BritGuyTN

whatever - it looks like TN is home now as I am getting married soon and buying a property

not sure how the employment situation is as that was organised before I came out (on an L-1)

there are some great residential areas in nashville like greenhills/belmont/hillsboro village and bellmeade

if i had moved to where my girlfriend is from originally (knoxville) then I would have probably moved back - too much of a culture shock

lesley - I think you answered you own comment germantown is nice - memphis generally is not! I've been to germantown a few times over the last few months and it seems very pleasant - you will have a great time i'm sure

i have a pretty diverse range of friends and acqaintances in TN, and pretty much uniformly (even people who lived or still live) in Memphis reckon its awful

in a study a few months back, memphis was seen to be the most unhealthy place to live in the USA - I know these studies are usually nonsense but they usually give an indication

crime rates in memphis are also among the worst in the usa

in middle/eastern TN people often say they wish arkansas would take memphis (its near the state border)

a lot of people also refer to the city as 'memphrica' - draw your own conclusions

regarding bugs - the only things i come across indoors are crickets of some kind - although i have seen some pretty exotic looking spiders in the 'yard' :scared:

Lesley1020

I read and heard a lot about that study too - my cousin who lives in Boston can't quite believe that's where I chose to go and live (well close to!) - one positive thing I would say about Memphis tho - from the first time I ever went there (about 5yrs ago I guess) - the difference in the downtown area is pretty amazing - they are really trying hard to regenerate the area in general, upgrading buildings, building new upscale apartment homes, restuaraunts, shopping complexes etc and a big police presence on the streets - they seem to have been gradually successful - many of the law firms I interviewed with downtown commented on how a lot of folks are now moving to that area to be closer to work etc - still wouldn't be for me tho - but it's a pretty good place to go now for a night out or the like - whereas before I wouldn't have probably gone there if I could help it! One thing that does bother me is the obvious racism that is still obviously prevalent, we got lost a while back and ended up in what was obviously a really bad area and I'm not exagerrating when I say that not one person would help us when we stopped - needed some divine intervention that night to get back to safety!

Re Arkansas - you reminded me of my one and only experience - on the way to an interview driving down I40 to Memphis and not realizing that the last exit had come up and I missed it - if you do you are on the bridge over to Arkansas with no way off till you get there Needless to say I didn't get that job - arriving 1 hour late! LOL.

BritGuyTN

you're lucky you weren't car-jacked - and no, i'm not exagerating

beal street is fun to out and i'm sure that things will improve with enough investment