Help!! Need motivation to make the move to Bloomington. (Columbus: apartment, rent)

[Indyjones]

Originally Posted by domergurl

When I was at IU, I loved the Po Boys at Uptown Cafe, is that still there? I also loved the scones at Red Chair Bakery, but I heard that is gone now. Loved the Indian coffee at Daily Grind, burgers at Nicks and fish and chips at the Irish Lion. Loved breakfast at the Runcible Spoon.

But pizza ... and beefs ... yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

Michaels is still there...with probably the best weekend breakfast in the morning too!!! Nothing like breakfast at the Uptown, then over to the Farmers Market on a Saturday morning.
You guys are absolutely right about the pizza thing. Someone could make a LOT of money offering good pizza here. Mother Bears is excellent tho, and Avers is unique.

[hoosier812]

Originally Posted by sundance67

Could someone post some pros and cons of Bloomington? We're in Chicago and it's changing. Need to know is Bloomington easy to adapt to? Are the people friendly or rowdy? How is the weather generally, is it true that Indiana has worse weather than Chicago?
Thanks in advance!

I live in Bloomington, Indiana and it's become a not-so-nice place to live. Please, I wouldn't come here. The economy is bad -- no jobs and high cost of living. There are some major problems with Bloomington. I had to learn all this the hard way. I'm from Jefferson City, Mo and Fort Wayne and I wish I had stayed in those places instead. I wish I could tell you how bad Bloomington really is, but I'm scared I'll get kicked out of the forum. Please reconsider. It's called "B-Town" for a reason... "B" for BAD!

[hoosier812]

Please don't take offense, but Bloomington, Indiana is a bad place to live. The cost of living is very expensive and the wages here are low. I don't want to hurt any one's feelings, but I am ready to leave Bloomington as soon as possible. This town has some major problems. I can't get into this online so please PM. Please reconsider moving to Bloomington. It was nice here ten years ago, but it's gone down hill. It's really sad when nice things turn bad. I wish I could help my town, but I am too deep in the economic mire myself.

[Purdue1906]

Originally Posted by hoosier812

I live in Bloomington, Indiana and it's become a not-so-nice place to live. Please, I wouldn't come here. The economy is bad -- no jobs and high cost of living. There are some major problems with Bloomington. I had to learn all this the hard way. I'm from Jefferson City, Mo and Fort Wayne and I wish I had stayed in those places instead. I wish I could tell you how bad Bloomington really is, but I'm scared I'll get kicked out of the forum. Please reconsider. It's called "B-Town" for a reason... "B" for BAD!

You're insane.....I just left Bloomington (grad school) and have family in Jefferson City, matter of fact, just was there 2 weekends ago. It's not even a comparison, Bloomington blows both Ft. Wayne and Jeff. City, Mo out the water. The IU campus is beautiful, good sports scene, PHENOMENAL music scene (the Bluebird has national acts at least 5 times per semester and good indy bands every week), good places to eat (Siam House, Mark Pi's, Casablanca Cafe, Cafe et Crepe, Little Zagreb, The Irish Lion, Mother Bear's Pizza). Only one Target and one Wal-Mart (on opposite ends of down), but decent enough for a college town. The downtown square is cool with a lot of unique little shops.

Nightlife......it's a college town and one of the better nightlife scenes in the Big Ten....maybe even the US. In addition to the Bluebird, you've got the aforemention IrishLion, The Crazy Horse, Nick's (go sink the biz), Kilroy's, Kilroy's Sports, Yogi's (my personal fave) and quite a few others. And it's not just students, you'll find young professionals and alums enjoying the nightlife on a weekend too.

If the scenery of the IU campus is not enough for you, just pop in and visit the history in many of the campus buildings. The IU Museum is outstanding, and the Union is the largest in the Big Ten.

Since it is a college town, away from campus is dependent on what side of town you live on. The East Side (east of Walnut) and the area by the mall has some of the most beautiful houses in the city, and nicer, newer apartments. The West and parts of the South sides are older and IMO, more mid-lower income, and kind of good ol boyish. Want to get out of town, Indianapolis is an hour north, Columbus (beautiful drive, especially in the fall) is an hour east, and Lake Monroe (an absolutely stunning lake, spent many a day there just relaxing) is 20 minutes south. Louisville is about 2 hours south.

To to the OG poster, Jeff. City is as dead as a doorknob, there's NO NIGHTLIFE, Lincoln U. does not have the kind of environment that makes a town with a university any fun, and you're hard pressed to find anywhere other than Mickey D's and Applebee's oper after 10pm. Fort Wayne, ditto, expect for that one complex of clubs FTW has where you're basically surrounded by thugs and NASCARS fans.

Bloomington cost of living is somewhat higher, but affordable housing can be found, and so can jobs (I had 3 of them while I was there, not super high paying, but enough to pay the bills and feed myself). As a Purdue man and formerly sworn Bloomington hater (till I went to school there), I'd recommend it to anyone, I wouldn't have left if I didn't have to.

[Southside Shrek]

Originally Posted by domergurl

rrah, you're right about the food ... it's pretty bad here. If you want a good meal in this state, you need to go to a fancy restaurant and then the food compares to most big cities. But as for pizza, ugh!!! It's pathetic! In Fishers, we had 1 Nancy's pizza chain (from Chicago, btw), but here in Columbus, it's a no man's land as far as a good pizza and forget about a beef. I heard there's a Chicago transplant in North Vernon who got sick of the food here and opened his own place. I'm planning on checking it out this week.

Domergurl
You're going all the way down to little North Vernon to look for tasty food? Holy smokin' catfish!!!

[domergurl]

Trust me, it's worth it! The pizza is the best I've had since moving to Columbus. I met the owner and I strongly urged him to consider branching out to Columbus. Avers pizza is good, but gourmet and pizza don't belong in the same sentence, IMHO.

[Purdue1906]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Trust me, it's worth it! The pizza is the best I've had since moving to Columbus. I met the owner and I strongly urged him to consider branching out to Columbus. Avers pizza is good, but gourmet and pizza don't belong in the same sentence, IMHO.

Bazbeaux Pizza in Indianapolis is some of the best pizza in Indiana. Yes, it's gourmet, but it is GOOOD

[domergurl]

I'm old fashioned, I don't like to go out for pizza, I want to order it and have it delivered or take out. I like to eat it at my house, italian sausage, mushrooms and extra cheese ... a basic blue collar pizza.

[happy*mom]

Originally Posted by domergurl

rrah, you're right about the food ... it's pretty bad here. If you want a good meal in this state, you need to go to a fancy restaurant and then the food compares to most big cities. But as for pizza, ugh!!! It's pathetic! In Fishers, we had 1 Nancy's pizza chain (from Chicago, btw), but here in Columbus, it's a no man's land as far as a good pizza and forget about a beef. I heard there's a Chicago transplant in North Vernon who got sick of the food here and opened his own place. I'm planning on checking it out this week.

Good pizza in North Vernon?- name and location please! Thanks There's really nowhere good to eat in NV so a new place is great news.

[domergurl]

It's called I'm Stuffed. It's authentic Chicago food ... yum!!! Had some of Friday.