Moving from Texas to Minnesota (Minneapolis, St. Paul: crime, neighborhood, buy)

[Oildog]

But you'll get to have White Castles for late night hungries, and Perkins for breakfast. Many more asian food options as well.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by tindo80

I am from Texas originally (though I did not move directly from TX to MPLS). The humidity is just as bad, as youre probably finding out now, but the heat overall is slightly milder. The winter will be astronomically colder than the worst you are used to.

MPLS, in my opinion, is seriously lacking in comparison to Texas as far as food choice/diversity goes. I recommend Christos for greek, any of the small uptown places for tai, columbian, mexican, and pizza lucce for pizza.

You will also notice that fast food choices are even more limited by comparison. There are only 2 long john silvers, 2 sonics, a single popeyes (if you like deep fried food...though its bad for you), and no whataburger, no jack in the box, no chic fil a (I think there is one at the University).

Good luck.

------" but the heat overall is slightly milder"

--"slightly"----?????????????

According to records going 60 years back on days over 90--

Mpls-----------------13
Dallas -Fort Worth----96
San Antonio----------113

" slightly" -????????????

[marmac]

Judging Minnesota's summers by the heat and humidity of the past 2 days would be as foolish as judging Minnesota's winters after having 2 days of abnormal weather----sunny and high 40's during a January thaw )

[cybersense]

I have traveled to TX, but I live here in Minnesota.

I don't know what the fast food thingy is all about, being I don't like to eat much of it myself, but I do have favorites. Yes, you can get real seafood. I was in the restaurant business and we had it flown in directly. Yes - you pay a bit more, but being a 'fresh seafood" lover, i do know the difference.

When I went down south, you all had this chicken on a bun with pickles. Was a bit different, but it is a popular chicken sandwhich there - so I ate it. Pickles were okay. They know offer this sandwhich at McDonalds.

People get a little annoyed during cold weather here, but are mostly friendly and manners are a biggie. university life is pretty causal, and there a lot of diversity - but you have plenty there. There are good places to find to live, and as suggested above, the university does have places directly from the UofM site to help you. If you are still having problems, list here and I keep an eye out.

I know area's well. Welcome to Minnesoooota! The summers are pretty decient.

[Oceania11]

Alright il do just that incase. Thanks for offering. Cant wait!!

[mkdude_08]

I just spent last week in Texas... the summertime weather is much, much more comfortable in Minnesota than down south. Yes, we have our days when it's 100+ outside but overall there's no comparison.

Food wise, you will learn to love Culver's and Jimmy John's. I'm sure you'll find other places as well...

Good luck!

[suitup17]

You guys should try living in Winnipeg, MB. It gets super cold here.

[Travelingsarah]

Wow, I can't believe people are saying Minneapolis doesn't have good food because there aren't enough fast food chains! I lived in Mpls for 7 years, including 4 years during college, and the food is some of the best in the country, certainly for a midsized city. It's true, Minneapolis is not big on chains - people there are big on supporting local businesses, which is one of the things I love about it!

Try some of the many, many excellent Vietnamese restaurants (my favorite is Jasmine Deli on Nicollet). If you're missing Mexican food, well, Mpls won't compare to Texas, but there are a ton of little places along East Lake Street in South Minneapolis that you can try.

As for the weather, it's all about a really, really good coat and a great pair of boots. Go to REI and tell them you need a coat for subzero temps, they'll find you something good. This is important since the U has a big campus and you'll be waiting for the bus/shuttle a lot between classes.

I've spent some time in Dallas, and I think you can probably expect some culture shock as far as how the city is laid out. You mention shopping centers - you won't really find these in the city, especially near the U. What you will find is neighborhoods with a concentration of street level shops, restaurants, bars, etc. There are two such neighborhoods around the U (Dinkytown and the West Bank for the Minneapolis campus, St Anthony for the St Paul campus) and a bunch more scattered throughout Minneapolis and St Paul. I was surpised when I went to Dallas that there weren't more neighborhoods like that there - the only one I saw that was like that was Deep Ellum. If you need a mall, you can take the light rail to the Mall of America, which will have everything you need.

Oh, and one great thing about shopping for everyday needs in Minneapolis: it's the home of Target, so there are many Targets to choose from. Great for getting that apartment set up.

As for where to live - if you want to be near campus (and you're going to be at the main Minneapolis campus, not St Paul) then you'll want to look at Dinkytown, the West Bank, although these areas will be full of crappy student housing and lots of drunk frat boys. Seward and the closer-in areas of Northeast Minneapolis (Marcy-Holmes, and the area near St Anthony Main) are nicer and have a mix of families, students and young professionals, though your commute will be longer. Also, a lot of students seem to live in Uptown/The Wedge, which is a more hip, artsy neighborhood (it's also more expensive) with tons of coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, a great co-op, etc. My friend used to take the express bus from there to campus and called it "The Hipster Schoolbus."

[Runemaster]

We just moved here from Phoenix, and with the exception of Mexican, ALL the food we've had here so far is very superior to Arizona, which seems pretty similar to Texas, from what I've experienced there. We had originally intended to go from PHX to Austin and through a crazy twist of fate ended up here instead. I've been here in the winter and it's certainly extreme, but summer in AZ is just as bad.

You should easily find good places to eat, and there are tons of very nice people here. You're young, so enjoy the experience. Once you're out of college, you'll have lived through brutal summers and nigh-arctic winters and be able to make a very educated choice on where to spend the rest of your life.

Have fun!

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

The south had to endure some very tough times after the civil war. I think that is a good part of why chicken is more of stable in the south. Much easier to raise chickens than beef or pork, so thats what they did.

no. lotsa chicken fans in atlanta and the state in general. + fried is part of the cuisine so anything fried generally sells. that's why.

i still find kfc to be the best. im sorry for the msp people stuck with popeyes! ugh