Seattle

When you mention Seattle to anybody around the country the first thought is rain. But it does not rain as much as people imagine, what actually gets to you is the lack of sunshine. I remember watching the news and the weatherman saying Seattle averaged 58 days of sunshine a year. Now that means sunshine from dusk til dawn so the days with an hour or two of sunshine in the afternoons does not count. There was also a reason the grunge musicians wore flannel and it was not a fashion statement, it was to stay warm. Seattle is damp and cold year round, homes with air conditioning are rare because it is not needed, except for a few days a year. It really is a depressing place to live
People are nice for the most part but there is an overall conservative mentality. Keep government out of my business, unless I need them. Pro death penalty, but anti-abortion. Social programs are bad, guns good. The timber and fishing industries really established the Seattle area last century, and that way of thinking still exists.

Seattle sunny days

Minneapolis

It is really hard to find anything negative to say about the area, except for the December through February weather. Mention the twin cities to most who have never been there and they think it is cold year round, but spring through fall it is hard to beat it for good weather. There is a saying about Minnesota nice, but it is overplayed by the locals, it should be Minnesota cliquey. It seems to be a Midwest thing that you will never go far from home, you grow-up, live and die having never ventured far. Minnesotans cannot understand why anybody would ever leave, or that there exist a better place, and if asked it is what I call home. The people lean a little left and settled by Scandinavian, northern and eastern Europeans they have strong community roots.

Phoenix

Phoenix  20 plus years ago was hot, dry and on some days so smoggy it was hard to see the mountains just outside the city, and it still is. When you mention AZ most people think of the desert and retirement, which is true for the most part. There also still exists a cowboy mentality, even though just about everybody moved there from someplace else. I was in my late teens and early twenties when I moved there, with no cares except to work, party, rest and repeat. One day it hit me that things would not change as long as I was there, so I hit the road north. The good of Phoenix being the sunshine and warm weather, the bad being dry, smoggy air, and if you have allergies you are really in trouble.

Home is where you plant yourself.

I have lived in six different areas and some travel nursing also, so you get to talk to a lot of people from different parts of the country, and the world. It becomes funny how some people become defensive about where they live by putting down other places.

Tell people you are going to California and you hear, what about the fires and earthquakes? Talk about Seattle and people think it rains 24/7. Going to Florida and you hear about heat and hurricanes, and let's not forget Minnesota because most think it only thaws out for a few month in the summer. Yes each of these places earn some of the criticism because it's partially true, but not as much as it's characterized.

I do like where I am living now although the chances of being able to stay here after graduation may be dictated by employment opportunities. It just made me think about the other places I've lived and the good and bad.