Calling all People who Hate DC (apartment complex, university, living)

[JustBeingMe404]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

^^^^
What a fascinating life you've lived!

You must certainly have some unique perspectives on the world.

I'm assuming you're not being sarcastic...

My life has hardly been fascinating, and I'm not sure if my perspectives on "the world" are that unique... especially since the furthest I've been outside the US is Canada and Jamaica... LOL

Anyway, if you think my take on NY/ATL/DC is "fascinating," wait until someone posts a thread about Detroit... I lived there for a little less than a year, and I have plenty of "perspective" on that!!

[movedoften]

To use a cliche with respect to the DC Metro region...."it is what it is".

If you want to live where people look at you and smile warmly, this area may not be for you.

If a robust job market is what you are looking for, you could do a lot worse than here.

You will see plenty of people driving $70,000 cars who look like the last time they were happy was about the same time Fonzi was water skiing in his leather jacket.

This is a place to define your own life and not let others define it for you. Finding your rhythm here has to be a proactive endeavor.

I knew coming here people were not outgoing and friendly to strangers. There are 5 million people here, all you have to do is find 10 or 15 that you connect with and build from that.

People here don't recreate or take leisure time like I have seen in other cities. A lot has to do with time in traffic and long hours at work. I don't consider dinner and martinis to be leisure time either.

People here seem to live to work and not work to live. That is ok for them, it does not have to be you.

Of the 1000 or so people I have known in my life, by far the happiest are the ones with the most friends. They are also the ones, regardless of their financial standing, who value relationships and experiences over money and objects.

If you live here or are moving here, make it a fantastic place for you.

Swim at the edge of the river, the current is slower and you can take in the scenery along the way.

Cheers.

[lindsayd]

Originally Posted by movedoften

You will see plenty of people driving $70,000 cars who look like the last time they were happy was about the same time Fonzi was water skiing in his leather jacket.

Thank you for a nice laugh out loud

[Tarheelhombre]

It depends upon what circles you swim. I think the area is rather friendly. It is a city where people hold doors for strangers, people on the Metro give up seats for others, and strangers nod hello to you on the sidewalk. Moreover, my friends certainly aren't workaholic. DC is a big sea. Don't get caught up in one of its small ponds that don't fit your interests.

[Isaiah30:18]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

I really like the DC area.

It's the easiest big city to meet new people, because of all the outsiders, people here are educated, it doesn't snow anywhere near as much as where I grew up further north, it's got low unemployment. The bad areas are well segregated from the places you want to go, and downtown/Georgetown have a lot going on. Subway is cleaner than my old apartment, Culture is second best on the east coast, and probably as good as anywhere except NY, and I can't stand NY with all its crass people and Fran Drescher accents.

Every city worth living in is expensive and competitive, and DC is less of both than NY or SF.

That's helpful to know, as I've looked at D.C., too. Just one thing, is there sort of this huge over-abundance of the tré chi-chi where everybody looks clonish, hardly engage their children except to get them in the car and look right through you if you don't seem in their "set"? I'm not being rude. I've been a childcare provider/artist/teacher for a decade. It's observation.

I've lived in 10 American cities and my brain gets a little nauseous when I see that. All haircuts and colorings are identical, all have French manicures & pedicures, all have the same shade tans, same designer brand names, the hubbies like wearing the same shade blue dress shirts and even - alas - have identical ties. However, if one is young, unmarried and appears put-together & successful on one's own, they kind of look past you like you don't exist or their elbow will keep slamming you in the elevator while laughing with their set. Is D.C. g-r-e-a-t-l-y filled with the type? I really need to be sure.

I've learned that some cities are more this way than others. Their kids, sweet lil' guys, are kind of identical-looking (to their parents), too. It's both funny, yet scary to me. I'm just bla-bla-blogging. (I'm prob'ly gonna get ripped to shreds for describing what I see, huh? So much for tolerant America.) Obviously, not all new money are this way. This is just the tré noveau $$ who are. Thx.

[vanyali]

Haha. I think you might have spent some time in Charlotte! I know exactly what you're talking about.

I hope DC isn't full of those types. I don't remember them around from when I was growing up in NOVA, but I'm not sure I was really of the "right class" so I might have just missed it.

I'd be interested to hear whether anyone thinks they have or have not seen a lot of this in and around DC. What do you think?

[Isaiah30:18]

Originally Posted by vanyali

Haha. I think you might have spent some time in Charlotte! I know exactly what you're talking about.

I hope DC isn't full of those types. I don't remember them around from when I was growing up in NOVA, but I'm not sure I was really of the "right class" so I might have just missed it.

I'd be interested to hear whether anyone thinks they have or have not seen a lot of this in and around DC. What do you think?

No, I never lived there [in Charlotte]. Mostly, west coast. Yet, I have seen this all over including parts of middle America and not as much in MN or WA. Well, now I know not to go to Charlotte, thanks for the education.
BTW, what's NOVA stand for?

[LIS123]

NOVA stands for Northern Virginia.

[Lourdea]

Well, I am a 24 yr old single female....I lived in DC for 4 years and have been involved in the nightlife and professional office environment of the city! The following is my experiences I had while living there and working in all areas of the city! I noticed (mainly) 3 groups of people that exist there! 1) Angry racist black Americans 2) boring cloned unhappy professional white people 3) trust fund baby islamic middle easterns
AGAIN! (not everyone, but in my opinion a largeeee majority fit one of these 3)

The nightlife consists of these three groups and I would say that the boring professinal whites hang out in Georgetown, the ghetto racist blacks hang out at various events within the city and do NOT expected to be treated nice when you go inside! (issues) or you can go to trance/house clubs that are run and organized/promoted by middle eastern embassy kids who do 'blow' --------Not the greatest place for a white female to feel at 'home' at times!!! I can not tell you how many times I dealt with reverse racism in that city!, it was horiffic!

As far as the professinal world, well.........do NOT expect 'Hello' in the elevator, do not expect work to be a warm environment.......But if you have brains and have hammered away at an education that sounds pretty on a piece of paper...You probably will make great money! -

AGAIN my blunt oinion of seeing every social angle of the city in 4 years ---

BUT if you gotta live there I would say Northern VA is the only place to consider! It's clean, young professional and seems a little happier than the rest of the metro area!

[somnambulist]

Originally Posted by Lourdea

Well, I am a 24 yr old single female....I lived in DC for 4 years and have been involved in the nightlife and professional office environment of the city! The following is my experiences I had while living there and working in all areas of the city! I noticed (mainly) 3 groups of people that exist there! 1) Angry racist black Americans 2) boring cloned unhappy professional white people 3) trust fund baby islamic middle easterns
AGAIN! (not everyone, but in my opinion a largeeee majority fit one of these 3)

The nightlife consists of these three groups and I would say that the boring professinal whites hang out in Georgetown, the ghetto racist blacks hang out at various events within the city and do NOT expected to be treated nice when you go inside! (issues) or you can go to trance/house clubs that are run and organized/promoted by middle eastern embassy kids who do 'blow' --------Not the greatest place for a white female to feel at 'home' at times!!! I can not tell you how many times I dealt with reverse racism in that city!, it was horiffic!

As far as the professinal world, well.........do NOT expect 'Hello' in the elevator, do not expect work to be a warm environment.......But if you have brains and have hammered away at an education that sounds pretty on a piece of paper...You probably will make great money! -

AGAIN my blunt oinion of seeing every social angle of the city in 4 years ---

BUT if you gotta live there I would say Northern VA is the only place to consider! It's clean, young professional and seems a little happier than the rest of the metro area!

What a bizarrely racist and immature post. I'm not known to be a D.C. fan myself, but you've gone and essentially managed to categorize the whole of the city based on "nightlife". To do so requires operating under the terribly flawed assumption that those who engage in D.C.'s nightlife are in any way representative of the city as a whole. Not entirely sure what things it were that you expected when you came to this city, but cultural diversity beyond what you may have seen on "Friends" clearly wasn't among them.

You're not even attempting to hide your own racism, yet you seem to balk at "angry racist black people" that you think seem to make up such a disproportionately large cross-section of the night scene. Somehow the likely presence of equally angry, equally racist non-blacks (like yourself) has escaped your attention.

And for one of D.C.'s smallest minority groups, you seem to pay an inordinate amount of attention to these "shady" Middle Eastern trust fund kids, when again in all likelihood, there are vastly more spoiled, coke-addled non-Middle Eastern trust fund kids skulking through the streets of Georgetown on any given weekend. Also, I like how you threw in "Islamic" Middle Easterners, because you clearly have a cultivated enough understanding of the various Middle Eastern cultures to discern the 'Islamic' Middle Eastern trust fund kids from the Chaldeans, Armenians, Persian Jews, etc.

Also, you calling out "boring cloned unhappy professional white people" (of course, as opposed to the apparent dearth of boring cloned unhappy professional non-white people) is the absolute height of hypocrisy as you couldn't be any more obvious an angsty, transparent, self-indulgent, typical yuppie if you tried.

There are plenty of reasons not to like D.C., but evaluating the city based on the club scene is just foolish on the one hand, and clearly indicative of your own banal and immature priorities on the other.