Tracym

Visiting would be a good idea.

lol there's the United States - and then there's Texas. Many Texans still think it's a separate country

There are some nice things everywhere, but if I was picking states to go live in, Texas would be in my bottom five I think.

Of course, that's just me - there are a lot of Texans who wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

meauxna

But you're just coming for a visit, right?

Dallas was just named by Forbes mag as their top city pick for couples (and the top ten included Houston, Austin and San Antonio).

There's a link for the top cities for singles and best/worst cities for renters inside the article: http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/03/cit...04couples.html

Dewey

Definitely think about what you want to be doing in 5 years time and if overseas experience will help you achieve your goals. Meauxna rightly pointed out rent is going to be a big expense on a 12-18 month internship. Here in DC many short term internships are unpaid. Public transport here is quite good, and many people carshare from the suburbs, but elsewhere it may be non-existent and you will need to buy or rent a car.

Some professional societies, non-profit, and international organizations, offer travelling fellowships, or overseas conference scholarships, and these can be a good way of getting an overview of a profession without having to spend too much of your own money, the downside being you spend less time abroad and you probably won't have any project work to show in future interviews but you will have made a ton of contacts.

If you do end up coming here on a 12 month internship, make sure your employer gives you some time off so you can get out and about.

zombie.sweetheart

Hahaha. Alabama was actually another place I was thinking of...

I do have a cold at the moment actually, maybe will give the zombie licking a rest for a couple of weeks

zombie.sweetheart

Thank you, that article is very interesting. I notice that Austin, Houston and Dallas are in the top 20 best places for singles. Texas is still looking pretty good to me. Though I always had a thing for Phoenix, Arizona too. Decisions decisions!

Also, just want to say thank you to everyone that has offered advice. I really appreciate it. You are a very helpful and friendly bunch.

meauxna

We just spent a couple of days in Phoenix.. much better than I remembered but very sprawled out IMO. If you want to study 'car culture' that would be a good place!
Austin is a particularly hip corner of Texas.

tonrob

Seriously though - given it's such a big country there are literally tons of places that you could spend 12 or 18 months and have an absolute blast. Of course, your choices may be limited or dictated by your sponsor choice but, this aside, be driven by your personal interests too, as the US has (practically) everything. Do you want to be warm, cold, by the beach, in the mountains, do you want to hike, swim, party, make friends, is history/culture important or not? etc. (the list goes on).

And despite the piss-taking, I'm sure many like living in Texas. I've only ever visited, but found Dallas and San Antonio both thoroughly pleasant. Missed Austin unfortunately, but heard good things. I think rural Texas is where things start getting dicey - a rule which I believe applies across many of the southern States.

zombie.sweetheart

I hear Austin is particularly nice, and I read their motto is "Keep Austin weird", which I kind of like.

I know this might sound stupid, but does anyone know if there is like a quiz or something that suggests a good place to live in the US based on what you are interested in? I did one a while ago and it came out with San Francisco, which is one of the last places I would choose!

Tracym

Oh San Francisco is awesome! Why would that be low on your list?

http://www.findyourspot.com/

zombie.sweetheart

That quiz is FANTASTIC. Thank you, just what I was looking for. Came out with Little Rock, Arkansas for me.

I have been to SF a few times as I have family there, I found it to be too cold and a bit too "European" if that makes sense. I want to go somewhere where things are really different to how they are in the UK.

Tracym

Great, I'm glad it helped. Little Rock will certainly be different from the UK, I'm sure.

I understand what you mean by too "European" I think.

I hope you will get a chance to travel around some - there are so many different areas and cultures in the US.