Florida to Minnesota, anyone else do this? (Minneapolis, Ramsey: fit in, 2015)

[cubiche]

My hubby and I have a condo on South Beach which we escape to every Jan-Mar (and every other chance we can) to get out of MN. Miami in general is so different culturally than MN (to me better, but I'm Cuban, so up here I get tired of dealing with all of the passive-aggressive 'MN Nice' BS and enjoy being in Miami where if someone is mad at you you know it but you can argue and agree to disagree and it won't ruin your friendship as it tends to do up here in the great white north). People in MN can be known to hold grudges for inordinate amounts of time over the smallest of things. In Miami you have beautiful weather, beautiful beaches, great food/drink/outdoor cafes, music... there's hardly any comparison. MN is to be tolerated (at least for me) since my hubby is a native and works up here. If i had my way we'd be down in SoBe full-time con mis aseres

[l12]

I'm about to move from Florida to Minneapolis, how did your transition go?

Most things I hear about MN seem like an improvement from here, the only thing I'm worried about really is the fact that everyone seems to be Norwegian and they say it is hard making friends. I'm Irish-Italian and my wife is from Chile and we do enjoy knowing people who have not spent all their life engrossed in USA small-minded regional culture. Plus the food does not sound too great..

Do many people move from there to Chicago for this or are there parts of the city that are diverse as in a major international city?

For example: this is something I do not like about Atlanta, it's shocking how not international it is coming from here. Any comparison?

All I can say from reading this debate is, if you are moving to either place for the weather, you are bound to be disappointed. Monti mentioned the LA area, yeah, THAT is a place that has nice weather. But a lot of other problems as well of course. Both of these places are extremes.. probably anywhere else would be better for most people.

Personally I hate the weather here in North Florida where we have MUCH MORE temperate climate than down in Miami.
We at least get 2 seasons, they truly only have 1.

Here it is 6 months miserable heat and 6 months mostly beautiful weather, and from what I hear, Minnesota is similar but with cold instead of heat. Personally I think I will prefer Minnesota because at least you can dress for it if you want to do something. Here there is no escape but to sit in your $400/month air conditioning and need to shower after being outside 5 minutes. Or go to a mall.

Miami is 90+ degrees at NIGHT even in November, I could not stand that. Unless you like living in a sauna and sweating 100% of the time, except when the frequent torrential rain and lightning storms appear out of nowhere each day for about 30 minutes, Florida is no paradise.

And yes, people are really nasty there. I don't put all the blame on NEers, I actually find them perfectly nice enough most of the time. I think it is more the incredible economic divide between the super-rich who live there for the tax breaks, and the immigrants who move there not knowing much about the rest of the US. And a complete lack of society support or education to ease this.

And truly, unless you are someone who truly hates other people and simply wants no taxes or government, you will not like the people. It's full of selfish people from other places who moved here to get away from everything: other people, taxes, culture, community, civilization, and yes, cold weather.

It's basically a 3rd world country when it comes to schools, healthcare, cultural amenities, etc.

The only decent ones are the old people who truly do think it's paradise because their internal thermometer is about 20 degrees cooler than the rest of us.

On the positive side it is incredibly diverse and international and you will often meet a new strange person from some other part of the world moving here, though they are usually either 60+ years old and ready to retire, or an uneducated eurotrash wannabe 'party' person that thinks that tanning and beaches and dancing at techno clubs is the apex of life.

[Kid Cann]

Originally Posted by l12

I'm about to move from Florida to Minneapolis, how did your transition go?

Most things I hear about MN seem like an improvement from here, the only thing I'm worried about really is the fact that everyone seems to be Norwegian and they say it is hard making friends. I'm Irish-Italian and my wife is from Chile and we do enjoy knowing people who have not spent all their life engrossed in USA small-minded regional culture. Plus the food does not sound too great..

Do many people move from there to Chicago for this or are there parts of the city that are diverse as in a major international city?

For example: this is something I do not like about Atlanta, it's shocking how not international it is coming from here. Any comparison?

All I can say from reading this debate is, if you are moving to either place for the weather, you are bound to be disappointed. Monti mentioned the LA area, yeah, THAT is a place that has nice weather. But a lot of other problems as well of course. Both of these places are extremes.. probably anywhere else would be better for most people.

Personally I hate the weather here in North Florida where we have MUCH MORE temperate climate than down in Miami.
We at least get 2 seasons, they truly only have 1.

Here it is 6 months miserable heat and 6 months mostly beautiful weather, and from what I hear, Minnesota is similar but with cold instead of heat. Personally I think I will prefer Minnesota because at least you can dress for it if you want to do something. Here there is no escape but to sit in your $400/month air conditioning and need to shower after being outside 5 minutes. Or go to a mall.

Miami is 90+ degrees at NIGHT even in November, I could not stand that. Unless you like living in a sauna and sweating 100% of the time, except when the frequent torrential rain and lightning storms appear out of nowhere each day for about 30 minutes, Florida is no paradise.

And yes, people are really nasty there. I don't put all the blame on NEers, I actually find them perfectly nice enough most of the time. I think it is more the incredible economic divide between the super-rich who live there for the tax breaks, and the immigrants who move there not knowing much about the rest of the US. And a complete lack of society support or education to ease this.

And truly, unless you are someone who truly hates other people and simply wants no taxes or government, you will not like the people. It's full of selfish people from other places who moved here to get away from everything: other people, taxes, culture, community, civilization, and yes, cold weather.

It's basically a 3rd world country when it comes to schools, healthcare, cultural amenities, etc.

The only decent ones are the old people who truly do think it's paradise because their internal thermometer is about 20 degrees cooler than the rest of us.

On the positive side it is incredibly diverse and international and you will often meet a new strange person from some other part of the world moving here, though they are usually either 60+ years old and ready to retire, or an uneducated eurotrash wannabe 'party' person that thinks that tanning and beaches and dancing at techno clubs is the apex of life.

If everybody in Minnesota is Norweigan, than that must mean everybody in Texas is Mexican and everybody in New Jersey is Italian and everybody in New Orleans is Creole and everybody in Florida is Cuban.. Starting to get my point?

-- There tends to be a decent Chicago-Twin Cities connection. Both towns respect each other. However, the Twin Cities aren't that diverse, the metro definitely isn't but MPLS is home to a large East African population and St. Paul is home to Hmong residents.

-- Minnesota is cold, and the people are white. That's the upper midwest for ya.

[Jade817]

Originally Posted by Kid Cann

If everybody in Minnesota is Norweigan, than that must mean everybody in Texas is Mexican and everybody in New Jersey is Italian and everybody in New Orleans is Creole and everybody in Florida is Cuban.. Starting to get my point?

-- There tends to be a decent Chicago-Twin Cities connection. Both towns respect each other. However, the Twin Cities aren't that diverse, the metro definitely isn't but MPLS is home to a large East African population and St. Paul is home to Hmong residents.

-- Minnesota is cold, and the people are white. That's the upper midwest for ya.

Technically, that's it.

I made the transition from FL to MN, but had to go back because of school and gain job experience . But I didnt see any issues with it. At first, there was nothing to do compared to FL, but I made some friends along the way and almost even turned into a Twins fan! MN is not a bad place to be, only the initial transition would probably be the hardest part

[Rando70]

I just moved to MN from Florida, and the transition is very tough. MN is mono-culture and the people not very friendly. The outdoors is superior to Florida by far, but the beaches of Florida are the best. And it is nice to see the sun every day and wear sandals year-round. I'm on the fence, but to each their own. It's really the mono-culture that is most disturbing up here. Seems like everyone is the same. Bizzarre.

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by Kid Cann

-- Minnesota is cold, and the people are white. That's the upper midwest for ya.

That's not entirely true. MN is more diverse than where I'm originally from (Michigan). There are plenty of minorities. Most small towns have a handful of minorities. It's very diverse, but not nearly as splintered or segregated as places like Chicago, which may make it seem less diverse to some.

[meadowNC]

MN may be more diverse than Michigan (although I think that's up for debate and dependent on which area of Michigan you are comparing it to)... but in general, it is MUCH less diverse than many other states. There is a significant Scandinavian majority.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by meadowNC

MN may be more diverse than Michigan (although I think that's up for debate and dependent on which area of Michigan you are comparing it to)... but in general, it is MUCH less diverse than many other states. There is a significant Scandinavian majority.

The majority in Minnesota is German. Not Scandinavian. Not that there's much difference between Europeans in many respects...

[meadowNC]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

The majority in Minnesota is German. Not Scandinavian. Not that there's much difference between Europeans in many respects...

Good point. That came to mind when I was posting. But, just to split hairs, Wikipedia has it broken down this way:

37.9% German
32.1% Scandinavian (16.8% Norwegian, 9.5% Swedish, Finnish, Danish, and Icelandic).

So I guess you could say the two ancestries together have a pretty significant lock on the majority. And I'm sure it's awesome if you're into Scandinavian history... seriously. There are very knowledgeable groups who keep Scandinavian traditions alive through public events and education. That's probably true to some extent for German customs as well.

Now I wonder if someone is going to make the argument that Minnesota really is diverse because there are both Serbs and Croats who live there. (I've actually been told that before.)

[acrylic]

Originally Posted by meadowNC

Now I wonder if someone is going to make the argument that Minnesota really is diverse because there are both Serbs and Croats who live there. (I've actually been told that before.)

There are. But you ask many of them (because you can tell by their last name) if they know how to speak the language and their only reply is that either they don't or they only know a couple swear words.

Though, this is just my experience from living in Duluth for 21 years.