A foreigner in Northern Virginia (living in, moving, metro area)

[ofrash]

Hello everyone,

My husband, 2 young girls, and I have been living in MA for 10 years. We've had it with the winter and are considering a move to a state with better climate.
Reading some of the posts (in the general Virgina forum), I got the impression that, generally speaking, people are not as welcoming to Yankees. That got me worried about being a foreigner... Are my concerns justified?

[e2ksj3]

Originally Posted by ofrash

Hello everyone,

My husband, 2 young girls, and I have been living in MA for 10 years. We've had it with the winter and are considering a move to a state with better climate.
Reading some of the posts (in the general Virgina forum), I got the impression that, generally speaking, people are not as welcoming to Yankees. That got me worried about being a foreigner... Are my concerns justified?

Northern Virginia is not like the rest of the state. This area has people from literally everywhere in the world. You may even find the area more diverse than parts of MA.

[Carlingtonian]

Culturally, there is a huge difference between NoVA and RoVA ("Rest of Virginia"). Many if not most people in NoVA are from somewhere else. This is true the closer you get to the Beltway and especially inside the Beltway.

[Pikantari]

That is not a problem in Northern Virginia, as another poster stated. I used to live in a more southern area of Virginia and in most parts it wasn't that way either.....

[NOVA_guy]

As it's been said, Northern Virginia isn't anything like the rest of the state. It shouldn't be a problem at all.

[smarterguy]

I don't think you get the yankee hate till you get to the more southern parts of VA. You'll definitely get it in NC though. But NOVA is just like any other metro area. Its probably more diverse than most cities. And by diverse, I mean people from almost anywhere around the world, not just a few token minorities.

And for those wondering, some of your southern brethren do in fact espouse hate on the northerners. I've had encounters, I've had old professors experience it... some of things I've heard are pretty ridiculous.

[airjay75]

I agree with others. NoVA is so diverse in the true sense of the term, I don't really think it makes a difference where you're from.

But, if your motivation for moving south is to truly escape winter weather, I think I'd keep going south. I think the weather from the metro DC area up through Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York City is pretty similar. A little less snow than average here than in Philadphia or New York, but you certainly don't escape snow here. Average snowfall around 20 inches - some years, barely any snow at all and others (like this one) you can get 40 or 50 inches of snow. It doesn't bother me - personally, the less hot, humid weather the better (and we get our fair share of that too).

[CleoShahateet]

I agree there are so many nationalities here as well as Americans moving in and out from other states no one should even bat an eyelash at you guys!

[kutra11]

Originally Posted by ofrash

Hello everyone,

My husband, 2 young girls, and I have been living in MA for 10 years. We've had it with the winter and are considering a move to a state with better climate.
Reading some of the posts (in the general Virgina forum), I got the impression that, generally speaking, people are not as welcoming to Yankees. That got me worried about being a foreigner... Are my concerns justified?

So long as you can drive at 80mph on I-495 while yapping on the phone, obsess over your girls getting into AAP and whine about 2" of snow accumulation, you can fit right into NoVA!

[apexgds]

Originally Posted by ofrash

Reading some of the posts (in the general Virgina forum), I got the impression that, generally speaking, people are not as welcoming to Yankees. That got me worried about being a foreigner... Are my concerns justified?

Well, most NOVA natives I know consider themselves yankees. It may technically be south of the Mason/Dixon, but culturally, there is nothing southern about it.

As others have said, being a foreigner won't faze anyone.