Anybody live abroad? Can you compare it with living in the U.S.?

I've been living in France near Paris, close to Fountainbleau to be precise and I find the quality of life much better here, more vacation and time off, 5 weeks holiday besides all the bank holidays. I take two months off in the summer, one week for Christmas and one week in May or June. No worry about health care, easy access to beautiful countryside in France and inexpensive fares to the rest of Europe with a short flight of only a few hours. I'm a painter and there is a lot more opportunity for artists here even if the French don't tend to buy paintings. Politically the French are a lot more mature than Americans. Job opportunity is limited but much more secure. People with children have all kinds of benefits from the government which simiply doesn't exist in the States. To make a long story short, I'm here to stay.

I used to live in the U.S. Now I live in Iran. Try comparing Heaven and Hell and you'll see how they differ.

The United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system

I'm an american living in the Netherlands. To me this place is so much better than the US. The quality of life seems better here. There is very little crime compared to the US. I feel much safer here, and love that as a female i can be outside at night walking or on my bike and not be bothered by people. Hadn't felt safe in the US for many many years, even in the daytime.
It's clean, the people are much more respectful than americans, there is more history here, architecture to die for and a beautiful country that is connected with a good train system and most towns have great bus and tram service as well. I lived in Phoenix and could have not commuted by public transportation like i do now.
You can drink tap water here, but i wouldn't drink it in the US. Yuck...
The dutch are much more tolerant the americans, and that seems to make life more pleasant.
There seems to be less of the blatant haves and have not's, like in the US. Haven't seen any slums here like every city in america.
The standard amount of days off given to employees is about 4 weeks a year, and that's from day one. Not like in the US you have to be on the job a year before you get a whopping weeks vacation. I have 12 holidays and 27 vacation days paid and just started.
There are no Targets, Kmarts, Costco's, large malls, or Denny's, sure miss those grand slams! But there are more smaller shops, less corporate here than in the US.
I think food in the markets is cheaper here than the US. Especially milk and bread.
Overall it's a great place compared to the US.