My daughter is in love with a GI who is stationed in Minot, North Dakota. She’s thinking about giving up her place in a major university in Philadelphia, to transfer to Minot University, and I’m trying really hard not to lock her in the basement to prevent her from doing so. I’m fearing a move to Minot (and to Minot University) will be something she’ll live to regret, and although I can’t technically prevent it, I’d like to at least get some feedback on the area, especially the school.
So, can anyone give me some info, or do I just need to renew that prescription to Valium…
Just kidding about the Valium, although I’m really stressing out over this…Who in their right mind moves to Minot?
I moved from Philly to Bismarck ND in 1992. Minot is about an hour North of Bismarck. While there is not much in Minot beside the military base and the dam that form lake Sakakawea, Bismarck is a thriving community. Yeah it’s cold but I’ve never regretted living there. In fact in some ways it was the best time of my life. The people are friendly and there is always something going on to keep you from getting cabin fever in the winter. I lived there for about 5 years before my job ended and I moved here.
It is completely different from Philly of course and there will definitly be some adjusting. Things you want/need are further away but they are there. They country side is beautiful and you can see the northern lights on a regular basis if you’re into that sort of thing.
Hey, one of the early Bucs’ QBs (Randy Hedberg, maybe?) was an alum of Minot State U. Or somesuch name. Okay, the Bucs really sucked back then and this obscure U was the only thing memorable about that QB, but what they hey. It could be worse.
Seriously, though, I see several things wrong with this. First of all, no one moves to ND. Really. Those of us unlucky enough to live here now are doing our damndest to get away. We do have crime here, there’s major drug problems, (especially meth), and the cost of living can be fairly high. There are very few job opportunities.
Also, how old is your daughter? When I was 20, I choose a grad school based on the fact that it was in the same state as my fiance’s family, and then we broke up. I was stranded 1500 miles away from everyone and everything I knew, because my ex decided he had “problems”.
Really, the best you can do is encourage her to really, really, think this through. Is their relationship really strong enough? What is she going to do in a couple of years when she graduates with a degree from Minot U? (I live three hours away from Minot, and I had no idea they have a university.)
She’s 19, and this is a middle school sweetheart who is drawing her to Minot. As far as my attempts to “make her see the light of Minot”–could any of our parents made us see the light at 19? Mine couldn’t have.
Yes, I agree their website sucks, and unfortunately she’s not a website designer. However, since this isn’t the Pit, I’ll stop there.
I was impressed with their forecast though. I don’t think HallGirl2 has ever been in an enviroment that has hit the negative digits in such a great (or is that lesser?) number. She thought I was kidding when I told her they close major highways because of the snow.
To pick nits, it is Minot State University (unless, Og forbid, there are two universities in that place).
I suggest you pony up the money to put her on an airplane (or better yet, Greyhound) and send her there right now, in the middle of the winter. Let her stay over a long weekend and see how she does. Maybe contact the school for a trusted chaperone, though.
As to crime and drugs, I imagine it’s got problems because a) what in the hell else is there to do and b) it’s a university town, which almost always have statistically worse crime than other areas. Plus Barney Fife is probably the local sheriff.
My best friend moved to Minot when she was 20 because she married her high school boyfriend. He was in the Air Force. She HATED it. Now, we’re from the city but not one as large as Philadelphia. She felt isolated. She was cold for the majority of the year. Keep in mind, we’re from New England. We’re not wusses. We can take the cold. She couldn’t take the cold in ND. The total isolation she felt helped contribute to her divorce and return to MA. She really doesn’t have any happy memories from there.
She did have a job so it’s not like she was just sitting around in her house all day looking at snow.
I also recall her telling me the flatness of ND freaked her out. But, the city we’re from has one flat area - the airport (which is just a flat area on top of a hill). Everything else is on a very steep hill so I’m not surprised she was uncomfortable.
But, your daughter is young. She’s going to college. It’s not like she can’t transfer out if she hates it. Let her make the choice. If nothing else, she’ll have stories to tell to her grandchildren about how she had to plug her car in so it would still work in the morning.
Just remember, North Dakota is south of Saskatchewan… where my mother’s family came from. Temperatures of -40 during the winter are common. And believe me, when it gets that cold, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in Fahrenheit or Celsuis.
I had a high school friend who joined the Air Force, thinking she and her husband could be stationed together. It turns out she missed the tiny type that said “unless we need you at two different bases.”
She went to Minot. He went to Alaska. Not only did the marriage not survive, but neither of them chose to remain in those places.
And, although it won’t affect your daughter’s thought process one single bit, I should warn you that trying to compare Great Plains cold to any other type of cold is like trying to compare being caught in a hurricane with turning on a desk fan.
I grew up in a tiny, tiny town about forty miles closer to the end of the earth from Minot. I was of the opinion that Minot was the Big City – why, they had a movie theatre that played more than one show a week! They had a mall with a record store! They had a McDonalds! Minot was truly “The Magic City”, as claimed by their billboard.
19 is young yet. Any fight you put up will just increase her resolve to show her independence. Buy her warm socks, boots, and thermal underwear and let her go. Accept her when she comes back with her tail between her legs, and never mention it again. (This worked for my folks when I decided at 21 to live in Lake Tahoe. I lasted two weeks.)
I personally would never send anyone, especially a loved one, to a town where Dry Pea & Lentil is a multi-day event.
Seriously tho… send her out there for an extended week. Let her decide for herself if that’s a place and lifestyle she can stand. Especially now, where it’s not just the cold but the wind that gets you. You don’t see a lot of people in ND wearing hats for a reason.
