City conditioned Southerner looking into Austin; Help! (Houston, Portland: home, neighborhoods)

[Stephen Neil]

Greetings!

I'm a 28 year old white boy from north Alabama. Got a BA in art history which I never applied to career type ends, and doubt I ever will. Since college I've bounced around a lot, notably living in Chicago for a couple of years and working with a catering company, and also various 2-3 months long stints in Athens GA, Portland OR and and a failed attempt in South Korea to teach English to kindergarteners. Most of my 20's has been spent working in kitchens and food is one of my big passions.

I've always been attracted to big cities for the wealth of culture and diversity of people. I am extremely social and do not deal well with isolation (Korea!!) and am most comfortable when I'm having a really good conversation. I'll refrain from defining what makes a 'good' conversation.... hoping I don't have to.

I'm back home in Alabama now and finishing up an online course to be a pharmacy tech. I have developed a very strong interest in science in general, where I used to be afraid of it and filled my head predominantly with the arts.

Of huge importance to me, having all the interests that I do, is where I live. Alabama is home but it's not for me, not anymore. I had narrowed down my choices for my next move to Chicago or New Orleans. I don't think I can deal with the winters in Chicago anymore, and NOLA is just scary... I love it down there, but I don't have any friends in the city and I think I need to be in a place that's a little more stable, if you know what I mean.

In the past few days I have begun to consider Austin. I know all the typical things people say about it, the most appealing (to me) being that it's like Athens, GA x 1000. I do love Athens. I love music but am largely over going to shows..... I like bars and love going out, but I'm not as into live music as presumably most young Austinites may be. Food is hugely important to me, ethnic food in particular. I love anything to do with Latin American culture, so being near Mexico seems like a plus.

I want to be closer to nature. I love rivers and Austin is appealing in that sense. I like mountains, sure, but it's not make or break. I like water more. I'm guessing the area has all I'd want in that regard?

As for weather, I've heard it's hot. I'm not into extremes, I doubt many are. But having grown up in the South, I am much better conditioned for extreme heat than extreme cold. Can someone comment on the humidity? I've heard conflicting things about it. In Alabama the killer part of the summer is the sticky air.... I always thought it was more dry in TX, no?

Finally, perhaps the big thing I worry about is that I'm a freethinker and I don't believe in god in the slightest, so I'm concerned always about moving somewhere else in the South, although I can't imagine it would be any worse there than here. I need to be surrounded by sharp/creative people to be happy..... so in that sense, Chicago was a wonderland, but as I am aging, I'm also feeling a strong compulsion to be nearer to nature. I want to be able to drive for thirty minutes and see the stars as I can here in rural Alabama. I want to go canoeing and river tubing, all this stuff.

I want it all! I realize I can't have it all, but Austin is looking to me like an increasingly viable choice. Add to this that I hear pharmaceuticals are big in Austin, and I'm wondering if there's anything bad I should know?

I've heard about the traffic, and trust me, I doubt it could be worse than Chicago. The heat I've asked about. I guess what worries me most is the element of ignorant/provincial folk... are they mostly outside of Austin itself?

Okay, I'm sorry that was so long, but if you know nothing about me.... then you'll just give generic advice, and it'd be my fault for not supplying details. So thanks in advance to anyone who can offer their thoughts!

EDIT: I see in other threads that people are talking about the city dynamic and what people expect moving from the NE to the South, etc. After my time in Chicago I changed a lot- I am no longer typically Southern in my speech or general demeanor, I tend to speak faster and more deliberately than most people I know here at home. I think because I speak assertively that a lot of Southerners are chafed and are easily offended by me when I'm in truth simply being candid. I do not suffer the vague or nebulous well and tend to speak my mind, albeit with tact and charm (I am a Southerner at the end of the day).

Incidentally I recently saw an article, it had surveyed 40 US cities and ranked them for stress levels. Chicago was #1 (most) and Austin was #40 (least). This is good.... I do not expect the pulsing tempo of a huge city like Chicago, and while there are things I'll miss, there are more that I won't. But Austin isn't totally languid in its culture, right? People are doing things, right? Creativity? Self assessment? I disliked Portland because the culture was so seemingly insular, un-self aware and lazy. I don't need that.

EDIT 2: In short, I am looking for a medium-largeish city with agreeable weather, ample diversity, not intolerable levels of the expected rural ignorance, friendly/intelligent/creative/attractive people, a solid and varied food scene, and that is close to moderately pretty to beautiful scenery and nature. Also, I love palm trees. Are there any there? Austin: yay, nay?

[hoffdano]

I think Austin might indeed be a good fit for you. It is hot here of course, and people argue all the time about humidity.

But I think the general consensus could be that Austin is humid compared to Phoenix or the Bay Area, but noticably less humid than cities near the Gulf coast or the Atlantic.

It is Texas - so most are comfortable with the less government approach in this state. Plenty of religious people here but there are many not religious at all.

You should visit and see for yourself. Normally people say visit in the summer to get a taste of the heat - but I don't think you will need that.

[centralaustinite]

dude!

Visit first, then think about moving here (line a up job first)

[Stephen Neil]

You act as if asking for advice is irrelevant without visiting....

The fact is, if I got enough feedback advising me against moving there, I'd not even visit (not soon, anyway).

And besides, I'm not a fool and wouldn't move there without visiting anyway.

So.... what else ya got?

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by Stephen Neil

EDIT 2: In short, I am looking for a medium-largeish city with agreeable weather, ample diversity, not intolerable levels of the expected rural ignorance, friendly/intelligent/creative/attractive people, a solid and varied food scene, and that is close to moderately pretty to beautiful scenery and nature. Also, I love palm trees. Are there any there? Austin: yay, nay?

Medium-large city: check
good weather: yes, if you can handle 6 months of summer
diverse: moderately so (more than alabama, less than chicago)
tolerant: yes
food scene: yes, particularly for a city of its size, close to Houston which has world-class cuisine and every type of ethnic restaurant under the sun.

friendly/creative/attractive: yes
moderately pretty scenery: yes
Palm trees: yes, we have them along with lots of live oaks, cedar, etc

Lots of folks like Austin so competition for jobs is fierce, number of applicants high, and prevailing wage is low.

good luck!

[homeinatx]

Stay central and you should be fine. Downtown is pretty vibey and increasingly residential, but not cheap. All downtown adjacent neighborhoods are viable for what you are looking for. The food scene is not in the league of Chicago or New Orleans, but the local cuisine- Tex-Mex, BBQ, steak is excellent and there is also very good Vietnamese food here. Reasonable European restaurants, except for Italian which is depressingly bad, and fine Chinese, Japanese, Korean. 2 good Brazilian places over and above the usual meat palaces, two excellent Argentine restaurants and good Cuban and Colombian places. And quite fabulous street food - did I mention the taco trucks all over the place. Pretty good locavore scene, many good farmer's markets and CSA's - long growing season, so fresh local produce is available, except in the real dog days of summer. Better natural environs than Chicago or New Orleans, though I miss Lake Michigan, especially Hollywood beach in the summer. From your description of yourself, you sound like a good fit. Good luck in your decision!

[jread]

Austin is more humid than Arizona and California, but it is nowhere near as humid as the South or the East Coast. It will feel very dry here for you compared to Alabama or Chicago in the summer.

As far as religion, it is not very big in Austin proper: Bible Belt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[dburatti]

As others stated, come visit Austin first to see it personally.

You'll find the people of Austin in general are tolerant of other's religion and lack of religion. I'm a freethinker, too, and don't find religion to be a problem here other than the cops blocking the roads to let church traffic in and out of churches. They are off duty and paid for buy the churches, but it's still an annoying inconvenience. Some churches do this twice a week every week.

Anyway, as far as working in the food industry goes, Austin has three culinary schools, the Texas Culinary Academy, Culinary Academy of Austin, and the school at the community college. I would think that the industry is overcrowded with qualified cooks but don't have first hand experience with it. I used to teach at the TCA, and they were pumping out about 100 students every six weeks.

Yes, people are doing things culturally. We have many and various festivals happening throughout the year. How's this for culture? We celebrate Spam in Spamorama, Eeyore's birthday, Carnaval Brasileiro, Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday, Diez y Seis de Septembre (when Mexico started its war for independence from Spain,) Texas' own independence, etc. We have a symphony orchestra, ballet, several museums (art, history, etc.), great gardens like the Zilker Botanical Garden and the Umlauf Sculpture garden, among other fantastic things to do around town.

Good luck on your search!

D