Missing Northern Virginia a Bit

[Avenger772]

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. And to tell you the truth, I'm sick of the place. Got an offer for a job in NOVA I'm very tempted to take it. I was hoping to hear back from a couple jobs here in Pittsburgh before I made the decision because a dollar here goes a lot further than a dollar there. But I figure I'll go, soak up the work experience and move again in a year or two if the situation (or cost of living) doesn't suit my future goals. But I will say I love the cultural diversity Metro DC brings to the table. There is none of that in Pittsburgh. It's tiresome.

[Thinking-man]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I've been living in (and loving) Pittsburgh since late-2010. With that being said after having some time to reflect there are many, many things I miss about living in Fairfax County.

-Pittsburgh isn't a very racially- or ethnically-"diverse" city overall. We're primarily white, non-Hispanic, and there's a very small African-American professional community along with a disproportionately large black underclass. Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Google are all rapidly-expanding and bringing in more Asian transplants; however, with rare exception they are almost uniformly from either China (graduate students) or India (medical staff/IT professionals).

What are you complaining about???

[nerdlinger]

Wow. My time in NoVA overlapped yours (I posted here under a different username then) and I remember how despondent and negative you were about life in NoVA. You really, really hated it. Honestly never thought I'd see you post that you miss it, even a little bit! I guess time mellows us all in some ways.

I've also since moved away from NoVA, back to my home state, for family reasons. This was the right thing for my life at the moment, but I miss NoVA, too. My home state shares a lot with Pittsburgh in terms of rundown infrastructure and lack of true ethnic diversity, and these things matter. I hope I can go back to the D.C. suburbs in a couple of years. What you said about sports really hit home, too. I just don't care that much about sports teams and people in the D.C. area always have other things to talk about aside from sports.

That said, I live in a gorgeous house for $200/month less than the falling-apart shack with a slumlord I rented in NoVA, and I'm 20 minutes from the beach here. Plus, it's nice to have warm days without crushing humidity! So it's not like there weren't advantages to leaving.

But...I thought to come to this board today because I got into a conversation with another mom this morning at my son's school, and she was considering a move to Fairfax County. Before I even realized it, I was telling her all the reasons why it was a good idea to move. Other than housing prices and traffic, I couldn't come up with too many strong arguments for her not to go, and I found that I was kind of wishing I could go with her!

[NALEXAND]

I know the feeling nerlinger. After 8 years now of being out of NOVA and living in the suburbs of Tampa, FL in a beautiful single family home with a great salary, I still miss NOVA at times. I havent missed it in along time now and finally thought I would never look back and here I am missing it again. I guess it will always have a special place in my heart. Its home to me. I visit in June and cant wait.

Originally Posted by nerdlinger

Wow. My time in NoVA overlapped yours (I posted here under a different username then) and I remember how despondent and negative you were about life in NoVA. You really, really hated it. Honestly never thought I'd see you post that you miss it, even a little bit! I guess time mellows us all in some ways.

I've also since moved away from NoVA, back to my home state, for family reasons. This was the right thing for my life at the moment, but I miss NoVA, too. My home state shares a lot with Pittsburgh in terms of rundown infrastructure and lack of true ethnic diversity, and these things matter. I hope I can go back to the D.C. suburbs in a couple of years. What you said about sports really hit home, too. I just don't care that much about sports teams and people in the D.C. area always have other things to talk about aside from sports.

That said, I live in a gorgeous house for $200/month less than the falling-apart shack with a slumlord I rented in NoVA, and I'm 20 minutes from the beach here. Plus, it's nice to have warm days without crushing humidity! So it's not like there weren't advantages to leaving.

But...I thought to come to this board today because I got into a conversation with another mom this morning at my son's school, and she was considering a move to Fairfax County. Before I even realized it, I was telling her all the reasons why it was a good idea to move. Other than housing prices and traffic, I couldn't come up with too many strong arguments for her not to go, and I found that I was kind of wishing I could go with her!

[gomason]

Number one reason I hate the Ohio valley/Midwest: "diversity" is what shade of white people are. My mom who grew up in Pittsburgh told me that there were like 4 black people in her graduating class. That's unbelievable for me, living in the South my whole life. Number 2: weather is just as horrible as DC, except even colder in the winters. Smaller cities usually have the most rabid fans.

The only thing I'm jealous of is the copious amounts of German food in the midwest/ohio valley.

[SteelCityRising]

Thanks, everyone, for keeping this thread civil. I know I sometimes exaggerate flaws in a place and embellish mediocre strengths to make them seem monumental (I have a dramatic personality!)

I think I'm just aging and becoming wiser. I sometimes come home from work and spend hours zooming around Winchester (okay, which isn't really bedrock NoVA, to be fair) via Google Street View, admiring it, and reminiscing about it. I certainly wouldn't rule out that place for retirement.

NoVA is sprawling, expensive, and congested. At the same time it is diverse, literate, teeming with economic opportunity, strategically-located, and downright gorgeous aesthetically in many areas. For every one nice, down-to-earth, friendly person I had the pleasure of meeting I had the displeasure of encountering two others who were rude, pushy, arrogant, or standoffish. The "middle-class" in Fairfax County (or maybe just Reston) drove BMWs and Audis. The "middle-class" everywhere else drives Hondas and Fords. I was considered to be under-educated with a Bachelor's Degree in NoVA. Meanwhile, I'm part of a minority of Pittsburghers (roughly ~40%, I think) who hold a Bachelor's Degree.

I feel like far too many adversities struck me simultaneously in late-2009/early-2010, and a piece of me died inside. Relocating helped me to arise from the ashes psychologically like the Phoenix, but I can't help but feel shortchanged out of the potential for a promising career due to being given a raw deal with the abusive boss from Hell (who, ironically, is no longer employed there), colleague "friends" who used me for my kindness and then ignored me when they inbred, fiscal woes, and meeting some real jerks in the dating pool, one of whom was physically abusive. All of those hitting me all at once soured me and made me not myself. I've always been a happy-go-lucky idealist. I review the posts I used to make here back in that era and just shake my head in disgust. NoVA didn't inflict all of that trauma onto me. It was just coincidental.

I do wonder at times if I should give NoVA another shot, but now that I'm nearing my late-20s I feel like it's too late to start over again, especially when I'm now rooted here in Pittsburgh and am doing intensive research to open my own business venture. Maybe in a future life.

[NALEXAND]

Late 20's is definitely NOT too late to start over. Go for what makes you happy NOW. Life is too short to stay somewhere you really don't need to.

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

NoVA didn't inflict all of that trauma onto me. It was just coincidental.

If you've learned nothing else, you've done quite well overall.

[nokomiscyclist]

I think the problem here is that you moved to Pittsburgh. Don't take that the wrong way, as we considered Pittsburgh when we decided to leave NoVA, but PGH is very much still a blue collar, yinz Stillers slice of Appalachia, even though it is firmly transitioning from decaying rustbelt hamlet to midsized city. There are plenty of other cities in the US that offer the better parts of NoVA without the cost or headaches.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by nokomiscyclist

I think the problem here is that you moved to Pittsburgh. Don't take that the wrong way, as we considered Pittsburgh when we decided to leave NoVA, but PGH is very much still a blue collar, yinz Stillers slice of Appalachia, even though it is firmly transitioning from decaying rustbelt hamlet to midsized city. There are plenty of other cities in the US that offer the better parts of NoVA without the cost or headaches.

I'm not saying I regret my decision to move to Pittsburgh at all. I posted this long thread sort of as a long-overdue "mea culpa", of sorts, because when I was on here (under the former pseudonym of RestonRunner86, if I'm not mistaken) I was insufferably miserable and did nothing but try to deflate the sails of anyone else on here who tried to paint a rosier picture of the region than what I was personally experiencing.

NoVA really isn't a bad place to live at all. Y'all are probably overdue for a hefty tax increase to increase the capacity of your infrastructure so you'll no longer have the nation's most epic gridlock; however, when the worst thing you can say about your area is "traffic really blows", then you're not doing all that badly overall.
If Winchester wasn't as remotely-located as it was I probably would have considered moving there instead of Pittsburgh and power-commuting to McLean. It just wasn't feasible for me, so I just uprooted and moved to an area that was more aligned with what I was seeking in terms of built environment---sidewalks, street trees, and mixed-use zoning over cul-de-sacs, big front yards, driveways, and parking lots everywhere.