In order to say you've "lived" somewhere... (apartment, hotel)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To me, living there means you actually change your address and receive mail there. Get a job, find housing, and receive mail. That to me means you have lived there.
When I was in Ohio, I did everything there. If I had changed my driver's license and license plate, you would have thought I was a BUCKEYE! OMG.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gobigred
To me, living there means you actually change your address and receive mail there. Get a job, find housing, and receive mail. That to me means you have lived there.
What about if you live and work there, shop there for groceries every week, open your junk mail every day, but go elsewhere for the dentist?
Sometimes it's not so clear. I'm from CO, now going to college in AZ (ASU). I've been here for almost three years now, but seasonally. The first two years I was living in the dorms for about 9 months (8 actually, since I went home for winter break), and then going back home for the summer. This last year I've been living in an apartment here, and now I'm hanging out in the heat for this summer and working here. Though, I still came "home" for a couple of weeks last month. Technically, I'm not an AZ resident at all; I am classified as an out-of-state student. I still have a CO id, vote in CO, have recently served jury duty in CO, etc, etc. So all the time, whether officially or through conversations, I am constantly being reminded that I am not from here. Plus, I'm a diehard Broncos fan no matter where I go. And my situation is not unique at all; there are thousands of out-of-staters here just like me.
Whether or not I'm a "resident," I would definitely call myself a local. I've already spent a small, yet significant portion of my life here. I've explored pretty much everything in Phoenix and everything within a 4 hr radius. I've explored this town more thoroughly than some people who have lived their whole lives here. Even before college, I've been to AZ many, many times. I've even jokingly called myself a "zonie" before. Perhaps in Arizona it is easier than most states, since so many people here are transients of one sort or another anyway. There is not much of a "nativist" attitude here. Even in Colorado, which is not fundamentally that different, you'll hear a lot more people bragging about how they are "fifth generation natives" and looking down on the "Californicators."
I dunno...for me...to say you've lived in a place means you've actually taken a permanent residence there for a minimum of a few years. that way the culture and the people of the place you live have had enough time to "transform" you so to speak. Example....my grandmother was originally from Mexico, Missouri, a small Midwestern town in Northern Missouri. She moved down to Alexandria, Louisiana to live there the last 20 years of her life. In that time frame, according to my father, her speech patterns began to take and on a bit of a Southern accent like the natives of Louisiana. That to me is essentially an indication qualifying you to have lived in a place. You are there long enough that it makes you different from what you were before you moved there. Trust me. If you reside in a place long enough and it has different speech patterns from you, it will change your speech patterns inevitably should you reside there long enough.
2 years? No... I'd say maybe a month or two minimum and have a residence/get mail, etc. I mean it's a short stay, but you are living there. According to ajf's definition, there are periods of my life that didn't exist then, I had to have been "somewhere"...Some people move like every year, they obviously are living somewhere.
I dunno...for me...to say you've lived in a place means you've actually taken a permanent residence there for a minimum of a few years. that way the culture and the people of the place you live have had enough time to "transform" you so to speak. Example....my grandmother was originally from Mexico, Missouri, a small Midwestern town in Northern Missouri. She moved down to Alexandria, Louisiana to live there the last 20 years of her life. In that time frame, according to my father, her speech patterns began to take and on a bit of a Southern accent like the natives of Louisiana. That to me is essentially an indication qualifying you to have lived in a place. You are there long enough that it makes you different from what you were before you moved there. Trust me. If you reside in a place long enough and it has different speech patterns from you, it will change your speech patterns inevitably should you reside there long enough.
I don't think it takes a minimum of a few years. I think it simply takes long enough to have to make adjustments outside your comfort zone and become integrated into the pattern of life/culture - which could be as little as a couple of months, IMO.
I do think having a job in the new country/place makes this easier - your experiences will be very different as you're more "inside" the everyday culture than outside simply observing.
I spent a year in Mexico and assimilated to the point where I thought in Spanish, not English. That year did change my life. I spent ~3 months living/working in Sofia. That wasn't as life-changing as I didn't drive and didn't speak the language (although I got pretty good at phonetics in Cyrillic) but I'd experienced enough of the culture to have educated discussions on all sorts of things from treatment of Romas to government corruption to how come the produce we in the US import from Latin/So. America during winter sucks compared to the produce Bulgaria ships in from Lebanon/Jordan during the winter. And what's the deal with my Commie flat not having a shower door?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OMG.
