Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've seen many posts regarding how Austin is tops. I'm sure for many people it is. I don't mean this post to be offensive to anyone, and I truly respect the differing opinions. This is my opinion, and my reasoning to be leaving Austin.
I am contractually obligated to be here for about another year and a half. At that time, I'll be packing up the apartment and off I go...
Some background-- I am from coastal Connecticut, about 40 minutes outside of NYC. I always loved the area where I grew up, but at 18, I was restless and UT-Austin was the furthest place away that would let me in.
So here are the reasons why I am leaving Austin...
1) I am more comfortable in a room full of strangers in CT then a room full of people I know here. Why? I'm not sure. I have never been able to put my finger on it. I have found some of the "politeness" here to be superficial, and I am just not that friendly to begin with.
2) In Austin I am underpaid for my experience and education. Yes, I know it's all relative, but, in the end, I want my work to be monetarily more satisfying. Jobs that pay $11 / hour here pay 50K back home. I think the abundance of educated people is taken advatange of by employers who pay, mostly, substandard wages.
3) Its a chore to get out of town and visit another city. If I take a weekend road trip it takes about 4 hours to get to next major city. From CT, NYC is less than an hour, Boston and Philly less than 3 and Washington DC 4.5.
4) I don't like Tex-Mex. And the Chinese is better up north.. So are the bagels... and the donuts... and the Italian... (Yes there some good and very few outstanding places in Austin, but outstanding food is more the rule back home).
5) Diners. I miss them. 150 items on the menu.. 24/7. Denny's is not a diner. Sorry.
6) I'm tired of the subtle racism and lack of diversity. No one ever discussed being "jewed" down back home, or told me they "prayed for me." I don't want to be saved... I don't feel like I am missing something because I am not a Christian... And diversity doesn't just mean a larger percentage of Hispanics and African Americans.
7) Just cause its live doesn’t means its good. Austin is the live music capital of the world.. Agreed... And I love live music.. But the bands I like are 80's pop/rock... (Yes, I agree, there are many , many talented Austin acts...But I like what I like!)
8) It's hot. It's damn hot. I am tired of it. Speaking of weather, I miss snow. Snow, an unexpected day off, no traffic on the roads, always gave me some type of quiet solitude... When it snows hard, everyone is at home with friends and family.
9) I miss the water. Knowing that you can go to the beach and all of society's craziness ends somewhere is comforting. Nothing like a walk on a deserted beach in the winter. Smoking a good cigar while you walk helps.
10) I miss my family and friends. This is not Austin's fault. But my family and friends stayed back east. I've missed way too many years, time and weekends with people I love and care about.
Again, these are my reasons, and I welcome discussion or comments. I don't expect agreement, or conversions...
All in all, however, it’s been a great run here. There are definitely many things I will miss about Austin. However for all the time I have been here, I have never been able to call this home.
I've seen many posts regarding how Austin is tops. I'm sure for many people it is. I don't mean this post to be offensive to anyone, and I truly respect the differing opinions. This is my opinion, and my reasoning to be leaving Austin.
I am contractually obligated to be here for about another year and a half. At that time, I'll be packing up the apartment and off I go...
Some background-- I am from coastal Connecticut, about 40 minutes outside of NYC. I always loved the area where I grew up, but at 18, I was restless and UT-Austin was the furthest place away that would let me in.
So here are the reasons why I am leaving Austin...
1) I am more comfortable in a room full of strangers in CT then a room full of people I know here. Why? I'm not sure. I have never been able to put my finger on it. I have found some of the "politeness" here to be superficial, and I am just not that friendly to begin with.
2) In Austin I am underpaid for my experience and education. Yes, I know it's all relative, but, in the end, I want my work to be monetarily more satisfying. Jobs that pay $11 / hour here pay 50K back home. I think the abundance of educated people is taken advatange of by employers who pay, mostly, substandard wages.
3) Its a chore to get out of town and visit another city. If I take a weekend road trip it takes about 4 hours to get to next major city. From CT, NYC is less than an hour, Boston and Philly less than 3 and Washington DC 4.5.
4) I don't like Tex-Mex. And the Chinese is better up north.. So are the bagels... and the donuts... and the Italian... (Yes there some good and very few outstanding places in Austin, but outstanding food is more the rule back home).
5) Diners. I miss them. 150 items on the menu.. 24/7. Denny's is not a diner. Sorry.
6) I'm tired of the subtle racism and lack of diversity. No one ever discussed being "jewed" down back home, or told me they "prayed for me." I don't want to be saved... I don't feel like I am missing something because I am not a Christian... And diversity doesn't just mean a larger percentage of Hispanics and African Americans.
7) Just cause its live doesn’t means its good. Austin is the live music capital of the world.. Agreed... And I love live music.. But the bands I like are 80's pop/rock... (Yes, I agree, there are many , many talented Austin acts...But I like what I like!)
8) It's hot. It's damn hot. I am tired of it. Speaking of weather, I miss snow. Snow, an unexpected day off, no traffic on the roads, always gave me some type of quiet solitude... When it snows hard, everyone is at home with friends and family.
9) I miss the water. Knowing that you can go to the beach and all of society's craziness ends somewhere is comforting. Nothing like a walk on a deserted beach in the winter. Smoking a good cigar while you walk helps.
10) I miss my family and friends. This is not Austin's fault. But my family and friends stayed back east. I've missed way too many years, time and weekends with people I love and care about.
Again, these are my reasons, and I welcome discussion or comments. I don't expect agreement, or conversions...
All in all, however, it’s been a great run here. There are definitely many things I will miss about Austin. However for all the time I have been here, I have never been able to call this home.
I'll never forget this Pizza place that was ranked best in town on 6th street,
that tasted like Domino's.......
We are thinking about moving to Austin, we are Christian's but we are choosing the "surrounding" areas because of the presence of the faith. We live right now in California, and the moral values aren't exactly the best here. We've done research and have gone through about ten states before we decided on TX. And, granted, we haven't definitely decided on it, there is still a lot to be learned. But, we are trying to be wise about our decision which is why we are looking into places that may accomodate our personalities and values. Maybe you should have done a little more reseach before you went to Austin. And, I get what you're saying about being away from family. That's the one thing that's keeping us from packing our bags. But, it's a BIG thing, ya know?
No offense, but it seems like most of your 10 reasons are that you're homesick. There's not a thing wrong with that, but it seems like that's more of a factor than anything that Austin is or isn't or could be.
I can empathize with the original post. I once moved from Chicago to the south and that lasted a year. I really, really missed diners...the 24 hour a day places that he/she speaks of that have 150 things on the menu and are typically owned by Greeks - at least here in Chicago (like the one in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding). As hard as I tried, I never seemed to fit in, only making 2 friends in a year, and even they and I have little in common. They just happened to be the 2 people that work that would actually socialize with me outside of work. It's not just about being homesick. It's becoming homesick because it's hard to adapt to a place that is so different and after you move, you start appreciating all of the things you left behind.
I've seen many posts regarding how Austin is tops. I'm sure for many people it is. I don't mean this post to be offensive to anyone, and I truly respect the differing opinions. This is my opinion, and my reasoning to be leaving Austin.
I am contractually obligated to be here for about another year and a half. At that time, I'll be packing up the apartment and off I go...
Some background-- I am from coastal Connecticut, about 40 minutes outside of NYC. I always loved the area where I grew up, but at 18, I was restless and UT-Austin was the furthest place away that would let me in.
So here are the reasons why I am leaving Austin...
1) I am more comfortable in a room full of strangers in CT then a room full of people I know here. Why? I'm not sure. I have never been able to put my finger on it. I have found some of the "politeness" here to be superficial, and I am just not that friendly to begin with.
2) In Austin I am underpaid for my experience and education. Yes, I know it's all relative, but, in the end, I want my work to be monetarily more satisfying. Jobs that pay $11 / hour here pay 50K back home. I think the abundance of educated people is taken advatange of by employers who pay, mostly, substandard wages.
3) Its a chore to get out of town and visit another city. If I take a weekend road trip it takes about 4 hours to get to next major city. From CT, NYC is less than an hour, Boston and Philly less than 3 and Washington DC 4.5.
4) I don't like Tex-Mex. And the Chinese is better up north.. So are the bagels... and the donuts... and the Italian... (Yes there some good and very few outstanding places in Austin, but outstanding food is more the rule back home).
5) Diners. I miss them. 150 items on the menu.. 24/7. Denny's is not a diner. Sorry.
6) I'm tired of the subtle racism and lack of diversity. No one ever discussed being "jewed" down back home, or told me they "prayed for me." I don't want to be saved... I don't feel like I am missing something because I am not a Christian... And diversity doesn't just mean a larger percentage of Hispanics and African Americans.
7) Just cause its live doesn’t means its good. Austin is the live music capital of the world.. Agreed... And I love live music.. But the bands I like are 80's pop/rock... (Yes, I agree, there are many , many talented Austin acts...But I like what I like!)
8) It's hot. It's damn hot. I am tired of it. Speaking of weather, I miss snow. Snow, an unexpected day off, no traffic on the roads, always gave me some type of quiet solitude... When it snows hard, everyone is at home with friends and family.
9) I miss the water. Knowing that you can go to the beach and all of society's craziness ends somewhere is comforting. Nothing like a walk on a deserted beach in the winter. Smoking a good cigar while you walk helps.
10) I miss my family and friends. This is not Austin's fault. But my family and friends stayed back east. I've missed way too many years, time and weekends with people I love and care about.
Again, these are my reasons, and I welcome discussion or comments. I don't expect agreement, or conversions...
All in all, however, it’s been a great run here. There are definitely many things I will miss about Austin. However for all the time I have been here, I have never been able to call this home.
Sounds like you're homesick, if you moved to have something different then by all means EXPECT SOMETHING DIFFERENT, this isn't CT. TExas is different and that was why you tried to get away as far as you could from you hometown no?
1) I have no argument with your view. I could've told you the smiley faces people give you are superficial, not all of them but a good chunk of them.
2) I think that you are not underpaid but rather paid fairly, in the NE everything is so much more expensive that you need a higher wage. Wages correspond with the common needs.
3)I don't have anything to say, I mean Texas in not the Northeast, I'm not sure what you were expecting... you wanted something different.
4)I honestly can't tell the difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican with appeal to the AMERICAN public, and I'm Mexican. If you like Mexican at all then you must be biased because Texas Mexican is better then Northeastern Mexican by a long shot. AS I AM ALSO CHINESE, i will admit that the Chinese isn't the best, but all the 'Chinese' we eat here is called eating 'western style' in china. The Italian is better, but I don't know what Italian is, its all americanized... I'm not sure its hard to explain. bagels and Donuts all taste the same to me.
5)No comment, I guess I agree, although for Diners Big cities are not the place to go... or at least here in Texas.
6)Don't worry I'm agnostic (maybe weakly catholic, I'm not sure. I guess I'm going to hell ) But I'll occasionally meet with someone who tells me i must be saved. how to shut then up is to tune them out, and just nod your head with your eyes popping out as if they are telling you how they just saw a flying hippo and say 'WOW!!!' and then walk away or when they go away resume your normal behavior. Yeah some people talk as if it is all true but I get used to it. The diversity is there... what are you looking for? Chinese? Laotians Israelis? Texas doesn't have a truck load of Jews. I hear Dallas has quiet a few I hear, but I don't out of the way to meet Jews even if i live here... sorry
7) Yeah I guess.
8) ahh one always misses what one doesn't have, when you leave Austin you will miss something you took for granted here, and if you are crazy you will tell all your friends in CT how great Austin was and how you wish you were down here again, an how Austin is better then CT(not saying it is, its a Human mind thingy, thing always seem better when they're not there.)
9 and 10) Yeah Family is important...
I don't mean to come across rude, although I bet i did a good job of it. best wishes .
I've seen many posts regarding how Austin is tops. I'm sure for many people it is. I don't mean this post to be offensive to anyone, and I truly respect the differing opinions. This is my opinion, and my reasoning to be leaving Austin.
I am contractually obligated to be here for about another year and a half. At that time, I'll be packing up the apartment and off I go...
Some background-- I am from coastal Connecticut, about 40 minutes outside of NYC. I always loved the area where I grew up, but at 18, I was restless and UT-Austin was the furthest place away that would let me in.
So here are the reasons why I am leaving Austin...
1) I am more comfortable in a room full of strangers in CT then a room full of people I know here. Why? I'm not sure. I have never been able to put my finger on it. I have found some of the "politeness" here to be superficial, and I am just not that friendly to begin with.
2) In Austin I am underpaid for my experience and education. Yes, I know it's all relative, but, in the end, I want my work to be monetarily more satisfying. Jobs that pay $11 / hour here pay 50K back home. I think the abundance of educated people is taken advatange of by employers who pay, mostly, substandard wages.
3) Its a chore to get out of town and visit another city. If I take a weekend road trip it takes about 4 hours to get to next major city. From CT, NYC is less than an hour, Boston and Philly less than 3 and Washington DC 4.5.
4) I don't like Tex-Mex. And the Chinese is better up north.. So are the bagels... and the donuts... and the Italian... (Yes there some good and very few outstanding places in Austin, but outstanding food is more the rule back home).
5) Diners. I miss them. 150 items on the menu.. 24/7. Denny's is not a diner. Sorry.
6) I'm tired of the subtle racism and lack of diversity. No one ever discussed being "jewed" down back home, or told me they "prayed for me." I don't want to be saved... I don't feel like I am missing something because I am not a Christian... And diversity doesn't just mean a larger percentage of Hispanics and African Americans.
7) Just cause its live doesn’t means its good. Austin is the live music capital of the world.. Agreed... And I love live music.. But the bands I like are 80's pop/rock... (Yes, I agree, there are many , many talented Austin acts...But I like what I like!)
8) It's hot. It's damn hot. I am tired of it. Speaking of weather, I miss snow. Snow, an unexpected day off, no traffic on the roads, always gave me some type of quiet solitude... When it snows hard, everyone is at home with friends and family.
9) I miss the water. Knowing that you can go to the beach and all of society's craziness ends somewhere is comforting. Nothing like a walk on a deserted beach in the winter. Smoking a good cigar while you walk helps.
10) I miss my family and friends. This is not Austin's fault. But my family and friends stayed back east. I've missed way too many years, time and weekends with people I love and care about.
Again, these are my reasons, and I welcome discussion or comments. I don't expect agreement, or conversions...
All in all, however, it’s been a great run here. There are definitely many things I will miss about Austin. However for all the time I have been here, I have never been able to call this home.
You moved to the wrong city, dude. You should have spent some time in Dallas before writing Texas off. I haven't heard the phrase "jewed down" in Texas in about 20 years, and I've been back from the UK for months now and nobody has told me they were going to "pray for me".
My mother's people are from Connecticut...she was born in Saybrook and moved to Texas when she was 12...so I know all about those little cultural differences. I'm a first generation Texan raised by a Yankee and a Midwesterner and I'm still occasionally gently teased for eating Yankee-style stuffing, Yankee-style deviled eggs (didn't know there was any other kind), and for enjoying such "Yankee" delicacies as Italian food, seafood that isn't catfish, and for flatly refusing to cook chicken with a beer can inside it and refusing to deep-fry a turkey. I don't eat Southern staples like grits, okra, white gravy, etc. either. So...I get it.
I've spent some time in New England and while the Italian food up there can be better, it doesn't mean that Texas sucks. We don't have huge Italian communities here like they have up north. Our Italian food is Mexican food. I didn't find the bagels up there to be any better than they are here, but maybe I just know where to get good ones. (Hint: not in the bread aisle and not at most of those crappy chain bakeries.)
Dallas is also much more diverse than Austin, has more entertainment options, and since it's American Airlines' home base it has direct flights to pretty much everywhere. Can't do anything about the lack of snow and beaches, but hey; I'm sure you knew about that before you moved here.
We are thinking about moving to Austin, we are Christian's but we are choosing the "surrounding" areas because of the presence of the faith. We live right now in California, and the moral values aren't exactly the best here. We've done research and have gone through about ten states before we decided on TX. And, granted, we haven't definitely decided on it, there is still a lot to be learned. But, we are trying to be wise about our decision which is why we are looking into places that may accomodate our personalities and values. Maybe you should have done a little more reseach before you went to Austin. And, I get what you're saying about being away from family. That's the one thing that's keeping us from packing our bags. But, it's a BIG thing, ya know?
If you want to get away from Californians, don't move to Austin. It's quickly becoming California II: The Revenge.
I was a New Englander for 32 years before moving to Austin in June 2006, and I can empathize with a lot of the OP wrote. I think the difference for me is that I was fortunate enough to make very dear friends since moving here, my husband received a large promotion so that now he is making the same salary here that he was in Providence, RI (still working on catching up from my loss...and it will be years and years, I predict, before I make anything close to what I was making) and I have 3 young children (I sense the OP doesn't, but I may be wrong) and am really enjoying the family-friendly atmosphere and activities here.
But I DO sympathize - I would love to find a bagel that even comes close to New England, decent pizza, see some SNOW, walk along the shore (I grew up 1/2 mile from the open Atlantic ocean), etc, etc. Overall I'm very happy that we moved to Austin, and I have come to realize no place has it "all" - but man, I wish I could have some of New England here!
I agree with the comment that said a few of the reasons that I am leaving Austin are that I am homesick for New England. However, I think my central point is that Austin is NOT the promised land for everyone. If I grew up in Houston, I might see Austin as a panacea as well, but compared to where I am from, Austin doesn't fit the bill -- for ME... not necessiarily for everyone else. I'm sure if you grew up here and moved to New England you'd miss a whole laundry list of things.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) But I'll occasionally meet with someone who tells me i must be saved. how to shut then up is to tune them out, and just nod your head with your eyes popping out as if they are telling you how they just saw a flying hippo and say 'WOW!!!' and then walk away or when they go away resume your normal behavior. Yeah some people talk as if it is all true but I get used to it. The diversity is there... what are you looking for? Chinese? Laotians Israelis? Texas doesn't have a truck load of Jews. I hear Dallas has quiet a few I hear, but I don't out of the way to meet Jews even if i live here... sorry 
Comments... and Homesickness
