Bloomington, Indiana?

[Anonymous]

This is probably a long shot, but - anyone familiar with Bloomington, Indiana? What's it like living there?

Kind of out of the blue I have an interesting (non-academic) job opportunity there.

I grew up in Indianapolis but left right after high school (imagine Indy is very different from B'town anyway).

We have a 10 month old, my husband is a teacher so fairly portable, and parents/in-laws would be within several hours driving distance.

15 year resident of DC and I love it here, so in honesty am probably leading away from the move.

That said, an interesting job in a small college town close to family is a rare and intriguing opportunity...!

[Anonymous]

Grew up in that town and loved it. Large campus so it does not feel that "small." Lots of amenities come with the campus. Nashville, Indiana, just outside town is one of the nicest funky towns ever. Indianapolis was a dump when I was a kid (sorry ... ), Bloomington is much nicer by comparison, and still is, though Indianapolis has cleaned itself up a bit. Decent public schools.

[Anonymous]

I grew up near Indianapolis too.

I always thought that if we were to move back to the Midwest Bloomington would be a great candidate for a city in terms of farmers markets, the university, fitting in as a liberal.

It's worth your consideration, for sure!

[Anonymous]

Went there for an audit years ago. Very nice college town. Indianapolis has really changed also into a vibrant metro area.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from Indiana University about 15 years ago. I loved Bloomington. I imagine it has changed since then, but many of the amenities should still be there.

The cost of living is likely dirt cheap compared to Washington. You will have a bunch of college students looking to pick up money babysitting. You will likely live by some very interesting college professors. And I suspect that locals can take courses there. I don't know if you follow college basketball, but IU's team is number two in the country right now. They have a huge event every spring called the Little 500. Frankly, residents tend to leave because it used to get pretty wild on campus.

Bloomington was a cultural oasis: the campus auditorium hosted everything from major rock groups to Japanese Kodo drummers; the IU music school is world renowned so there are top-flight musicians giving free concerts constantly; there is an opera house on campus that produces about 7 operas a year and if you are lucky, a world-class performer will be serving as an adjunct professor and take the stage a few nights. I have heard that a number of excellent restaurants have opened in Bloomington.

There are many parks and lakes and wooded areas to go for walks.

The place never stopped surprising me. Outside of town there is a Tibetan stupa, built on land donated by Richard Gere.

Obviously a family with children will have a very different experience than a college student, but I think there are a lot of upsides to moving there if you have a good job and your husband can move fairly easily.

[Anonymous]

I went to grad school there and liked it--had some friends from the east coast decide to stay and work for IU. I wonder if they still let John Mellencamp smoke wherever he wants to?

The Dalai Lama's brother has (had?) a Tibetan restaurant there but I never tried it.

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks everybody. Did not expect all this positive feedback! This is making me really think about it...

[Anonymous]

My husband went to grad school at IU so we spent for years there, married there, had our first child there. I like living in dc but would move back to Bloomington in a heartbeat! So affordable, great library, good schools, tons of cultural experiences through IU, many different ethnic restaurants - I could go on and on! Definitely worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

Went to IU and really loved Bloomington. I will say that I don't know how much I'd like living there if I had no involvement with the university at all, but it's a very pretty and cool place in general.

[Anonymous]

Hello from a fellow Hoosier..DC Transplant. I.U. 1984. M.S. 1987. I've been in DC 25 years and if my husband got a good job offer in Bloomington, I would be packed and ready to move tomorrow. Seriously. I am tired of the traffic here and the lack of civility. Oh what a house we would have too if we traded our house here for B-town prices. I never wanted to stay in Bloomington as a young single woman, but now I think it would be great to be settled with a family there. Good Luck!!

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Indiana University about 15 years ago. I loved Bloomington. I imagine it has changed since then, but many of the amenities should still be there.

The cost of living is likely dirt cheap compared to Washington. You will have a bunch of college students looking to pick up money babysitting. You will likely live by some very interesting college professors. And I suspect that locals can take courses there. I don't know if you follow college basketball, but IU's team is number two in the country right now. They have a huge event every spring called the Little 500. Frankly, residents tend to leave because it used to get pretty wild on campus.

Bloomington was a cultural oasis: the campus auditorium hosted everything from major rock groups to Japanese Kodo drummers; the IU music school is world renowned so there are top-flight musicians giving free concerts constantly; there is an opera house on campus that produces about 7 operas a year and if you are lucky, a world-class performer will be serving as an adjunct professor and take the stage a few nights. I have heard that a number of excellent restaurants have opened in Bloomington.

There are many parks and lakes and wooded areas to go for walks.

The place never stopped surprising me. Outside of town there is a Tibetan stupa, built on land donated by Richard Gere.

Obviously a family with children will have a very different experience than a college student, but I think there are a lot of upsides to moving there if you have a good job and your husband can move fairly easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to grad school there and liked it--had some friends from the east coast decide to stay and work for IU. I wonder if they still let John Mellencamp smoke wherever he wants to?

The Dalai Lama's brother has (had?) a Tibetan restaurant there but I never tried it.

[Anonymous]

If you want to visit a large city OP, you can always drive to Chicago. Or you can hop a plane and visit DC for a few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband went to grad school at IU so we spent for years there, married there, had our first child there. I like living in dc but would move back to Bloomington in a heartbeat! So affordable, great library, good schools, tons of cultural experiences through IU, many different ethnic restaurants - I could go on and on! Definitely worth checking out.

Go Monroe County Public Library!!! Yes, good library.

[Anonymous]

So let's take a look at the house you could get in Bloomington for nearly next to nothing:<600K

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2593-E-Pedigo-Bay-Dr_Bloomington_IN_47401_M42284-94972. 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, on the lake. not too shabby.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely!