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Hello everyone, need your valuable suggestions and advise to help make an intelligent decision on the trickiest situation in my life thus far..
Quick backdrop: Single male 26 years old, originally from India. Been living in US for the past couple of years as a grad student .My decision to pursue masters in US was based on my desire to experience various cultures apart from the obvious educational incentive. Unfortunately I have got into a school with way too many Indian students and got into the Cocoon. I felt Immediate comfort in my compatriot circle and never ventured to meet people from other cultures apart from what little interaction I had with my class mates and professors. I live& work on campus and feel I had spent too much time with my cultural-peers missing out on the other experiences ,its basically like living in an Indian city with better schools & roads .Now that I'm graduating soon I want to change my status quo and try live more of a colorful American life. Luckily I've got a job that allows me to live anywhere in the US and am planning to make a move towards Mountains/West after my graduation.
My Criterion (not in any particular order):
1.Laid-back.
2.Open to cultural & racial differences.
3.Young Demographics.
4.Proximity to a good Domestic Airport(Need to fly once a week as part of my Job).
5.Outdoor Activities & Night Life
6.Weather
7.Crime (I have no intention of dying any time soon :P)
So the list (not in any particular order):
1.Portland,Oregon
2.Denver/Boulder, Colorado
3.SantaFe/ABQ, New Mexico
4.Tempe/Phoenix, Arizona
5.Somehwere on the California Coast
5.Any where in the West which would suit my Criterion.
I am a bit non-committal to SFO/LA/Seattle/San Diego as I think there are way too crowded and way too Indian(with my history of inability to step out of cultural comfort zone) for my liking, again I might be totally wrong as I barely know abt these places.
What is your weather criteria? Phoenix is pretty much the polar opposite of Portland in terms of weather. One is cloudy all the time with a lot of rain, and the other is always sunny and hot without any rain whats so ever. If you want 100+ for half of the year, sunny, and dry, continue reading, because you might like Phoenix.
Phoenix is young demographically (despite a lot of snowbirds) and fairly laid-back. Sky Harbor is a fairly big airport. I'm not sure if you will have a car or not, but if you do there's a lot of nearby places to go to hike or be outdoors. Flagstaff, with huge mountains and pine trees and snow, is only two hours away. SoCal beaches are six hours away, and Rocky Point in Mexico is slightly closer I believe (4?) If you want a nightlife in Phoenix, I'd suggest living near ASU by Mill Avenue in Tempe. Crime is not bad in this area of town and it's close to all the bars.
Phoenix is not very racially diverse. It is mainly Hispanics and Whites, with a sprinkling of other races. So culture is fairly similar. There are very few, and I really do mean, very few Indians here. However most Phoenicians are open-minded and I doubt you'd run into a problem with that, especially if you're in Tempe.
Get West soon, life's too short not to. The whole list is good except "somewhere on the California coast". It's nice there but has lost some of the quality of life things that make the West a good place to live.
Yeah, while the places you mentioned are all in the west, you've basically got two different climates. Portland (or much of the "west coast") is green and cool, while most other places you mentioned are dry and hot. However, it isn't "cloudy all the time with a lot of rain." Certainly it's rainier than the desert cities you mentioned, but it rains much more in places like New York, Miami, Honolulu, etc.
Phoenix doesn't seem (to me) to be that culturally accepting. I'd say, of your list, either Portland or Denver are your best options. Either is going to give you the best nightlife. I think Portland wins in all the other aspects. It might be an advantage that there is a growing Indian population, based mainly around the high-tech industries west of Portland. So I'd suggest you not look to that part of town to live (it wouldn't be my first choice anyway), but might like to have available things like Indian markets and (better) restaurants. Portland is a vibrant city, culturally (though not necessarily racially) diverse, but very accepting of everyone and anyone. I don't think that either would exactly be called crime-ridden, but Denver's murder rate is almost double Portland's (but like I said, both are still very low). Depending on what you like to do outdoors, you've got a much wider range of options in Portland, considering it's an hour and a half either to the coast or to the mountains. But you're not going to find a southern-California style warm-weather beach.
Really, the biggest down-side to Portland is lack of jobs ... and if you're bringing yours with you, that's not a consideration at all.
Another advantage Portland has is its light-rail transportation to the airport. So as long as you find a place to live near the light-rail, commuting to and from the airport would be a breeze.
Quick backdrop: Single male 26 years old, originally from India. Been living in US for the past couple of years as a grad student .My decision to pursue masters in US was based on my desire to experience various cultures apart from the obvious educational incentive. Unfortunately I have got into a school with way too many Indian students and got into the Cocoon. I felt Immediate comfort in my compatriot circle and never ventured to meet people from other cultures apart from what little interaction I had with my class mates and professors. I live& work on campus and feel I had spent too much time with my cultural-peers missing out on the other experiences ,its basically like living in an Indian city with better schools & roads .Now that I'm graduating soon I want to change my status quo and try live more of a colorful American life. Luckily I've got a job that allows me to live anywhere in the US and am planning to make a move towards Mountains/West after my graduation.
My Criterion (not in any particular order):
1.Laid-back.
2.Open to cultural & racial differences.
3.Young Demographics.
4.Proximity to a good Domestic Airport(Need to fly once a week as part of my Job).
5.Outdoor Activities & Night Life
6.Weather
7.Crime (I have no intention of dying any time soon :P)
Given what you may have heard this suggestion may sound ridiculous, but I think you also might consider Salt Lake City. It has the laidback quality you seek, has a young and liberal demographic, ethnic diversity, a good airport, plenty of outdoor activities, surprisingly good night life, a sunny climate and a low crime rate for a larger city.
Yeah, while the places you mentioned are all in the west, you've basically got two different climates. Portland (or much of the "west coast") is green and cool, while most other places you mentioned are dry and hot. However, it isn't "cloudy all the time with a lot of rain." Certainly it's rainier than the desert cities you mentioned, but it rains much more in places like New York, Miami, Honolulu, etc.
Phoenix doesn't seem (to me) to be that culturally accepting. I'd say, of your list, either Portland or Denver are your best options. Either is going to give you the best nightlife. I think Portland wins in all the other aspects. It might be an advantage that there is a growing Indian population, based mainly around the high-tech industries west of Portland. So I'd suggest you not look to that part of town to live (it wouldn't be my first choice anyway), but might like to have available things like Indian markets and (better) restaurants. Portland is a vibrant city, culturally (though not necessarily racially) diverse, but very accepting of everyone and anyone. I don't think that either would exactly be called crime-ridden, but Denver's murder rate is almost double Portland's (but like I said, both are still very low). Depending on what you like to do outdoors, you've got a much wider range of options in Portland, considering it's an hour and a half either to the coast or to the mountains. But you're not going to find a southern-California style warm-weather beach.
Really, the biggest down-side to Portland is lack of jobs ... and if you're bringing yours with you, that's not a consideration at all.
Another advantage Portland has is its light-rail transportation to the airport. So as long as you find a place to live near the light-rail, commuting to and from the airport would be a breeze.
Portland is fairly cloudy though. It's just as cloudy as some places on the east side of the country, if not maybe slightly more. This is not a bad thing if this is something the OP wants or can tolerate. Some don't want this and want the opposite, that's all I'm pointing out. I think it's fair enough to say that Portland and Phoenix are pretty much polar opposites, weather being one.
If the OP lives within the inner city of Phoenix it's more open-minded. I'll admit that the further suburbs (Gilbert, Surprise, Cave Creek, etc.) aren't so much. The best places in Phoenix for the OP is Tempe and Scottsdale, but Tempe is better for the OP than Scottsdale because of the nightlife aspect.
The OP will probably reply in time and give us more information so we can help them narrow down their list.
Given what you may have heard this suggestion may sound ridiculous, but I think you also might consider Salt Lake City. It has the laidback quality you seek, has a young and liberal demographic, ethnic diversity, a good airport, plenty of outdoor activities, surprisingly good night life, a sunny climate and a low crime rate for a larger city.
My.. my.. If there is one place that I had already lived on the west it is Utah. I did summer intern in the Orem-Provo area and I must say did not ventured a lot into SLT; attended a couple of concerts. As far as Happy Valley goes even though I made tons of friends there(some of there are still good friends of mine) I felt it is little too closed for me. The only way I found people socializing was in the church and being a not-so-religious person I fell completely out of place and ended up faking to myself(may be that's just so in Happy Valley). I always wanted to know if life in SLC is the same (Go U..Y sucks!!) .. Any suggestions would be welcome. Tnx!!
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.Now that I'm graduating soon I want to change my status quo and try live more of a colorful American life. Luckily I've got a job that allows me to live anywhere in the US and am planning to make a move towards Mountains/West after my graduation.
