Lots of pretty girls in Austin, no doubt about it. The college and the music scene guarantee it. You will have lots of guys competing, but I’ve never known someone to leave Austin for lack of romance.
Austin is expensive compared to where I live, but you’ll probably find anything there cheap compared to the eastern seaboard.
I don’t know of the specific area in Austin that you’re looking at. But in my experience good/bad neighborhoods are spotty in most cities in Texas these days. Two blocks will be crazy, two blocks will be nice and quiet, two more blocks of crazy, an industrial area, then three blocks of nice and quiet. Mix and match as you prefer.
I think its caused by the constant renovation and development encouraged by people constantly moving here for 35-odd years. Even though Dallas has its share of neighborhoods that match this pattern, and Fort Worth has areas that I wouldn’t consider living in before moving out where the hoot owls do it to the chickens, most cities don’t have large sections of town that are horribly dangerous to live in. I assume Austin has an equivalent to Stop Six in my hometown, but I’m not sure of its boundaries.
One of the pretty girls in Austin I know is a fireman, and her equally gorgeous sister is a cop there (seriously, the family has amazing genes. And yes, they have a rivalry of sorts). I’ll see if I can get in touch with her and get their opinion on the area you’re considering. I haven’t talked to her in three years, so don’t hold your breath, but I’ll try.
It’s probably a digression, but I can’t shut up. I’m from Texas.
I respectfully disagree with others’ opinion that Texas in general, and Austin in particular are lacking in weird. It’s not San Fransisco’s or Boulder’s flavor of weird, but it has its own flavor in and out of the cities that isn’t well measured by the number of vegan restaurants. Our Psychedelic music is a brand all its own, and our country music probably is too. The rest of the weirdness is more of a sun-baked, sun-burnt, beer and pot fueled variety. When it goes off the rails, it can veer far into stupid. You might fear for the future of yourself and society when it really gets going.
For example, my neighbor has a machine gun license, and at least one functioning honest-to-goodness water cooled machine gun. You’d never know he owned a pistol from casual conversation. I lived next to him for ten years before I knew he even owned a gun of any sort for shooting varmits at his ranch.
Similarly, 26 years ago, my girlfriend’s father was a (then) 66 year old Black Sabbath fanatic that operated a GIANT ham radio antenna from his back yard ( a group inherited it when he died, and it took a crane and a semi to move it in sections ). He used his fax machine and a loop of porn centerfolds to spam his political opponents, and you’d think he did nothing but watch reruns on T.V. until you followed him out to his shack. It was like Doc Brown’s lab out there.
Heck, my dad was a loon and he’s not half as weird as most of the people I would count as friends. Texas engenders obsessions in people, it may be the water.
Ok, I’ll stop, except to say: If you move to Texas, have lots of tacos. Every time you see a restaurant, gas station, truck or stand offering tacos, investigate at least. I’ve been here for 43 years (since birth), and I’m always finding new ones. Just think of it as a sandwich. The filler and the shell can take many forms. I think every type of taco is sold here.
