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I'm originally from Syracuse. I hated it there. I miss the cost of living and not having to worry about terrorism, but I like it in the city MUCH better.
In ways I feel like you are removed from the real world there. You run into a lot of people that are not aware of things that you assume that people know.
The weather is also much better in NYC. In Syracuse the winters are very cloudy and snowy, and there are no beaches upstate in the summer.
Did you live in the city or the suburbs? I'm guessing the city since we in the suburbs call "the city": Syracuse" and NYC: "New York". If I grew up in the city, I'd probably want to move away too.
One reason you probably felt removed from the real world in Upstate is the lack of young people. Lots of young people (young professionals) in a city makes it feel much more lively, exciting and progressive. That's the one thing I hate about living here. Young people (22 to 35 year olds) are outsiders looking in on a world revolving around people over the age of 40. Sad but true. That's one of the main reasons I want the Syracuse area to grow and boom....bring back my generation.
i grew up in Albany, now i live in nyc. tbh, i like both. upstate id nice if you like driving and can deal with seeing the same people everyday (i think its easy to make frinds there, but not necessarily friends who have the same interests) theres lots of little hole in the wall places. NYC has anything and everything you could ever want/need except farms and open spaces, and its inconvenient to drive.
That's the challenge. It's a great place to live and raise a family IF you have a stable job and like the the small city atmosphere. Amherst has great schools.
Regarding people's attitudes, I'm glad you've been able to experience the friendliness of the "City of Good Neighbors". In the 2.5 years I've been living in NYC, we've met a lot nice people too.
I feel the same way. I am from Ithaca originally and went to college in Buffalo, and then wound up staying for about 3 years after I graduated. Even though I had a job that I loved the pay was very low for the industry. I just recently moved out here to NYC and as much as I love it as a young person, the upstater in me can't see raising a family here (I feel like my kids should be able to have a house with a yard and a big dog to run around with, like I did) and I'll probably move back upstate when I'm done with grad school.
And to whoever said upstate lacks young people, that's not always the case. Coming from a college town that is overrun with students 9 months out of the year there is definitely a young presence out there if you know where to look. As far as finding somewhere with a vibrant nightlife and social scene similar to down here, no, you're not really going to find that anywhere else unfortunately.
I was born and raised in NYC and left there when I turned 23. I have lived in Mississippi, Utah, Germany, and been to 10 countries in a period of four years. Not to mentioned I have visited a few states.
I have lived in Rome, NY for two and half years. I really enjoyed it there - the quietness, lots of country and farms, lots of outdoor activities, and four beautiful seasons. Yes it is boring at times but I would take that anytime to the rat race and high cost of living in NYC. Remember, I grew up in the 1970s, the height of NYC’s urban decay. I still carry the scare of the bad times and Upstate New York was a breath of fresh air. However, a lot of young woman complain that there is nothing to do in Upstate New York.
Now, I live in NYC again because of my job. Yes, NYC does have cool places and cool things to see and do but there are lots of trade-offs for living in the City. It takes two incomes to live comfortable for a family of three, taxes are going up, and the high cost of living is going up even more. I know how to keep a balance but not everyone is like me. Crime, traffic, ethnic/racial tensions are still problems here that can affect raising families.
I was born and raised in NYC and left there when I turned 23. I have lived in Mississippi, Utah, Germany, and been to 10 countries in a period of four years. Not to mentioned I have visited a few states.
I have lived in Rome, NY for two and half years. I really enjoyed it there - the quietness, lots of country and farms, lots of outdoor activities, and four beautiful seasons. Yes it is boring at times but I would take that anytime to the rat race and high cost of living in NYC. Remember, I grew up in the 1970s, the height of NYC’s urban decay. I still carry the scare of the bad times and Upstate New York was a breath of fresh air. However, a lot of young woman complain that there is nothing to do in Upstate New York.
Now, I live in NYC again because of my job. Yes, NYC does have cool places and cool things to see and do but there are lots of trade-offs for living in the City. It takes two incomes to live comfortable for a family of three, taxes are going up, and the high cost of living is going up even more. I know how to keep a balance but not everyone is like me. Crime, traffic, ethnic/racial tensions are still problems here that can affect raising families.
Sounds exactly like my situation...were you in the Air Force by chance? I left NYC at the age of 23 also, enlisted in the AF and my first assignment was Rome NY. That was in 1991 when NYC was at it's worst. It was so nice to get out of the city and away from the dangerous streets. It took me awhile to get used to living someplace I could actually take my son to the park. But by 1995 it started seeing a rise in crime (Rome NY) and when the base closed the town really sunk hard.
Sounds exactly like my situation...were you in the Air Force by chance? I left NYC at the age of 23 also, enlisted in the AF and my first assignment was Rome NY. That was in 1991 when NYC was at it's worst. It was so nice to get out of the city and away from the dangerous streets. It took me awhile to get used to living someplace I could actually take my son to the park. But by 1995 it started seeing a rise in crime (Rome NY) and when the base closed the town really sunk hard.
Good point! Upstate New York is depressed as it is and with Griffiss AFB closed now, poverty just grows and where there is poverty there is crime. I hope things get better for Rome in years to come.
I was born in The Bronx and raised there, we would vacation each year in a Upstate New York town called Hoosick Falls, right across the border from Bennington, Vermont. Hoosick Falls is also the home of Grandma Moses, although not a huge place, Hoosick has a quintness about it. My Father who was born in 24 vacationed there as a young man, and has pictures througtout his lifetime of him standing with a Mohawk Indian on the Mohawk Trail which is up that way. Growing up we would stay just outside of town at a lodge on a lake called Babcock Lake, later when it burnt to the ground we stayed at a motel called the Wayside Motel, Herb and his wife ran it for years.
Compared to The Bronx, Hoosick Falls is a throwback in time, not much has changed and as I get older, I think I could actually live up there, no hustle or bustle, just good farm folk, church going everyday people. Yep, I could call this home.
Funny, this thread makes me realize the 'oddity of my odyssey' so to speak. I was born & raised in one of the typical faded old industrial cities in Amsterdam, NY (just west of Albany). After college I made my way downstate, lived in westchester and commuted to the city everyday. After 10 years, the magic of the city eventually gave way to the drudgeries of the workaday commute, complete with crowded stinky standing-room only subways. My 15 mile commute took 1 hour plus most days. Friends would ask me for recommendations for Broadway plays and whatnot, and I'd tell them I hadn't seen a play in years- my energies went to fighting my way home after work to see my little boy for a few hours before his bedtime.
So a few years ago my family somehow ended up settling back in my old hood- Amsterdam, NY. I am now a stateworker, commuter schlub. I live in a rambling Victorian on 3 acres in a city that never fully recovered after the Great Depression, many parts frozen in time from its industrial, Victorian heyday. My two kids have a wonderful life- we go to the Saratoga races & adirondack lakes in the Summer and I coach all of their teams. But my wife & I now miss NYC, and it took moving away to the slow lane to remember how awesome the city really was.
The one thing I can't stand is when upstate morons call for secession from NYC, and city folks write off upstate as some redneck cultural void. I see the history and dynamism of both as completely intertwined and great complements to each other. I'll tell you this, wander into one of our sleepy little taverns and you'll see three or four guys wearing yankee caps swearing at the TV-only difference is that they'll be drinking Genessee instead of Bud.
<Postlude- I knew my odyssey had come full circle the other night when I spotted ol' man Shandorf glaring with his one good eye at me from across the bar. As myth had it in my childhood, Ol' man shandorf was out walking his dog one day when an ornery acrobatic squirrel jumped out a tree onto his face and mistook his eye for an acorn. Not sure if it's true, but indeed this cyclops is sitting across from me right now as sure as I'm sipping a genny cream ale- welcome home, Rug City, welcome home.>
Last edited by rug city; 02-12-2009 at 12:24 PM..
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Upstate NY Hoosick Falls
