After 2 months of living in Columbia..... (Greenville, Irmo: apartment complex, homes, neighborhoods)

[Dave O]

Originally Posted by salatheel

I have to say I love it. My wife and I have found we like it even better than we thought we would. The toughest part was finding a fair paying job. Lots of great people,shopping,restaurants, but not overwhelmingly large. A very cozy comfortable city.

I agree. Columbia is a great small town. Housing is cheap, jobs are plentiful, and there are tons of things to do everyday of the week. I can drive to the beach, mountains, or Charlotte in under 2 hours. To top it off the people here are ridicuously nice.

For some crazy reason Columbia has a bad reputation among North and South Carolinians which is totally undeserved. I just hope that the Yankees, Californians and Floridiots don't "discover" Columbia anytime soon.

[justNancy]

I'm not sure how to word this. I don't choose my friends by their color or religion. If I meet someone who is Black, Hispanic, Muslim, Baptist or Catholic, I only care if that person is intelligent and open to new ideas or an ignorant, close-minded bigot. Sure everyone enjoys being around like-minded people, but I also welcome a good debate, as long as it doesn't get nasty. I once even dated a Republican!


Both Greenville and Columbia claim to be the most "culturally diverse" but that isn't a big issue for me. Attitude is. A city can have a mix of just about every race, religion and nationality and still have a lot of racial unrest. I grew up in a 90% White city in Massachusetts, but I never heard prejudice from anyone except the witch who lived next door. She hated everyone.

I live in what many would call a "culturally diverse" neighborhood. Yet I've seen more prejudice, read about more road rage and hate crimes and heard more racial slurs since moving to Southwest Florida which is why "culturally diverse" means little to me. A place can be culturally diverse and still be segregated and have lots of tension. So I would be happy living in a mostly White or mostly Black area as long as it was peaceful, safe, clean, and people got along with each other.

[CarolinaSouth803]

Originally Posted by justNancy

I'm not sure how to word this. I don't choose my friends by their color or religion. If I meet someone who is Black, Hispanic, Muslim, Baptist or Catholic, I only care if that person is intelligent and open to new ideas or an ignorant, close-minded bigot. Sure everyone enjoys being around like-minded people, but I also welcome a good debate, as long as it doesn't get nasty. I once even dated a Republican!


Both Greenville and Columbia claim to be the most "culturally diverse" but that isn't a big issue for me. Attitude is. A city can have a mix of just about every race, religion and nationality and still have a lot of racial unrest. I grew up in a 90% White city in Massachusetts, but I never heard prejudice from anyone except the witch who lived next door. She hated everyone.

I live in what many would call a "culturally diverse" neighborhood. Yet I've seen more prejudice, read about more road rage and hate crimes and heard more racial slurs since moving to Southwest Florida which is why "culturally diverse" means little to me. A place can be culturally diverse and still be segregated and have lots of tension. So I would be happy living in a mostly White or mostly Black area as long as it was peaceful, safe, clean, and people got along with each other.

So you dated a Republican once huh.....lol......that's funny to me! But i can understand where you are coming from with that opinion. Like I said in another post...i went to Los Angeles and experienced a lot of prejudice. And it was not a good experience for me when i'd go to NYC and NJ during my youth either. I was kinda shocked with California though because I wasn't expecting that in such a "liberal" state.

But yeah both area's claim to be but honestly there is probably very little difference in the diversity in any of the larger metro's in SC.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by CarolinaSouth803

So you dated a Republican once huh.....lol......that's funny to me! But i can understand where you are coming from with that opinion. Like I said in another post...i went to Los Angeles and experienced a lot of prejudice. And it was not a good experience for me when i'd go to NYC and NJ during my youth either. I was kinda shocked with California though because I wasn't expecting that in such a "liberal" state.

But yeah both area's claim to be but honestly there is probably very little difference in the diversity in any of the larger metro's in SC.

I admit that, being White, I probably wouldn't be as aware of some prejudice, the same way people aren't aware of the amount of anti-semitism there is in this country. If the members here don't mind, I'm going to go off topic for just a bit to tell a story. You know that mostly White affluent town I grew up in? We were far from rich, but I had a friend from school who lived in a very upscale neighborhood and her next door neighbor was a Black couple, both physicians. Anyway, my friend's mother passed away and my family visited to pay our respects during the mourning period. The next door neighbors also came over to offer their condolences and brought some hors d'oeuvres. While the doctor was walking across the livingroom with her tray, one of the other guests called her over and then another guest took an appetizer. My mother gasped and whispered in my ear, "Oh my God. They think she's the maid!" I was only about 14 but it certainly left an impression on me.

[janrey]

Originally Posted by justNancy

I wish I had left a couple of weeks ago for SC. I am taking a course next week and then I need to decide what to do. I thought I had zeroed in on Greenville, but I am a little concerned about making the wrong choice. Sounds as if Greenville doesn't have a smoking ban at all. In FL the ban is statewide, although I've worked in places where my boss would still light up inside the building. I just don't think I can go back to all that coughing and wheezing because other people have an addiction. At one point I simply stopped going out at night.

I guess I need to drive up and see for myself before making a decision of where to settle down.

I think all work environments outside of restaurants/bars have no smoking policy if only to get cheaper rates on health insurance with the exception of perhaps a business that has only a few employees if the boss smokes. Many restaurants in Greenville and outside of Greenville city are non-smoking and hopefully when the courts decide the smoking case all will be.

[mustangtiff21]

Originally Posted by salatheel

I have to say I love it. My wife and I have found we like it even better than we thought we would. The toughest part was finding a fair paying job. Lots of great people,shopping,restaurants, but not overwhelmingly large. A very cozy comfortable city.

Hi Salatheel! I see that you finally moved from "up north" to SC! I moved to Elgin myself 2 1/2 years ago from northeast PA and LOVE IT! Economy is soo much better down here and the weather and people add to the greatness that Cola has to offer! I just got back from PA for the holiday and even though all my family is back there...I really could not wait to get back here! Glad to hear that your enjoying it here! Where did you come here from?

[faouziauk]

Hi,

I read many post on this page about columbia and im very confused as many people are telling me to stay away from it because of the trouble all around the country, im french but i speak perfectly english and spanish.

I´m an english teacher in spain at the moment but im accually an engineer in IT by career and qualification.

Knowing that i do not have much saving, what are my chances to settle down in columbia and have a decent life???

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Tommy1981]

Originally Posted by faouziauk

Hi,

I read many post on this page about columbia and im very confused as many people are telling me to stay away from it because of the trouble all around the country, im french but i speak perfectly english and spanish.

I´m an english teacher in spain at the moment but im accually an engineer in IT by career and qualification.

Knowing that i do not have much saving, what are my chances to settle down in columbia and have a decent life???

Any help would be much appreciated.

Would you be looking for a job in IT or Teaching? What are your qualifications? Do you have any certifications or degrees?

You probably want to search the Job sites like Hotjobs, Monster or Careerbuilder for jobs in your field. I'm in the IT field now and I know there are several jobs around. Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) has a fairly large facility here specializing in Insurance Software. There are other industries in town that do business with the military bases around, like BAE Systems. One of the jobs sites can give you a better idea of actual openings that are available.

Being so multi-lingual, you might want to search for those kind of jobs. There are places that need folks that do business in several languages. I know Michelin has alot of facilities in SC and France, and they send their people back and forth alot. Being multi-lingual in that kind of scenario can make you a very appealing candidate.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by faouziauk

Hi,

I read many post on this page about columbia and im very confused as many people are telling me to stay away from it because of the trouble all around the country, im french but i speak perfectly english and spanish.

I´m an english teacher in spain at the moment but im accually an engineer in IT by career and qualification.

Knowing that i do not have much saving, what are my chances to settle down in columbia and have a decent life???

Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm not sure what trouble you're referring to. As with any move, it will be much smoother if you have a job before you move to a new city. Since you are bilingual (apparently, actually trilingual), I'm sure you will have a world of options almost anywhere in the United States.

[Nausikaa]

Not really many options at all without a visa. Getting a visa to work in the US at this time is very very difficult. You have to find an employer that will agree to hire you, and then apply for a visa. The visa would cost the employer over $5k. The employer can apply in April every year, but there are only a certain amount of visas given out. A student visa would not be so hard to get, but then you have to come up with the fees.

Without a work visa you can only stay in the US for 90 days, and you cannot work during that time.