I want to move somewhere new and fun. I have very few requirements:
-I don’t want it to be somewhere I’ve already lived: GA, NC, AZ, IN, Southern California
-I don’t want it to be super cold, so Boston, Chicago, and all those northern Ohio cities are pretty much out of the question (though I’ve heard Columbus is nice)
-I don’t want it to be super isolated, so I doubt I’ll be moving to Northwestern North Dakota.
-It has to have at least one good college/university (but the more the better.)
-It doesn’t have to be in the US. I would love to study in Australia, the UK, Canada, or any of many other countries.
So pitch your area to me! Why would I want to live there?
Well, the Washington DC area has many advantages **
Numerous colleges
Adequate mass transit depending on where you live / work
Lots of free museums
Summers aren’t too brutal (well, it can get plenty hot / humid but not as bad, or for as long, as places further south)
Winters, ditto - snow isn’t usually too heavy, when it is, it usually is gone in a few days, etc. In other words, we compromise between Deep South and Frozen North (and spring / fall are lovely).
Good access to things like theatrical productions
** Unfortunately, affordable housing and tolerable traffic are not among them
Well, I’m really happy living in the “greater Sacramento area” which includes Sacramento County and parts of Yolo, El Dorado, and Placer Counties. I live in Sacramento proper about 10 mins from downtown, but in a semi-suburban neighborhood.
What I like…
[ul]
[li]It gets hot in the summer, but it’s a dry heat.[/li][li]Day trips include Lake Tahoe, the Wine Country, San Francisco, Pacific Ocean[/li][li]Winters are chilly, it doesn’t snow, but you’re never more than 1½ hrs from snow/skiing[/li][li]Lots of local recreation areas including 26 miles of bike trails, two rivers, Folsom Lake and lots of parks[/li][li]We have lots of arts…theater, opera, galleries, ballet, etc. Plus, it’s close San Francisco and all the fine arts there[/li][li]Affordable housing (IMO)[/li][li]The Sacramento Kings, also, the RiverCats (minor league baseball), proximity to other sports teams, like the Giants, A’s, and the Sharks.[/li][/ul]
We have not one but two! universities you may wander about, plus a lovely community college or three.
There are about 20 nightclubs I can think of all in walking distance of each other, FSU campus, and lots of places to go to soak up the beer.
There are a few museum type places but I wouldn’t know the details.
Pool halls galore.
College kids leave every summer so it has it quiet times.
It’s within an hour or so drive of several beaches.
The San Francisco Bay Area:
[ul]
[li]Has some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen anywhere on the planet[/li][li]Has at least 5 restaurants for every single type of food you could possibly want, unless you’re a cannibal (and I think a new place is opening for that)[/li][li]Has a city (SF) that’s pretty much run like an adult theme park, with Blue Angels jet shows flying overhead, random fireworks shows over the bay, people lining up to drive down Lombard St, sailboats, all kinds of trolley cars and antique trains to ride, the mechanical museum, and several real museums and culture centers[/li][li]Has Oakland, which is really pretty in places and has a surprising amount of “there” there[/li][li]Has amazing displays of fog rolling in over the hills and obscuring everything except the tops of the Golden Gate bridge. When I first saw it I honestly didn’t believe it was real[/li][li]Has beautiful hiking and biking areas just a half hour away from the city, on Mount Tamalpais[/li][/ul]
Unfortunately, it also has:
[ul]
[li]Some of the worst traffic imaginable[/li][li]A not-quite adequate mass transit system; BART’s great when it works, but it doesn’t go far enough[/li][li]Ludicrously high cost of living[/li][li]Unfriendly people. Not necessarily hostile, exactly, but just a total absence of hospitality which is very foreign to this southern man[/li][/ul]
Sacramento is nice, I was just there 3 weeks ago visiting my aunt and I had a blast.
The bay area sounds great when you listen to SolGrundy (were you born on a Monday? :)) tell it, but I don’t think I could hack the people there. I’m sure the place is teeming - nay, bursting at the seems - with wonderful people, but unfortunately I’ve only experienced the assholes and I don’t know if I would want to drop myself in the middle of that. Ahhh, who am I kidding? I can’t afford it :).
I also forgot to list a couple things:
-The place should be relatively hippie-free, and
-It should have resorts or upscale restaurants nearby, since my girlfriend is graduating from culinary school this month.
-Liberal, for Kansas.
-30 minutes from KC (upscale restaurants, casinos, etc)
-University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, Washburn (Topeka), Baker, Bethany College.
-Great live music scene, many sweet bars and restaurants
-no more hippies than any college town
-Clinton Lake State Park
Drawbacks:
-Hot in the summer
-Cold in the winter
-few jobs in town, but many in KC and Topeka.
Not at all hard, indeed easy, for an American to get on a UK university course. And at £7-15k-ish a year, not expensive fees compared to America.
You could choose London, which surely sells itself as one of the biggest and most varied cities in the world, with the universities to match. Or you could go for a number of other big cities, each with its unique character, and each with a university with a high international reputation - Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds, Belfast (they all have a living cost about half that of London, too). No matter where you are, the country is small enough for you to explore the whole thing in whatever short breaks you can fit in. And the rest of Europe is only a short hop away, too.
It will also give you a very different experience to American higher education (which I presume you’ve already experienced) - to have been through both is a great balance to have. What kind of course would you be interested in?
I would LOVE to study in the UK. My top choice would be Australia, second choice UK, third choice a cool US city.
I probably want to major in English (but maybe biology) and I haven’t found a Uni in Australia with an English program.
This might be a big problem though: I’m turning 23 next month and I’m more or less just starting college. Also, my high school transcript looks like a trainwreck. I’m confident I could score good on any entry test (SAT…etc.) but if all the schools over there go by grades (or age) I just might be boned.
For somebody who isn’t straight out of high school, they consider far more than grades. (Even for 18-year-olds, being able to sell themselves on their well-roundedness is important). Although all applications go through a central system called UCAS, you would be well advised to find a few universities and departments that interest you, and contact the relevant staff to discuss your situation/background/experience, to sound out if you’re the kind of person they’d be interested in. And 23 certainly isn’t old for university here. Plus, [cynic] overseas students are very welcome, because they provide extra income for a department on top of the centrally-allocated funding which trickles down from the government [/cynic]
Here’s a list of the top twenty English courses in order, according to one highly-subjective league table among many:
Cambridge
Nottingham
University College London
Glasgow
Oxford
Warwick
Stirling
Glamorgan
Queen Mary London
Birmingham
Leeds
Newcastle
Oxford Brookes
York
Exeter
Queen’s Belfast
Lancaster
Bristol
Cardiff
Durham
Well, the list only goes to 105 places, and you can safely ignore the bottom third. In general, the ‘repuation’ score is a good guide of how competitive the entry is - I guess you can pass straight over those scoring a maximum 6, and look at the 5s, 4s and 3s.
Funding - the tricky part. You’ll need to research it your end; hopefully the student loan systems in the US will be available for you to study overseas. There’s little or no direct financial help available here to overseas students, given that you won’t really be looking at scholarships or anything. (Money, the root of all evil…)
-The cold thing is an issue, but our summers are beautiful.
-You can learn French, but not speaking it won’t hamper you excessively. Quebecois think that Americans who try to speak French are cute, and will flirt with you.
-Amazing joie de vivre and cultural opportunities. Festivals all summer long. Sin City for people of most any persuasion.
-Student fees are very low (even for international students) compared to the US.
-A beautiful and historic city.
-Excellent and inexpensive public transit.
-Comparatively low cost of living.
River Cities area of Ohio/West Virginia. Four cities smack on the Ohio River.
We boast many things that you might want…
Two theater troops
Almost crime-free community
Two four year colleges
Two movie theaters witha total of 18 screens
No hippies in town (though Jorma Kaukonen ex of the Jefferson Airplane lives outside of town and offers guitar seminars from time to time)
An astonishing amount of tolerance for all walks of life.
Music on the Levee every week. From The ‘Singing Grandmas’ to the ‘Rhythm Project’ (african drummers) the talent varies widely.
8 Annual blues festival that draws acts from as far away as England.
9 Annual sternwheeler festival (those big ‘Tom Sawyer’ style paddlewheel boats)
Several fine restaurants (I know the chef at the finest hotel in town)
Warm but still cool enough for some snow in winter…but not a crushing amount).
Large cities are 2-3 hours away in Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburg and Charleston
Little traffic congestion of any form. I currently bike to work and it takes me less than 10 minutes.
A film was produced in the very house I’m typing this. Horror film with name undecided as yet. I bought the place from the prior owners who allowed the filming here because the place was empty.
It’s not bad if you’re into it. The people are nice and hell, I’m here.
Vancouver is much the same, except for the cold and the emphasis in French. You could learn Cantonese or Mandarin, though, or just about any other language you like. It’s not as old as Montreal, but has history of its own. It’s also right next to the mountains; you can ski in the morning and lie on the beach in the afternoon (or so they say - neither is to my taste).
We also have two universities, and several ‘university colleges’ that grant degrees in a few fields.
I am sorry to hear this and would like to blame it on all the people who come here from elsewhere
Seriously, if you can find the parts of the city where the people who were born here hang out you will find an amazing generosity and great fun! I think too many people move from someplace small and adopt what they think is a “big city” attitude. Since we who were born here don’t act that way, I assume they’ve seen too many movies or something.
Next time you want to see San Francisco, let me know - I love showing people the side of the city I see.
I grew up across the street from a guy who grew up in Montreal. He spent the better part of 15 years trying to get me to live there for awhile or at least visit, so that is something I will definitely look into.
Vancouver - I was so young when I went there I don’t really remember it but I’ve actually looked into the city a little bit. It looks absolutely gorgeous. I’ll consider that too.
Jonathan Chance - What are the names of the cities you describe? Do they have websites? What Universities do they have? The area sounds interesting.
Thanks very much for the suggestions everyone. Please recommend more or elaborate on the places already mentioned!
We spent three years at the Memorial Univeristy of Newfoundland for my husband’s grad school, and it was just the most amazing experience. Stunning scenery (Cliffs! Icebergs!), friendly people, fabulous music. Winter does last a long time (though I imagine Montreal is colder). The ocean keeps it rather mild.
