French family relocating to Indianapolis needs your advise!

[sweetana3]

I forgot to mention, our one (for Indy) very nice independent French style bakery is in Broad Ripple and is called Renee's. I call it French style because I cannot compare it with actual French bakeries. You will need to give it a try. He has a retail store and does the Farmer's Markets during the summer. Broad Ripple has a nice Farmer's Market Saturdays from about May to October. There are others very close on different days of the week. Nice public library satellite branch close to Broad Ripple (in fact located in a shopping mall. Also close to all the neighborhoods I mentioned are three great hardware and building supply stores, two organic food markets, several different types of bread stores, an art school for adults and kids, etc. BR seems to specialize in the nonchain type of business. Often people started businesses in small houses and stayed local. You dont find this vibrancy many other places.

My boss absolutely loves the bakery and the owner :-). Brioche and croissants, yummm.

Found out my boss is on the board of Butler University. So if you need some contacts, please let me know.

[OddTodd]

Hello!

I have lived here in Indy for just over 2 years now and I do enjoy the city. For homes you need to really need to check out the Butler-Tarkingon area. This is the heart of the university and a great area... A little pricey though. South Broad Ripple is nice, but pricey as well. Farther away, but a lot cheaper is Irvington (on the east side). Great homes in an up and coming area. You can check out home on removed

I do not have personal knowledge of the Intl. School, but I am in the relocation business and from what I have heard from people coming into the city it does have a great reputation.

I am not so sure about kids activities since I am a single guy, but the Children's Museum is GREAT and should be able to give you some direction!

Good Luck and Be Safe!!!

Todd

Originally Posted by ann&frank

Hi everyone! We are relocating to Indianapolis because of work opportunities at Butler university. Can you tell us anything about:

- Butler University (good and bad)

- Houses within walking distance of Butler university (how's the area?)

- Ideal places to buy a house if commuting to Butler University daily

- Any info or opinions on the Int'l School of Indiana that has a French program

- What areas/neighborhoods offer the best (and the most) family activities such as soccer leagues for boys and girls, music classes, dance classes, anything to accomodate children's interests

- Any information on the French club/French association

Thank you so much for reading this! Any advise and comment (positive AND negative) is welcomed and appreciated!

[FinanceMom]

When I lived in Indianapolis area, I belonged to a group called the Association for International Women. Most of the women in that group live in Carmel. Several of them are native French speakers and there is a French conversation group that meets monthly. I think that if you can afford to live in Carmel, you will be happy there. Second choice would be to live a little farther south on or near Meridian. I think the Butler University area is a pretty good area, too.

The International School DOES have a French program - but it is very expensive! All the people I knew who went there had the tuition reimbursed by their employers.

Please get involved with the Association for International Women as soon as you can - they will definitly provide you with plenty of helpful advice and get you in contact with other people of your nationality if you would like. They have a website: http://www.aiwindy.org/ Please check it out!!

Let me know how it goes - I had a lot of French acquaintances there, because I was in the French group. I really miss it!! I was also in a playgroup where everyone spoke French. That was very fun for me.

Good luck with your move!

[phdbrasil]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Wow .. Indianapolis compared to Quebec .... a better comparison would be Chicago to Indianapolis. But anyway .... Indianapolis doensn't get as much snow. We'll get dumped on a couple times where school will be cancelled, but for the most part, it's not bad at all, but again, I grew up north of here. It gets icy here sometimes too, which is different from where I grew up. It's easier for me to drive on snow than ice. But most cities have the salt trucks on the ready since that kind of weather is pretty predictable. Now tornados ... well ... we don't have many of them. At least they, unlike earthquakes, are predictible as well.

As for being liberal, yes, Indiana is conservative politically, but you'll find like minded folks as well (well, me and Shrek anyway ). You may want to look into Bloomington, home of Indiana University. It's much more liberal friendly and they do have culture that you won't find here and the food is better!

Don't discount the Hoosier state. It's not as bad as non-hoosiers make it out to be. You will be miserable here if you have that on your mind when you get here, but it's really what you make of it. I came back to Indiana after having lived in Chicago for a decade. I love that city and all the things associated with that great city, but I much prefer raising my family here in Indiana. It's safe, cheap and if you want to go to Chicago or anywhere else, you can do it on your own terms. You won't be trapped here.

Hello there... My family and I moved to Chicago 1 year ago... with our first newborn child who is now 1 year old. Like you, we absolutely love Chicago and everything it has to offer, but are looking elsewhere to raise a family (cost of living up here and traffic are the two main drawbacks)... Chicago in my opinion is a fantastic place to spend your 20's in and experience everything it has to offer! But we are looking for a halfway point between Chicago and where we used to live in Huntington, WV. Indy sounds like a great option (we want to be close enough to Chicago and my wife's family in WV)... but I am just not sure what to make of all the comments about Indy. I've there a few times and really liked it... what is your feedback? Any idea if the Indy suburbs would be better than Cincinatti suburbs? Thanks for any ideas...

[chalcedony]

Indy's got a stronger economy than Cincinnati and has for quite some time. Cincinnati is a much older city, with a character that comes with an older city, including some attractive old streetcar suburbs that blow Indy's away, mainly because Indy doesn't have them--all its suburbs are relatively new. But the older urban neighborhoods in Indy are starting to come back valiantly; Cincinnati has some great hoods like Mount Adams and Hyde Park, and then some truly devastated areas that make the east side of Indy look cozy by comparison. My suspicion is Cincy is more segregated than Indy--there is far less evidence of racial tension in Indianapolis and plenty of minorities (African Americans among many others) living in the suburbs. Cincy had race riots back in 2000 or 2001 I believe. And, though it hasn't historically been the case, Indianapolis is probably more diverse and more of an immigrant destination. Cincy has its powerful German heritage, but the last time I was there I saw no evidence of Latino or SE Asian communities, both of which are quite large in Indianapolis.

It depends on what you're looking for, but all of Indy's suburbs are "up-and-coming" and have dynamic growth-oriented policies and highly rated public schools. Cincinnati will have fewer of those and more old neighborhoods with full grown trees, HILLS aplenty, and architectural character.