The International Schools Review Forum

If you could move your dream school to ANY city/country in the world (and live & work there), which 3 (or 5, or 10) cities/countries would be on your shortlist?

My 10 (in no particular order) would be:

- Buenos Aires
- Istanbul
- Vienna
- Fukuoka
- Amsterdam
- Taipei
- Budapest
- Mexico City
- Tokyo
- Berlin

That's a trick question. Do we get to choose the school? Are we taking into account how much a teacher gets paid in these cities? Or simply how interesting life could be there? For me (in no particular order):

Tokyo
Madrid (unrealistic due to pay, but would love to live in that city)
Singapore

I have to say it is a very tough question for me. I am not old, but the more I have travelled and lived in other places, the less willing I am to live in many places... Mexico would be great, were it not for crime at an all time high and an incompetent president which would make me nervous. Buenos Aires is not much better in that regard (based on many friends living there). Vienna is awesome, but if you don't speak German you will notice many unwelcoming attitudes very quickly. Buapest is fantastic, but it can also be rough and xenophobic... Just my view, of course, to each his own!

Love this question, because there are some awesome schools in awful cities, and some great cities without a decent international school. Sadly there's not a lot of overlap between my list of preferred cities and my list if preferred schools.
I would move my dream school to:
1. Lisbon
2. Tbilisi - for the country mostly, but nice city also
3. Adelaide
4. Lyon
5. Reykjavik - for the country mostly, but nice city also

All cities that I love in countries that I would enjoy. And all cities without a good international school.

Medellin, Colombia
Barcelona, Spain
Lisbon, Portugal
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Athens, Greece
Prague, Czech Republic

Based on quality of life, although Chiangmai can be a bummer in the first 3 months of the year:
Basel, Switzerland
Chiangmai, Thailand
Rome, Italy
Singapore
Toulouse, France

All of these are doable and if you're a teacher couple, you'd save well, too even after splurging a bit.

Vienna
Hong Kong
Singapore
Addis Ababa
Warsaw
London

Addis Ababa?
I looked into ICS a few years ago and talked to a few teachers that worked there.
They all said positive things about the school and absolutely LOVED the country for the many great interesting travel opportunities there but none of them had anything very positive to say about the city AA. Also nothing really negative other than internet speed.
Just out of curiosity: what do you like about Addis Ababa?

Do we assume we magically get a good salary & benefits wherever we choose, or do we have to consider the realities? Those lists will be different for most.

Example: I love Mexico City, but would never move there to work because the international school salaries in Mexico are so awful. But if I could get a teaching gig there that somehow paid 4k-5k USD month net with housing fully covered, I would move there tomorrow.

Assuming taking the realities into account:
*Tokyo
*Switzerland
*Hong Kong (but maybe not anymore since Beijing seems determined to ruin it)
*Bangkok (only at a top school)
*London

buffalofan wrote:
> Do we assume we magically get a good salary & benefits wherever we
> choose, or do we have to consider the realities? Those lists will be
> different for most.


Yes, you would magically get those, this is just about the cities.
That's why you can move your dream school to the cities of your choice.

Illiane_Blues wrote:
> Addis Ababa?
>
> Just out of curiosity: what do you like about Addis Ababa?

A sense of adventure combined with a desire to return to Africa.

No one's mentioned my number 1 yet, and I will be keeping it to myself. Selfish, but I want it to be just as golden when I am ready to move there permanently.

sid, Let me guess based on the tone of your prior posts:
Croatia?

Never even been in the country. I hear it’s nice and hope to visit someday. But it’s not on my favorites list.

1. Kyoto
2. Nice
3. Dublin
4. Sardinia
5. Reykjavik
6. Tahiti
7. Maldives
8. Vanuatu
9. Svalbard

@PsyGuy

Your #2 is Nice, but your #3 and #1 are also nice.