Why do you stay in DC? Where else would you/have you consider(ed) living? (both local and international). (Gaithersburg: transporting)

[superseiyan]

I'm curious to hear why you guys live in the DC area, what you like about it, what you don't, and where else you would live. Here is the overview from my perspective

What I like about DC-MD (and why I'm living here now)

- There's stuff to do.

- Good suburban-city balance. I live in Gaithersburg, but I can get down to DC via metro. The balance of green and urban stuff is good enough.

- My field is in the policy area with an International focus. Harder to find work outside of DC-NY.

- I'm a grad student, so I have to stay and finish.

- I like the sense of history here.

- The biggest one for me: I value diversity. There's a good mix of international groups here, immigrants (yes undocmented immigrants included on the MD side--I don't hate them though, for the most part they go about their business, sometimes I go to heavily immigrant neighbourhoods for some ethnic shopping). Few places in the USA are as diverse as DC.


These are some hangups I have about the city

- Some of the laws are a bit weird (car insurance, alcohol, etc).

- Stuff closes too early.

- Expen$ive!!!! $1500 a month cannot get you a house where I live. And I'm not even in the most expensive area immediately around DC.

- For a big city, the transportation could be a little more comprehensive, but I think that's a US (outside of New York) cultural problem, not a DC specific problem.

- The beach is too far. Ocean City, Md is a 3 hour drive.

- Lack of competition among utility companies (I don't know if this is a US specific problem).

Where I would consider moving to permanently in the USA/Canada

Atlanta: Good weather, and much more affordable housing. I fear it's too spread out, and public transportation is bad. I'm not sure about the job situation. Also it's in the deep south, which is a negative.

Miami: Beautiful people and architecture. Restaurants & night life. I fear that might get played out real fast and that there's not much outside of South Beach. No jobs in my field.

Toronto: A progressive society with lots of diversity, lot's of stuff to do, and with proper social services. I don't want 5 month winters though.

Vancouver/Seattle/San Fransisco i.e. the major liberal cities of the northwest: I like the anything goes attitude of the cities, and that they are socially liberal. I understand that SF is very expensive though, while Seattle has that famous London weather.

I don't think there's anywhere else in North America I'd consider living. I've heard good things about Dallas and Austin(TX). I don't know anything about them though. Dallas, seems similar to Atlanta but I can't say. Austin (TX) i think fails on the diversity and is probably to small to qualify as a proper city.


Where I would consider moving outside of North America:

Rome: Beautiful. Also easy to holiday around in the rest of Europe. For Rome, it'd be a base as I'm an Italiophile, and there's endless things to see. There's lots of International policy type jobs in either City too and they're very diverse. Also, very easy to use public transport and get around within the cities and I feel they are more central world location. The negative is that institutions in Italy are rather...ah, random and unpredictable, for example sending mail--it gets there when it gets there. A store may or may not be open when you need it to be. etc etc. An unpredictable way of life in some ways.

Berlin: Heart of Europe. People speak English, but German would be a cool language to learn. Lots of culture. Diverse. The downside again is that it's expen$ive.

There's other cool cities in the world, but I wouldn't want to live there, even if I'd visit regularly.

[yayayards]

I could go down the list of all the places i lived and wanted to go back to....
but once your in dc, theres no going back unfortunatly...


ahh, st. louis!

[FlightAttendant]

I love DC and all that comes with it. I strayed and went to NC for 3.5 years but I am back and happy to be here.

That said, I also live in Toronto part time and I feel that the two cities compliment each other. Both are sophisticated, diverse, exciting,and full of things to do. The down side to both cities is the cost. Living in both cities is HIDEOUSLY expensive. Housing is outa sight, taxes are high, etc. Big cities, big city prices.

I could, in my fantasy world, see myself living in Rome, London or Paris. All fabulous cities.

[Tiger Beer]

I guess this is a good thread for me I've lived in MI, MN, AZ, CA, NY, OR. Internationally lived in Europe (1 year), South America (1 year), and Asia (many years).

I'm attracted to WASHINGTON DC and vicinity because of all the real interesting jobs that in that area. Love politics, and find all the NGO stuff real interesting, and particularly love anything International-related. So, everything about DC is appealing. I also like the very international population that chooses there, and immigrants like Vietnamese, Korean, Ethiopian, Iranian, etc. I love that kind of stuff. The only major downside is the very high cost of living, but since jobs also seem to actually pay much more than elsewhere, I think it would be worth the trade-off.

PITTSBURGH is another attractive area, but for all the opposite reasons. Basically it's very affordable. So, you'd miss out on all the cool stuff of a major international city like DC. But you'd make up for it with low cost of living, and could probably try to a business opportunity, and wouldn't have to drive around so much - much more condense, etc. (I'm sure everyone has their own low-priced city that they like for whatever reason - usually people choose more southern cities for the weather though).

I have a few dream cities like HONOLULU & MIAMI. I say they are dream cities, because they have high cost of living - particularly Honolulu, but neither have many good jobs. So, basically you'd be stuck with very mediocre low-paying jobs in expensive places, not that great of a combination. LAS VEGAS appeals to me as a similar Honolulu/Miami type of place, but at least reasonably-priced - plus I like the desert look of the housing and interesting place as well.

INTERNATIONALLY:

BRAZIL - I went down there for six months, tried to teach English, and ran out of money. But loved it there.

JAPAN - Live here now. Very comfortable place.

There are other places I wouldn't mind internationally - Singapore, Macau, Lisbon Portugal, etc.

[carroll4628]

For all the things you like about DC, you wouldn't like about ATL (diverse - but extremely segregated - rich/mc blacks live here, rich/mc whites live there, and nare shall the two meet). You will find people from all over the world tucked into their corners around ATL (this isn't meant to be negative, people just want to be near people like themselves - language/culture). People are ITP (inside the perimeter) or OTP (outside the perimeter). The only reason OTP go downtown is for sporting events and...I don't know any other reason to go downtown... The beach is a bit of a drive, but the mountains in northern GA are pretty nice. You don't walk anywhere in ATL - it's all driving. Spent 3 years - glad to have moved on. BUT...there are people who love it. Met lots of retirees from NY/NJ/Conn who moved to Florida and hated it, so they moved to ATL and love it.

Seattle is wonderful - the sound (Puget Sound that is), the mountains, a walkable downtown, many parks/trails/activites (a co-worker sea kayaked to work from her houseboat across from our office on Lake Union). Of course areas can be pricey (Capital Hill, Queen Anne, Green Lake), but it's not expensive like DC or SF. Seattle isn't as diverse as DC, ATL or MIA, except for it's 20%Asian population. Public transit ??? - they like the idea of it, but they just can't get their act together (going on 15+ year of thinking about it). No state income tax (like Texas, but sooo much not like Texas). 4 hours to Vancouver. Ferries to whisk you away to the islands. Night skiing in the moutains 45min from downtown. It's a city for an active outdoors lover. Rain - pha, that's what Gortex is for (and winter trips to Central America are so much more meaningful). No sun - pha, get a headlamp. Traffic - pha, live close to work and get a bike.

Miami (haven't lived there, only visited friends living there). Completely opposite of Seattle. Seattle = all about the gear (hiking, climbing, sailing) and there are more Subaru Outbacks (it's all about transporting the gear). Miami = all about the image. Sure, there are some snooty folks over in Bellevue (they got transferred there and are just serving their time).

[wells1999]

DC is a beautiful place, good urban and suburban mix. I am pretty happy living and working here. People are nice. not too fast-paced. various good restaurants and cuisines. convenient shopping places. Lots of festivals, movie events, lecturers, free museums. ^^ This is a place I can enjoy life.

Internationally, I want to live in Japan, Kyoto to be exact. Beautiful and serene gardens, temples, delicious foods, everything is beautiful and cute, including the language itself, and my favorite signer/artist is there.

[tonyc]

costa rica!!

Miami

CABO


oh, previous poster, my lil daughter can't wait to be grown to move to Japan.......................

[dkf747]

I like DC for many of the reasons posted, but I only moved here for my old job and now for my wife's job. I hate the high housing costs and the traffic here though.

I really like the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) when I lived there. Still my favorite place in the US. I also like the Detroit area (birthplace). Only a few cities other than those two interest me (Chicago, Dallas, or Atlanta).

I had planned to live in Copenhagen by now, but that hasn't happened yet. Still interested though.