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Question a friend and I had the other day that is relevant to this board. I tend to lean this way---->while it will always be true that you were born and/or grew up elsewhere, after you've been in a place for 10 years, you're effectively a local. You know the lay of the land, the culture and pulse of the city, etc. You aren't really a transplant anymore, you're a former transplant...
To me an actual transplant is someone who is somewhere for a brief window of time, then on to the next place...
To put myself in this situation, I've been around North Carolina since 2005. In my four stays here I've lived in 3 different cities (Fayetteville, Charlotte, Raleigh), and I've never lived in any city longer than two years. But because I have family here, I've been coming to and hanging around NC for 15 years, then add to the fact my daughters' mother and her whole family is from here, I can't deny that there's a level of comfortability and familiarity I have here. I wasn't born here, and I didn't grow up here. Am I still a transplant?
I'm at the point where, I'm a former transplant, I think. Been hanging around so long it feels inaccurate to say I'm still a transplant when I have a network of friends that is established here; my two best friends here, I met in '06 and '12. Still have relationships with them, just seems off to still consider myself a transplant....I'm an adopted Carolinian, I'm familiar and comfortable in North Carolina, but two things can be true---->I wasn't born here, didn't grow up here, I am not "from" here in the most technical sense, I haven't lived in either Carolina city more than two years...
For me I guess it could be different because in my 15 years "here", I've lived in several states, I haven't been within NC for anywhere close to 15 consecutive years. Does that alter your view on if I'm a transplant or not?
Interested in responses and feel free to first person narrate!
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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I think it takes at least 3-5 years to start getting a “locals” feel for a new city...The first 2 years are what I describe as the honeymoon phase in which everything is new and beautiful and you are unaware of and/or overlook any negatives in many cases. From years 3-6 is where you are likely to weed out some earlier acquaintances and start forming more meaningful and lasting friendships with different groups which will help give you a more in depth understanding (good and bad) of your new city.
I base this on having moved from NY to new cities in Atlanta, SF, Orange County, San Diego and presently Miami...that being said, in places such as CA and FL with large transient populations if you are not a native you will always be considered a transplant by those born there no matter whether you’ve lived there 20, 30 years, etc. I will always consider myself a New Yorker even though I have not lived there full time in nearly 40 years.
Last edited by elchevere; 09-08-2020 at 07:31 AM..
In Maine you're "from away" unless not only you were born there but your parents too. Doesn't matter how long you've lived there, but people will refer to you something like, "that New Yorker." But, my own personal belief is that you need to give a place at least 2 years before you can begin to really know your way around, understand the local politics, make friends, etc. Sure, it takes longer to feel personally like a "local," but a couple of years usually gives you a pretty good idea if you want to become a local.
Yeah i wanted to say that it takes less time to be a former transplant, but played it safe with 10 years. For certain by the time you've spent a decade somewhere, you are no longer a transplant, and I agree after a few years somewhere, max 5, you can definitely function as a local...
Yeah i wanted to say that it takes less time to be a former transplant, but played it safe with 10 years. For certain by the time you've spent a decade somewhere, you are no longer a transplant, and I agree after a few years somewhere, max 5, you can definitely function as a local...
Really depends where you are. If it’s a highly transient town like Wilmington NC or Amherst MA it’s basically any actual full time resident.
In a place like Milwaukee or Augusta it takes quite a long time (if ever)
For me, it takes about six months before a place starts feeling like home. After a few years of living in Indianapolis, it was basically home at that point, but I definitely considered myself still a transplant.
If you only moved to a place as an adult, you're always a transplant because it's a status based on an action taken, the only way to undo the status is to undo the action i.e. move back home. The same way you don't stop being an immigrant to a country because it's been X years since you migrated. Your kids won't be transplants though if they stick around.
And it makes sense because your formative experiences are happening as a child/youth, so if you grew up in NYC or Boston you'll never be like a native person in say North Carolina. Similarly if you grew up in a small town in Indiana and move to NYC, your relationship with that city won't ever be like that of a true local.
It's quite natural that after a certain number of years the adopted area will feel like 'home', but I think there's a distinction between "home" as in the place one resides and is familiar with and 'home' as the place where the majority of your memories are centered.
If you only moved to a place as an adult, you're always a transplant because it's a status based on an action taken, the only way to undo the status is to undo the action i.e. move back home. The same way you don't stop being an immigrant to a country because it's been X years since you migrated. Your kids won't be transplants though if they stick around.
And it makes sense because your formative experiences are happening as a child/youth, so if you grew up in NYC or Boston you'll never be like a native person in say North Carolina. Similarly if you grew up in a small town in Indiana and move to NYC, your relationship with that city won't ever be like that of a true local.
It's quite natural that after a certain number of years the adopted area will feel like 'home', but I think there's a distinction between "home" as in the place one resides and is familiar with and 'home' as the place where the majority of your memories are centered.
It’s interestibg because people would never call a Hatian Immigrant to New York “not a real New Yorker” like they would a transplant from Indiana despite the latter having a much more similar cultural upbringing
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We moved here 27 years ago, and I still consider us to be transplants, and natives of California, after being there 40 years. The way I look at it is that you are from the state (or country) you were born in. Anywhere else you are an immigrant or transplant, regardless of how long you have been there.
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