[gvr]

I'm Swedish and I emigrated first from Sweden to France and then France to the US. I can't speak about going the other way, but having done this twice I think it takes a long time to make _real_ friends with locals almost anywhere if you are past college. Lots of interesting people are busy and have limited time.

If you're a kid or in a primarily social environment like college it's obviously a bit different. I moved both for college and my first job and made tons of friends right away, some of which I still stay in touch with.