more specifically) and it just feels like home. I don't want anything else, I feel properly at home, I could imagine and want to live here until the day I die. This is the first place I feel I've properly fitted in- and I'm a foreigner, so didn't expect it, so I suppose it is my version of a soul city (well, town).

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porcito · 03/06/2014 22:40

I felt the same in Vancouver. Sadly the Canadian Immigration system didn't agree and I had to leave after 4 years, but still imagine myself back there.

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AggressiveBunting · 04/06/2014 05:18

interesting question. Dont think I have one although there are lots of places I feel an affinity to. Currently in HK, and it will always have a piece of my heart as my DC were born here and we feel very settled 5 years in. However, it's no country for old men, so I wouldn't want to retire here. Love Singapore but the same applies. Really like the west coast of the US and the south of the UK (Dorset /Wiltshire). Oddly I've never felt an urge to live elsewhere in Europe, other than Switzerland (because I like chocolate, skiing and rules). All in, I think it's highly possible that we wont really retire anywhere, just spend a few months in several countries.

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MasterOfTheYoniverse · 04/06/2014 08:56

Agressivebunting, I could be you
Although Singapore really has no soul so could do another little stint there but definitely not settle.
I grew up partly in Switzerland and maybe yes, at the french or Italian border. It feels too "static".
I could see us spending a stretch of time in Northern California and hoping one of the children will choose to go to Uni there.
I have many moments terribly missing the old Europe, but I realize my soul is not there anymore.

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TheXxed · 05/06/2014 09:21

Johannesburg is my soul city, love it all. The rough edges of Hillbrow, the immaculate lawns in Sandton and the heaving city centre when I think about my heart aches.

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aoife24 · 07/06/2014 18:19

Lyon has something of this effect on me. I especially like Croix-Rousse.

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partialderivative · 07/06/2014 19:59

York has definitely been our 'soul city' for a number of years.

I am a born and bred Londoner, but York has been special since the moment I discovered it.

In terms of non-UK, I think Mahalapye was my best town (def. not a city) It's just a sleepy little railway town in Botswana, but it was home to me for 5 years and I have very fond memories of it.

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butterfliesinmytummy · 07/06/2014 20:09

Aiofe I used to live in the Croix-Rousse and worked near la Part Dieu when I was a student on placement. Fond memories of my tiny 5th floor apartment (sans ascenseur) and finding out that the beach on the far bank of the Rhone is mostly nudist.....