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Hi. I am a 25 year old single female living in Cincinnati. I have been here for 2.5 years, finishing my master's degree in Montessori education. I am getting to the point of completion, and have a somewhat difficult decision to make at the end of this school year / summer: Do I stay here and start planting my roots down? Or do I follow my desire to live out west?
I have already contacted numerous schools in California, Colorado, and New Mexico, inquiring about potential job openings next school year; and a few have already gotten back with me saying there will be job openings at my grade level, and that they are interested in talking more.
Here are the facts:
- My immediate family lives in eastern Ohio, so visiting is fairly easy (but not too easy). I *do* have family members in California (a block from the school to which I will be applying), Colorado, and New Mexico.
- I am a grad student, and I am going into education; therefore I am quite broke, and cost of living is a fairly important concern. I am only looking to rent, though. No house-buying.
- I have 2 chickens, and while taking them with me isn't my TOP concern, I would love to be able to live in a place that would allow me to keep them in a yard (I realize the area in LA I am looking is not the best option on earth for this.)
- I am a Christian and am involved with my local, extremely active, large church, here in Cinci; so a church that is similar is of high importance.
- I am into the outdoors, and being in nature is very important to me.
- I really have grown to love Cincinnati, and all of the growth, even over the last 2 years that I've been here.
- I live in a smaller part of Cinci (Hyde Park, Oakley, Norwood area), and I value that type of lifestyle, while it's still really close to all of the cultural options down town, like the CSO, OTR (food, etc.), festivals... I am not a huge sports fan, but occasionally I will attend Reds games in the summer.
- I like the craft beer scene that goes on here.
- The shopping and consumer scenes are not my thing. Neither is the "night life" scene; but I do like to go down to Vine street, Main street, etc. to grab a beer and good dinner with friends.
- I have always felt a strong pull to move or live out west, and this seems as good a time as any, since I will be able to start fresh with my own classroom next year (wherever I end up). I don't have BF ties here, so I'm really just considering my own stuff..
- But I've been fluctuating back and forth on staying and actually starting to pay back student loans, save a bit of money, and start getting some years of teaching under my belt; or starting fresh somewhere out west. In general, I think the lifestyle in the aforementioned states is more closely tied to my personality; but I am not really sure whether to kindle what I have, or throw in all my chips and take the plunge.
You won't find anything like Hyde Park in the places you mentioned unless you are working from a six figure budget.
The Cost of living index in LA is 135 compared with 90 in Cincinnati. But that is only part of the story. When you figure in that most items in the COL basket are priced the same because of national distribution, like Spaghetti O's and Tide and whatnot, what you will find is that your parking space is $300, you gym membership four times Cincinnati, you will pay $1600 to live in a one bedroom motel type apt in the LAX flight path, etc. The median home price is $421k meaning that you will probably never own a home on a Montessori teacher's salary.
When you describe a "strong pull to move or live out west," that sounds kind of vague to me. But I realize you may have more specifics in mind and just didn't mention them. And you also have a pretty nice list of things you know and like about this area.
I'm almost old enough to be your grandmother, so I have some life experience. I lived most of my adult life in a lovely community--Lexington, Ky.--that simply didn't meet my needs for some of the things that are really important to me. It's not that I didn't look for them, or had a bad attitude, or anything like that. They just weren't there, because Lexington is too small a town to offer those things. I'm not a person given to regret, but I'm also not sure I'd do that 30 years over again if I had the chance.
Based on what you wrote, unless you actually ARE more specific about things that are unique to the west (geography, for example, or places like the Sedona artist colony, or San Francisco, a city unlike any other anywhere), then I'd think seriously about putting down roots here. Wilson is right about the cost of living, which is a major reason I thought this would be a good place for my husband and me to retire. Then again, although I see a lot of things wrong with Cincinnati, it's where MY roots are, and I also see a lot to like. There are other places I'd rather live, but not for the increase in cost.
I have always felt a strong pull to move or live out west, and this seems as good a time as any, since I will be able to start fresh with my own classroom next year (wherever I end up). I don't have BF ties here, so I'm really just considering my own stuff..
Either follow your heart now, or wake up at 40 with a spouse + kids + mortgage and wonder where the time went and why you didn't. I've gotten to know so many people who before long have that "if only" conversation. They may have wound up happy, but there was something they wanted to do or someplace they wanted to move and didn't for "practical" reasons. No matter how content they may be, a sense of regret never leaves. Admittedly I have strong feelings on the subject because 35 years ago I responded to my yearning to live on the East Coast and leaped into the unknown. By my location you can guess that I've not regretted my decision.
Look at it this way - no part of the US has a lock on natural beauty, job prospects (in your case), microbreweries, dating prospects, megachurches, etc etc. Your window of opportunity seems, and is, wide open today. But time and fate will conspire to push it shut amazingly fast.
And if it doesn't work out you can always move back!
It has become commonplace among the young to be dissatisfied with the now. We judge other people outsides against our insides. We think because a person lives in the shadow of a lovely mountain they must be cross country skiing every weeked and camping in the summers and whatnot. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I visited Century City in LA and leaving the office I was visiting for lunch, I saw a beautiful snow capped mountain in the distance at the horizon. None of my hosts knew what it was or how to get there.
In Santa Fe, no one in my work group had ever been skiing in the Santa Fe Ski Basin.
You currently live in one of the most diverse geographical areas in the US. You are in driving range of mountains, beaches, caves, camping, wilderness, lakes, rivers, rafting, cliff climbing and diving, etc. If you are not doing those things here, you won't to similar things when you get to where you are going. You will be just like my hosts in LA. Only you will be poorer and working harder to make ends meet.
I like the saying: " I needed a change in my life so I moved around, but everywhere I went, there I was."
It has become commonplace among the young to be dissatisfied with the now. We judge other people outsides against our insides. We think because a person lives in the shadow of a lovely mountain they must be cross country skiing every weeked and camping in the summers and whatnot. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I visited Century City in LA and leaving the office I was visiting for lunch, I saw a beautiful snow capped mountain in the distance at the horizon. None of my hosts knew what it was or how to get there.
In Santa Fe, no one in my work group had ever been skiing in the Santa Fe Ski Basin.
You currently live in one of the most diverse geographical areas in the US. You are in driving range of mountains, beaches, caves, camping, wilderness, lakes, rivers, rafting, cliff climbing and diving, etc. If you are not doing those things here, you won't to similar things when you get to where you are going. You will be just like my hosts in LA. Only you will be poorer and working harder to make ends meet.
I like the saying: " I needed a change in my life so I moved around, but everywhere I went, there I was."
Interesting that you posted this. I recently learned that the snow is "different" out west. It is much heavier. They have a difficult time understanding fluffy snow. The water is freezing and "going to the beach" consists of basic beach combing and wetsuits. There is not the same type of change of season. Their winters are more of a monsoon season. Their green is moss, ferns, and dampness. Our green is thick brush, grass and various trees.
How ironic your post is. I know someone out west that moved to a ski town because of the reputation. He never skies. Yet, he will bash the flatlands as much as possible.
Either follow your heart now, or wake up at 40 with a spouse + kids + mortgage and wonder where the time went and why you didn't. I've gotten to know so many people who before long have that "if only" conversation. They may have wound up happy, but there was something they wanted to do or someplace they wanted to move and didn't for "practical" reasons. No matter how content they may be, a sense of regret never leaves. Admittedly I have strong feelings on the subject because 35 years ago I responded to my yearning to live on the East Coast and leaped into the unknown. By my location you can guess that I've not regretted my decision. Look at it this way - no part of the US has a lock on natural beauty, job prospects (in your case), microbreweries, dating prospects, megachurches, etc etc. Your window of opportunity seems, and is, wide open today. But time and fate will conspire to push it shut amazingly fast. And if it doesn't work out you can always move back!
Try Colorado for a couple of years. I think you would find most of what you're looking for without as much culture shock as the other two options. Good luck!
If you have a strong desire to live in another part of the country, do it in your 20's. You can always move back home to Cinti....and many people do. That said, I agree with others that the grass is not always greener. I lived in Florida for a short while....I went to the beach maybe 4 times. I go to the beach more often living in Cinti.
One big piece of advice: if you ever have kids....life is soooo much easier if the grandparents are around. My wife and I learned this the hard way---both sets of grandparents live out of town....and we are outwardly envious (sp) of our friends who can slip away for a romantic weekend because they have local grandparents. What I wouldn't give for that......
I lived in perhaps the most mountainous and scenic part of the lower 48 of the USA before moving to Cincinnati. I very much enjoyed living in that part of Colorado and I very much enjoy living here. We live in a time where anyone can live wherever they want.
Personally, I have been no more or less happy in either place. In CO, I enjoyed skiing and hiking and did tons of each, but for me those things are more of an activity than a lifestyle. My real memories are with the friends I made. I can say that I started looking for jobs elsewhere about two years after moving to Colorado, whereas since being in Cincinnati, I have been quite content to stay put.
I recently took my family to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and I asked the guide if they used to do boat tours -- I remember going on a boat tour there sometime in the 80s as a child. He thought for a moment and said that they used to, but stopped in 1991 -- he then described the boat tour in some detail and really brought back many fond family memories for me. It was a somewhat moving experience for me, being in this place where I was many years ago, now with my family, and speaking with a park ranger who had direct knowledge of what my family did almost thirty years ago -- anyhow, without getting too sentimental, a repeat of this experience out west would be difficult -- the population is much more transient -- I doubt (perhaps wrongly) any given ranger at Carlsbad Caverns has knowledge of the tour offerings of the park in the 1980s -- and, on a personal level, my family never ventured west of the mississippi until well after my 18th birthday, so nothing about the west molded who I am today.
Good luck with your decision. All you can do is what feels right at the time. You can't predict your future self or accurately nail what future regrets you might have. And this is America - a huge country where getting around is easy. You can always correct your course, particularly if you're not buying real estate everywhere your plane lands.
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