[Luzette]

Originally Posted by Peter B

6 1/2 years here and we've had it. Moving back east this year. Been a great place to decompress for a bit but the novelty has worn off It's a beautiful area but not having been born & bred here, you always feel like an outsider.

I'm sorry you've always felt like an outsider here. I don't know what area you're living in, but I always thought Michigan residents tried their best to make folks feel welcome. Sorry to hear this.

[pifler]

Housing is going to be a big dump.Such a dump none will take it even for free.Things will pick up here by 2080 lol

[theother]

Well I live in Michigan half of the year with my mother, and used to live NYC the other half of the year with my father. Since I'm in college right now and I have a good job in Michigan I won't be living in NYC anytime soon. Since I'll be in S. Korea the whole summer I probably won't be visiting NYC until next year. I don't want to keep transferring colleges and looking for a new job every 6 months so I think I'll be staying put in Michigan for now. As soon as I graduate I will be heading to the NYC area & hopefully I'll be able to find a career (I know I will), it's like to me the area in Michigan I reside in has nothing to offer and it's quite boring. Michigan is a wonderful place to visit but to live?? No thanks!

My whole family is kind of fed up with Michigan, some have no choice but to stay put here. A lot have already moved to the South (Atlanta, Miami, Virgina) and some to the west (Vegas & LA). I have a cousin who was attending WMU but transferred to Stony Island University in Long Island, NY over his fear of not finding a job after graduation he's not looking back. Some (like my sister) loves Michigan and holds a steady job here and can't imagine living anywhere else, when she made a visit to NYC she hated it.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Peter B

6 1/2 years here and we've had it. Moving back east this year. Been a great place to decompress for a bit but the novelty has worn off It's a beautiful area but not having been born & bred here, you always feel like an outsider.

I was even from Michigan but lived a while in that area you were and felt the same way you do. However family members also moved there and they love it and apparently feel they fit in fine.

I felt it was on the provincial side, people are nice but if you're not from there, you're not from there.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

Originally Posted by theother

Well I live in Michigan half of the year with my mother, and used to live NYC the other half of the year with my father. Since I'm in college right now and I have a good job in Michigan I won't be living in NYC anytime soon. Since I'll be in S. Korea the whole summer I probably won't be visiting NYC until next year. I don't want to keep transferring colleges and looking for a new job every 6 months so I think I'll be staying put in Michigan for now. As soon as I graduate I will be heading to the NYC area & hopefully I'll be able to find a career (I know I will), it's like to me the area in Michigan I reside in has nothing to offer and it's quite boring. Michigan is a wonderful place to visit but to live?? No thanks!

My whole family is kind of fed up with Michigan, some have no choice but to stay put here. A lot have already moved to the South (Atlanta, Miami, Virgina) and some to the west (Vegas & LA). I have a cousin who was attending WMU but transferred to Stony Island University in Long Island, NY over his fear of not finding a job after graduation he's not looking back. Some (like my sister) loves Michigan and holds a steady job here and can't imagine living anywhere else, when she made a visit to NYC she hated it.

I am originally from Michigan and moved to NYC after graduating. I guess I am like your sister because I wound up hating it and very homesick. The job market here is tough but not impossible. I had to go back to school to get my Master's in order to be able to make a decent living in Michigan. But it's something that I would have eventually done anyway so it isn't a huge deal. The economic circumstances here just pushed me down the path a little faster.

[grhtex]

I left Michigan in 07 and live north of Dallas. I'm now at a point in my job where I could move back once my daughter graduates HS next year and keep my job because it is no longer location dependant. As much as I miss family and old friends we are really thinking twice about doing this. The winter weather is a major factor. I can't imagine dealing with snow cold and gloomy skies again for a large portion of the year. The sun shines most of the time here in the winter even if it's cold. We may end up moving further south to the Hill country of Texas before we come back - if we come back. I don't think my kids want to come back at all. It's almost as tough a decision to move back as it was to leave in the first place.

[Tyryztoll]

Take it from me, people.....if you're looking to avoid areas where the locals look down on outsiders, DO NOT move to the south. Grass......greener......not.

Michigan and the midwest are awesome places to live. 5 months of winter is necessitates abandoning this quintissential American way of life? Again...I have experienced the supposed "warm utopias" of Texas and Georgia...........and came away loving Michigan even more. It never ceases to amaze me how people are willing to make such dramatic changes to their life just because they don't like to see clouds or feel cold. Ever hear of lights, heaters and coats? Think about it.....and also think about the 90 plus degree days 8 months out of the year down south, where you step outside and instantly get soaked in sweat and bombarded with stinging insects.

It's cloudy today. Think I'll move. Just kidding.

[canudigit]

I think we have to be careful to not be too judgmental in these kinds of matters and remember that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. Some people deal with a very real and painful type of depression due to long periods of cold, gloomy weather and those people would actually be better off somewhere warmer and sunnier. Just because one person can tolerate snow and clouds for months on end doesn't mean that they should assume that everyone else can "suck it up" just as easily, and really...why should they have to if they have the means and desire to move somewhere that they would like better? Everyone is unique and no one should be mocked because their climatic preferences don't match someone else's. Like they used to tell us when we were kids, it would be a pretty boring world if everyone was exactly the same. Live and let live, right?

[Luzette]

I suffer the seasonal depression disorder so for me winters truly are unbearable. I've got to do something or else it's going to be a continued ordeal of 4 to 5 months of agony. I wish it was as easy as running a heater (which I do run a portable in the living room all winter) or just putting on a coat. I'm looking to either leave Michigan for the winter months or else relocate to an area that isn't drastically hotter but much warmer than it is here. I think a mistake many make is running from one extreme to another. I've got my friend in Phoenix to give me a reality check on how it is there where she is already dreading approaching summer and the 100 plus temps.

On the issue of people not feeling accepted that is truly sad in my opinion. You can go to the Maine board where "outsiders" there say they don't feel accepted and that locals think of them as "from away." Honestly you would think people moving to different states were from Mars or something. I just don't get it. We're all part of the USA. As long as you don't look down on an area you've just moved to then I don't know why local folks would want to make anyone feel unwelcome.

[cmak462]

Originally Posted by Luzette

I'm sorry you've always felt like an outsider here. I don't know what area you're living in, but I always thought Michigan residents tried their best to make folks feel welcome. Sorry to hear this.

I'd have to agree with Peter on this one. My family is originally from Southwestern Michigan, which is becoming a popular summer destination for Chicago vacationers. The locals refer to them as F.I.P.'s (****ing Illinois people), on I-94 there is an overpass (can't remember which exit)which has the phrase, "go home FIP" prominently spray-painted on it. So, yeah.

Also, in the same area during my high school years, there was an african american family that moved into my town (small farming community, mostly white, maybe 100%). The family ended up relocating after their house was vandalized.