Austin experience: bore, expensive and ... (San Antonio, Brownsville: neighborhoods, to live, mall)

[twange]

Originally Posted by tx_spirit

Yea when Mom2Feebs stated "please let Austin stay just like it is" I was thinking not today's Austin. I would have asked for Austin pre-1990 if I could make a wish and have it come true!

It's all perspective my friend. I would never have moved here pre-1990. As quaint as they are, small college towns are not my thing Not yet, anyway...

[Trainwreck20]

Actually, even in pre-90, it was more than a college town. The two main differences I see are the traffic and pollution. See the clear sky over the city today? That is what it looked like on a bad day .

PS Sorry 'bout the Indians, Twange . I was actually rooting for them, 'cause I had no reason at all to root for the sox....

[twange]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Actually, even in pre-90, it was more than a college town. The two main differences I see are the traffic and pollution. See the clear sky over the city today? That is what it looked like on a bad day .

PS Sorry 'bout the Indians, Twange . I was actually rooting for them, 'cause I had no reason at all to root for the sox....

Thanks. I'm actually angry not bummed. What a choke job. Both 1 &2 pitchers sucked and our lead-off and clean-up hitters totally disappeared. Same old song and dance in that sports town...

Go Browns.

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by twange

No place stays "just like it is". That's simply unrealistic. Try to manage the change in a positive manner.

Your's truthfully,
Lord

It's called tongue-in-cheek. Trying to be a bit lighthearted, that's all.

[twange]

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

It's called tongue-in-cheek. Trying to be a bit lighthearted, that's all.

I know, I know. I was just being silly...

[Mom2Feebs]

Gotcha!

[southwest1230]

Originally Posted by white rob

Please enlighten me: how is a comparison of NYC and Dallas fair while a comparison of NYC and Phoenix requires categorisation?

I would include Phoenix as well, considering the city is the 4th largest now, and the metro is over 4 million. Just simply overlooked it. I do think that covers all big cities that are comparable in any way with NYC.

[car957]

Here's an idea. You won't like it hear. Your mind is already made up. So, don't move here.

That was easy. Next subject please.

[pentalarc]

Originally Posted by ramones85

I've just moved to Austin from the Northeastern part of the U.S (Pennsylvania) and have found it quite boring as well.
First off, alcohol isn't sold after midnight?!
Secondly, the accessibility of the city surprised me. In New York (or even Philly) I could be in a different part of town in minutes, which is definitely not the case here.
Another thing I'm having trouble getting accustomed to is the sluggish-ness of the people. It seems like everywhere I go, (namely the H.E.B) people are taking their time. I expected things to be a bit slower here, with it being the south and such, but my god, people just stop to chat anywhere they please.

I suppose it may take some getting used to...I'm living here for the next 12 months, at least. I'm trying to give austin a decent chance, but so far, it seems like a pseudo-city to me. Any advice on how to feel more comfortable would be appreciated.

I actually consider the "chatty" thing to be a good thing. I was born in New Orleans, and lived there until Katrina. New Orleans tends to be the kind of place where people chat in line at stores and so forth. If you're in a line of four people at the grocery store, you talk to the people around you, it's that simple.

After the storm, I spent six months in rural western Massachusetts. There , if you tried to talk to someone in a long line at the store, they looked at you as if you had lost your mind. It's nice to be somewhere again where people actually talk.

Granted, I'm from the south natively, but I still found the NE to be very unfriendly, and Austin much more so. (Also, Austin is much more polite. People in Massachusetts didn't have any problem saying thing to me like, "You don't talk like you're from the south, you talk like you've had an education.")

I can see, however, how the lack of the fast-paced "get everything done yesterday" attitude of the NE can make someone frustrated if life moves a little slower. A dedicated city-boy, I didn't do well in the rural areas.

As far as my suggestion as to how to fit in better. . .well, doing more in the area north of the city might give you more of the move move move, business-first attitude that you're used to. I can't really speak on the transportation situation, I think that that is a problem with the way the city is laid out. Except for downtown, nothing is a grid, so there are few short cuts. If you try to get off the main drag to cut through to another, you're likely to wind up in a maze of curving streets.

I agree with the alcohol after midnight problem, but to me, it's more a problem of the fact that surprisingly, Austin is *not* a 24hr town. That was the biggest adjustment for me. I've always been nocturnal, and almost always worked nights (including now). In New Orleans, I could get just about anything I wanted at 3am that I could get at 3pm. In Austin, it's hard to even get coffee 24hrs. (Check out Epoch, though, best 24hr coffee place I've found.)

I'm pretty high-strung myself, (as you can guess from the fact that I'm looking for espresso at 3am) and I can get frustrated when I have to wait, but you get used to it. Break out of your shell, and chat with the people in line, thumb through a magazine, something.

Still you have to realize, that it's not a pseudo-city, it's just a different city. I lived in New Orleans (a city that many people, before and after the storm, loathe) all my life until the storm, and I loved it. I'm counting the days until I can move home, but I'm not going to pretend that I can change Austin into New Orleans. Yes, if I had unlimited power, I would make all the streets grids, make it rain more, make everything open 24hrs, and make a less-optimistic bohemian scene, but I can't. I'm willing to also recognize that if Austin would become New Orleans overnight, my fellow evacuees and I might be happy, but native Austinites would miss their city.

So find your own little slice of Wherever, wherever you are. We have to realize that the cities are there before us. I had a possible job offer (which fell through) which would have required me to move to the Rio Grande Valley. I asked for advice, said what I wanted, and was told, "Your best bet is Brownsville, but you'll probably find it someone boring, you'd be bored out of your skull elsewhere in the RGV." Which is probably true. But if I had chosen to move there (if hte offer had worked out) for more money in order to move back home quicker, I would have taken my lumps, and adjusted as best I could.

Austin isn't Pennsylvania. It isn't New Orleans either. Personally, I'm counting the days until I move home, but, realistically, that's a couple of years away, most likely. Rural Massachusetts and I had irreconcilable differences. There is *no* way I would have been happy there. I like Austin and can get along here for quite some time, until it's time to go. That doesn't mean that I don't want to go home, but it also doesn't mean I won't come back to visit Austin when I do.

Until then, when in Rome. . .

[fil]

ramones85,
You're almost there, Austin is really a large town disguised as a city. Think Harrisburg, PA.

I'm from Albany, NY and Austin is about the same less the weather difference and liberal makeup.

Frankly speaking, Atlanta also is a bunch of suburbs thrown around a lame downtown.

As for boring, it's what you make of it.
Look for the things that you like/love and it can be home.

I can say this about almost any city/town at this point; altough the beach sounds appealing to me again.