mhensley

Hello GrahamRounce,

I am a 24yr old female living in florida. I moved here a few years ago from another state, and from what I can see here is that there is a HUGE difference in lifestyles from the east coast vs. west coast. Depending on your current lifestyle you should make sure to research the area you would like to bring your son to. The west coast is similar in style to the west coast of the US...slow and friendly, but not too open-minded to outside cultures (my fiance is a non-citizen and gets rude comments very frequently). The east coast is more like the east coast of the US...much faster-paced, impatient people but more open-minded to other cultures. As far as highschool, I can only say from my experiences in college here, and from my younger brother in highschool...your son will definately be exposed to sex, violence, and drugs. However, he will be exposed to those anywhere here in the US. Also, being that it is Florida the climate allows for young girls to expose their bodies more than you may see in other states. I was in a shopping mall in Miami last year and saw a teenage girl wearing a fishnet dress with only the bottoms of her underwear (no top-showing everything in public). Don't get me wrong, Florida is beautiful and the economy here is probably the best in the US, but I would highly suggest visiting possible cities and highschools before making a decision. Good luck!

Miranda

GrahamRounce

You mean treating school as an educational rather than social experience?
Anyone got any hints apart from having no telephone and keeping a couple of lions in the front yard ?

GrahamRounce

Hmm. Like I said, he's half Nigerian. Am I getting you wrong, or are you saying he might have problems because of that?
And in East London, too! One just has to hope he won't go crazy, I suppose... I think he might be level-headed underneath...
Well, we're more or less fixed on the St Pete area. As far as I know it's nice? Everybody says so...
Thanks,

Celsius

Why are you thinking of Florida? Does your wife have family there? Does one of you have a job lined up in that state?

If the answer to both is "no" then perhaps it'd be better to consider a more tolerant/diverse state for your son's sake and also for your family in general (I'm going to assume you're White).

Look at this for details about ethnicities in FL-
http://www.city-data.com/states/Flor...ic-groups.html

You can check ethnicities for cities and states if you go back to the home page.

Ray

Yup !!! Great innit ....

Ray

Umm!! Nobody I know says that .....

GrahamRounce

Yes and no. My wife's daughter lives in St Pete, but we can both work anywhere - nothing's fixed yet, jobwise.
Yes, we are. How bad is it? London has it's share of nutheads, but in practise, in day-to-day living, there's been no problems so far.
I've looked at your links, but the relative sizes of different groups are not necessarily a guide to levels of problems...
Thanks,

jumping doris

Hi
don't know if this will be much use as we moved to Pittsburgh with 3 children and 2 of them are teenagers. (16 years and 14 years)

They knew they would miss friends and familiar places although it was obviously worse than they expected .

The big thing was just how very, very, different school was.....subject wise.

The eldest had just done GCSE's and is very arts and language based. She would have done art, textiles and french at A level but here she is back to a very general syllabus with very little art. The 14 year old fared better subject wise as in the UK she was still at that general level. They just didn't understand any of it however. The terminology, the teaching methods...it was double dutch and they really struggled.

The 14 year old is really competitive and got stuck in but the 16 year old could have floundered because she gives up easily. The school were very good and some of her teachers stepped in and found ways of getting her through it.

Also the 14 year old is in 9th grade and is in the first year at high school and so is in the same boat as all the others in her year. The 16 year old has found it harder to break in because everyone in her grade (11th) has been together for two years. It was hard for them at first and I found that very upsetting .
But we have only been here 3 months and they are now beginning to settle in.

Celsius

The exposure includes men and women of all ages.,,

GrahamRounce

Of course it was a lot of use! There's certainly some stuff to think about...
Thanks.

Crispyuk88

Christ you kid is a lucky 'un.
I would ask to him if he wants to. My dad never really asked me 2 years ago, kinder just said its happening, "pack you're bags."
The whole situation depends on what type of person you're son is, whether he will come to love the states, or loathe it.
Outgoing, easy to get along with and MOST important willingness to adapt to new situations; they may become good or bad permanent lifelong ones he will have to deal with. Also definite need to want to experience new things and make the most of them.
Moving is a great experience, great doesn't always mean happy though. I've been here 2 and a bit years now, at 17 now I’m counting the days to get out of here. Whole time I’ve been here its never felt quite right.
I think the absolute BEST thing you can do, coming from a 17's year old POV is if you can, bring him over for a couple weeks. Show him the life he will be living, get him into the school for a week for experience. Make him eat lots of crappy American food, see if he can get used to it . Get him involved in some stuff outside of school. Overall the tripis a taster, don't try and make it like a holiday, more a reality of everyday life.
Most Americans live a higher standard of life, in comparison to size. It will seem awesome and unbelievable to person visiting. If you browse about the 'moving back to uk' forum you will see that most that moved from elsewhere to the states over come the fact there house is 5x bigger than there old one; then learn that they are materialistic items, over time start to miss the more important things, there generally the things you took for granted before. This is why if the trip were to happen, you make it as real as possible as it's easy to take it as a holiday and then think that’s what your American life will be like.

Tried to stay neutral in my response, hard not to let some thoughts in though.
Whether he comes, or goes… Best of Luck!
Chris

TouristTrap

Agreed.

GrahamRounce

Blimey! What's wrong with it? We have all visited (Gulfport actually, with trips into St Pete), and it seemed pretty nice. My step-daughter now lives there and likes it. Does it have a diseased underbelly or something that we've missed? Please tell!

mhensley

I'm actually in the St. Pete area, it is nice and because it is so close to Tampa and Orlando it has a good amount of convenience. The main situation is there are so many retired people here. They are very much stuck in their racist mentality, and unfortunately because your son is half Nigerian it might be a problem. But I imagine he has a british accent, so that would probably help disolve any issues there. I would suggest to you Clearwater. (St. Pete is on the southern end of Tampa, Clearwater is on the northern end). I just notice on the news everynight that more and more crime in the St. Pete area lately. Clearwater seems to pretty much stay out of all that stuff.

Ray

After the 1996 race riots the place went downhill fast in the opinion of a lot of people ..my wife who have lived there for year was virtually forced to move away if she valued her safety ... ..The beach and tourist areas are pretty safe .. but the main parts are not that safe at night .. the crime figures are not good either .. but move out a bit and all changes .. for the better ..