ironporer

Considering a move related to job...Anyone with first hand experience got any pros or cons? People, cost of living, etc?

dbj1000

Do you have a visa? If not, you stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting there... unless you marry a Yank, of course!



Oops. Force of habit I guess.

penguinsix

I grew up in Central/Southern Illinois, which really isn't all that different from Indiana when you get down in the cornfield bits. Very rural independent people. You'll probably be a bit of an oddity being a Brit and folks might be a bit friendly, but you'll also be an outsider in towns where many folks go back generations.

Towns are generally about 10-15 miles apart (i.e. the distance an old train could go before having to fill up with coal and water) with farms in between. Bloomington IN is probably one of the larger cities, along with Evansville and neither is really that big. South of Champaign in Illinois you can go a 200 miles and only have one city >20,000 people or so. Corn and soybeans until your head spins. We used to be warned as kids not to walk into corn fields when the corn was high as you could walk for miles without getting out or seeing a road or any other sign of human activity.

Slight hills in Southern Indiana. You can even 'ski' on a few of the bumps (but I mean something like only 600 feet or so--not the Alps.

Weather is for the 'hearty'. Hot in the Summer, cold in the Winter, and wickedly violent Spring storms.

jumping doris

I live in Pittsburgh, which is quite close to Somerset (in US terms).

All around Seven Springs/ Laurel Highlands is very pretty. Lots of hills, forests. Close to Maryland and West Virginia which have some beautiful places if you like hiking, lakes, skiing etc.

We often drive down to Seven Springs and that is about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh.

One of the things I like about living in SW PA here is the closeness to some lovely areas as I have mentioned but also we are not far from some of the big cities.

Cost of living....this is the only place I have lived in and I find it expensive compared to the UK. Houses are cheap in some places but I am not sure about Somerset.
Sometimes I feel as though I have stepped back 20 years and it is probably worse in a small town but the plus side to that is a slower pace of life and people take time to be friendly and very polite.

Weather..hot and humid in the Summer, snow in winter (there's a surprise) but really lovely Autumns.

ironporer

Neither of those will be an issue...though being an 'outsider' will always be an issue in a small town, whether a Brit, or just a differant flavor Yank, like me.

Thanks for the info, it seems to be a very nice area from our web search. Now we just need the company to make an offer we can't refuse.

Rete

He's a Yank, luv and his Mrs. is Spanish now a LPR.

Leslie

PA is a redneck haven. You'll be right at home.

NC Penguin

If PA is redneck heaven, what's that make TX then?

Leslie

The same but he wasn't asking about Texas. I think if he was offered job in Texas he wouldn't even have to ask how fabulous it would be.

ironporer

I spent 2 years there, Burnet/Llano County... Hill-country. Loved it.

Spent 3 mo. in Dallas...hated it.

Redwing

Lived in Richmond IN, and found the people to be real friendly. Only unfriendly person I met, was a Brit installing some equipment for another company. My wife used to catch the local bus into town quite often, as the bus stop was just down the road from us. She got to know the drivers so well, they used to drop her off right outside the home on her way back.

On a different tack, some years prior, the company sent me there on a breakdown. When I got there, they had booked me into a hotel in Richmond, KY, and the equipment needed had been sent to our plant in Richmond, VA