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Your criteria ranges from leaning towards Chicago and heavily favoring Chicago, so this looks to be a surprisingly easy choice given your criteria. Are there other attributes or considerations that are important for you?
Your criteria ranges from leaning towards Chicago and heavily favoring Chicago, so this looks to be a surprisingly easy choice given your criteria. Are there other attributes or considerations that are important for you?
Well, I worry that Chicago will be too much of a stressful hard city and chew me up and spit me out, BUT I don't see Portland being like that.
Well, I worry that Chicago will be too much of a stressful hard city and chew me up and spit me out, BUT I don't see Portland being like that.
I've lived in both NYC and Chicago. Chicago for me was much more relaxed. There are aspects that could be less relaxed than Portland of course, but for a big city Chicago is more relaxed than most people realize. It's a nice in between and utterly depends on your lifestyle IMO. i miss the summers especially as most everyday I felt like I was on vacation while living in Chicago. Can't say that about here in NYC or even close. If you work in a faster paced industry, then maybe you'll feel it more. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry a ton. It's less relaxed than the West coast, but definitely more relaxed than NYC.
Chicago for the most part is pretty down to earth. I find the people for the most part pretty nice. However, it's also honest, so if you can't handle honesty then you may have troubles sometimes with that aspect. I have a friend who lived in LA before Chicagoand he couldn't get over the fact that people didn't bend over backwards for him in Chicago like tell him how attractive he is everyday like they did in LA (no joke).
Well, I worry that Chicago will be too much of a stressful hard city and chew me up and spit me out, BUT I don't see Portland being like that.
I see. Chicago is very much a city of distinct neighborjoods and some are more bustling or keeping up with the Jonses than others, so there’s that. Another thing is that a lot of what people cite as the stress of big city living is the cost of living and the grind of making rent, but Chicago is a fairly inexpensive big city while Portland is a more expensive medium sized city. Finally, in terms of just general design of the city, Chicago does some interesting things like with its alleys and multilevel streets for trash and delivery so it doesn’t look like you’re wading through a mess.
I do like both cities a lot, though prefer Chicago overall.
I have a friend who lived in LA before Chicagoand he couldn't get over the fact that people didn't bend over backwards for him in Chicago like tell him how attractive he is everyday like they did in LA (no joke).
So people in LA are nicer than people in Chicago? I would think it's the opposite. Also, easiness to make friends in the city is a big factor to me, so if people in Chicago aren't nice then eh I don't know.
So people in LA are nicer than people in Chicago? I would think it's the opposite. Also, easiness to make friends in the city is a big factor to me, so if people in Chicago aren't nice then eh I don't know.
People in Chicago are nice. They're going to hold the door for you, not tell you to screw off when you need help, etc. Most people are relaxed and down to earth, but the average person is no nonsense at the same time when the time is right. Buy and large though in 2019, you probably aren't going to have rubbing through your mind how there's so many jerks there. Just my opinion though.
For my own experiences, there's less shallowness in Chicago but at the same time it's a big city so there's every walk of life there. Just some are less prevalent than others.
As far as making friends goes, I never had an issue, but of course it's highly situational and a 2 way street. Being in your 30s anywhere is a different ballgame as most people in their 30s in most places aren't over eager to make new friends. I can't comment on this about Portland at all.
People in Chicago are nice. They're going to hold the door for you, not tell you to screw off when you need help, etc. Most people are relaxed and down to earth, but the average person is no nonsense at the same time when the time is right. Buy and large though in 2019, you probably aren't going to have rubbing through your mind how there's so many jerks there. Just my opinion though.
For my own experiences, there's less shallowness in Chicago but at the same time it's a big city so there's every walk of life there. Just some are less prevalent than others.
As far as making friends goes, I never had an issue, but of course it's highly situational and a 2 way street. Being in your 30s anywhere is a different ballgame as most people in their 30s in most places aren't over eager to make new friends. I can't comment on this about Portland at all.
I see. While I felt that people were overall nice in NYC (except for the elitist transplants), I made NO friends in NYC. This was when I was in my mid 20s, though, not 30s.
I see. While I felt that people were overall nice in NYC (except for the elitist transplants), I made NO friends in NYC. This was when I was in my mid 20s, though, not 30s.
I'm curious. What type of areas were you hanging out in NYC or what type of areas do you like? Trying to see what the parallels in Chicago would be for that.
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