Fear and Loathing in Anywhere but Rhode Island

I think it's time to turn my life and my world totally upside down. Hell, why not?

I began thinking, just preliminarily, recently about leaving this continent for a few years to do like Masters study (aka 5th-6th year) in a new environment, a new world, a new society - fields of historical study that gain no glancing notice in the United States. Since I've only sparingly mentioned any of these thoughts in person to people I know, since these thoughts are only sparingly making some sense in my mind, let's just say that they're in non-northern-hemisphere British Dominion nations (all of which, at times, I have been wrongly accused of hailing from).

But, wow, figuring all of this out is a complicated maze of non-American-English-logic. Of course I would like cycling and cycle racing to continue to play a role in any potential adventures of this sort. On this vein:

Man, the whole membership and licensing structure of USA Cycling, at least for amateurs with enough experience and ability to at least nominally compete in 'elite' amateur races, is so different than many other countries. I'm only beginning to get my head around the idea of only being granted some sort of 'elite' amateur racing license by membership on an official club. I guess, really, it's kind of like the continental European way of doing racing. And then there are the differences between 'elite' licenses and 'cyclosport' licenses for racing, and then the 'recreational' license. And licenses encompassing most or all disciplines at the same time. Perhaps beer drinking and brawling is a distinct discipline of Australian collegiate cycling. It is difficult to tell if South Africa has collegiate cycling competition.

They say that the United States is a society of merit. I guess the USA Cycling license structure certainly mirrors that claim. But it also embodies such intricate hierarchy. I know British Cycling's racing license system is much like USA Cycling's. It is reminiscent of old-school UK hierarchy. In such a latent, superficial way, such similarities touch my intellectual chuckle bone.