Re: How do you like your state?
 

I lived with my husband, so not quite that bad ;)

I just really disliked it as an area. Parking was impossible, the shops were all full of tat, and the people were pretentious.

Mind you, I'm not keen on Seattle as a whole. Over-priced and over-crowded. Which is how I ended up in Maine lol...

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I live in Mass.

Winters can drag. I actually don't mind the cold and snow until around Feb/March... really starts to get tiresome by then!

I find the people nice and the standard of living good. It's an odd advantage, but only being a 5 hour-ish flight to London is a bonus (plud I'm only about 35 mins from Logan).

Came here based on the fact we wanted to move somewhere in the US but with access to family. My wife's folks are in Maine, which means they're within driving distance for various gatherings. But in Mass I have a prayer of working.

Lived in Texas before. Loved the winters! But found the people grating and the Summer heat was a bit much at times.

I'm here for the long run, but can see myself being a cliche and wintering in Florida when I get (more) old and crusty :)

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I have just completed my first 12 months in MA. I have to say I have had a great time, great night life, met loads of new people and so on. The winter is probably the worst part about living in this part of the USA. I am told that I will get use to it in time, I find that hard to believe. The winters are long long long and it snows a lot, I had never seen snow like some of the storms last year. The first storm was a bit of a novelty as I was not use to it, but when you have to dig out your car, scrape off the ice from it, sit in it for 10 minutes to heat it up and so on, the novelty wares of very quickly.

The main reason I ended up here was due to a job offer from my company after I obtained a green card, the recession was on full flow so I took the job and moved to Boston. When they offered me the job I had $ signs in my eyes as my salary jumped by about 40%. Of course now that I have lived here a year, the reality has begun to sink in, Boston is an expense place to live, and my salary in real terms is not that great :-( its a work in progress at the moment.

I like the fact you can walk and take cabs places in Boston and the city suburbs, they can be fairly expensive too. I rent a one bed in Somerville, its small but fine for me, I have only been there 6 weeks now and have gone from sharing to my own place so the jump in rent is starting to sink in.

I want to live in a few different places, I am going to move to DC (MD Bethesda area ) probably next summer, one of my close friends lives there so I will give that a shot for maybe 2 years and then the two of use are thinking of giving CA a go. Not sure where yet. I may end up returning to Boston before I settle down somewhere eventually, but I will see how the other places are first.

Re: How do you like your state?
 

We live in (well, near) Cincinnati because of my husband's Columbus - Cincy job move just before I moved over here. I like it here, although I can't pretend I don't miss being in a proper big-big-big city and am constantly having to remind myself that yes, where I live really IS a decent-sized city rather than a medium-ish-sized town.

That aside, Ohio (or the bit of it I live in, anyway!) has a lot to recommend it, not least the affordability of it, at least when it comes to housing. I could never have imagined buying even a tiny closet to live in in London, and here I'm a new homeowner with a lovely house in a good area, and even a tiny garden... unthinkable! I love having proper seasons, although the winter we get here is just about as much winter as I can take, thank you very much!

As for Columbus... I love Columbus. Had my now-husband's pesky employers not decided to close their office there and move him down here, that's where we'd be living... when we first met, he lived in the Short North, and I pretty much fell in love with the place! :o

Oh, one thing I HATE is Delta and the insane fares they charge to fly ANYWHERE out of CVG. Feels like we're a short-ish hop from lots of places I'd love to go... and then I check the air fares and think "sod that." :(

Sorry, rambly and all over the place, there! :o

(editing to try to be more coherent)

Re: How do you like your state?
 

:lol: Believe me, you are NOT alone in that sentiment. I'm going to New York in December and the fare is $350 currently. Given that I saw a flight to London for $540 this morning, that's completely ridiculous. Many here drive to Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Lexington or Louisville for better fares.

Every once in a while, however, you can luck out. It's a rare treat to be able to fly out of Cincinnati. Where in town do you live? There are charming spots to this city if you know where to look. :)

Re: How do you like your state?
 

$350 to NY sounds like a bargain compared to the fares I was looking at when I was wistfully thinking it might be nice to fly there for a few days! Usually I think I must've accidentally checked the box that says I want to fly business/first... those fares are outrageous! :lol: Lucky you, going to NYC... I haven't been in years, and get very cranky knowing that it'd be cheaper for me to fly there from the UK than from here! It's especially bizarre when you can get a relatively cheap fare from Dayton or Columbus, and that fare involves a connection via.... Cincinnati, on the exact same overpriced flight you're flying out of Dayton/Columbus/wherever to avoid! :blink:

Anyway... I live in Norwood (between Norwood proper and the I-71, basically!) - after much indecisiveness about exactly which bit of town we were going to buy in, we fell in love with a house here, and here we are! :) Where are you? The more I explore this city (and surrounds), the more lovely places I discover... Cincinnati does seem to have a lot of little pockets of charmingness hidden away all over the place. Ours is definitely not one of the more remarkable neighbourhoods, but... I like it! :)

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I love reading about your reaction to your new surroundings - keep it up! I came down to Phoenix on a work assignment 6 months ago, thinking it was going to be hell, but ended up exploring and finding great places. I'm now at the point where, if my company said they no longer wanted/needed me here, I'd be pissed! I want to spend at least a couple of years here, experience the unique climate, scenery, etc. It's amazing how you can find pockets of 'interest' in seemingly mundane places.

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I live in Missouri, Just south of St Louis (but not too far south to be called a southener)

People: everyone has treated me nicely, In downtown St Louis people dont notice my different accent, but down in the small towns Im stopped just about everywhere and its always very nice questions and happy smiling people. The DJs, Thom and Jeff at The Point love me and my accent so I've had a lot of attention being invited back to the radio station time and time again to talk to callers. Its always good fun! Not had a problem with cops, a lot go to my husbands place of work to eat and I get to talk to them (even got a ride in one of their cars for some fun).

Weather: Hot, its not unberable though, its not the sticky hot im used to back home in the south-west of England. Its a nice heat that makes me feel like im full of energy. Of course staying in the heat for too long can make me kinda sleepy. Ive never been here for Fall before, but I have to say its not that bad, theres been a lot of rain, but thats something im used to! However im not used to the temprature dropping so quickly in the evenings, last night it went down to 38F (thats 3.3C) COLD! Ive visted before during winter so i know to expect snow, and im looking forward to it. Hot summers, Cold Winters...sound like something out of a book. I love storms, and theres plenty of those, heat lightening is amazing! Have only seen 1 tornado so far, plan to see a lot more, im just facinated by them!

Location: St Louis is a nice enough city if you stay out the west and east ends, the touristy and business areas are safe enough and if you like walking the Arch upto Union station is an interesting walk with a nice memorial in the middle. Plenty of restuarants too. Laclede's Landing has plenty of nightlife, but its a bit out of the way for me. The town I live in (Hillsboro) is a small friendly town, family run businesses, nice daycare center, nice schools, plenty of parks (St.Francis is my favourite), and theres an old covered bridge which is pretty. Plenty of churches for many denominations, plus non-denominations too. Not too far from bigger towns like Festus either, cinemas, bowling, family things to do. Houses seem reasonably priced, with big gardens too. The Ozarks arent that far away and I love it there, a lot closer to my home in the UK to the Lake District.

Food: Maybe its just me, but I find it hard to like food here. There isnt a single Italian restuarant or Indian restuarant that Ive been to that Ive liked :( I had to teach my husband that no, Fazolis is *fast food* and so is Taco Bell, even if you can "eat in". Im not a big fast food fan, burgers, hotdogs (yuck), pizza, chicken wings....just not my thing, i like a good proper meal but yet to find one i enjoy properly. Looking forward to Thanksgiving, MIL cooks it just like my mum does roast turkey back home! So struggling with food here, a lot of the times I have to admit I just dont eat on some days because nothing sounds appealing. I know its bad but....:confused:

Home:The biggest things i miss about home are the food, and the beach in my home town. I also miss being able to just simply walk somewhere. was 5 minutes to tesco, 10 and i could be on the seafront walking ankle deep in the waves. I dont drive and this means if i want to go anywhere i have to rely on my husband or MIL. As for driving, i didnt drive back home and the thought of driving here is very daunting, the roads seem really scary and everyone here seems to forget *how* to drive when there is a bit of water on the road.

Overall: Im happy here, Good and Bad things seem to weigh eachother out, just depends on what mood im in! Seems like a safe enough environment to bring up a family and thats my hopes for the future. I dont know If I would move back home, I miss my family, my brother especially. Not seeing him every day is heartbreaking, but I have my husband now, and hes soon to marry his OH, so life must go on and we all grow up. This is my journey, and so far so good!

If I had to rate it probably a 7.5/10

Re: How do you like your state?
 

Great writeup...:)

It's odd, the great food is the one thing I miss about living the city.:lol:


For Italian food check out the "Hill", the Italian neighborhood on the south side, just south of I-44 and east of Hampton ave. I grew up there and if you can't find an Italian place there you like, then you had better move to Italy!

http://www.thehillstl.com/

Also, check out the Central West End neighborhood (Euclid ave east of Kingshighway) and the University City "Loop" area on Delmar ave at the
Skinker Blvd intersection for bars, pubs, live music, coffee shops and ethnic restaurants.
http://www.thecwe.com/

http://www.ucityloop.com/


For bars/pubs (and the Farmer's market on weekends) head to Soulard just south of downtown in the shadow of the A-B brewery. Soulard is one of the oldest parts of STL, originally settled by the French and is also the home of the 2nd largest Mardi Gras celebration in the Nation, 2nd only to New Orleans.

http://stlouis.missouri.org/soulard/

And St. Francis park, I'm assuming you mean the one in the City and not St. Francis State park? If so, I agree. It's a wonderful walking park, the distance around it equals exactly one mile. And the neighborhood it's located in (St. LOuis Hills) is one of the nicest in the city and where I think anyone moving to STL should take a serious look at living. You can walk anywhere you need to go, including Ted Drewes frozen custard stand.:tounge_smile:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/stlouishills/architec.htm

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/R...296/ted-drewes


Another neighborhood to take a look at is the South Grand at Grand ave and Arsenal st. There are lots of shops and it's known for it's SE Asian restaurants with "The King and I" Thai as the cornerstone.
http://www.grandsouthgrand.com/

Re: How do you like your state?
 

Arizona is horrible, we hate it. The snakes, the scorpions, the black widow spiders, the heat - horrible, horrible, horrible.

Please stay away.

;)

Re: How do you like your state?
 

Trust me, I hear ya on the fares! Once upon a time Procter & Gamble had started their own airline to avoid CVG ... didn't last. ;)

Norwood is an interesting neighborhood. It does have some beautiful homes and is very centrally located. I lived in an apartment in Hyde Park for a few years, pretty close to you. We live in Blue Ash now, about a mile from the Kenwood Towne Center. We can walk to downtown Blue Ash for an ice cream or bite to eat, but I miss the walking neighborhoods closer to the city!

Other charming areas you could check out (if you haven't already): Mariemont (full of tudors), Wyoming, Glendale, Hyde Park/Oakley/Mt. Lookout, Mt. Adams (go to Blind Lemon!), Mainstrasse Village in Covington, etc.

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I concur, don't forget the horrible cacti. However, someone has to do it.

Re: How do you like your state?
 

Hmm York eh? Yes I would concur, as a fellow York(PA) and York Uker, PA is definately not expensive, at least compared to Baltimore, MD where we work.

Of course the economy is hurting everywhere!

Re: How do you like your state?
 

You really do get used to it...but last winter wasn't a bad one at all, pretty mild...this one on the other hand might be a bit pants, what with it already having some snow :D

Re: How do you like your state?
 

I used to love Capitol Hill, as a place to visit, but I'm not sure about living there... though the grilled cheese in Blue Bistro is pretty nice. :)

Good point about diversity within a state - which extends to climate, in the bigger states.

Texas Panhandle for us. I loved it when we first moved, hated it when the culture shock hit and am now back to loving it again - though a job would be nice.

We get all the "Texas" that makes Texas what it is, plus we get seasons. What more could anybody want?