[cfsze]

My name is Carrie and I recently moved from the Bay Area in California to Dearborn, MI because I got accepted into the dietetic programs in Detroit. Can someone give me any tips on what a homesick girl can do around Dearborn and Detroit? How bad is the commute from Dearborn to the Detroit Health Dept & hospitals around the Detroit Metro area? I feel so lost around here & incredibly homesick. Keep in mind that I am Chinese and I feel like a HUGE minority here and that I don't fit in, as opposed to the San Francisco area that I grew up in where many Asians live. Is there a particular area where there are Asians/Chinese individuals in Dearborn? Are there Asian grocery stores and Chinese restaurants? What should I expect from Dearborn and Detroit? Thanks..sorry with so many questions!

[thisguy]

Originally Posted by cfsze

My name is Carrie and I recently moved from the Bay Area in California to Dearborn, MI because I got accepted into the dietetic programs in Detroit. Can someone give me any tips on what a homesick girl can do around Dearborn and Detroit? How bad is the commute from Dearborn to the Detroit Health Dept & hospitals around the Detroit Metro area? I feel so lost around here & incredibly homesick. Keep in mind that I am Chinese and I feel like a HUGE minority here and that I don't fit in, as opposed to the San Francisco area that I grew up in where many Asians live. Is there a particular area where there are Asians/Chinese individuals in Dearborn? Are there Asian grocery stores and Chinese restaurants? What should I expect from Dearborn and Detroit? Thanks..sorry with so many questions!

Hi there. Dearborn is a very diverse ethnic area but not really Chinese Lots of Middle Eastern cultures there if you have not noticed. You are "south" of detroit so there is not a ton to do there - most of the activity is in the northern suburbs.

I don't know your age but I assume mid 20s? I would look in a local bookstore for a free copy of MetroTimes and Real Detroit - these are the type of weekly magazines with the hot things to do in town for younger people.

I'd also take a trip "up" to Royal Oak, there is a fun downtown right off the freeway (696), after you take I75 North from dearborn... there is about a 1 mile strip of clubs/restaurants/nightlife/people outside. Detroit itself is tough - the city has never really developed but right around the stadiums (football/baseball) there is a small section of nightlife and in "Gre****wn" a small section - it is very hit and miss otherwise so until you get to know the area I would stick to the suburbs for safety reasons.

There are a lot of Asians in the metro area - more Indian than Chinese but most of this is concentrated in the northern suburbs (all types) so you won't feel out of place "up here", but maybe in the cities south of Detroit its not as diverse. There are entire shopping strips I have seen in Sterling Hts (northern suburb) that all the wording on the outside of the restaurants and asian food shops is in Chinese so its out here, you just have to look around.

[RedWingsFan]

You moved to Dearborn? I hope you are Arabic. If you aren't then you are in the wrong place. That city has been taken over by the middle eastern populations over the years.

What can you do? Get into hockey! You are living in hockeytown! Watch the Detroit Red Wings, go see them play downtown, go to Hockeyown Cafe... hockey season starts soon...


I just saw your post said you are Chinese, you did move to the wrong city. There is a large Chinese population in Troy, which is north of Detroit. You might want to see what's out there for you to do. Do some google searches, they may have some community centers, etc.

[dullnboring]

The places in Michigan with the highest concentration of people of Chinese ancestry are Troy (4% Chinese) and Ann Arbor (5% Chinese). In addition to Troy and Ann Arbor, there are several other communities where the Asian population is over 10% including Farmington Hills, Canton, Hamtramck and Rochester Hills. Generally, the bulk of Asians in these cities though are Asian Indian (or in the case of Hamtramck, Bangladeshi). Additionally, there are fast-growing Asian communities in the Bloomfields, Auburn Hills and Sterling Heights. There's also a high concentration of Asians in the area around Wayne State University in Detroit.