This has been a very interesting thread - especially because I lived in San Francisco Bay Area for a long time, moved to NC - Wake County 2 years back and will be moving to Massachusetts next year. While San Francisco is the home of my heart, I have been driven out of the state by the appalling condition of public schools.
I have been reading the "how wonderful the south is" post and I just wanted to relate my perspective. Wake County, North Carolina is the most uni-dimensional, boring place ever - unless you like meat, the woods and barbecue on Sundays. People are polite - southern charm - but that's superficial sweetness. I see a vast difference when they're behind the wheels of their cars
. Making friends still would take a long time - especially if you're a vegetarian, liberal, anti-wars and anti-guns kind of person - if you're different from the norm. People's conversations always work around where you live, which school you child goes to and what sport he /she plays. Playing golf at the country club is the height of society. Traffic is a joke - narrow roads, home construction that block the said roads, poor infrastructure. I live in Cary, work in Morrisville - near the RDU airport. During peak commute hours, it takes me 50 minutes to drive 6.4 miles. Sports is the only culture here - for everyone. If you are not too interested in Football or Hockey or Basketball, you'd better at least be a NASCAR fan. My daughter went to a podcasting summer camp. End of the week, when all the kids showed their projects, 22 out of 25 kids had done a show on Sports. Wake County schools are a nightmare. Compulsory reassignments, year round schools forced on families, and magnet schools located in areas where I wouldn't send my daughter without police protection and bullet proof vest. There is also this shell of complacency around the people - like they are protected from the rest of the world. Just a reminder - I'm just talking about Wake County where - I have heard wonderful things about Durham and Chapel Hill.
Weather is awful most of the year. Jobs are low paying and have limited scope of advancement for non-Caucasians, unless you're in the medical field. The tech boom in India resulted in a tech bust in North Carolina - when it was being considered at one point as an alternative to Silicon Valley. It is now mostly home to people with mid level tech jobs with limited opportunities for advancement.
Massachusetts - While I have not lived there, my husband has - for the past 2 years. He loves it there. As for me, the reason would be schools - BU Academy, excellent public schools, Berklee, Andover Academy, Boston Latin, MIT, Harvard.. I'm not sure where my daughter will go - I'm just excited by this wealth of choice. I like it that Massachusetts has universal healthcare, gay marriage support , and that it's OK to be an intellectual..I like the varied job opportunities in different fields. I like it that people care about their old homes and try to maintain its integrity. In fact it seems to be a state where new and big are not synonymous with best. I worry about driving in the snow, real-estate, the supposed unfriendly attitude of the people (though I cannot see that among the MA population in this forum), homes with too few bathrooms
I worry that my daughter could end up forgetting the sound of "R"
. I worry about being able to afford to live there.
Regarding Wake County, NC, I feel bad that I have to give up on a home with sweeping wrought iron stairs, cathedral ceilings, crown molding and bathrooms in every bedroom. But there's more to life than cheaper homes. There's need for intellectual stimulation, diversity of thoughts and cultures, varied recreational activities, and developing world perspective. This is where Boston area wins over Wake County, NC. It is a renaissance place - it is not perfect, but at least it is alive, active, and stimulating.
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On the days that it is so cold I can't breath, I wonder why anyone would live here.
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