Moving Around

[TetRefine]

I'm wondering how many of you have moved around in your life and lived in different places. What did you think of moving and were there certain places that you preferred over others? Did you move because of a job, personal reasons, or the living environment? I guess whatever you want to write about having moved around and for what reasons I'm interested in knowing.

 

For me, I was born and raised in a blended suburban/rural area of New Hampshire, which I absolutely hated because it lacked just about everything. I then moved down to the Philadelphia Metro for college where I live now, and much prefer the hustle and bustle of the East Coast big city as compared to rural New England. I've applied for jobs in most of the big cities here (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC) so I'll probably stick around. 

 

I would love to move to LA or San Diego for a while, but it would be hard with my entire family and my roots back east. 

Edited September 25, 2013 by TetRefine

[Freddyness]

New hampshire... That sounds like as shit a place as hampshire... 

 

But in my travels I've found:

 

Hampshire: Crap

Surrey: Crap

 

England: Crap

 

Belgium: so so Good and bad places 

Gent: <3 <3

 

Germany: So far i love it! 

[wildone]

New hampshire... That sounds like as shit a place as hampshire... 

 

No, New Hampshire is better because it is New

 

Lets see, left Germany when I was two, so really can't comment.

 

Moved to Calgary and watched a city of 250,000 grow to over 1.2 million. Have always considered it home no matter where I have been. To describe the city, I would say modern with a touch of historical western. People are overall very considerate and friendly.

 

Moved to Lethbridge a city of 75,000 a couple of hours south of Calgary. Smaller city with a very laid back attitude. Some stores are still not open on Sunday and Monday. All the amenities of big city but still the rural feel. Also home of a large University and College, so the young ones keep the city vibrant.

 

Moved to Medicine Hat, a city of maybe 50,000 that is 3 hours SE of Calgary and near the Saskatchewan border. If there is anyone on GA that is from the Hat, I apologize in advance, but I hated that place. The people were very self centred. If you were born and raised there, or with a family, then I'm sure it is a lovely place. For adults moving there, very unwelcoming and you actually get a cold feeling that they can't be bothered with you because you didn't grow up there. I know I'm not the first or the last person to leave and never want to go back. The small town attitude rings strong there and you can see how people of colour or sexual identity other than hetro are tolerated but not really welcomed.

 

Moved back to Calgary and quite happy being back

[Cia]

I was born in Florida but mostly grew up in Washington, where I still live today. I grew up in a small town, like 600 people in town with outlying farms, small. I'd never go back there, simply because the opportunities for my kids are lessened by being in that type of environment. I now live in a suburb-ish area outside of a city, but even out here in the West our cities are pretty laid back and small. Certainly nothing like the East coast. Spending summers in Maryland as a teen taught me I didn't like the East coast. I don't like the culture, I don't like the city, I don't like the weather... I'm just a West coast gal at heart that needs nature, but likes having the city close at hand.

[paya]

I was born in a small town (around 15,000 people now) about 100 miles East from Prague. I spent my whole childhood and adolescence there until my high school graduation. I would never voluntarily come out there (and I didn't, even if my family and close friends know now). It had the basic amenities and really good transport links, mainly by train you could get anywhere in the country within 3 hours. But as for opportunities, it's a dead place.

 

I went to university in Brno, second largest city after Prague, about 125 km SE from Prague and only around 80 miles north from Vienna, Austria. Really nice place, a sort of overgrown village with lots of universities, students, and around 400,000 inhabitants. But still, for some things, you had better go to Vienna.

 

Anyway, now I'm living in London, UK - and even if it's EXTREMELY hard for me to find a job, I would still not change, not a bit. If you have money (i.e. if you have a job), you can get anything you think of. Sure, you will never own your own living here, not while London serves as a safe harbour for money invested into property. Cash fleeing Russia, Persian Gulf or European periphery is driving the place crazy. But even with a tight budget you can enjoy your life here and not suffer. I know I will be moving again, at least for my pension. But right now, there is no better place in Europe where I would want to live.

[joann414]

Moved for the first time when I was 14.  Louisiana to Mississippi.  Lived in a small podunk down in Louisiana that I hated.  Stayed in Mississippi for three years, moved back to Louisiana. 

After I graduated, came back to Mississippi and never left.  Now I'm in the country and happy as hell. 

 

My ideal move for retirement would be to the Smokies, and my hubby and I are giving this grave consideration.

[Never Surrender]

born and grew up in a university town in Leicestershire, lived pretty close to the countryside

 

Relocated to a town in Cheshire on the border of the Peak District when my dad lost his job. its a boring place, most of the population are over 50, but parents are happy there and that's all that really matters

 

Currently living out most of the year in a town in Wales for University, and Wales/Scotland/Ireland is where i would like to stay. Either way, i know that i don't want to live in a city. Ive always been in the country, most of my weekends were spent by taking my horse out at 9am and staying out until it got dark, both days of the weekend. I wouldn't do very well in a place with lots of concrete, and lots of cars.

[Percy]

I've moved around a lot, both as a kid and as an adult. The most recent big move was from Boston to San Francisco when my company expanded and opened an office out here. One of the reasons the move was attractive to me, aside from the career opportunity it presented, was because my family is in the western U.S. It's nice not having to commit a full day, each direction, to travel whenever we want to visit. I've lived in the northeast, the south and in the western states . I like the adventure of exploring new places. My family moved frequently when I was a kid so relocating is something to which I'm accustomed. In my 20s I lived in the city, Boston’s south end, and I loved it. I lived in San Francisco the first year I was here. But, there came a point in my 30s where I was done with city life. I was just over it. Now I live outside SF, in a place where I can walk to restaurants and the gym, pretty much to everything I need, and it doesn’t have the grittiness that is part of urban living.

 

Like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to moving. I am good at staying in touch with people and I have friends all over the U.S. This is awesome for traveling now. Since I live near a city that others want to travel to, I get my fair share of visitors in my home and can stay in touch with old friends. However, I do notice that I don’t feel a true connection to the physical place where I live. In contrast, my partner can drive through San Francisco and talk about how in 1982 the pig he raised took first place at the cow palace and his mom talks about the days when you got to the airport by turning left at a stop sign on Highway 101. The point is that they have a shared history and it’s a history that’s shared not just within their family but by many of the people around them, the families who have lived in this area for years. I have a history, too, but I experienced it on my own. I can talk about it, but I can’t reminisce over it with someone. The memories aren’t shared by anyone else. Sometimes that feels weird; it’s isolating, especially when I’m with people who have such a rich history that they experienced together. I’m not sure if this was the type of thing you were looking for in your query.

 

That said, I think I’ve heard you say you’re interested in pursuing a law enforcement career. Keep an eye on the San Francisco Police Department if you’re considering a move. They are going to be running a large number of academies in the next few years. They have an unprecedented number of officers who are coming up for retirement in the next 3-5 years, and they are looking to replenish their ranks. I think they just closed their most recent hiring pool but I bet they’ll open the application process again by year end or early next.

[Kitt]

I was born in Florida but mostly grew up in Washington, where I still live today. I grew up in a small town, like 600 people in town with outlying farms, small. I'd never go back there, simply because the opportunities for my kids are lessened by being in that type of environment. I now live in a suburb-ish area outside of a city, but even out here in the West our cities are pretty laid back and small. Certainly nothing like the East coast. Spending summers in Maryland as a teen taught me I didn't like the East coast. I don't like the culture, I don't like the city, I don't like the weather... I'm just a West coast gal at heart that needs nature, but likes having the city close at hand.

I had more than that number in my graduating class from high school!

 

Afraid my "moves" aren't what one would call dramatic. Moved 4 miles away from mom's when I got married, then when i bought a house a few years later it was less than a mile from her! Did cross the town line - but came back!

[Palantir]

When I was a youngster my family moved to a new town every four or five years and then when I became a teacher the moves started off frequent  then steadily became less so.

Overall I have had fifteen different towns for my primary domicile.

No more moves now though - I've been at my current abode for twenty-six years and intend to stay here.

For most of my life 'home' was where my parents lived. When I knew I was settled for good 'home' became this one.

[Ron]

I grew up in a village in NE Ohio I'm not aware of the population back count then but it is still considered a village with around 4k nowadays. I moved away for the first time to live with my first long term boyfriend in my mid-twenties. Neither of us were out and we moved into an apartment complex where his older brother and wife lived. We were very careful not to be too affectionate in the parking lot.    In five years we lived in two more cities together - better apartments each time.

 

 

I moved to the big city of Cleveland in my mid-thirties to move in with my current partner and we moved to Toronto, Canada a year later for a new job for him. We moved again for the same reason three years later to Boston where we maintain a residence to this day. The past three years I have been traveling back and forth to Asia where my partner now lives full time for his current job. Though I don't wish to nor can I legally reside there, I do spend a considerable amount of the year there with him. It's an exhausting amount of travel time.

[JamesSavik]

Army B.R.A.T.

 

Born, Raised And Transferred.

 

As one of Uncle Sam's many misguided children, we are often familiar with living in places no one goes voluntarily.

 

We are from countries that no longer exist like West Germany or places that wish we would just go away like Okinawa.

 

We remember places like Subic Bay in our dreams and South Korea in our nightmares.

 

We did not join up. We were born into the great machine.

[TetRefine]

That said, I think I’ve heard you say you’re interested in pursuing a law enforcement career. Keep an eye on the San Francisco Police Department if you’re considering a move. They are going to be running a large number of academies in the next few years. They have an unprecedented number of officers who are coming up for retirement in the next 3-5 years, and they are looking to replenish their ranks. I think they just closed their most recent hiring pool but I bet they’ll open the application process again by year end or early next.

 

 

I considered San Francisco as a possibility. Theres something about the diversity and glamour and vastly different lifestyle then the East Coast that always made me seriously consider California, whether it was LA, San Diego, or San Francisco. Only thing is, it would be really hard leaving all my family behind because everyone lives in 3 states all within 4 hours of each other. The nice thing about Boston, New York, or Philadelphia is that I'm far enough away to feel like I have my own life, but close enough to know its only a couple hours drive to visit. If I moved out west, it would a once or twice a year thing and would require a 6 hour flight just to get there. But who knows, maybe I'll take a leap. Theres something about California that just intrigues us East Coasters.

 

Army B.R.A.T.

 

Born, Raised And Transferred.

 

As one of Uncle Sam's many misguided children, we are often familiar with living in places no one goes voluntarily.

 

We are from countries that no longer exist like West Germany or places that wish we would just go away like Okinawa.

 

We remember places like Subic Bay in our dreams and South Korea in our nightmares.

 

We did not join up. We were born into the great machine.

 

Or Lawton, Oklahoma. I came very close to being born there and ending up an Army brat myself. Thank god that never happened. 

[rustle]

I moved from a big city to just outside a small town, got burned out, moved to a city.

 

Don't like crowds, wanted privacy, moved closer to work 'cause the commute from a bomb site wasn't worth it. Lookin' to move to the country again if I can make a living.

 

It's woulda been far easier and better to sell off everything before that first move.

[Thorn Wilde]

I have lived in so many different places, oh my god, let me think...

 

I was born in a town in Finland, lived there for the first year of my life. Then my mum and I moved to Norway to live with my dad. We lived  in a suburb to Oslo called Rykkin. Then we moved to a big old house in a small town called Hølen when I was 4. When I was 8, my parents broke up, so my mum and I moved to Oslo, where I stayed for a good while, though we kept moving around.

 

First, we lived in a small flat in the borough of Grünerløkka. My dad sold the house and moved to a flat smack-dab in the middle of town. When my dad passed away, when I was 11, I inherited a third of that flat, so my mum bought out my brothers and we moved again. When I was 14, my mum got married, and when I was 15 we moved to a bigger place again, on the posh side of town. We had a rather horrible neighbour who sabotaged for us in everything we wanted to do with the place, so we moved again when I was 19, to a really nice old house from 1850 where my parents live still.

 

I moved out at 21, and moved in with some friends in a flatshare, still in Oslo. We lived there for a year. Then I went off to uni in England for a year. I lived in Walsall, which is in the Black Country, West Midlands. About 20 minutes by bus from Birmingham. Miserable shit town. Uni was okay.

 

Back to Oslo a year later, moved in with Magpie. I stayed for a year, then I went to Sweden, to go to school in Kungälv, near Gothenburg. Came back in May, and now I'm living with Magpie in Oslo again. Hopefully, I won't be moving for a little while...

[methodwriter85]

    I was born at an Air Force Base in the Phillipines, but moved in 1986 or 1987 to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Then in 1989 we lived in Spain. I have some vague memories of seeing gypsies dancing around the town square, and you were supposed to drop coins down to them. I also remember bidets.Then in 1991, after my grandpaprents died, we moved to New Jersey and lived in their house for a bit. That's where my memories start getting really close- we lived in the town of West Belmar, New Jersey- right on the Jersey Shore. I have a lot of good memories going to the beach as a kid, making sandcastles, and of course, the Jersey boardwalk. One really cool thing I remember about early 90's New Jersey was that there was this McDonald's that was on a pier over the ocean. And of course, this great pizza place called Vinnie's. But I think despite the fact that it was a Jersey Shore town, I really loved the fall- the leaves turning, jumping into leaf piles, etc etc.

 

    Then in 1993, my family moved to Copperas Cove, Texas. That was pretty interesting- the area of Texas I lived in had pretty awesome, humidity-free weather, but otherwise it was a podunk town in the middle of nowhere. I think the highlight was the skating rink. I also really missed fall foliage over there.

 

     In 1995, my family moved to Delaware, and there's basically where I grew up, with the exception of a two-year interlude just over the state line in Elkton, MD. Delaware can be summed up by this:

 

 

     Basically, the part of Delaware I'm from is one big suburb of Philadelphia. Lots of tax-free shopping centers, lots of traffic, lots of housing developments not tied into a town, as the state wasn't big on incorporating towns. We have the ghetto areas, the okay areas, the good area, and what I'll call Joe Biden Millionaire Country Club area. I grew up in the ghetto/okay areas, on the outskirts of the University of Delaware campus/Newark, DE. It's one of the few places in Delaware that have a thriving downtown that isn't a summer beach town.

 

     When you grow up here, there's no such thing as 6 degrees of separation- it's more like 3 Degrees of Separation. Everybody knows everybody. If someone names a high school, you probably know someone who went there. If you walk around the mall or some big event, you'll likely run into someone you know from high school or college. Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes I consider it a gift.

 

   Then for two years, from 2010 to 2012, I lived in the Western Pennsylvania town of Indiana, PA. It was complete and total culture shock. We were five hours inland from the nearest ocean- for the mass bulk of my life I've never lived more than 90 minutes away from an ocean. The town hadn't really updated since the 1970's, and the downtown was filled with all these Mom and Pop joints. It didn't have the "Anywhere, USA" feel that Delaware has- it had a much more unique feel to it. People were much more serious in Western P.A.- Delawareans tend to joke a lot, but the people in Indiana were so much more serious and conservative. But they had a lot of that small-town pride that people talk about, and I really enjoyed being in an America that didn't have strip mall after strip mall. And I really loved, and missed, the rolling hills of the area- every time I'd walk out of my dorm, on a clear day, I'd check out the rolling hills and really be taken by their beauty.

 

    Western P.A. has probably felt the most "real" to me.

[Rizan]

I grew up in a medium sized town in northern Arizona.  Spent my first 18 years in the same town (it's technically a city but I really don't feel right calling it that.)  During those 18 years, I moved around in the same zipcode maybe 20 times including a few months of being homeless.  About two weeks after I turned 18 I moved to Tucson to go to UA.  Even though that fell through I've been here ever since (4 years now?)  I've also so far moved 3 times since I've been down here.

 

The place I grew up in was nice, but it was fairly conservative and rather boring.  I miss it now that's it gone, but I needed to get out.  Nothing to do.  AT ALL.  40k+ people and NOTHING TO FREAKING DO.  I don't so much care for Tucson, either, but I do love living in the city, much more to do and something's always happening.

[Former Member]

I grew up in the same house that my mother and her six siblings grew up in.  Went to university 35 minutes away, never left home.  ...until I upped and moved to China for a ten month long internship.

 

I honestly can say that I love being here, in China.  But I don't think it could be permanent.  I miss gas stoves and salty popcorn and most of all, I miss my family.  This place has certainly become a second home to me, and I wouldn't hesitate to come back.  But only for a visit.  The city I live in is one of the smaller cities in China, despite being the capital city of the province.  ...but then again, cities are the largest unit of municipal organization over here too.  Even if they grew up over three hours from the city center and had never even seen it, if you ask someone where they grew up, they'll say the city name.  I like that Guiyang is small, but has a big city feel as well.  It's incredibly convenient and I can find my way around really easily.  There are towering skyscrapers and apartment buildings and shopping centers everywhere.  And then there are still people coming around with yokes of pomegranates and pomelos shouting out that for a pound, it's about 70 cents.  It's super pedestrian friendly, which is something I'm going to miss terribly when I go back to the states in December.

 

Guiyang has changed my life in more ways than one and when I leave, I'll be leaving a part of me here.

[TetRefine]

I grew up in the same house that my mother and her six siblings grew up in.  Went to university 35 minutes away, never left home.  ...until I upped and moved to China for a ten month long internship.

 

I honestly can say that I love being here, in China.  But I don't think it could be permanent.  I miss gas stoves and salty popcorn and most of all, I miss my family.  This place has certainly become a second home to me, and I wouldn't hesitate to come back.  But only for a visit.  The city I live in is one of the smaller cities in China, despite being the capital city of the province.  ...but then again, cities are the largest unit of municipal organization over here too.  Even if they grew up over three hours from the city center and had never even seen it, if you ask someone where they grew up, they'll say the city name.  I like that Guiyang is small, but has a big city feel as well.  It's incredibly convenient and I can find my way around really easily.  There are towering skyscrapers and apartment buildings and shopping centers everywhere.  And then there are still people coming around with yokes of pomegranates and pomelos shouting out that for a pound, it's about 70 cents.  It's super pedestrian friendly, which is something I'm going to miss terribly when I go back to the states in December.

 

Guiyang has changed my life in more ways than one and when I leave, I'll be leaving a part of me here.

 

Its funny that over 3 million people is considered a "smaller" city for China, haha. It would be the third biggest in the US.

[Thorn Wilde]

Its funny that over 3 million people is considered a "smaller" city for China, haha. It would be the third biggest in the US.

 

I live in the biggest city in Norway. We're 600,000 people. If you count all the suburbs, we just about make it to 1 mill.

[Sasha Distan]

Gent: <3 <3

 

Seconded!

 

In my travels, i have found that i like the middle of the Arizona desert, hate LA and Vegas, enjoyed most of Australia.  Japan and i could hap[ily spend the rest of my life living in southern turkey on a boat.

[Arpeggio]

I was born in Boston, and lived in Beacon Hill, then in Dorchester, then we moved to New York, Manhattan, but moved away a little after 9/11 to Tennessee. It wasn't a huge change, moving from the city to the boondocks, but only because I was 11-12 when it happened. I live inside a pretty good sized city now, but it's still southern.

[TetRefine]

I was born in Boston, and lived in Beacon Hill, then in Dorchester...

 

Going from Beacon Hill to Dorchester must have been a bit of a change in scenery.  

[FrenchCanadian]

I've always lived in the same house in Longueuil, on the south shore of Montreal... until I moved out of my parents, then did 2 apartment in 4 years (in the same complex), now have my house.. all in longueuil. Kinda boring I know!

 

I sometime wish I could move somewhere else.... like my sister. (she moved almost 10 years ago to switzerland)

[Arpeggio]

Going from Beacon Hill to Dorchester must have been a bit of a change in scenery.

 

Yeah, it really was. I lived with my grandfather up until he died, and then I moved in with my mom after that. We moved away before I had the chance to become a Cholo. 

Edited September 28, 2013 by Arpeggio