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Well maybe I am the one who can't change. I guess coming here was too much of a culture shock to me, and I have not been able to get over it. And now that my daughters are leaving, I am really feeling alone. My husband is really a great guy, but he would have never been able to adjust to life in the city, either. I feel really torn and depressed. I love my husband but I can't stand it here. Some things just can't be changed.
We moved to Grand Forks a year ago because my husband got a job with University of North Dakota. We've lived many places in the past few years (yeah for an economy like a bucking bronco!) and Grand Forks has been BY FAR the hardest place to make friends. We're very outgoing people with a background and values very similiar to the area, and we have no idea why we can't make friends. It's very strange to have lived here a year and still not have a single set of friends. We know a couple who is in the Air Force and they agree that it's the least friendly place they've ever lived as well !
My roommate (dorms, und) and I have said literally 50 words to eachother this year. He's from a tiny town in North Central ND, thank God I'm from the Metro (twin cities) and have a bunch of friends that came to school up here otherwise this year would have sucked! This is one of the reasons I dislike this area, the other being, there isn't really an area where the "rich guys" live. My parents combined income was over 100,000 and we live in about a 3000 sq ft house in a NW suburb so (to me) I wouldn't put us in that group. And obviously in the metro we have our areas where the movers & shakers reside, but I don't like that Grand Forks doesn't have areas like that. I've been to 23 states (NW, South, Southeast, and SW AZ not CA, SE FL included, and of which is the #1 place I'd like to live, or at least eventually have property there), Puerto Rico, St Thomas, & St Maarten so I know what other areas of the country look like.
Basically everyone in G-Forks seems to live in the same sized house and drive the same vehicles, chevy, ford, etc. low level cars, some nice trucks (ford powerstroke, chevy duramax) not many BMW's, Benz's, and I have yet to see a Ferrari in this state yet. My guess is that most of the jobs here dont pay enough where you could afford a 5000 sq ft house, but it intrigues me...
Needless to say I think I will definitely be moving out of this city, back to the metro to start my career upon graduation.
Sry for the long post, just thought I'd voice my opinion on this.
. And, if you aren't a Republican, then you really shouldn't come. And I am a Liberal Democrat, by the way. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!!!!
So why do they keep electing Democrats to D.C?
I don't get politics as a reason to hate a place. I'm so far to right I walk in circles, yet I work in a liberal arts department at a small college in NY. (I have the only Volvo with an NRA sticker.) Sure, I think my colleagues are commies, but I don't want to leave my job because of it. Aside from dorm room bull-sessions, there's a reason they say don't argue politics and religion.
My roommate (dorms, und) and I have said literally 50 words to eachother this year. He's from a tiny town in North Central ND, thank God I'm from the Metro (twin cities) and have a bunch of friends that came to school up here otherwise this year would have sucked! This is one of the reasons I dislike this area, the other being, there isn't really an area where the "rich guys" live. My parents combined income was over 100,000 and we live in about a 3000 sq ft house in a NW suburb so (to me) I wouldn't put us in that group. And obviously in the metro we have our areas where the movers & shakers reside, but I don't like that Grand Forks doesn't have areas like that. I've been to 23 states (NW, South, Southeast, and SW AZ not CA, SE FL included, and of which is the #1 place I'd like to live, or at least eventually have property there), Puerto Rico, St Thomas, & St Maarten so I know what other areas of the country look like.
Basically everyone in G-Forks seems to live in the same sized house and drive the same vehicles, chevy, ford, etc. low level cars, some nice trucks (ford powerstroke, chevy duramax) not many BMW's, Benz's, and I have yet to see a Ferrari in this state yet. My guess is that most of the jobs here dont pay enough where you could afford a 5000 sq ft house, but it intrigues me...
Needless to say I think I will definitely be moving out of this city, back to the metro to start my career upon graduation.
Sry for the long post, just thought I'd voice my opinion on this.
Combined income over 100,000 for couples isnt that uncommon in Grand Forks...it isnt the norm. My wife and I make about 120,000 combined and we struggle just like everyone else with 3 kids and having enough savings put away for retirement and college and other things. Now combined over 500,000 income that is rare.
I take it you might not have been around all of GF yet. Have you been down south Belmont along Adams Drive in the Shadyridge estates....some of those homes will approach 5000 sq ft. The Rydell mansion at 32nd and Belmont is quite large. And there are large homes down on Kings Walk golf course as well and scattered throughout other parts of the city. My wife knows one of the doctors who built a million dollar house at Belmont and 15th Ave S where the previous homes had to be torn down after the 97 flood.
So they are out there. As for BMW's, a co-worker had one....but because there are so few in the state very hard to get the serviced.
I do understand about college and small towns. I went to school at Iowa State Univ and those from small towns initially stuck together very closely making it hard sometimes to form friendships early on....but by the second and third year I found a lot of those cliques dissolved.
I may have to take a trip around the city and see some of these places. I have been in EGF just a bit and around the columbia & washington commercial areas and of course the entire campus and that surrounding area. And yeah it almost seems now that the year is ending the whole "small town groups" are starting to break up a bit.
I may have to take a trip around the city and see some of these places. I have been in EGF just a bit and around the columbia & washington commercial areas and of course the entire campus and that surrounding area. And yeah it almost seems now that the year is ending the whole "small town groups" are starting to break up a bit.
Even in EGF there is the more industrial center or north end along Highway 2 then the point section off the Minnesota ave bridge where I live. If you only drove along Highway 2 in EGF your impression might not be that great....but going off the main roads...it is a nice town. Same in Grand Forks if you only stuck around campus or along Gateway or Washington then those neighborhoods off those streets are the older sections of town. If you want to see the newer parts of town and maybe a bit more like where you grew up head south along Columbia past 32nd Ave and west along 40th or 47th Ave S west past Washington to Belmont. Not ritzy my any one standards but this shows some of the newer development in the past 5-10 years.
good luck at UND. Nothing wrong with thinking you will move away after college most do...regardless of where you go. I went to school in Ames Iowa and loved the town but my job is only available in certain cities so had to move. Doesnt mean I disliked the town.
My roommate (dorms, und) and I have said literally 50 words to eachother this year. He's from a tiny town in North Central ND, thank God I'm from the Metro (twin cities) and have a bunch of friends that came to school up here otherwise this year would have sucked! This is one of the reasons I dislike this area, the other being, there isn't really an area where the "rich guys" live. My parents combined income was over 100,000 and we live in about a 3000 sq ft house in a NW suburb so (to me) I wouldn't put us in that group. And obviously in the metro we have our areas where the movers & shakers reside, but I don't like that Grand Forks doesn't have areas like that. I've been to 23 states (NW, South, Southeast, and SW AZ not CA, SE FL included, and of which is the #1 place I'd like to live, or at least eventually have property there), Puerto Rico, St Thomas, & St Maarten so I know what other areas of the country look like.
Basically everyone in G-Forks seems to live in the same sized house and drive the same vehicles, chevy, ford, etc. low level cars, some nice trucks (ford powerstroke, chevy duramax) not many BMW's, Benz's, and I have yet to see a Ferrari in this state yet. My guess is that most of the jobs here dont pay enough where you could afford a 5000 sq ft house, but it intrigues me...
Needless to say I think I will definitely be moving out of this city, back to the metro to start my career upon graduation.
Sry for the long post, just thought I'd voice my opinion on this.
So why the heck did you go to school there? You sound like some of my Long Island/Westchester students complaining about my rural college. For most,they're here because they couldn't get into a 'rich kids' school or they wanted a degree without the academic challenge of a better school.
As it is, you seem to be placing an awful lot of value of people's cars and homes, etc.... That seems to fit in with your earlier post about how much you spend on buying new dirt bikes and gear every year. Sure, I'm disappointed that there isn't a Volvo or Acura repairman/dealership in ND, but I don't think that says anything negative about the state. I'll just buy a loaded Accord or Pathfinder.With a 6 figure income, we can spend money on family, and take more vacations, pay for private schools, good colleges, etc... as opposed to buying more useless crap to impress people I don't even know.
It's a rural area with cold winters, and nice 4x4s and pickups are just as expensive as BMWs, and a heck of a lot more practical. In fact, it may be the locals are more reserved and sensible than the 'city folk'. Lord knows I'd never move back to Dallas and it's pretentious showiness. Perhaps when you get a few gray hairs, you'll start to appreciate people and not their possessions.
Last edited by wondertrev; 04-25-2010 at 02:09 PM..
So why the heck did you go to school there? You sound like some of my Long Island/Westchester students complaining about my rural college. For most,they're here because they couldn't get into a 'rich kids' school or they wanted a degree without the academic challenge of a better school.
As it is, you seem to be placing an awful lot of value of people's cars and homes, etc.... That seems to fit in with your earlier post about how much you spend on buying new dirt bikes and gear every year. Sure, I'm disappointed that there isn't a Volvo or Acura repairman/dealership in ND, but I don't think that says anything negative about the state. I'll just buy a loaded Accord or Pathfinder.With a 6 figure income, we can spend money on family, and take more vacations, pay for private schools, good colleges, etc... as opposed to buying more useless crap to impress people I don't even know.
It's a rural area with cold winters, and nice 4x4s and pickups are just as expensive as BMWs, and a heck of a lot more practical. In fact, it may be the locals are more reserved and sensible than the 'city folk'. Lord knows I'd never move back to Dallas and it's pretentious showiness. Perhaps when you get a few gray hairs, you'll start to appreciate people and not their possessions.
A good post deserving of high 5's! Sometimes, common sense seem to over-rule anything else. Maybe a is at least worth it..
A good post deserving of high 5's! Sometimes, common sense seem to over-rule anything else. Maybe a is at least worth it..
Why thank you. As a teacher of many college freshman, I find many could use a bit (or a lot) of attitudinal fine tuning. If they don't have the cojones to do 4 years in the service, I figure it's part of my job.
Rock on! I haven't seen such as deliberate beat down of an arrogant college p**** in ages. Too bad 'Chad' never heard this from his own warped, self-absorbed city parents. I wan to know where this guy teaches college; he can teach my kid anyday.
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is at least worth it..
