Your opinion please (Omaha, Lincoln, Bellevue: military, rental, housing)

[SeaWorker]

I'm a merchant marine officer who'll disembark at east coast in a few months. As I've got no home, I'll probably spend my free month in Nebraska because everyone need open space after 2 month of sea and cause that's the us state which seems the most attractive to me.

Just a detail: i'm french. What's the general opinion about frenchies here ?

I don't know at all USA, so I'd prefer have your opinion rather than listening to the french news about freedom fries etc.
however, what I know is that living in a country where you nationality isn't appreciated isn't really a hell of fun. So thanks in advance for aswers.

[Dave1215]

Well welcome (in advance).

Three quick things:

(1) Check out this recent conversation. It is a lady from California that was looking for a change. One of her ideas was Nebraska, but she knew nothing about it. This is the thread where she was getting alot of feedback. Link to: "Looking to move to Nebraska"

(2) Nebraska is a very large state (450 across east to west). In that distance you have 3 very different areas. East is more populated with most of that population along Interstate 80. The most populated is the Omaha metro area followed by the Lincoln metro area (45 miles apart). Central becomes more sparse and contains an area known as the Sandhills. The Sandhills is a very unique and most people think beautiful geography - nothing else like it in the US. Western is also very sparse, but you begin to transition from the Sandhills into the Bandlands of SouthDakota and the far eastern portion of the foothills of the Rockies as you approach Wyoming.

As you begin to understand what you are looking for in the state continue to post. This forum has quite a few people that can represent every area of the state from very Urban (downtown Omaha living) to very very Rural (you are 15-30 miles from hard pavement and can drive 30-45 minutes on the highway and not see another car). Check out this link to the state's Official Tourism Site.

(3) As far as acceptance I don't suspect you will have much problem. The easiest transition would be in the Omaha metro in either the city of Bellevue, Papillion, or LaVista. Bellevue is home to a major military base and it does have Navy personnel at it - so those 3 communities are very generally very accepting of folks from around the world and might even understand the unique aspect of someone that's been at sea.

[tpabes]

It really depends on what you want to do while your hear. Probably Lincoln or Omaha are going to provide you the best opportunities for finding housing and other necessities for a month.
Your not going to find too many frenchies around here, in fact when I read frenchies my mind wandered to the food at Don and Millies or Kings Classics!

[star_gazer]

Wow... I'm impressed... a foreign sailer on liberty call in the US... and they want to spend their month in Nebraska? Good deal!

[SeaWorker]

Whoops, hello (in retard)

thanks for the link Dave, i began reading it and it's a mine of gold.

2)In fact, as tpabes said, i was thinking about Omaha for the housing easiness. On the other hand, I really need open space (the last three times I was on earth were in Helsinki, Tokyo and Paris). So I was looking for a house near Thereford (depending on tourism).

3) I wasn't really expecting problems. I was merely wondering, after viewing a few "anti-France" web sites, if it was a common opinion or if it just was a few people. It's rather a matter of state of mind.
Concerning Omaha, just for navy's crewmens, it would be great: they are always great and good ambassador of america. But honnestly; I really need green...

What I want to do tpbas ? Just profite of earth, meet peoples, learn an another culture, have a few night in the bars and borrow or rent a horse to move and relax. And above all, set up at this place if i feel good there.
Concerning Don & millies, it could be worse: you could think about snails. But I assure you it's really tasteful!

By the way, sorry if i don't write correctly, I'm definitely not an native english speaker.

Edit: Even foreign sailors can have good taste star gazer

[kosnebbear]

Well Thedford would be in the open for you. Town is about 200 people living there and only about 650 in all of Thomas County. It is in the sandhills of Nebraska and it is ranch country as well so finding a horse will not be difficult for you.

I am sure that you will be welcome there if this is where you want to end up. I don't think you will find much for tourism in this area either. It will take a little time for you to fully understand all of what they will be saying there as it will be conutry slag. If you don't understand just tell them and I am sure they will help you out. They may laugh a bit, just laugh with them as you learn.

As for the anti-French sites, I bet that we can find just as many anti-American sites in France as well so don't let it concern you, because everyone has their own right to voice their own personal feelings and others have the right to either follow or not. It is up to you how you react to the people of Nebraska and yes there will be ones that don't like Franchies that much that you will have to put up with.

Welcome to Nebraska

[tpabes]

Well, compared to Tokyo and Paris, Omaha might be open space. The nice thing about Lincoln and Omaha is you don't have to go far for open space. What are your transportation needs, are you going to have a car? You can also look into towns such as Norfolk, Columbus, Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, North Platte and Scottsbluff/Gering. These are all areas with 20,000 to 50,000 people that might give you a better shot at some housing and are in rural areas, but you would probably need to have a car.

Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Chadron (around 5,000 ppl), Wayne (also around 5,000) and Peru (small 500? ppl) have the state universities and colleges. Blair, Beatrice, Seward, York, Fremont, Norfolk, Columbus, Hastings, Grand Island, North Platte, McCook and Scottsbluff have private colleges or community colleges. I say this because if you come during the summer, there tends to be an increase in rentals during summer when students are not there. In my opinion, then best way to find rentals is through newspapers, but they will only list what is available now here is a link to Nebraska newspapers:
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

For smaller towns, sometimes the best way to ask about housing is to call the city clerk. You can probably find most of those numbers on Yahoo yellow pages.

Also, I think you misunderstood me on Frencies, it is actually basically a deep fried cheese sandwich, very tasty! Perhaps you did, but some people have never heard of frenchies.

[mattpoulsen]

No one will care that you're French. That's an overblown topic that is perpetuated by a very few people. People may approach you because they are curious about your background, but they will harbor no ill will because you're French.

If they do...just tell them where the Statute of Liberty and funding for the Revolutionary War came from.

Welcome to the U.S.

[tpabes]

and who sold us the land where we sit today!

[SeaWorker]

Nice to read that!

I was wondering about tourism in Thedford because of the website thedford.org witch promotes "Agri-tourism". Thanks for reassuring me.
As for the country slang, if a bit of humor (like everywhere) can make the first step, i'll sure can make the others.

Concerning sites, you won the bet. But in France grumbling is the national sport and when a frenchie meet an american he forget what he said and is just proud to know an american. Back to america, if there are only some nebraska's people who don't like frenchies, i'll deal with this.

Edit: ok mattpoulsen. As i said I don't know the states and france was maybe a bit hurted by a few words (don't pretend we were nicer). Since that time French people kept the feeling that we were not welcome. That's why I ask directly.
But that seems to be a false impression and due to the welcomes in this thread, i already like USA