Winston-Salem (Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro: middle-class, foreclosures, renting)

[USAGIRL]

Hello. I'm from NYC. I'm thinking about moving to Winston-Salem to study nursing. What's life like there? Any tips for a near middle-age single woman with no kids who is relocating as a student? Do I need to learn to drive? Do I need to know anything special being an African-American? Any suggestions on where to worship? Thanks everyone.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by USAGIRL

Hello. I'm from NYC. I'm thinking about moving to Winston-Salem to study nursing. What's life like there? Any tips for a near middle-age single woman with no kids who is relocating as a student? Do I need to learn to drive? Do I need to know anything special being an African-American? Any suggestions on where to worship? Thanks everyone.

You'll find life much slower, with less diversity than in NYC. Being an African-American is no big deal. People pretty much tend to their own lives here and that's not an issue. You'll definitely need to learn to drive. W-S has a bus system, but it's not the kind of mass transit that will allow you to get around everywhere quickly.

You should find a job as a nurse here almost instantly once your studies are complete. W-S has two major hospitals: Wake Forest Baptist http://www1.wfubmc.edu/ and Forsyth Medical Center http://www1.wfubmc.edu/ In the last few years, Baptist has been bringing nurses in from the Phillipines because of the shortage of trained medical personnel.

As far as worship, you'll find just about any flavor in W-S. As in other southern cities, there's no shortages of churches. We even have Moravian and Friends. I find (even without being a worshipper) that W-S seems to be very diverse that way, even if it is smaller than Charlotte or Raleigh.

The key words are going to be "sloooowww dowwwn". W-S is not as frenetic; more Old South; as Charlotte and Raleigh, that's why I myself prefer this city over the other two.

Good luck

[USAGIRL]

Thanks for the info and the links.

[SeattlitefromNC]

There is a very large contingent of middle-class African Americans in Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Also, it should be noted that there is one HBCU in W-S (Winston Salem State U.) and at least two in Greensboro (Bennett College and NC A&T U). There is always a party and if you want to know where one is, I suggest getting to know some of the students at those colleges (if you are not attending one of those schools already).

Things are slower than NYC, but you'd be surprised at how many folks there are from the North who go to school down south. There is a large contingency of DC black folks that go to school in that area, and I'm sure there are many from NYC/NJ as well.

Have fun!

[USAGIRL]

Thanks for this info. It's very helpful.

[knapper]

I think you are going to need to learn to drive no matter where you go. Most areas in the US don't have good mass transit like NYC and Chicago. I am from Akron OH, looking to move near Raleigh to study nursing. Good luck to you!

[RaleighRob]

All the above comments seem right to me (I grew up in Winston-Salem).

If you had just said you were going down there for college, I would've replied "don't worry about driving, most college students live on campus".
But you mention "middle-age" so I'm willing to bet you're not up for dorm life.

Even still, I wouldn't make driving and getting a car your number one priority just yet....especially if other costs like tuition, books, and housing are more crucial. You could find a home on (or really close to) a bus route... just make sure it's a route that runs close to the college as well, obviously.
So it's doable to live in most larger NC cities without a car...as long as you're IN the city near the bus routes and not out on the edge of town.
So if getting a car and learning to drive seems like an added stress to this move of yours, just remember it isn't 100% necessary, by any means.

Good luck in your move!!

[whotmewory]

I think you're going to be shocked at how bucolic Winston-Salem is. It's an economically very ill city that has denied economic realities these past two and half decades and is now paying for it (there are locals screaming at this sentence right now, they're so deluded).

After landing at Raleigh International, and renting our car, we made the foolish mistake of bypassing Raleigh for W-S to house hunt for our pending move from Seattle, WA in 2001.

While housing here is a buyers' market and is very depressed in price (I'm a licensed broker as well as licensed professional engineer) it reflects the surrounding and very bleak lack of "real" jobs. Retail and restaurants are popping up like zits on a 12-year old, and so too are the numbers of foreclosures (we bought two), but no truly middle-class family wage jobs. No factories are going up (Dell? Big deal!).

Night time entertainment has been effectively "refused zoning" by the stoic Christian Right for so long that - well when people in W-S go home at night, the sidewalks roll up - and we're talking a blasted CITY here.

Being a single woman - who cares about your age - I imagine you would like to meet people and have some fun dancing or finding truly fulfilling entertainment on your free-from-homework nights. I'd like to suggest Chapel Hill where UNC is. A quaint town blanketed in the atmosphere of higher education provided by one of this country's best schools.

Or perhaps Durham, homeof Duke University - although right now people reading this are whincing at that thought. Sure, in W-S there's Baptist/Wake Forest Medical School and hospital, and Forsyth hospital, but that's just work.

My wife is a BS RN and I wish she could tell you about working in the [only two] hospitals in the immediate area. The wages suck compared to other states AND there are NO unions, ma'm! This is a serious impediment to your nursing wages being comaprable to your peers in other cities. And Baptist at least will threaten to fire you if you even MENTION unions.

Nc is a so called "Right to Work" state - which invites a wholly new kind of "prejudice" where supervisory and upper management people who have personal issues with workers unrelated to their job performance can abuse them and discharge them without cause and you're outt'a luck.

But other than that, NC is still Our State and we are doing what we can to improve our life styles.

Cheers from NC wine country!

[Cassie]

Hear, hear! Someone who has the intestinal fortitude to tell it like is. The only thing I disagree about is Chapel Hill. I'm from there. AFAIC, it took a huge nosedive when Money Magazine rated it the #1 place to live in the USA years ago.

So much for those ratings that people seem to put so much stock in.

P.S. "Right to work" states are more accurately labeled " hire and fire at will" states.

Regards,

Cassie

Originally Posted by whotmewory

I think you're going to be shocked at how bucolic Winston-Salem is. It's an economically very ill city that has denied economic realities these past two and half decades and is now paying for it (there are locals screaming at this sentence right now, they're so deluded).

After landing at Raleigh International, and renting our car, we made the foolish mistake of bypassing Raleigh for W-S to house hunt for our pending move from Seattle, WA in 2001.

While housing here is a buyers' market and is very depressed in price (I'm a licensed broker as well as licensed professional engineer) it reflects the surrounding and very bleak lack of "real" jobs. Retail and restaurants are popping up like zits on a 12-year old, and so too are the numbers of foreclosures (we bought two), but no truly middle-class family wage jobs. No factories are going up (Dell? Big deal!).

Night time entertainment has been effectively "refused zoning" by the stoic Christian Right for so long that - well when people in W-S go home at night, the sidewalks roll up - and we're talking a blasted CITY here.

Being a single woman - who cares about your age - I imagine you would like to meet people and have some fun dancing or finding truly fulfilling entertainment on your free-from-homework nights. I'd like to suggest Chapel Hill where UNC is. A quaint town blanketed in the atmosphere of higher education provided by one of this country's best schools.

Or perhaps Durham, homeof Duke University - although right now people reading this are whincing at that thought. Sure, in W-S there's Baptist/Wake Forest Medical School and hospital, and Forsyth hospital, but that's just work.

My wife is a BS RN and I wish she could tell you about working in the [only two] hospitals in the immediate area. The wages suck compared to other states AND there are NO unions, ma'm! This is a serious impediment to your nursing wages being comaprable to your peers in other cities. And Baptist at least will threaten to fire you if you even MENTION unions.

Nc is a so called "Right to Work" state - which invites a wholly new kind of "prejudice" where supervisory and upper management people who have personal issues with workers unrelated to their job performance can abuse them and discharge them without cause and you're outt'a luck.

But other than that, NC is still Our State and we are doing what we can to improve our life styles.

Cheers from NC wine country!

[Miker2069]

this has to be the most helpful group of people in any forum...You guys make me smile