Relocating to Eunice area (New Orleans, Lafayette: apartment, rent, house)

[ohmadre]

My son in his mid 20's may have an opportunity to relocate to a company in Eunice....... We are from the midwest and know absolutely NOTHING about Louisiana.... We are looking for advise on where to live (apt) and where a young man might find friends and such....

Any help would be much appreciated :-)

[aab7855]

Eunice is an interesting place. Its a pretty small town and it's a part of St. Landry Parish, but in many ways feels disconnected from the other parts of the parish. Cajun culture runs very thick here. The authentic Cajun version of Mardi Gras, which is just as cool as New Orleans but TOTALLY different, takes place in Eunice and other towns in the vicinity. Louisiana for the most part has three very distinctive parts, the greater New Orleans area and its culture, the North Louisiana Bible Belt/ TexArkMissLouisiana scene, and the southwest Louisiana Cajun-influenced area. Eunice is definitely Cajun through and through. There's probably not a whole lot in the way of entertainment in Eunice proper. Your son's rent will be CHEAP, space is not a premium at all up there. Country living to the max.

The closest population centers are Opelousas and Lafayette, both distinguished places in their own right. Opelousas is majority black and is the cradle of zydeco music and along with North Lafayette is the epicenter of the French-influenced black culture commonly called Creole in those parts. Lafayette isn't huge, about 150,000 people but in my opinion has more going on than any small city I've ever encountered. A lot of night life, all kinds of live music, and of course a university of 17,000 keeps things alive. The whole area is abound with fesitvals, but only a few are really big.

If yall are from the urban centers of the Midwest, especially the Upper Midwest, you will be in for one hell of a culture shock. If you're from the slower small towns you will find some distant similarities. The people are friendly as hell. Surprisingly race isn't a big deal down here compared to the rest of the Deep South. The French Catholic way is laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll) and C'est la vie (that's life) when things aren't going as well. He shouldn't have trouble meeting people, but for a faster pace he'll be driving to Lafayette. I know every place says this but Lafayette has the prettiest girls, go downtown to the 20 something/college bars and you will be blown away.

If he is outdoors type anywhere north of there starts getting really hilly. Kisatche National Forest is huge. Fishing and hunting are also popular in these parts. The food is amazing. The best stuff comes from mom and pop plate lunch stores. If you don't know what boudin is, just thank me the first time you try it.

If he wants to live in Eunice you won't need an apartment, go for a house with a yard.. still cheap. check out www.qqclassifieds.com as a good starter. That's the whole region though so make sure you know where you're looking.

[Innotech]

Ill be honest with you. I had friends who used to live in Eunice that I visited often. It is very boring there. Not much to see or do.
The only good thing about it is it is between Lake charles and Lafayette, so its easy to visit either place within an hour of driving.
Its also pretty rough on the south side of town where my friend lived, so be careful.

[ohmadre]

Is it possible to work in Eunice and live in Lafayette?? Thanks so much for the informative first post...... worried about the second post....boring is ok I guess, but dangerous?? Any other opinions/comments. I want to again say 'thank you' for the feedback...positive or negative!!

[aab7855]

You're looking at a solid 45 minute commute from Lafayette proper to Eunice. It can be done though, I know plenty of people who drive to University of Louisiana from Eunice every day. If you live in North Lafayette, Carencro or Sunset you will be very close to all the night life and shave some time off that commute. Actually even closer would be west of Lafayette.. Scott, Duson, Rayne... because Eunice is northwest so you have to drive west anyway to get there from Lafayette, that's kinda on the way. Another option is Opelousas, in that case you will be like 15 minutes to Eunice and 25 minutes to downtown Lafayette. Opelousas has nice parts and not so nice parts. I wouldn't worry too much about safety, this isn't Detroit. A lot of the small towns in Acadiana are getting tougher areas but it's not a warzone or anything.

[Innotech]

well I used to have a friend I would visit in Eunice. She lived on the south side of it in a really rough area. Her neighbor were stabbed to death and her own siblings were always fighting on the street all night when I was visiting there. Poor girl had a rough life. But aside from a couple of little country stores and a WalMart, there really is NOTHING there. I honestly found it to be am iserable place, and many people who live there drive to the Acadiana mall every weekend and stay around for days.
I really think you should check out Rayne. Its further south along the I10 corridor, much closer to Lafayette, and also not so far from eunice that its not possible to commute. Its got a neat Frog festival and is known as the frog capitol of the world. Its pretty safe and is still a small friendly town, but much closer to everything. eunice is located along two very long, dark, secluded roads that pretty much seem to go through nothing forever until you get there. Its just too remote.
If you live in Rayne, however, its about a 30 minute drive up the Eunice highway to get there. Just head west 2 exits to Crowley, and take the highway North. goes right into town.

[Innotech]

I just wanted to also mention that in the general area of Lafayette and west to Crowley you will find THE BEST cajun food. Duson has this amazingl ittle restaurant called Thibodeauxs and all the gas stations and truck stops have food to die for. Boudin and plate lunches from Dons specialty meats in Scott and several other places along the I10 corridor make living there a delicious endeavor. When I was working in duson, I never went hungry. So much great food. catfish poboys, alligator nuggets, boudin links and natchitoches meat pies. Its heaven right there.

[aab7855]

I second Rayne. It's country living not too far from Lafayette, friendly folks all the same. I hope you're active though and you stay that way, because the food here is really good and it's easy to let yourself go!

[ohmadre]

Well I guess he might have to chase some of those pretty girls that you talked about to stay in shape

His interview is this week so we'll see how it goes......I want to say thank you again for the helpful information...If the people he meets with are half as nice as the the two who posted here, he will have no worries!!

[SacalaitWhisperer]

Eunice is small. Tell him not to blink too many times, he might drive by it.