I’m not American: Who can describe Louisiana in some lines? Advantages/disadvantages. (New Orleans: crime, school)

[alwajm]

Hi

I’m not American: Who can describe Louisiana in some lines? Advantages/disadvantages.

Kind of people/ safest hoods (Baton Rouge).

[alligatorboy]

These are the biggest cities in Louisiana:

New Orleans
Metairie(a suburb of New Orleans)
Baton Rouge(The Capital of Louisiana)
Shreveport
Louisiana is a great place to go if you like to eat. Also, the weather is mild for most of the year. Spring and Summer can be very hot with humidity up to 100%, and even above that sometimes. Depending on which area of Louisiana you live, hurricanes might be a problem. Part of New Orleans and Metairie are at risk when hurricanes hit. The French Quarter and Bywater are the two areas I know of that didn't flood during the last hurricane, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes in the history of the Gulf of Mexico. There are several books about Hurricane Katrina if you would like to know more. Baton Rouge is almost 2 hours away from New Orleans, and hurricanes aren't a problem for them. Some parts of Baton Rouge can be very dangerous, but I have heard that the southern part of the city is a lot safer. Shreveport is in Northwestern Louisiana, and is close to the Arkansas-Louisiana border. The cities in Louisiana that aren't affected by the hurricanes are probably less expensive than those who were.
I haven't been to Louisiana, but I hope this information will be helpful.
Maybe someone who is from Louisiana can give you some very specific information.

[darylwi]

What specifics are you looking for? All of Louisiana, Baton Rouge in particular?
Baton Rouge is a lot like most cities in that if you aren't looking for trouble, it usually doesn't come looking for you. Baton Rouge is also a lot like most large cities and/or southern cities where there's a lot of street/gang violence in it's poor and minority areas. That violence appears to be going on unchecked and that is severely altering our crime statistics. It doesn't make Baton Rouge a dangerous place to live, but it does scare off people/businesses/industry that might have been looking at Baton Rouge and the surround metro area as a potential place to relocate. So in that regard, we have a problem.
As far as style of living, I've always known Australia to be this easy-going, laid back society where they don't let trivial things worry them all the time like most Americans and Europeans. Louisiana is a lot like that in relation to the rest of America. It's a place where people like to relax, have fun, enjoy life (within reason of course) and just not worry about the outside world too much. People from the outside look at Louisiana and say "Why can't y'all be more like us", or "Why can't y'all get your act together". And most people here look back and say "Why should we?"
People here want to modernize with the rest of the world but not at the expense of their quality of life, cost of living, or deminishing their culture or spirituality. People here are extremely open to sharing their culture with the outside world but frown upon outsiders coming in and trying to change things or suggest we should change things. At that point, they've worn out their welcome. That is typical in many southern states and rural areas around America I believe.
There's probably plenty more to add, but I'm not sure what it is exactly that you're looking for so I'll end for now.
Regards,

[alwajm]

Originally Posted by alligatorboy

These are the biggest cities in Louisiana:

New Orleans
Metairie(a suburb of New Orleans)
Baton Rouge(The Capital of Louisiana)
Shreveport
Louisiana is a great place to go if you like to eat. Also, the weather is mild for most of the year. Spring and Summer can be very hot with humidity up to 100%, and even above that sometimes. Depending on which area of Louisiana you live, hurricanes might be a problem. Part of New Orleans and Metairie are at risk when hurricanes hit. The French Quarter and Bywater are the two areas I know of that didn't flood during the last hurricane, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes in the history of the Gulf of Mexico. There are several books about Hurricane Katrina if you would like to know more. Baton Rouge is almost 2 hours away from New Orleans, and hurricanes aren't a problem for them. Some parts of Baton Rouge can be very dangerous, but I have heard that the southern part of the city is a lot safer. Shreveport is in Northwestern Louisiana, and is close to the Arkansas-Louisiana border. The cities in Louisiana that aren't affected by the hurricanes are probably less expensive than those who were.
I haven't been to Louisiana, but I hope this information will be helpful.
Maybe someone who is from Louisiana can give you some very specific information.

Thank you so much.

[alwajm]

Originally Posted by darylwi

What specifics are you looking for? All of Louisiana, Baton Rouge in particular?
Baton Rouge is a lot like most cities in that if you aren't looking for trouble, it usually doesn't come looking for you. Baton Rouge is also a lot like most large cities and/or southern cities where there's a lot of street/gang violence in it's poor and minority areas. That violence appears to be going on unchecked and that is severely altering our crime statistics. It doesn't make Baton Rouge a dangerous place to live, but it does scare off people/businesses/industry that might have been looking at Baton Rouge and the surround metro area as a potential place to relocate. So in that regard, we have a problem.
As far as style of living, I've always known Australia to be this easy-going, laid back society where they don't let trivial things worry them all the time like most Americans and Europeans. Louisiana is a lot like that in relation to the rest of America. It's a place where people like to relax, have fun, enjoy life (within reason of course) and just not worry about the outside world too much. People from the outside look at Louisiana and say "Why can't y'all be more like us", or "Why can't y'all get your act together". And most people here look back and say "Why should we?"
People here want to modernize with the rest of the world but not at the expense of their quality of life, cost of living, or deminishing their culture or spirituality. People here are extremely open to sharing their culture with the outside world but frown upon outsiders coming in and trying to change things or suggest we should change things. At that point, they've worn out their welcome. That is typical in many southern states and rural areas around America I believe.
There's probably plenty more to add, but I'm not sure what it is exactly that you're looking for so I'll end for now.
Regards,

Thank you so much, you seem to be from LA, what about Ruston?

[darylwi]

Originally Posted by alwajm

Thank you so much, you seem to be from LA, what about Ruston?

Ruston is actually a fairly nice small college city, maybe 30 minutes from larger Monroe and 90 minutes from Shreveport. LaTech is a pretty good school. They have a pretty strong engineering program, I think structural/civil based mostly but probably other specialties as well. Besides stopping at a gas station along the interstate there, I haven't been through Ruston in probably 10 years. I'm guessing it's still the same, except it's grown a little more. I know noone that complains about being there.
Some of the north LA guys on here can probably give you a little more insight towards Ruston how it is now.

[alwajm]

Originally Posted by darylwi

Ruston is actually a fairly nice small college city, maybe 30 minutes from larger Monroe and 90 minutes from Shreveport. LaTech is a pretty good school. They have a pretty strong engineering program, I think structural/civil based mostly but probably other specialties as well. Besides stopping at a gas station along the interstate there, I haven't been through Ruston in probably 10 years. I'm guessing it's still the same, except it's grown a little more. I know noone that complains about being there.
Some of the north LA guys on here can probably give you a little more insight towards Ruston how it is now.

Thanks agian and I hope someone from north LA guys feeds me back.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I have never lived there but been through and visited. The food is so outrageously wonderful you can't imagine. Crawfish Etoufee' is amazing in fact Crawfish anything is wonderful. Love the Jambalaya. Its just amazing stuff.
I always dreamed of eating at Paul Prudhommes restaurant in New Orleans, they are booked months in advance.

[alligatorboy]

I thought I should also mention that people across the U.S. have different accents in certain regions. In Louisiana, you might hear some people that sound sort of Canadian. For example, they might say a word like "about" as "aboot". Other than that, you might not notice that they have an accent. Some people down there have Southern accents. They might say things like "Y'all" instead of "You all". Also, there are some people in Louisiana that speak French, but they might know English too.

[Jessiegee40]

Alligatorboy,

I originally grew up in Upstate New York so I am familiar with Canadian accents and I must say that in the 27 years that I have lived in Louisiana I cant recall hearing any Canadian accents. The Cajuns do speak French but English also. Some New Orleanians have accents that sound like New York city and then there are the folks from Chalmette that have a sound all their own. Most all sound like the Southerners we are and yes we say ya'll.