Indiana.... (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend: rental, condos, how much)

[WRosado]

Ok, so I have received some reputation points lately, and in those reputation points I was getting comments like "Indiana is better than what certain people say on City Data." Trust me, there is no judging Indiana at all on other aspects of this forum that will not be mentioned in this thread. So I figured I would give my honest opinion on Indiana here:

I have only been to Indiana twice in my life. Both times happened to be this year. My roomate from Michigan has an internship at the Cleveland Clinic. Well... the Cleveland Clinic and Notre Dame started working on a medical collaboration, and he was headed out to Indiana along with several others, and I decided to tag along. Of course we had to drive my car because my roomate, being from Michigan, had a rusted out beat up car. I drove my car to that state once and said if I ever had to drive there again on my own accord, I was getting a rental . They lay salt down like crazy, and their roads look like they belong in Albania. I have taken the train through Indiana several times on the Cleveland to Chicago route, but didn't really pay attention to anything.

So we headed out in April. It helps that I am a huge Notre Dame fan. I am the type of person that will go off the beaten path just to explore. I can't tell you how many times when I lived in Florida that I would take I-75 just to stop in Atlanta and Cincinnati on my way back home. I was suppose to take I-95 to get to NE Ohio, but I like to see all kinds of different cities and places. I pretty much explored northern Indiana. South Bend was not what I was expecting with such a large university, but I digress. I couldn't get over how friendly the people were. Now, we were only there for two days, but I figured I needed to get back. What's up with the Indiana Tollway? Was not a fan.

So, while I was exploring and asking people what to see (minus the negative attitudes that persisted there was nothing to see in N Indiana), I continued to get feed back that I must see Indianapolis. Which leads me to my second trip in June. This trip I felt like a loner because I was by myself. But I was so intrigued with what I heard about Indianapolis. I still wanted to make it a point to stop in other Indiana cities too because I feel like one city doesn't just make a state. I stopped in Fort Wayne and Bloomington as well. Bloomington is what a college town should be. I stayed in some cheap place on the beltway in Indianapolis. I will not go into the negative aspects of Indianapolis (those are not the intentions of this thread). But once again, the friendly people were something I couldn't get over. I laughed when people told me about rush hour in Indianapolis... it was a breeze. Cleveland and especially Cincinnati seem much worse in their peak traffic times. The kindness didn't just stop at face-to-face conversations. It showed on the road, too. Here I am weaving in and out of traffic with no turn signal... I was a true a$$hole lol but that's how I drive. Indianapolis is a very sprawly city, but easy to get around. If my GPS didn't help me out, the people of Indianapolis certainly did.

The gist of this quick and very random thread is that Indiana has some extremely friendly people, and that is what I was most impressed about. The kind of friendliness that I saw down South. It shows with a lot of posters on this forum. Just to let it be known, I think most posters can look past certain aspects of this forum, and see the better half of Indiana. No fake chamber of commerce crap either.

Now with that, I should be in my remote sensing class, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen

[Colts]

You're studying GIS?

[wh15395]

I've started liking how polite the drivers in Indianapolis are because of what you said. I realized I get places in half the time I normally would because they don't tailgate and you can just weave in and out of them. I still can't get over how much worse traffic has been lately, though.

[rlak]

I am a Canadian and I love Indiana Both North and South, Peolple are friendly, Fresh nature and lots to see around. Its a great place to live.Bloomington and Columbus no doubt are wonderful places as I am frequent visitor of Indy and family members are all across indiana. If I had a job there I would love to relocate. I know one day its goona happen Fingure cross

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by WRosado

South Bend was not what I was expecting with such a large university, but I digress.

What were you expecting from South Bend? Notre Dame may be a very presitgous and renowned university, but it has less than 12,000 students, including undergrad and postgrad.

Mishawaka and Granger is where all the commercial and retail development in the area is happening. South Bend's largest employers are Memorial Hospital, which makes up almost 20% of the downtown area, AM General, Notre Dame, South Bend Regional Airport, the school district, and a few other things. Most of the big employers in the area are in South Bend, where most of the shopping and dining has spread to the more suburban Granger and Mishawaka.

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

What were you expecting from South Bend? Notre Dame may be a very presitgous and renowned university, but it has less than 12,000 students, including undergrad and postgrad.

Mishawaka and Granger is where all the commercial and retail development in the area is happening. South Bend's largest employers are Memorial Hospital, which makes up almost 20% of the downtown area, AM General, Notre Dame, South Bend Regional Airport, the school district, and a few other things. Most of the big employers in the area are in South Bend, where most of the shopping and dining has spread to the more suburban Granger and Mishawaka.

He could be referring to the lack of a "hip" area that caters to the college crowd, ala Kirkwood in Bloomington. Or he could be referring to the fact that South Bend is dumpy.

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

What were you expecting from South Bend? Notre Dame may be a very presitgous and renowned university, but it has less than 12,000 students, including undergrad and postgrad.

Mishawaka and Granger is where all the commercial and retail development in the area is happening. South Bend's largest employers are Memorial Hospital, which makes up almost 20% of the downtown area, AM General, Notre Dame, South Bend Regional Airport, the school district, and a few other things. Most of the big employers in the area are in South Bend, where most of the shopping and dining has spread to the more suburban Granger and Mishawaka.

I think he means he was expecting it to be more of a college town, like Bloomington or State College, PA or College Station, TX, or Boulder, CO. If you're in South Bend, you can't even tell there's a major university there unless you're right by it.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

He could be referring to the lack of a "hip" area that caters to the college crowd, ala Kirkwood in Bloomington. Or he could be referring to the fact that South Bend is dumpy.

There is a LOT of new development in South Bend around the Notre Dame area. Notre Dame has purchased a lot of the land containing those run down neighborhoods and are gentrifying the areas there, adding condos and new houses, as well as a new shopping center done in a rustic fashion.

Mishawaka is where most of the stores and restaurants that most college towns have. Most of all the retail and shopping outlets have set up shop there. Downtown South Bend has about as many clubs or bars as any other similarly sized college town. It's not exceptional, but it's on point with most others I would say.

Parts of South Bend are poor and rundown, but that's primarily the west side.

[Jaxson]

Originally Posted by WRosado

The gist of this quick and very random thread is that Indiana has some extremely friendly people, and that is what I was most impressed about. The kind of friendliness that I saw down South. It shows with a lot of posters on this forum. Just to let it be known, I think most posters can look past certain aspects of this forum, and see the better half of Indiana. No fake chamber of commerce crap either.

Now with that, I should be in my remote sensing class, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen

Well thank you for that honest run down of our state about us being friendly that is called Hoosier Hospitality. Perhaps long time or life time residents tend to forget we do have a decent state and things to do in it. Speaking for myself my judgment gets clouded from all the frustration of how run down our towns are becoming. Or how politicians keep putting different lip stick on the pig selling us a new brand when it isn't.

I appreciate hearing what others think of us thank you.