Ping: Austin, TX FOFCers
 

What's Austin like? I keep hearing that it's a lot different from the rest of Texas, but I'm not quite sure just how and the like.

Austin is a very cool city if you're into college towns. It's got a cool bar scene, hipsters, coffee shops, and all of that.

It's unlike the rest of Texas in a few ways. It has a lot of green space, hills, water, etc. It's also quite liberal, as most large, college towns are.

The only city we've been to in Texas has been San Antonio and it was for a few hours so I can't accurately comment on that or any city in Texas. All I can say is Austin is unique, young, and has tons of recreational activities. The live music, film and music festivals,The Alamo Drafthouse, cost of living is awesome, the hill country, technology... how can anyone *not* like it?

dola,

u thinking of moving out here Izulde?

Not so much that as there's a specific graduate program I'm looking at, at UT-Austin that's pretty unique in the country.

But I have a very, very negative opinion of the state of Texas... but on the other hand, I've heard much about Austin that suggests it's the opposite of the rest of the state.

This makes me laugh.

Thanks for the pick me up Izulde!

Keep Austin Weird!!!

Glad I could provide you some humor ;)

Not a fan of bars at all, but I really dig coffee shops, green spaces, hills, and water as my Granada thread indicates.

I like the liberal bent as well, for though I'm a moderate, I do lean slightly left.

Quite tempting. :D I'll definitely come check it out if I get accepted.

Why do you have a negative opinion of Texas? Just curious. I'm a transplant from NJ. I came here in 2000 and been here 7 years. Other then the hot and humid weather of Houston, I really like it here now.

Before I moved here I had a really negative opinion of Texas also.

I think Texas, I think ugly landscape, ultra-conservative, ultra-Christian, and an excessive application of the death penalty.

Heh, down here in Texas that viewpoint is flaming liberal, much more than leaning slightly left. Sounds like you'd fit right in here. My wife is taking a class with Peter LaSalle, one of the profs in the Creative Writing program at UT, Supposed to be an awesome program

HB just described how someone could not like it.

Hipsters? College town? Coffee Shop? Maynard G. Krebs? 99% liberal (not that 99% cons would be better)?

Ugh.

Good thing you aren't looking at any programs from Texas A&M, because that's a pretty accurate description of Bryan/College Station.

:D

East Texas isn't too pretty and Houston is pretty but ugly. I live in Kingwood, which is a wooded suberb of Houston it is pretty nice.
Austin and San Antonio area are real nice.

The ultra-conservative and ultra-christian exists, but I think it exists anywhere.

The use of the death penality, isn't a bad thing. So that is one thing I don't mind. I don't kill people, so I don't worry about it too much.

It's like Ann Arbor, only with much nicer weather. ;)

What's wrong with Krebs? Or do you not like breathing oxygen...Sparty!?!?

Texas has about 5 totally different areas, so the comment about Austin being different then the rest of Texas is funny to me. El Paso is nothing like DFW which is nothing like San Antonio-Austin which is nothing like Texarkana and all the areas in between.

It's a big state. I love Texas because of where I live. Move me to one of a couple other parts and wouldn't last long.

A New Jersey resident having a negative opinion of another state/region amuses me to no end. :D

With that said, Austin is a great town. I've been there a few times and I'd make Austin the most likely town to pick if I were to live in Texas.

NJ is great.

At least I loved it. We were near about 5 major cities. You are an hour or less from AC. The jersey shore is great and believe it or not. South Jersey is beautiful.

North Jersey is the suck.

AC obviously speaks for itself. It's a rat hole of a town with big casinos on the coast. The only part of the state I found appealing was some of the smaller towns on the south end of the state. Outside of that, it didn't have much going for it.

I don't know, I would have to say New Jersey has a a lot more going for it than Kansas and Missouri combined.

New Jersey has one thing that ever appealed to me: Princeton. ;)

We don't use the death penalty excessively in B/CS. ;)

I'd totally disagree with that having lived in both places, but we'll just agree to disagree and avoid railroading the topic any further.

Umm, unless you are born in Kansas or Missouri, you don't live there.

Kansas City is currently growing by 25K residents a year, mostly people from the U.S. coasts. The real estate prices on either end of the U.S. are driving people out of those areas. Real estate is much more affordable in the midwest. Texas and Minnesota are getting similar growth numbers for the exact same reason. Census numbers would agree with your statement 20 years ago, but not anymore.

You are correct. 90% of Texas is an unlivable wasteland. East Texas is all assbackwards rednecks, southeast Texas has the ugliest beaches you'll ever see, South Texas is poor and depressing, West Texas is mile after mile of ranches and desert, and North Texas has Dallas, which is basically 50 square miles of strip malls, 30K millionarie douchbags, and Sooners.

Austin, though, kicks all kinds of ass. It's gorgeous, the weather is wonderful, there is all kinds of stuff to do, the women are outstanding, it's diverse enough to where if you can't fit in or find something you love, it's your fault, not ours. It's also in the only county in the state that votes blue. Literally. There is a reason we're always in the top 5-10 cities in whatever various ranking has come out.

The traffic sucks, and the local and state governments are among the worst in the country. That's the only thing. So bring a bike.

I need to make a trek down to Austin to eat at The Saltlick with the Austin gang...

Any time is good for me! You and the missus are more than welcome to crash at my place.