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The thing is I'm really trying to get into school, I already missed a semester and if I attend down here I will have unreliable transportation. If I found a job and by the grace of god I happen to get it, could I have enough money saved to move up there by january.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfoush21
You know with the unemployment problem all around the country and then add on, me having no work experience, I'm not a likely candidate. Plus I live in rural area so there is not that many options in the vicinity, then we're talking gas money.
So your going to rely on Chicago's public trans system? It is good, but aren't there southern states that have reliable public trans systems? Why dont you look into San Diego, or LA, or even just Boston?
And, I will say it again. Try taking out student loans. Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid is your friend. My buddy literally lived off student loans for 4 years. He left undergrad with 70K in student loan debt but at least he has a job that pays him 58K/year now. It will definitely be worth it to go in the long run.
The thing is I'm really trying to get into school, I already missed a semester and if I attend down here I will have unreliable transportation. If I found a job and by the grace of god I happen to get it, could I have enough money saved to move up there by january.
Who cares if you already missed a semester? I know people who didn't even start college until they were 21 who came from poor farms in the middle of Iowa and they're living fine now after school. I had friends in school who took 3 years off of school, and then went back when they were ready and graduated when they were like 25. One semester is nothing. I wouldn't worry about it. I completely understand your need to get going ASAP, but one semester, even two semesters is not going to kill you.
You touched on not having work experience, which uh, well is a big thing. My advice is to get work experience somewhere first before you move here. Especially being from a rural area, you are going to be in for a culture shock being here, and also the weather here is probably something you haven't experienced on a regular basis. North Carolina is a walk in the park compared to here in the winter.
If you really want to come here, my advice is to get a job doing something in the nearest big city near you. The food service industry always hires people. It might not be glamorous, but for someone with no job experience...it's a safe bet. I'd say that a LOT of people (including me)'s first jobs were in the food industry. Save some money up before you move here. If you want to rely on shelters if you come here ,then fine, but at least with the plan above you have work experience and could easily find a job somewhere else even doing something with retail if you really wanted to, and you'd have some money saved up anyway.
What would be considered moderate to expensive in some cities in North Carolina would be considered cheap in Chicago. There's tradeoffs to everything. You don't need a car here necessarily (but public transit still costs money), but other things might cost more. Chicago is less expensive than say NYC, Los Angeles, Boston, DC, but compared to places like Raleigh/Durham or Houston, Chicago is more expensive.
You don't want to move here and be homeless, especially in the winter when you've never experienced it, and you aren't used to a big city full of weird ****. Again, there's many homeless people who unfortunately die every year here, even though they're "well versed" with cold weather. You don't want to be one of those people just because you had to prove something to someone.
Last edited by marothisu; 10-04-2012 at 03:24 PM..
Couch Surfing....visit the website and you'll be set unless your a creep. Just keep changing to different people once you felt you overstayed your welcome. Free and you might get some free food too.
Staying at shelters....pffft.
Good luck....don't choose a suburb!!!!!!! Commuting will eat your income and you WILL need a car.
Consider a motorcycle if you can afford it. Nice to get around in cities.
Listen, I don't know you, you don't know me, but I've volunteered in homeless shelters, as a student I lived in a halfway house (as a student, not as a resident) where many of the people had previously been homeless, a few years ago I rented my guestroom to a man who had spent several years homeless, and I currently have a good friend who was homeless for about a year at some time before I we'd met.
You DO NOT, under ANY circumstances short of fearing for your physical well-being, want to EVER chose to be homeless.
Period.
Being homeless is far more than simply not having a place you call home. There are, of course, exceptions to what I'm about to say, but they are just that: exceptions. Meaning, not the usual result.
People who are homeless quickly, often without you even realizing it at first, develop a state of mind marked by desperate self-protection, desperate survival, and constant mistrust of others.
These are traits that often persist even after the person manages to escape homelessness. Of the people I've known who were homeless, the least-impacted was the guy I rented my guestroom to. He didn't tell me that he'd been homeless until about 3 months after he moved in, but I knew he had even before I agreed to rent him the room. I didn't bring it up, because it wasn't relevant and I didn't feel the need to embarrass him, but for the vast majority of people, being homeless leaves personality marks and scars on people that are just as visible to anyone paying attention as physical marks and scars are.
These are traits that often come to dominate a person's personality. The stress of being homeless changes people and even if you're not actually mentally ill currently, the stress can break people. It puts your self-image under constant, relentless attack. It minimizes your ability to focus on anything other than animistic survival. As you descend further into homelessness, and begin to look more and more homeless, you also become invisible to the people around you. For many newly homeless people, that is actually the hardest thing. The social stigma around homelessness is so strong that people would rather pretend you don't exist than acknowledge that you're a human in need of help. Is that terrible? Sure, but pretending that it's not reality doesn't make it less real.
Being homeless assaults your physical health, as even when it's not so cold you are literally at risk of freezing to death, you are at much higher risk of parasitic infections, of illnesses brought on by inconsistent hygiene, and of respiratory illnesses from simple things like colds to life-threatening things like tuberculosis.
I am a huge advocate of taking calculated risks to get ahead in life. I work in the financial trading industry, where risk is how the entire industry makes its money. I encourage you to take calculated risks.
But please, for the love of all that is good, don't choose to be homeless. The risks associated with being homeless FAR exceed any possible reward. What you risk when you choose to be homeless isn't just failure to get a job. You risk your physical life. You risk your personality. You risk your mental health. Your risk becoming a person that even your family won't recognize and maybe won't even be able to bring themselves to accept back.
That's the reality of what you face being homeless in a major American city. You will not come out whole even if you come out alive and sane.
------------------------
So what SHOULD you do?
If you are smart enough for college, then borrow money to go to college and study something practical. For all intents and purposes, that means something that requires math, whether it's business or engineering or computer science or accounting or anything else that requires math, that's how you make sure you'll be able to earn enough to pay back the loans. Yes, you'll graduate in debt, but even being a so-called "wage slave" is far better, less demeaning, less damaging than being homeless.
If you don't think you can do the advanced academics of college, then beg your family to help you find some distant relative in a larger city who will let you crash with them for a couple months to find work. Then go there, get a job and start saving. "Saving" means no beer. No smoking. No going to shows. Yes, it will suck, but once you have enough money to actually support yourself for a few months without being homeless, THEN move to the city of your choice, find a job and start your life. You can do that, and that's how millions of immigrants make steps toward fulfilling their American dream. You may not be an international immigrant, but in many ways you're still an immigrant. If you save and work as immigrants do, you'll find success. I can't promise six-figure salaries or million-dollar homes, but I can say with certainty that you'll be able to support yourself without the terrible threat and risks of homelessness.
I sincerely wish you the best of luck but desperately beg you to stop considering choosing to be homeless.
The thing is I'm really trying to get into school, I already missed a semester and if I attend down here I will have unreliable transportation. If I found a job and by the grace of god I happen to get it, could I have enough money saved to move up there by january.
If you're really going through with this, try to get into this place...excellent resource, helps with housing/shelter, food, tuition, everything you're seeking to get on track this place can help you with rather than being out there in the streets.
[url=http://www.mercyhome.org/]Chicago Children's Charity | Mercy Home for Boys & Girls[/url]
Anybody can make it in America....if you are willing to sacrifice.Wherever you end up.....get TWO full time jobs.Even if they are low paying,one job pays for your living expenses and the other goes in the bank.Within a year,you could have $30,000 or more.If you have any real sand you could do it for two years.
Next,make a decision about your career options and go to school at night while keeping one job.
Sure,you'll miss parties,concerts,hanging out and all the fun stuff but that can come later.
(This from a guy who hated school,barely got through HS and did nothing but party for the next 5 years.Got sick of being a nobody and worked my butt off for a few years)Nothing feels better than doing well.
Listen, I don't know you, you don't know me, but I've volunteered in homeless shelters, as a student I lived in a halfway house (as a student, not as a resident) where many of the people had previously been homeless, a few years ago I rented my guestroom to a man who had spent several years homeless, and I currently have a good friend who was homeless for about a year at some time before I we'd met.
You DO NOT, under ANY circumstances short of fearing for your physical well-being, want to EVER chose to be homeless.
Period.
Being homeless is far more than simply not having a place you call home. There are, of course, exceptions to what I'm about to say, but they are just that: exceptions. Meaning, not the usual result.
People who are homeless quickly, often without you even realizing it at first, develop a state of mind marked by desperate self-protection, desperate survival, and constant mistrust of others.
These are traits that often persist even after the person manages to escape homelessness. Of the people I've known who were homeless, the least-impacted was the guy I rented my guestroom to. He didn't tell me that he'd been homeless until about 3 months after he moved in, but I knew he had even before I agreed to rent him the room. I didn't bring it up, because it wasn't relevant and I didn't feel the need to embarrass him, but for the vast majority of people, being homeless leaves personality marks and scars on people that are just as visible to anyone paying attention as physical marks and scars are.
These are traits that often come to dominate a person's personality. The stress of being homeless changes people and even if you're not actually mentally ill currently, the stress can break people. It puts your self-image under constant, relentless attack. It minimizes your ability to focus on anything other than animistic survival. As you descend further into homelessness, and begin to look more and more homeless, you also become invisible to the people around you. For many newly homeless people, that is actually the hardest thing. The social stigma around homelessness is so strong that people would rather pretend you don't exist than acknowledge that you're a human in need of help. Is that terrible? Sure, but pretending that it's not reality doesn't make it less real.
Being homeless assaults your physical health, as even when it's not so cold you are literally at risk of freezing to death, you are at much higher risk of parasitic infections, of illnesses brought on by inconsistent hygiene, and of respiratory illnesses from simple things like colds to life-threatening things like tuberculosis.
I am a huge advocate of taking calculated risks to get ahead in life. I work in the financial trading industry, where risk is how the entire industry makes its money. I encourage you to take calculated risks.
But please, for the love of all that is good, don't choose to be homeless. The risks associated with being homeless FAR exceed any possible reward. What you risk when you choose to be homeless isn't just failure to get a job. You risk your physical life. You risk your personality. You risk your mental health. Your risk becoming a person that even your family won't recognize and maybe won't even be able to bring themselves to accept back.
That's the reality of what you face being homeless in a major American city. You will not come out whole even if you come out alive and sane.
------------------------
So what SHOULD you do?
If you are smart enough for college, then borrow money to go to college and study something practical. For all intents and purposes, that means something that requires math, whether it's business or engineering or computer science or accounting or anything else that requires math, that's how you make sure you'll be able to earn enough to pay back the loans. Yes, you'll graduate in debt, but even being a so-called "wage slave" is far better, less demeaning, less damaging than being homeless.
If you don't think you can do the advanced academics of college, then beg your family to help you find some distant relative in a larger city who will let you crash with them for a couple months to find work. Then go there, get a job and start saving. "Saving" means no beer. No smoking. No going to shows. Yes, it will suck, but once you have enough money to actually support yourself for a few months without being homeless, THEN move to the city of your choice, find a job and start your life. You can do that, and that's how millions of immigrants make steps toward fulfilling their American dream. You may not be an international immigrant, but in many ways you're still an immigrant. If you save and work as immigrants do, you'll find success. I can't promise six-figure salaries or million-dollar homes, but I can say with certainty that you'll be able to support yourself without the terrible threat and risks of homelessness.
I sincerely wish you the best of luck but desperately beg you to stop considering choosing to be homeless.
I hope that the OP will consider the advice given in this post. It's obvious that SOME planning, along with SOME money, will be absolutely necessary. People certainly make moves like the one he's attempting, but they have at least a few certainties ( place to stay OR some money OR relatives/friends, etc) already in place. This is not some rags-to-riches Holywood story, but with a little forethought, and some incremental steps, it can be done. Just choose wisely.
Listen, I don't know you, you don't know me, but I've volunteered in homeless shelters, as a student I lived in a halfway house (as a student, not as a resident) where many of the people had previously been homeless, a few years ago I rented my guestroom to a man who had spent several years homeless, and I currently have a good friend who was homeless for about a year at some time before I we'd met.
You DO NOT, under ANY circumstances short of fearing for your physical well-being, want to EVER chose to be homeless.
Period.
....
I sincerely wish you the best of luck but desperately beg you to stop considering choosing to be homeless.
Excellent post. Completely agree with this. My sister used to "run with" some bad people, and her ex boyfriend was a homeless drug addict. She was friends with other homeless guys, so I've been around them too. A lot of them do develop the mental thing and there are many who are just a little off (no offense if any homeless are reading this). This isn't true of everyone, but there are a lot who are.
Also, I think if your first impressions of this city are made while you are homeless, you will HATE Chicago. With a little preparation (mentioned in previous posts), you could come here when you have enough money to not be homeless and you could actually have a good chance of making it here and enjoying it.
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