Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

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Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by AHTOXA »

So I am bored today while confined to my house and doing some work.

List states and cities where you've lived before, what you liked/disliked about each and where you'd like to live otherwise. Limited to North and South America for future living preference.

I was born in Kharkov during the Soviet Union, which is now in Ukraine. After that I've lived in Chicago from 1997 to 2011. Currently residing in Dallas.

Kharkov - loved the childhood during the Soviet Union days. Do what you want, roam where you want, dig up on ammo from WWII in the woods. Play with abandoned heavy machinery and spend all the time you want outdoors, even while living in a large city (2+ million). American parents would have freaked at the distances we've covered as kids and how far away from home we'd roam at 11-13 years old.

Chicago - loved the food, particularly the variety of ethnic foods served in mom-and-pop places rather than chain joints. "Neighborhood" vibe and culture, great social life. Hated traffic, winter, inefficient and corrupt local government, lack or road maintenance, inefficient highway structure (seen worse in Boston). Hated the lack of any opportunity for those who are interested in outdoors - needed to drive many hours to get anywhere decent for any activity, whether camping, hiking, biking or otherwise.

Dallas - love the outdoors. lots of places to MTB, camp and hike. Many are close by - within an hour of driving. Like the climate variety from east TX to central TX to West TX as opposed to the monotonous and never changing Midwest. Dislike lack of good ehtnic food joints that aren't chains. Social life seems rather limited in regards to variety and downtown is full of $30K "millionaires" - essentially all show and not much more beyond that.


Would like to live in northern Cali and eventually make my way up to Alaska for a little while, where I'd be willing to sacrifice the harsh weather for the great outdoors.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by noob5,000,000 »

I've lived in the same house in Sterling Heights, Michigan my whole life (11/17/91 - present). My parents and older brother moved here a couple months before I was born. It's a typical suburban area, which I like. None of the hectic chaos of a big city, yet there is still enough stuff around. If I have the desire to visit a 'big city', Detroit is only 20 minutes away, and if you drive 2 hours up north there are plenty of rural, wooded areas

If I were to move, I wouldn't mind staying in Michigan, but I'd move a little bit north. Not 'up north', but another suburban city a few miles north. I'd also take a look at Texas, because I like guns and warm weather.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by six »

I've been in Northern California my whole life. More specifically, South SF Bay Area, otherwise known as "Silicon Valley." What I like about here? Great weather (although somewhat unpredictable), great people (and one of the most diverse areas in the world), close access to everything, lots and lots of technology. Very close to San Francisco, a very beautiful city.

Future living? I want to try out New York City, or a similar city here in the West like Seattle or Portland (or of couse, San Francisco, but I go there all the time, it's almost like I live there anyway). I like urban and ultra-urban places, metropolises. Maybe Las Vegas, because I think that would be pretty interesting. Outside of the strip, Las Vegas looks eerily like where I live, suburban sprawl. It would be just like home 8)
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by Shadow »

New York, born & raised. Never left here and probably never will. I've always said that I'd love to live somewhere in Colorado if NY gets wiped out by a terrorist attack or a nuclear power plant blowing up or something. My house (and NYC) is close enough to Indian Point that if it ever melted down, I'd have to find someplace else to live in a hurry (assuming we all survive!).
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Colorado is another place I'd look at. Maybe the Carolinas, too.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by potownrob »

i've lived in poughkeepsie (potown), NY my whole life, with a 4 year vacation in albany for college. potown is a nice area though i definitely take the niceties of the area for granted. albany taught me that potown wasn't as poor an area as i thought (albany was poorer though they didn't seem to realize it and also seemed disconnected from NYC and society outside albany in general, compared to potown at least). potown and surrounding areas have benefitted from economic influx from the city (nyc) and also former production companies such as ibm and schatz federal bearings. albany, despite being the state capital, is poorer (even when i lived there from 99-03) and especially now is suffering way more than here. here, a lot of the restaurants and even stores are busy even during the week, while albany has had more store closings and overall depression. the only plus is that things are cheaper in albany, so you can live in potown or another well-off area and take your money to albany and get more. the bars are (or at least were) nice up there too. i work in rhinebeck which is a small town about 25 minutes north of where i live in potown. rhinebeck is even more affluent and full of nyc people and their money.

i've also spent a decent amount of time in florida, mainly in clearwater and thereabouts (where my dad lives). if their economy weren't in the dumpster (which shows in certain aspects of society there these days), i'd really want to live there.

as for places i'd like to live or might like to live, i'd probably want to live in a european city or town like sevilla or paris or amsterdam. despite being on the conservative side (morally at least), i like towns where people aren't as restricted and can party all night (side effect is more extreme behavior which i'd probably find repulsive but eventually be able to ignore hopefully) and walk into cafes, smoke in the street and hang out in plazas and stuff like that. the only country i've been to outside of the US is spain (almost went to portugal while in spain but we went to the beach in southern spain instead) and i enjoyed both the bigger cities like sevilla, madrid, segovia and salamanca and the smaller villages and towns like potes (tiny village in the picos de europa area of the mountains of cantabria) and gijon (very historic tourist town on the cantabrian sea north of oviedo in asturias). the more laid-back life and vibrant night life sat well with me. too bad their economy is (and has been) in the can worse than ours here. florida reminds me in many ways of spain, but it's far from the same. florida's night life, cafe culture and otherwise european laid-backness are too lacking to compete with the spain i remember.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by Squint »

Born and raised in Lexington, KY, which is like a big suburb in itself. No city that it is a suburb to, just the city is laid out like a suburb. There is a downtown area, but it's not very large and the rest of the city is very spread out. I would like better walking/biking paths, as I would consider doing either to get around shorter distances, but the city is splayed out so much that it's not practical. And there is a major road (at least 4 lanes and busy) to cross every mile or so in any direction that makes it a pain as well.

Lexington is... home. It doesn't have a ton to do if you're not into the bar scene, some historic things, whiskey/wine trails, bowling, movies, the usual. All of the big claims to fame are special event things. Keeneland (horse) Racetrack, the Kentucky Horse Park, Rupp Arena (University of Kentucky basketball), that kind of thing. Lexington thinks itself a big city while acting like a suburb.

Live in/near Charleston, WV for about a year in 2011. Moved for a job that ended up giving me experience, but not doing much beyond that. That place was like a smaller, less interesting version of Lexington. Less educated, less diversity, less care about health/education. We weren't terribly happy there. It was okay at best. The most diversity I found was playing pick up soccer with some guys; though only a few of them had lived in WV for more than a few years. Most had moved for a job or school to the area and planned on moving away again at some point.

I don't want to live anywhere more rural than a suburb. I don't mind the rural-ness, I just don't like the lack of diversity and difference that a suburb/city gets you. Especially areas with colleges/universities that pull students in from all over. It is just more exciting to meet people from all over the place and find things in common. At least at the moment, we're content with Lexington, though where we would consider living in the future? It would probably depend on the reason for moving there.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by wannabe »

i've lived in GR all my life, except the one.5 years i spent with aaron in ohio.

prefer? somewhere like GR but without snow. snow sucks.

or with aaron....:shrug:
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by 4onthefloor »

London, ON. Born and raised. It's your typical Canadian Suburbia. Not much going on good or bad. Overall I don't mind it.

Toronto: Smells like garbage, air is yellow, housing/apartments cost way too much. Didn't really like it when I lived there, but I also lived in the rough area. I'm sure the ritzy areas are much nicer. Food is awesome though.

Halifax: Wicked city to live in if you're young. Beautiful area on the water, a lot of young people around, a general laid back vibe. There was always something going on when I lived there, and there were several bars/ restaurants right on the water that we used to frequent.

I miss Halifax a lot and would love to move back. I just don't see it happening. I had my time there and I have to move on.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by Warner »

I was born in a relatively small town in NY named Johnson City, where I lived for the first few years of my life (I still visit family up there now and then). The whole Binghamton area is really beautiful and probably my favorite thing about that region. The downside is that the area is pretty boring aside from that. If I didn't have family there, I would probably never go back.

I lived in a suburb north of Dallas, TX for the majority of my life (up until about 5 months ago). I really disliked living there for a variety of reasons, but I think a big part of it was just that I needed a change. The city I lived in was very rich and very much like what I imagine Los Angeles to be like, except without the nice weather or things to do. Everyone drives a BMW or Mercedes Benz where I'm from and everyone is competing with his neighbor to see who has the biggest house, newest car, etc. Also, since it is a suburb, there aren't many interesting places to eat at (Chili's, Friday's, Applebees, etc.) and pretty much everything closes at 10:00PM.

Now I'm living near Destin, FL. What's cool is that I'm right on a beautiful beach. Other than that, unfortunately, this area seems rather dull. There aren't any big cities nearby and most of the population in this area consists of families and retirees--not something very interesting to someone in his 20s. Also, the speed limit is 35mph EVERYWHERE around here. It's very frustrating and makes it take forever to drive anywhere. I'm still open-minded about this area, though, since I've only been here for a few weeks. I think I'll give it a year or so before I make any real judgement.

I kind of wish I had appreciated Dallas more. It's still not where I want to live, but there's a lot I didn't appreciate, especially downtown. I mostly stayed in the suburbs with friends, even though I was a 20 minute drive from downtown Dallas. Also, compared to where I'm at now, there's a whole lot to do in the Dallas area. This area of Florida is pretty dead (at least in the winter time. I have yet to experience the tourist rush that happens in the summer).

I would love to live near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. That's really my ideal location since I love the outdoors. Hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, and just being outside are things I really love to do. I haven't been to Utah, but I imagine I'd like it there too due to the amazing outdoors opportunities.

Seattle sounds like it would fit me well, too. California would sound amazing if not for many of the restrictive laws I disagree with, not to mention the taxes and cost of living. I'd still probably be willing to give that state a try at some point, though. I really just think that most of the area west of Texas really interests me.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by 94Corolla5Speed »

I was born in Zalau, Romania, in the region of Transylvania. Lived there until I was 2, so I don't really remember much.

Moved to America in 1993. From 1993-1996 we lived in a basement level 1-bedroom apartment in Lansing, IL, a suburb about 35 miles south of Chicago. I remember a bit, but I didn't really car if it was crappy or not considering the oldest I got was 5 years old so I wasn't a great judge of good living conditions.

From 1996-2005 we lived in a 3 bedroom house in Lansing. This is where I spent the majority of my childhood and preteen years, basically from K-8. The town was alright, I made a few friends here and there, but since I moved from there in 2005 it has been slowly going to shit. Property values dropped like a rock and there was more violence.

From 2005-summer of 2012, we lived in a 2 bedroom apt. in the far Northeast side of Chicago, literally about 100 feet from the lake. As a place to live, this was my most hated. Very cold in the winter, very hot in the summer (No central heat or A/C, we had radiators and 2 window unit A/C's). Parking was absolutely shitty around there. You had to either be back before 5 pm or you would have to pay for meter parking. Anytime there was a national holiday such as labor day or memorial day, there were droves of just the worst kind of people flocking to the beach. They would litter like crazy, take up multiple parking spots, play very loud music, and just be a nuisance. Although living there kind of sucked, I had the best times of my life in that place. Made some great friends, got my first car, first girlfriend, and really became the person I am today.

Since the summer of 2012 to now, my sister and I have moved to a small suburb about 15 miles west of Chicago in a small apt. The area is relatively nice and the neighborhood is fairly quiet. The apartment we have is pretty nice also.

Now, where I want to live? Absolutely nowhere near here. I really want to move out to Colorado. A suburb of Denver or maybe somewhere around Rocky Mountain National Park would be my first choice. I absolutely love the scenery and the outdoor activities there are to do around there, not to mention the amazing driving roads. After roadtripping across the state once and actually touring most of the state for 2 weeks a year after that, I have made it a life goal to try and get a job around there and live there.

That, or somewhere nice in Alberta or BC. Somewhere with awesome scenery.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by Shadow »

Seems like I'm not the only person who would move to Colorado. So far two others have mentioned the same thing.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by 4onthefloor »

Just out of curiousity, how many people here would consider moving to Canada if immigration wasn't an issue?
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by 94Corolla5Speed »

4onthefloor wrote:Just out of curiousity, how many people here would consider moving to Canada if immigration wasn't an issue?
Hell yes. I'd love to live in BC or Alberta. Anywhere near the Canadian Rockies if it's not too remote.
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Re: Where have you lived and where would you prefer to live?

Post by 4onthefloor »

noob5,000,000 wrote:I've lived in the same house in Sterling Heights
On a side note (and a slightly creepy one at that) we live fairly close to each other.
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