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My experience was similar to what you are contemplating, except I moved from the West Coast (Los Angeles) to going to college in KS. Actually, I went to a JUCO for 2 years in Lawrence, KS, but then went to Kansas State University after that. KSU is in Manhattan, KS which has about 40,000 people living there. A far cry from 30 million people.
One of the most surprising things for me was to see people leave their cars running while they went into the convenience store. I always thought the KSU kids were kind of "howdy doody" red-cheeked all-american apple-pie, but then I have always been weirded out.
And once when walking home from college (its ALWAYS better to live off campus) I walked down an alley. Something we never do in L.A. unless its your own block. Once I got used to the KS kids "white picket fence" backgrounds, I liked it. And there were quite a few international students there too. So I am sure OSU has its share of relocated students which you can hang out with if you don't want to wear a great big cowboy hat.
KSU was considered "silo tech" by the snobs at KU. The feud between KU and KSU is pretty similar to OU and OSU.
But getting back to culture shock, if you are in any way tired of the superficiality of big cities, you will like OSU. The one thing I never cared for is the snob frat crowd, which predominates almost any Division IA school.
I went to Stillwater for training a while back and it still amazes me how small a place it is.
But, I still say, you better think twice before you jump.
KSU was considered "silo tech" by the snobs at KU.
Hey, wait a minute, that's what OSU is considered, too!! Well, Casey, I can't tell you too much about Stillwater these days, since I graduated 40 (!) years ago. I can assure you, as you'll find from the people on this forum, that we Okies are pretty friendly.
OSU is centrally located for any Air Force activity your ROTC might do. There are three bases in Oklahoma - Altus, Vance (Enid) and Tinker (Oklahoma City), with McConnell (Wichita, KS) and Sheppard (Wichita Fall, TX) nearby. I'm retired from Tinker and made quite a few trips to Northrup Grumman (formerly Westinghouse) in Hunt Valley. Loved to eat at Carrol's Creek in Annapolis.
It kinda funny you bring up the "silo tech" because when I was looking at the majors that OSU offered a got a good laugh out out of the fact that they have a whole section for "Agricultural Degrees"!
That's awesome that they're are so many Air Force Bases near by. More experience for me! It's funny though becuase if it wasn't for one of the ROTC Professors at OSU contacting me (along with 500 other people) about OSU I would have never known it existed! And the best part is that there are only 75 people in the Detachment at OSU! At first I thought of it as a bad thing but on second thought I realized that I would be able to get more experience and not have to fight people for good positions and internships and such.
Cindycat you said you retired from Tinker. Were you in the Air Force? Did you go to ROTC at OSU? Tell me about your experience with ROTC and the Air Force (if you don't mind of course). I'd love to know what I have in stored for me.
Just a random thought here: is it wrong for me to have the image of a Oklahoma girl like Daisy Duke from Dukes of Hazard?
I lived in CA most of my life, and the last place I lived was San Diego. I moved to Oklahoma out of choice. I had images of Oklahoma much like what you are saying, and then we came here first to check out the people, the State, and homes. I loved it, and the people are great. They are what sold me on Oklahoma but the scenery did likewise.
I would say if you can afford to a car, get one. You will want to check out other places than just Stillwater.
By the way, we are not a Southern State, this is more of the Midwest.
By the way, San Diego sucked. I could never see what others saw in it. I guess it was the beaches and the even temperatures all year round. People considered it paradise. My neighbor, a young college kid, moved from Oklahoma to San Diego after visiting San Diego. The people there are not all that unfriendly compared to many places, but compared to here, I would say Okies have them beat hands down.
In San Diego my VW stuck out like a sore thumb. There are a lot of Humers, Mercedes, BMWs in San Diego. A whole lot. And yes, you better have the right clothes. Better get a surf board too. lol.
Now on the other hand, I knew a monk in San Diego area that didn't like it very well, and so they sent him to Oklahoma City to be a monk. He wrote back and told me that he loved Oklahomans because they were so friendly. He was actually happy there. He is the person that made me think to check out Oklahoma, which was not on my list of places to move.
Fine restaurants are not easy to come by in Ok, but where I live there are a few really good ones. I have no idea about Stillwater and OKC. But you will just have to search them out.
Making friends in Oklahoma is so much easier than in CA. I had 3 friends in CA's San Diego for all of the ten years that I had lived there. But perhaps it was because I didn't join a club there. Here I have made many friends by joining clubs.
I also haven't heard the saying, "Ya'll come back. here ya." here. Some use Ya'll, and now I use, you all. But don't think of this as the South. It isn't like the south. I know because I used to live in the south, and one of the critera that we had in moving is to make sure that we were not living in the south. I never, never, never want to live in the south again.
Some here have accents; some don't. But what makes people here so special is their friendliness, helpfulness, and acceptance of who you are and not what your drive or wear or how much money you have.
Is there much to do in Stillwater or do you have to drive to Tulsa or Oklahoma City to find entertainment? Also if I live on campus would it be best for me to buy a car so that I'm not completely trapped in Stillwater?
There are plenty of things to do in Stillwater but driving to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and other places in Oklahoma is something you will want to do. "Yes" on the car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaseySimplified
what are the people like there? Friendly? Mean? Religious? Cowboys?
Usually very friendly and usually not mean. But there are notable exceptions. We have our share of recreational drinkers and fighters. Faith is a part of everyday life in Oklahoma for the vast majority of people. It isn't so much religious as it is deeply held personal faith about which people are quite open. It is very different from other places I've lived.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaseySimplified
does the term "Okies" come from Oklahoma
It was originally a pejorative term originating from the great dust bowl days and made more common by John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath." Strangely enough most of those okies weren't from Oklahoma. There was even serious discussion about sterilizing okies then. Now it has become a label of pride for anyone who identifies with Oklahoma and that includes the peculiarly independent, can-do culture as much as geography.
You sound like an open-minded person so I think you might really like going to OSU.
I lived in Maryland until I was 10 years old or so, and the first thing I think you will notice is the lack of crowding here. One reason why we are so friendly here is that we are not all jammed up against each other all the time, so we don't have to always be defensive our space.
OSU I would describe as a midwestern type of atmosphere, not southern. I doubt that you will see anyone who resembles Daisy Mae here, but the atmosphere will definitely be more rural than the east coast. You will be amazed at the agriculture facilities at OSU. Well, farming is more scientific these days and people have to learn somewhere, right? That is only one part of life at OSU, though. You will find city-type people in Stillwater too. I think you will find a lot of people you like to hang out with because there is a big variety of people there.
Oklahoma is military friendly, so you won't get a lot of grief from people for being in ROTC.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,434,531 times
Reputation: 4611
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessaka
I lived in CA most of my life, and the last place I lived was San Diego. I moved to Oklahoma out of choice. I had images of Oklahoma much like what you are saying, and then we came here first to check out the people, the State, and homes. I loved it, and the people are great. They are what sold me on Oklahoma but the scenery did likewise.
I would say if you can afford to a car, get one. You will want to check out other places than just Stillwater.
By the way, we are not a Southern State, this is more of the Midwest.
By the way, San Diego sucked. I could never see what others saw in it. I guess it was the beaches and the even temperatures all year round. People considered it paradise. My neighbor, a young college kid, moved from Oklahoma to San Diego after visiting San Diego.
The people there are not all that unfriendly compared to many places, but compared to here, I would say Okies have them beat hands down.
In San Diego my VW stuck out like a sore thumb. There are a lot of Humers, Mercedes, BMWs in San Diego. A whole lot. And yes, you better have the right clothes. Better get a surf board too. lol.
Now on the other hand, I knew a monk in San Diego area that didn't like it very well, and so they sent him to Oklahoma City to be a monk. He wrote back and told me that he loved Oklahomans because they were so friendly. He was actually happy there. He is the person that made me think to check out Oklahoma, which was not on my list of places to move.
Fine restaurants are not easy to come by in Ok, but where I live there are a few really good ones. I have no idea about Stillwater and OKC. But you will just have to search them out.
Making friends in Oklahoma is so much easier than in CA. I had 3 friends in CA's San Diego for all of the ten years that I had lived there. But perhaps it was because I didn't join a club there. Here I have made many friends by joining clubs.
I also haven't heard the saying, "Ya'll come back. here ya." here. Some use Ya'll, and now I use, you all. But don't think of this as the South. It isn't like the south. I know because I used to live in the south, and one of the critera that we had in moving is to make sure that we were not living in the south. I never, never, never want to live in the south again.
Quote:
Some here have accents;
some don't. But what makes people here so special is their friendliness, helpfulness, and acceptance of who you are and not what your drive or wear or how much money you have.
A 5 year old girl pointed out my Ca. accent for me. She lives next door and likes to play with my dog Murphy.
I was sittin' on my front porch and we were talking, about, "something", I don't remember what it was, anyway, I ask her if she liked Pecans, she said, what's a pecan? and then said
, oh, you mean, pacan, out west we say, "Pee-can" Dee-sert, dee-fect, kinda like "Festus" on GunSmoke.
Here they say "Pucon" sounds like "baton" (twirler). That's how I figure out part of the language differences.
Quote:
By the way, San Diego sucked. I could never see what others saw in it. I guess it was the beaches and the even temperatures all year round. People considered it paradise. My neighbor, a young college kid, moved from Oklahoma to San Diego after visiting San Diego. The people there are not all that unfriendly compared to many places, but compared to here, I would say Okies have them beat hands down.
When I first moved to Ca. in the 70's, I lived in San Diego. Then it was a Sailors/Fishermans town with all kinds of tatoo parlors. (that where I got mine) and the Navy docked ships at the harbors.
The last time I was down there it was nothing but a Tourist attraction.
Thanks a lot to jessaka, flintysooner, peggydavis and mkfarnam for adding to the thread over night. Everything you guys have said has given me more and more insight on what to expect if I go to OSU.
I'm getting an overwhelming consensus from everyone that San Diego is over rated and over priced. Of course I've haven't been there yet but I will let you know when I go there in March over Spring Break. I guess it would be a nice place to visit but expensive as hell for a college student to live there?
And thank you for clearing up that OKlahoma is more of a midwest state. I just figured since it touches Texas that it is southern. Is Texas a southern state?
I find it surprising how many people in this thread have said that they use to live in San Diego or have been there before and yet they would pick Oklahoma over San Diego any day. I'll take that into account when I am making my final choice.
I assumed that Oklahoma was a little more friendly about people in the military and ROTC then San Diego would probably be. Thank you for verifying it. I would much rather be in a place that respects people that serve their nation rather then people that see them as killing machines.
I'm sure the reason everyone is a little bit "crabby" (pun intended) in Maryland is because everything and everyone are so close to each other and the price of everything, especially housing, is through the roof! I think it would be a nice change to live somewhere a little more spread out.
Well folks thats all for me now. Thanks to everyone that has already contributed and keep 'em coming!
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,434,531 times
Reputation: 4611
CaseySimplified,
My Father inlaw is a retired "Brigadier General" and before he was promoted to "Full Bird Colonel",
he was CO,("Commanding Offiicer") at "Fort Erwin" Ca. for 8 years.
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