City Choices

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have had a good last few days! Things have been going really well on my end. In case I have not mentioned it, I've been on a 'city tour' over the last few days. No....I'm not an undercover rock star, just a woman trying to figure out the next moves and where those moves should take place. Most people get the job THEN just move to the city/country that the job is in. Well, I'm doing the reverse! First, I'm choosing the city THEN figuring out the job part. It isn't all just on a wimp. There are definitely certain criteria that must be met. For example, the next city has to be a city; must have a good art/design school with affordable classes; within at least 2 hours driving distance of at least ONE close friend or family member (thereby limiting it to the Northeast coast); and just generally a cool place.

While I was in Sudan, I was hell bent on moving to Portland. Maine that is. I had been to Portland before and just loved it. The fact that it's a city on the ocean, lots of little islands around to explore, nature to go hiking in just minutes from the city, plus it is affordable...well it all just seemed too good to be true. I went there on Thursday to look at apartments and even spent the entire 4th of July weekend there to get a feel for the place. At the end, despite my love for the place, I felt secure in saying that it was NOT the city for me. One main component that was missing was diversity. Maybe that was hard to really tell after only a few days walking around the city, but the fact that I barely saw hispanics, blacks or asians was just a bit worrying for me. Of course all my friends commented on how this was a fact that I knew BEFORE I went there, but I wasn't something I seriously considered until I got there and started seeing the city as a place I would actually live rather than just pass through.

So I'm back to the drawing board! Tomorrow I'm off to the City of Brotherly Love - also known as Philadelphia - to check that out.

Wish me luck!