Common Sense If You Are Moving to Nova (Richmond, Reston: renting, find a job)

[Denton56]

Don't like the weather in NOVA? No problem. Wait 15 minutes, it will change.

(Sorry, it's an old joke.)

[normie]

Awww, nothing wrong with vanilla from time to time, sometimes I really enjoy my vanilla friends... But I know people who remind me of all sorts of flavors. Personally, I think I'm a double chocolate raspberry truffle!

IMO, Virginia's like Baskin Robbins, 31 flavors and more being created every day. We like variety. Of course there's always a few flavors that leave a nasty taste in your mouth, nobody likes them.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Don't like the weather in NOVA? No problem. Wait 15 minutes, it will change.

(Sorry, it's an old joke.)

LOL, can you believe the last 48 hours? We went from a frost warning to 90 degrees!

[delg23]

Originally Posted by Novamom06

Coming from Boston, I was a little more wild - used the f word too much - liked to dance on tables in bars - and people looked at me like I was crazy. There came a day when I sort of changed a little bit, I guess you can call it getting more "sophisticated", as I moved up the ladder and hung around with other DC types. And I like the person I've grown into actually!

hahahhaha I am not from Boston, but I am totally a little wild for the area... and have a bad habit of dropping the f bomb

I have only been here since September last year, but I find everyone here to be super friendly, but a bit more reserved than I am used to.

Originally Posted by normie

1. Don't get caught up in "my county/city/state is better than your county/city/state" arguments. Those are apparently very popular in other parts of the country.

This is the most irritating thing. In my 5 years in NYC this was the MOST irritating thing ever. I hate neighborhood wars. We all have our own preferences, and we all choose what we're willing to sacrifice or what is most important to us! Get over it!

[eprecho]

I have a question. I'm seriously considering moving to VA because of jobs and because your culture, etc. seems to be the be the most mellow- you have diversity and you don't have anti-Californian sentiments.

How would someone who is a loner make out? I stick to myself. I don't make noise or cause trouble, but I don't reach out to people.

I am thrilled about the fact that they are reserved and stand-offish at first and don't hug people!

I'm going to have to constantly remind myself to wave at neighbors- we don't do that here in Los Angeles. In fact, people avoid each other as much as possible.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by eprecho

I have a question. I'm seriously considering moving to VA because of jobs and because your culture, etc. seems to be the be the most mellow- you have diversity and you don't have anti-Californian sentiments.

Mellow is not a word I'd use to describe Northern Virginia. If you're searching for mellow, your best bet is towns west of Leesburg. But if mellow is what you're seeking, look some place smaller. Asheville, NC would be a good choice.

Originally Posted by eprecho

How would someone who is a loner make out? I stick to myself. I don't make noise or cause trouble, but I don't reach out to people.

You'll do great. I've never heard of anyone forcing themselves on people who want to be left alone.

Originally Posted by eprecho

I am thrilled about the fact that they are reserved and stand-offish at first and don't hug people!

I'm going to have to constantly remind myself to wave at neighbors- we don't do that here in Los Angeles. In fact, people avoid each other as much as possible.

LOL, I can relate to this! I moved here from Los Angeles. It took me a while to break the hugging habit but people generally will look at you strangely if you try to hug them.

In California I went to a church where the "sign of peace" took a long time and involved lots of hugging. Not here! A quick hand shake to the person standing next to you is all that's expected. Don't even turn around to see who's behind you, that's getting a little too chummy for some.

But OTOH don't be surprised when complete strangers wave to you. That's the norm, at least in my neighborhood. We wave at everyone who passes by, it's just considered polite.

[Do a Barrel Roll]

Originally Posted by FromVAtoNC

Interesting list. I found I generally agreed. Not sure I agreed with the one about the weather changing, I can usually base my plans on the forecast. But I definitely agree with point #1. We have that problem going on with a guy who just moved into my neighborhood.

Pardon me while I vent, but since the topic came up.... This guy is always complaining about how he's not making a bunch of close friends. Well too bad, he brought this problem on himself. But it's a shame he doesn't realize this.

First of all, his idea of having close friends is he wants people who will stand around in the street on a Friday night, drinking beer and throwing the beer cans in the street. That's just not what people in my neighborhood like to do for fun, in fact seeing all these beer cans in the street is making his neighbors hate him. Maybe that's what he did in his old neighborhood but that's not what we do here. Some people tried to be friendly, but I guess he didn't think they were "cool" enough for him. So guess what now people aren't friendly anymore.

What's the story on this guy? He lived in Detroit but got into some money problems. So he came out to Nova where he is now mooching off his brother. The brother is a nice guy but Mr. Detroit seems to think the way to make friends is to endlessly yammer about how much better life was in Detroit.

He doesn't like the lack of unions in Nova. He doesn't like how girls wear pink jackets (wussy, in his opinion). He hates recycle bins and makes fun of people when they wheel them out on trash day. (In Detroit the cool people just throw things in a trash can, apparently.) He hates how people drive here (we're too slow and we stop for stop signs.)

Worst of all, he hates foreign cars and was actually caught trying to get the kids to key the foreign cars parked in the street. Apparently that's cool behavior in Detroit, but it's not cool here!

We had a block party, and he tried to start trash talking between people who live in Reston and people who live in Herndon. I guess feuding about which community is better is funny in Detroit. It did not go over well at the party.

When he first moved in we gave that guy a chance. But he didn't even try to learn about how we do things in Nova or to give the area a chance. So now we're not giving him a chance. Now all he talks about is how he hates it here and he can't wait to go back to Detroit. It was interesting at first but now I'm sick of hearing it. Frankly I hope he goes back there soon.

Tell this Mr. Detroit Wanker to try Maryland. Seems to be more of his kind of flavor, esp. the Baltimore area.

[ajzjmsmom]

Normie, just wanted to thank you for posting this. As someone who has been struggling with moving to NOVA you helped ease my mind. It seems as though the things that are important to fitting in are things we already practice. I was really apprehensive about how we would be treated there based on some of the posts I have seen on here but you made me feel better about our impending move. Thank you. I look forward to what the area has to offer my family for our time there. I will remember your words of advice and take them to heart.

[normie]

Originally Posted by ajzjmsmom

Normie, just wanted to thank you for posting this. As someone who has been struggling with moving to NOVA you helped ease my mind. It seems as though the things that are important to fitting in are things we already practice. I was really apprehensive about how we would be treated there based on some of the posts I have seen on here but you made me feel better about our impending move. Thank you. I look forward to what the area has to offer my family for our time there. I will remember your words of advice and take them to heart.

What a nice thing to say! BTW, a funny thing happened about 16 months after I bought that house (and started this thread). I ended up moving back here.

I love the north GA mountains, but for one reason or another I kept coming up to Virginia all the time. First just for short visits... but as time passed the visits got longer and longer.

After awhile I came to the conclusion that I was meant to be here. So we gave ourselves permission to move back. We'll use the Georgia house for vacations (after all there are some great things there and I met a lot of nice people there. I'll want to see them from time to time).

I don't know exactly why, but NOVA can really work its way into your heart. Plus I discovered medical care here can't be beat. At my age that becomes very important.

Yup, allergies and all, IMO Virginia's the place to be.

[ajzjmsmom]

Normie, I think my hubby is secretly hoping I fall in love with NOVA and want to stay indefinately. He is from TN and misses all the green. We live in S New Mexico and he is tired of the endless brown.

We HAVE to commit to 18 months of being there with his job but he wants to be there longer and get his 15. We will be so much closer to his family and the educational opportunities for my kids are endless, being from a poor state with very little money for the school system NOVA will be good for my kids school wise, not to mention all the things to do. Our medical care here in NM is pretty lame so that's another good thing for us. So finally I am beginning to adjust to the idea of moving there. I guess the best thing is the 3 kids that will be moving with us are excited to move.