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1) Chicago. I've always loved Chicago, I love the lake, the manicured skyline, the architecture and the people. On a more practical note, it isn't much more expensive than Dallas where I currently live so I feel confident that I could make it there.
2) San Francisco. I think it might be the most beautiful city in the country. Way too expensive, but hey.
3) D.C. I have a bunch of friends there who work on the hill and every time I visit I have a great time.
4) LA. Im not a huge fan of L.A. personalty, but I dont hate it either. I like California a lot. Awesome weather.
5) NYC. Moving to NY would be exciting I don't doubt that. It has so much to offer and if I got an opportunity to move there for work I would take it, but wouldn't take a cut in my quality of life just to live there as some people might. If all things were created equal and money was no object I might move it to third behind Chicago and SF.
I did a reset about 10 years ago -- moved to Chicago. Classic move to the big city from the middle of nowhere and come out story. Chicago's been overall great for me. It's VERY practical and makes a lot of sense. GREAT job opportunities and a very strong core of jobs available. Not having to drive is a huge plus.
But, truth be told, even though I like it a lot and it makes a lot of sense, I don't really love it here, per se. But I get this way, every year. Even in years like this year when the winter's not bad. I really like spring, summer and fall here, so 3 out of 4 seasons equal happiness. But OMG that one season!!?? Also, there's just this intangible vibe here that I just don't really feel.
These next few years, I'm going to be mulling my decision as to whether or not to stay long term. Strong decision factors will be the career and the love live (even though its a great gay friendly city and there's a lot of guys, I feel like I've had the worst dating luck in the history of humanity). Career has been great, but the question comes as to whether it would be advantageous for me to stay (after I finish my Masters) or go, with both regards to specificity of the job itself plus income and work/life balance.
I'm definitely here for the next couple of years while I finish out my Masters, but then IDK. My heart kinda says to look elsewhere (LA!!?????, Mia??, Paris, NY, Barcelona, SF, etc) but at the same time for me it just makes so much practical sense to stay here. Tough decision coming up in the future.
People who basically have some sort of "freedom of movement," who could theoretically live in nearly any of the great cities of the world, what do you think and what would you adivse?
New York City is where I'd want to live most out of these, but if I "hated everything thing about where I live and had to start over", than NYC wouldn't count as I live in New Jersey, part of the NYC metro area.
Therefore I voted Chicago, it's the only city out of those that I've never visited, has the lowest cost of living, has a nice layout, good transit, & would feel the most different time as I never visited the Midwest.
-NYC would be off limits for the reason I said above, & is expensive
-Washington DC is nice, & I like Maryland & Virginia, this would be my runner up
-San Francisco is nice and would be best for my field of study, but it's way too expensive
-Los Angeles is nice as well, but the sprawl, bad traffic & worse transit system would make it a pain to get around.
I did/am doing LA and NYC. I think I'd go with Chicago/DC though I'm not sure I'd be able to do my line of work in either place, so I'd probably have to do something entirely separate.
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btw, if there was going to be a 6th choice....
