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I am interested in Chapel Hill because of the good schools and mild weather. I would like to find a city where the people are open minded, friendly, and cultured. I recently moved back from Europe and I would like to find a place that is "international". Any suggestions?
I'm not sure I would describe Chapel Hill as "international." It does have people from various countries around the world who either study or work at the University, however.
Of all the places in the Triangle I think Chapel Hill is definitely the most international. At any public place you can hear several different languages being spoken. Entertainment is very diverse and appeals to so many different cultures. So yes Chapel Hill is international. open minded and well ----- cultured can mean so many things. But remember Chapel Hill is in N,.C. and most people would not used Cultured to describe this state.
What exactly is cultured? I haven't seen anybody in a nice restaurant in an undershirt like you find in Oklahoma or elsewhere but if cultured means different cultures are represented then Chapel Hill fits the bill. We even have Culture Nights at the schools where folks are encouraged to bring native dishes and wear native clothing.
Cultured - hmm, yes I guess; well read, very well used library! Highly educated population, great theatre, concert hall, music venues, restaurants. Largely left leaning politically, evening classes seem to have a good uptake, kids pretty well behaved (especially if you compare them to some European oiks!) More organic stores than you can shake a stick at, parks well used and cared for, walking trails. I love it here, I'm in no hurry to return to Europe
HTH
Soledad, by 'just moved back from Europe' I hope you don't just mean you studied abroad there
Chapel Hill is most certainly not international, if by that you mean it has a lot of residents who were born and raised overseas. It is actually rather homogeneous, since it is dominated by the university and its 82% (?) in-state population.
There are a couple of friendship groups of Europeans, but the number of Europeans here for more than a short holiday (6 months plus) is very low-- mostly just a few grad students, and academics at the university, plus the odd person who married an American. Not dramatically more than other places.
The only place in this area that comes close to being international is the Cary area.
If you moved "back" from Europe, where in the US are you from? If we know this maybe we can give you a comparison of CH to where you are from.
To compare it to a major city in Europe, not possible. Our cities here are baby cities. Actually Chapel Hill is a town. I love living in NC, many people do. But we don't have cities like London, Paris and Rome. If you are looking for that you need DC or NY.
People here are open-minded, kind, friendly. Weather is good, hot in summer, mild winters. Schools are good. Indy restaurants are excellent. Beaches top-knotch. Mountains lovely.
soledad, Chapel Hill is great, but it's a small town, definitely not much of a city. CH often refers to itself as a village. Lotsa different kindsa folks here, but you should have a visit and see if it's what you want when you say "international city". To me, that phrase conjures up San Francisco, which CH is definitely not, although there is a kinship, but SF is about 10-100 times the city that CH is.
I would recommend looking at the Town of Chapel Hill website and other reference guides to find out what the town is like. It is NOT a city! Though it is perhaps among the more "International" places in NC, nowhere in this state sounds like what you describe. I would recommend Washington, DC (or the outskirts) for a true "International" city. I believe the Maryland side (Montgomery County) is said to have some of the best schools in the USA.
If you want international, Morrisville has probably has the largest % of non-native born people (it has a very large Indian population). Cary also has a large Asian population.
If you say "international" but really mean "European", then CH is probably the best bet.
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