I realize that I will not be living in America once I am older and have graduated college. I was thinking either Ireland or Australia since those places are absolutely beautiful. BUT, with recent research, it feels like my future college education here in the states will probably not benefit me in any way shape or form in Ireland. I would just end up sounding like a babbling idiot unable to help possible future kids out.

Australia, however, might be more atainable.

Either way, I'm not sure where I want to go. Are any of you attending a foreign school? What is it like? How are the classes and tests?

TL;DR, basically I want to live someplace where I won't be the stereotypical "stupid and lazy American" with an American education :/

I attended school in India when i was younger :3

Ah, don't worry about the stereotypes. As long as they see you're not an obnoxious ignoramus, they'll treat you alright. Of course there'll be gentle ribbing if you move to any other country in the Anglosphere, but that's just for fun, and not a personal thing.

I wouldn't personally live in Ireland, because I find there's not much to do. Australia would probably be more interesting in the long run. Then there's always New Zealand nearby if you love the whole extreme greenery thing. Also, look at the requirement to immigrate to these countries (assuming you haven't already), because I know some of them have highly specific reqs.

No one really says that about Americans outside of some stupid political debate chatter, or when they've got some colorful story. The average foreigner is not going to be "Oh, you're AMERICAN..we don't serve your kind here." Go live in a foreign country for a few months and I really doubt you'll think America sucks so much afterward.

Actually, I've lived all over Europe and now reside in Canada, and going to be honest here: Americans have a bad rep everywhere I have been. I was bullied pretty horribly for being a Canadian who had lived close to the border before my move, because I had "the dumb American accent".

Ireland is absolutely GORGEOUS and one of my favourite countries that I've been in. However, unless their economy gets back on its feet between now and when you make a decision, I wouldn't recommend it. Ireland has a really high unemployment rate right now and they are really struggling, it seems. I just had a friend recently move residency from Ireland to here in Canada to not only be with his Canadian girlfriend, but because there was simply nothing for him left in Ireland. I have heard that Australian is beautiful and, of the two, the more likely choice. Hopefully that whole stereotype where they shoo poisonous things from their kitchen on a daily basis is just... -shiver- :P Belgium is not the prettiest country of them all, but living in Belgium means you have the opportunity to, say, drive three hours and land yourself in France for the weekend! Or pretty much anywhere. It's smack in the middle of it all and makes for a great place to reside in if you're the travel-lover. I was there six years ago and I was younger, but from what I could see, the economy was pretty stable. Since it was in the middle of everything, too, it had such a huge range in cultures that you will pretty much go mostly unnoticed for where you came from, and you will also get the pleasure of being exposed to the many cultures around you. The restaurants there are fantastic. A little bit of everything muddled in one country. There are other countries I could recommend, but unless you're willing to learn languages, well, may not be best. And if you do decide to look at Belgium, you may have to learn Flemish or Dutch. Which isn't that bad! If you are willing to learn Flemish, you will be able to understand Dutch and German to a huge extent too, and those three languages are pretty prominent in that area of the world so it could be useful :) And I found learning German to be very fun, actually. Anyway, I attended a British school and it was pretty hardcore compared to Canadian schools. I moved to Europe when I was eight and pretty much just learned addition and subtraction, and then I was thrown in a class where they already memorised their times tables. I was like, why is that plus sign on its side? Why does the subtraction sign have dots? Oh well! Add and subtract hurr! And their high school starts a lot sooner, too, so when I came back to Canada from being in high school to being put in middle school, I was all WHAT IS THIS BULL I know that post-secondary is MUCH different, but I never experienced post-secondary there, so I couldn't tell ya. Just, that's what I know. Good luck in your search!

Lived in Canada for two years, never a comment.

Canada =/= Europe, which is what the topic is addressing Hard to compare quiet & open-minded Canada to anywhere, actually. I was rejected just by neighbourly association with the USA. Americans do have a bad rep.

Last time I checked, Australia was not in Europe. I figured it was open to any foreign countries since it did not specifically say, "no America's hat comments allowed."

Many of the people I talked with in depth who lived in Canada were from other countries. South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Serbia etc. The only borderline bad comment was one person had heard Americans were rude, he had not had actually met one that was rude, however.