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Ive notice people from here help eac other out , immediate family, friends etc....if your not from here its difficult to navigate, hard place to figure out and u can easily become depressed and isolated.....Its a weird place if your not from here, the bible belt works its own way....easy to find yourself confused if your from say the west coast,,,,,it also has a way of trapping you.......like a well oiled machine that can chew u up if you dont fit in have a good job and friends and med benfitis....Its unfortunate but it can sap your energy rather quickly and leave you pretty much depressed tired and fed up.....Im heading back to SD Calif where at least I know the area.......I came here with 50000 and a camaro and high hopes to beleft with a Chevy tracker and 500.00. Its been a rough ride for me and I hope I can make it out in one piece/..
Totally feel what you are saying...I had 2close friends move to NC from the So.Cal area....They gave NC 2 years and headed back....In their words...they could not stand it...Not diverse enough/Not enough companies for jobs/Not enough cultural activities/and lastly could not stand the weather...So they both packed it up and moved back....but get this....they both were able to land decent jobs in their respected fields and are doing quite well......Go figure....They both said it was just 1 big struggle for them here...
Personally I think if you don't have something nice to say about a city that's home to hundreds of thousands of people and rising then you probably should not say anything at all.
Ive notice people from here help eac other out , immediate family, friends etc....if your not from here its difficult to navigate, hard place to figure out and u can easily become depressed and isolated.....Its a weird place if your not from here, the bible belt works its own way....easy to find yourself confused if your from say the west coast,,,,,it also has a way of trapping you.......like a well oiled machine that can chew u up if you dont fit in have a good job and friends and med benfitis....Its unfortunate but it can sap your energy rather quickly and leave you pretty much depressed tired and fed up.....Im heading back to SD Calif where at least I know the area.......I came here with 50000 and a camaro and high hopes to beleft with a Chevy tracker and 500.00. Its been a rough ride for me and I hope I can make it out in one piece/..
I'm sorry you're depressed and broke, but I really don't think you can pin that all on a geographic area. I too moved here from somewhere else. I too knew nobody. Years later, I have a fabulous support system of friends here that allowed me to keep my sanity while my husband was dying of cancer. These are not my family; these are friends I've made since moving here -- neighbors, coworkers, church members, fellow hobbyists. They brought me food, drove him to radiation treatments, stayed with him so I could work, helped me with the house. I guess I just don't understand what you mean by "difficult to navigate" or "confused if your from say the west coast." How does this "trap" you? I'm really sorry you're depressed, but lots of people from the west coast move here all the time and adjust nicely. I'm not sure that simply moving back to Cali is going to fix all your problems.
I'm sorry you're depressed and broke, but I really don't think you can pin that all on a geographic area. I too moved here from somewhere else. I too knew nobody. Years later, I have a fabulous support system of friends here that allowed me to keep my sanity while my husband was dying of cancer. These are not my family; these are friends I've made since moving here -- neighbors, coworkers, church members, fellow hobbyists. They brought me food, drove him to radiation treatments, stayed with him so I could work, helped me with the house. I guess I just don't understand what you mean by "difficult to navigate" or "confused if your from say the west coast." How does this "trap" you? I'm really sorry you're depressed, but lots of people from the west coast move here all the time and adjust nicely. I'm not sure that simply moving back to Cali is going to fix all your problems.
I agree totally. In fact, my realtor is from So Cal and has been here for YEARS. Loves the place.
We moved here from New England about 4 years ago. I grew up in the North End of Boston and never lived more than about an hour from Boston. It was a hard decision to make the move. While I miss much about Boston area (more than I realized) I'd never go back. It's too crowded, too expensive and as you can tell from my screen name I just got too tired of the long cold winters (and cold spring and falls).
I read most of the responses and feel as though someone considering the area might be scared away. I just wanted to say that if you have done your due diligence and like what you have seen then don't be put off by any negative comments posted here. As many have said it's all what you make of it. Some people can be happy anywhere any others nowhere. Just be careful about where you pick. We originally looked in Wake Forest but were put off by all the fast growth. We ended up in Pittsboro, a rural area about a half hour south of Chapel Hill and it suits us perfectly.
Life is what you make it. Do your best to be happy no matter where you live. You'll attract others with the same mindset and be fine.
Sometimes you don't appreciate a place until you think you may have to leave it. My husband lost his job here, so we may be moving again after only a year in NC. When we first got here, I moaned about how much I missed TX, I wanted to move back..whine whine whine. Now after living here this year, I am talking about why I like NC and how I really don't want to move to CA or OR or AZ or at times even TX. I have gotten to know some really great people here and appreciate the beauty of the place. Just yesterday I was in CH, first time for me to be on Franklin St. in the downtown area. Wow, that curvy tree lined street is so pretty, even in winter!
Sometimes you don't appreciate a place until you think you may have to leave it. My husband lost his job here, so we may be moving again after only a year in NC. When we first got here, I moaned about how much I missed TX, I wanted to move back..whine whine whine. Now after living here this year, I am talking about why I like NC and how I really don't want to move to CA or OR or AZ or at times even TX. I have gotten to know some really great people here and appreciate the beauty of the place.
TXJoy, sounds like we're living parallel lives. The only difference is that we've been here nearly 5 years. The Triangle has truly become our home & we enjoy so much about living here. I'm not looking forward to starting all over again ... especially since all of our options are in places that are more expensive and have worse weather!
TXJoy, sounds like we're living parallel lives. The only difference is that we've been here nearly 5 years. The Triangle has truly become our home & we enjoy so much about living here. I'm not looking forward to starting all over again ... especially since all of our options are in places that are more expensive and have worse weather!
Oh no! I have enjoyed reading your posts over the years--I hope all turns out well for you.
I have a confession: I love reading this Triangle Forum partly to keep myself connected to my roots (native of Louisburg in Franklin County), partly because I love watching my NCSU college town (Raleigh) grow from being a small city into a bonafide East Coast destination, and partly because I love North Carolina and the Triangle being recognized for what they DO, DON'T DO, and DO BETTER than in some other parts of the country (i.e. treelined freeways without billboards, or lowrise development with a decidedly non "big-city" feel.)
What I don't fully understand or condone is people moving to North Carolina based on statistics or Forbes magazine raves, rather than falling in love with the state and its culture first. I don't like Raleigh's real state market being referred to as "available inventory", because juxtaposed next to it is generations-old farms, families and history. I don't want Raleigh to be viewed as a page in a catalog where you point to the "home" that you like and click "Add To Cart."
Now let me clarify that I do like all of that for Franklin County though, because any growth will lift it from the Stone Ages and be a good thing.
I, a southerner and Triangle native, wouldn't eeeevvver consider living in Johnston County or Holly Springs or Fuquay because it would seem completely FOREIGN to me! So of course anyone coming from Massachusetts or say, Los Gatos, Calif. will totally feel like a fish out of water.
I have lived in every American city that I was in love with, and still to this day absolutely love Raleigh, Atlanta, Los Angeles and NYC. I loved every minute that I spent in them, but I also knew what I was getting into beforehand.
My advice to Northerners and Californians would be to remember that many of these towns didn't exist 20 years ago (Holly Springs), so you ain't gonna find the quaintness of Branford or Mystic, Conn., and places like Clayton and surrounding towns won't rise to the level of Raleigh's "sophistication" for another 50 years, and Raleigh won't rise to the level of D.C.'s or Atlanta "sophistication" for 50 years as well.
Raleigh and North Carolina's "niche" in the American landscape is to be the tree-filled "nice part of the country" that's a great place to raise a family. And though quite populous, its hundreds of small towns and "Mayberries" continue to cast a southern-style, small-town feel across the state, even over its biggest cities.
Last edited by architect77; 02-14-2011 at 07:21 PM..
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