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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We moved from DC to Cincinnati a couple years ago. We're mostly happy with the decision. We both got pay raises, the parks here are wonderful, and the people are very friendly. We miss access to the ocean, but hopefully a few vacations to the beach can help. The weather is extremely similar to DC, so no change there. Our kids are still really little, and daycare is fairly affordable. We pay $500/week for two kids. All considered, I'm happy we made the move. [/quote]

No mention of the world class opportunities you have in DC.[/quote]

NP here.  Do you mean jobs?  Those opportunities are overstated.  For every one opportunity here, there are about a million applicants.  Degrees -- even high-level degrees from well-respected institutions -- are meaningless because everyone has them.  It's impossible to get ahead without knowing someone.  So there's heavy pressure to schmooze.

Or do you mean the world class venues, like the Smithsonian?  Well, good luck enjoying a peaceful day when the weather is good.  I love the Smithsonian and I love festivals, but I can't take the extreme crowds anymore.  I went to some [b]Cherry Blossom events[/b] and ended up just getting home as soon as I could.  The crowds were so thick, it was oppressive.  There are truly wonderful things in downtown DC, but for people like me, who don't do well in heavy crowds, it actually makes DC a worse place to live than some small town because I end up not wanting to do anything or go anywhere because between either the crowded public transit or the horrible traffic and then the huge swarms of people at the event, I ended up exasperated and drained.

You don't have to be for DC or against DC.  There are lots of wonderful places to live with different things to offer.  I feel like any time someone tries to say nice things about living somewhere else, people come on here and act like DC is the only place in the country where anyone with a brain would want to live, and that's just not true.  In fact, I often feel like the politics in DC kind of squash the intellectual potential because *everything* is political.  It's impossible to escape it.  And even the most open-minded friends I have here also tend to be hyper political and so I always feel guarded in what I say.

I think there are great things about DC, but having worked in DC for years and lived on the outskirts for years, I feel there are also many things about DC that are oppressive.  It's a different kind of oppressive than what you find in a small town, but it is still oppressive.  I feel like it's impossible to escape politics.  Everyone has a cause.  Everyone is easily offended.  Every word is loaded.  Everyone seems "on" all of the time.  There is so much intense networking.  I feel like people around here collect friends they think will be useful to them in some way.  It's very difficult to really know who is genuinely your friend and who will drop you the minute you either disagree or prove not useful.

I even tried spending time in a more new-agey circle.  But I found the same kind of dynamic.

And I don't think people in DC are any less judgmental than people in small towns.

I would love to leave DC, but my job is rooted here.  My husband has more flexibility because he works for a larger company with offices in different cities.  But I would have a difficult time finding the kind of job I have here.  Sometimes I regret letting myself get backed into a corner career-wise.  It's even hard to move around within the DC area because there are so many applicants, and it seems you really have to have a connection on the inside.

I don't hate DC.  But I feel pretty certain I'd be happier somewhere else, somewhere less populated, less congested, more working class, even with a larger percentage of blue collar.  I'm sure I'd get frustrated because people are people.  But I think I'd have less daily aggravation.   The commute, the traffic, the crowds.  It's just too much.

Even my friends.  They are good people, but they have all become so hyper political and hyper judgmental.  It's exhausting.[/quote]

cherry blossom is one of the busiest times ever[/quote]

The entire spring -- when the weather is actually pleasant enough that you want to walk around -- is busy.  If you can't enjoy the amenities when the weather is good, what good are the amenities?  I'm sorry, I've been here a long time.  I work in DC.  It's ALWAYS packed and crowded, but it is even more crowded when the events happen that you want to attend or when you actually would want to do those things.  One year, I even went to the Smithsonian in January -- when it was cold -- and it was still crowded because all the kids were out of school.  So the actual times when I actually have a chance to go downtown are the times when it's unbearable to go.

My point is that all of the "amenities" and "culture" that supposedly make all of the bad things tolerable are not as easy to access (or as pleasant to access) for people who don't like fighting crowds and traffic and tourists.

Personally, if I could relocate job-wise, I would.  And then I'd just visit DC every now and again.  But the argument that is thrown out time and time again about "how could you live anywhere else when there's so much culture here?" falls short with me because the traffic, the congestion make it difficult for me to enjoy those things.  So I really only do so a few times a year, which I could easily do as a weekend trip to DC once a year if I lived somewhere else.

But, sadly, as I wrote in my post, my job is a very niche job, and I am kind of stuck here.[/quote]

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