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Please tell us about the places you have lived throughout your life. Have you ever gone back to visit? Are you happy with the place and lifestyle you are currently living? How does that compare with where you've lived in the past? Do you anticipate moving again in the near future?
53 responses total.
Hmmm ... places I've lived ... it would be a lot easier to do it by "city":
(1) Chicago, IL (1955-63)
(2) East Lansing, MI (1963-79, 1982-88)
(3) Detroit, MI (1979-82)
(4) Ithaca, NY (1988-90)
(5) Ann Arbor, MI [Pittsfield Township] (1990-present)
Of couse I've been to visit all these places since. I am reasonably happy
with Ann Arbor, but not as much as I expected to be. By many measures,
Ithaca was the best, but East Lansing is home to many friends and is the
place I'm most familiar with. Ann Arbor is kind of a compromise between
East Coast sophistication and amenities on the one hand, and Midwestern
safety, cleanliness, friendliness, and honesty/openness on the other.
Actually, Ithaca is another such compromise, but Ithaca is too remote for
my wife's tastes.
I've lived in: Detroit, Warren (a Detroit suburb), Ferndale (another suburb), Sunnyvale, CA, San Diego, CA, Ann Arbor, MI Boston, MA, and Ann Arbor again. I've been back to all of them. I truly like Ann Arbor the best, although San Diego was pretty nice. The only problem with San Diego is that it is getting very crowded. It's not quite as bad as LA, but it is getting there. I imagine that I will move again, although I have no firm plans right now.
Chelsea until I was 5. Ann Arbor the rest of the time. I'm a homey.
I grew up in Dearborn Hts., MI; moved to Ann Arbor when I was 14. During the years I was married, I lived in a couple places NE of Dixboro [out in the country NE of AA]. After we split, I lived in Ypsi and then back to AA. This past June, I moved to Durham, NC. I've been back to Dbn Hts many times to visit friends but wouldn't move back [at least to that particular area because it's one of those places where everything/everyone is the same...]. Though I have been by all the places I've lived in the AA/Ypsi area and would consider moving back. Currently, as I said, I'm in Durham, NC. The climate's warmer [geez, it was in the low 80s yesterday; doesn't feel like fall!], and it's a pretty area. The people are friendly enough but while they love to chhit-chat, it's hard to get to know people. This is definitely a college town with several universities in the area, which I like, but things seem spread out so much more. I dunno, perhaps it's because I've only been here a few months [it seems like a lot longer], I feel like an outsider. I do miss AA much more than I expected. At this point in time, I'm planning on moving back after my internship is completed.
Windsor is very nice if you like a slow pace of life and not too much change.
Well, I've lived in Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Eugene Oregon, and Ann Arbor. Oregon is fantastic, and Eugene is a great funky town. Ann Arbor is great; probably one of the best places in the midwest. Eugene is one hour from the ocean and one hour from the peaks of the Cascades, incredible beauty all around. Ann Arbor has the cultural advantages of a big city, without the hassles of a big city; too bad there's not much funkiness left, though.
South Bend, East Detroit, Roseville, Torrance, NYC, London, Berlin, Norfolk, Jacksonville.................
An thoughts on moving around so much, Craig? How do the various places compare?
Once you get right down to it, every place is the same.
Either you're crazy, craig, or you haven't actually *lived* in those places.
Re #6: "too bad there's not much funkiness [in Ann Arbor] left, though."
I'm curious what sorts of things you're referring to, Stephen.
Places I've lived, besides Ann Arbor:
(1) West Lafayette, Indiana. My home town; I was born and raised there.
Hence a lot of sentimental attachment.
(2) Cambridge, Massachusetts. College years. Opened my eyes to the
world. For culture, Cambridge/Boston are hard to beat.
(3) Vero Beach, Florida. Nice beaches, little else.
(4) Ypsilanti, Michigan. Close to work, some okay neighborhoods. Great
historic district -- if you're into historic restoration and
preservation. But it's been hit bad by urban blight. Lack of
tax base is one of the reasons.
Places I've lived: Pacific Palisades, CA Washington, DC Bethesda, MD Ann Arbor, MI Boston, MA Plymouth, MI Ann Arbor, MI (again) And have lived for short periods (one month each) in: Amsterdam, Netherlands Santa Clara, CA I currently reside here in A-Squared. Places I've visited that I've enjoyed enough to consider living there: Seattle, WA San Fransisco, CA Munich, Germany St. Tropez, France Kauai, HI Cartegena, Columbia Anywhere in the Carribbean
I've lived in: Malone/Bangor New York
Cadyville New York
Buffalo/ Niagara Falls New York
Killeen Texas
Redford New York
Myrtle Beach SC
La Chorrerra, Republic of Panama
Fort Clayton, Panama Canal Zone
Cadyville again
Greenvale, Long Island, New York
Tampa Florida
Panama City, Republic of Panama
Charleston SC
Ann Arbor
Lansing/East Lansing
Ann Arbor again
in addition, I've spent enough summers at my ex-husband's family summer home
in Bastad, Sweden to feel that I can claim to have lived there, though I
always had a state-side address when I was there (4-5 month long summers for
five years.)
I chose Ann Arbor again and I think I could happlily live here the rest of
my life--just so I don't have to give up traveling completely. (I may have
to reconsider, though, if i don't get work here soon.)
RE #10 I may be crazy, however, the point is that a location means nothing in the grand scheme of things. People still have their basic needs and wants and strive to attain them in basically the same fashion.
Basic needs is not *living*. I agree that suvival is pretty much the same anywhere, but basic survival is not really living. If you don't take advantage of the unique qualities of a certain, you're merely surviving.
You are right.
Hartland, Mi. Lansing, Mi. Denver, Co. Boulder, Co. Vancouver, BC. Aspen, Co. Pencil Bluff, Ark. West Palm Beach, Fla. Minn/St. Paul, Mn. Sun City, Az. Portland, Or. Howell, Mi. Ann Arbor, Mi.
I have lived in Michigan all my life, but the best place is a toss up
between Ann Arbor and Port Huron. Having spent 3 years there, I got used to
walking down to Pine Grove Park and watching the freighters go by.
(I still miss that aspect). There was lots to do like seeing a 1.25 movie
at McMorran Arena, Walking over to Sarnia, Riding my bike all over the place,
(Port Huron is not hilly like Ann Arbor), and my favorite, the start of
the RACE!!!.
If I ever leave Ann Arbor, I will miss lots of things, Grex, The Arrow,
M-net, the Michigan Theatre, The library (it beats Port Huron's), I miss
the minor league hockey and the petty rivalry between PH and Flint,(both
teams have folded). But most of all, I will miss my good friends here,
so I probably won't move from Ann Arbor.
I used to envy people who grew up in one place all their lives. I've given up envy as a fruitless pursuit.
I can now add another destination for a place of residence. i just moved into a new apartment in the heart of Morrisville, NC. It's a tiny little town in between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, just west of Research Triangle Park. Having just moved in yesterday afternoon, I don't know my way around well yet--but it does have a nice, open/rural feel to it. If anyone is ever down this way, please stop by!
Springfield, Massachusetts Washington Street Hanover, New Hampshire 301C Brown 6 Woodward Springfield, Massachusetts Maple Street Spring Street Mulberry Street New York, New York East 76th Street East 46th Street Birmingham, Michigan West Bloomfield, Michigan
Istarted life in the Bronx, New York and through the years graduated to
Manhattan (the Main borough). Then:
Riverdale, New York
Bergen County, New Jersey
Morristown, New Jersey
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor is the only place I would consider living in the midwest because
of the combination of small town feeling (this, to a born and bred New Yorker)
and the people and things to do. Eventually, I will move from here only
because of the weather. As I grow older, the snow, ice and the cold become
a real problem, enough to motivate a move. After travelling throughout
the states alot, the places I would consider retiring in are:
Seattle (gray but little snow-same feeling as AA)
Portland (ditto but also the ocean which I miss teribbly)
Santa Rosa, Calif.(weather great-ocean nearby, college town and
the nearness to SanFrancisco.)
In fact - anywhere near San Francisco
Alot of people are retiring to North Carolina, Denise, but I hear the summers
are dreadful (hot and humid) and there is very little to do (culturally).
What do you think?
I have a friend who just retired to Asheville, NC. He loves it! In fact, one of his problems is that there is too much to do.
Audrey, yes, the summer heat is terrible down here... Whatever we do in the summer time *has* to be airconditioned [I don't think they even think about not installing ACs in buildings down here], or spend time out at the ocean/lake/pool. Its somewhat cooler in the mountains, though. As for things to do, I feel it takes more of an effort to find the things... I don't know, AA will always be home in my heart. [Though Ihaven't found employment back in AA, sometimes I wonder what it'd be like coming back after being gone for an extended time like I have been...]
It can be done. I came back to Michigan after living in California for ten years.
Dan, how can you stand the gray and the snow and ice after 10 years of sun and surf?
Man does not live by sun and surf alone. Besides, northern CA is definitely not all sun and surf. Even in the summer, it can be quite cool along the coast. LA is way too crowded and smoggy for me. I hate even driving through it. San Diego, where I lived for seven years, was nice, but it's a cultural wasteland. It's changes a lot, too, since I lived there. It's becoming more like LA all the time. :(
It looks like I won't be back to live for awhile yet [other issues to deal with] but I still may be back... At least I do plan on visiting in the warmer weather!
I have lived in (rented, or owned, a house or apartment - or my parents did): New York NY Cambridge MA Watertown MA Boston MA Oakland CA San Francisco CA Charleston WV Hampstead, England Eindhoven, Netherlands Ann Arbor, MI I like Ann Arbor, though it does not offer all the amenities of the megopolises like New York, Boston, San Francisco, London. In regard to living in far away places - I found that the places differed, but *I was the same*. That is, I discovered that I took me with me. I also discovered that, after living in (say) Eindhoven for two years, that I passed through the stages of being a tourist to being "just another resident". The perspectives are considerably different.
Re:6 Not much funkiness left here? Are you sure you know what funkiness means, G?
I've learned the feeling of not being a tourist any more in a new place of residence, as I am feeling more that way now in NC [and feel somewhat different about MI, too...]
Have you lived in "NC" (New? or NOrth?) long enough to not feel a tourist? It took me maybe a year, in the Netherlands, before I discovered that I was a resident, not a tourist.
Took me two or three years to acclimate and feel like Ann Arbor was "home". Next place I move, I hope I know it well before I get there. The adjustment period is draining.
Rane, NC is North Carolina. I've been here for just over 2 years now. I'm definitely more used to the area now [except for this heat]. And though I still go back to MI from time to time to visit family and friends, sometimes I feel a bit left out of things since, after all, life there in MI, has gone on without me.
How do you sign onto grex? Are you paying long distance, or is there a "free" route?
re #31,33: I acclimate very quickly to a new residence. I'd say within three or four months. I may not know everything about a place, but enough so it feels like home. My wife, on the other hand, is much different. It takes her years. As you can imagine, this leads to some incompatibility. I'm ready to move to a new place, while she's just getting settled.
Rane, I'm calling LD though one of these days, I'll get around to finding an internet connection!
I grew up in Evansville, Indiana. It was a good place to grow up in. Good schools (don't know about now). Great basketball. Eight high school teams in town (only a few in the immediate Arbor-Ypsi area). It is on the Ohio River, which was fun. Bloomington, Indiana is still one of my favorite places. I took one of my daughters there on the way to Evansville a few year ago. Good campus. And Brown County Park is the next county to the east-- very pretty. Terre Haute, Indiana. I was only there because of school. I would never go out of my way to visit it. One memory I have of it was that when a byproduct of dry cleaners became too concentrated, the city smelled like fish. St. Louis. Lots to do. Good places to go both inside and just out of the city. The zoo was free, which I will always be greatful for with small children and little money at the time. Anchorage. I was barely able to talk my wife (ex, now) into moving there. Four years later she didn't really want to move back even though her family lives in southern Indiana. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I moved away for a promotion and to get back closer to my wife's mother in case of health problems. Ann Arbor. I like it here.
1. Naw Haven, Connecticut. Born there and lived there until I was two. (Opps, New Haven) I hate typos. 2. U-M housing, Ann Arbor, MI. Lived here for a couple years, borring place then. 3. Ann Arbor, MI. I've spent at least twelve years in this stinking house, and am getting fed up with my parents. 4. My Subconcious. I truly live out Viking dreams. I go on the raid and usually end up being slain somewhere in the middle.
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