California

Well if you want to be close to NYC, but not live there, then maybe look into Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. NYC would only be about a 2 hour drive, and probably less by train. ProudLarry

hey.

So i'm from norway, I have been living here my whole life.. I'm 14 years of age, and when I turn 17, i'm going to take one year of schoolarship in USA. Now i've only been there once, that was last summer, and i have to say.. I loved it! And i cant wait to get back? We took and airplane to san francisco, and then we traveled to santa barbara by car.. and further to disneyland in L.A. it was awesome.

Today i got some magazines with information regarding taking one year in another country.. And i didnt believe it when i saw that it was actually possible to live in california that whole year. It was like a dream come true, as i just love that state!

Now the problem is.. My mom wont let me go. she says "its too dangerous! too much crime! go to minnesota!". But heck, i wanna go to cali! the place i can live is called Woodland Hills, its right next to L.A, and when she heard that she was all "NO.", you know? What i want to do, is convince her that its not that much crime in L.A.. or maybe you guys could convince me to go to some other place within the USA?

my options are : Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio | Fergus Falls, Minnesota | Summerville, South Carolina | Venice, Florida | Woodland Hills, California |

the reason why im asking you gamespotters, is mainly becauseive gotten the impression that the majority of you live in the USA.

thanks in advance!

escapeoftheape

hate to break it to ya but theres a lot of gang related violence in LA :P

hey. thanks for all the answers! turns out i can actually choose ANY state I want! those listed in the first post were just "featured" in the magazine..

And when you say that you "hate" or "love" a state, please tell me WHY you hate or love it, and why it's better/worse than the other states! that would be great :)

I have a feeling that California is like the "real" USA.. the ones we see at movies and such. with huuuge schools etc! thats what i want to experience! Too bad my mom thinks there's way too much crime there.. but she said flordia was ok! whats the best city/place to live in florida? orlando? miami? and though las vegas looks awesome, i doubt its a nice place to go to school too etc!

also, do you recommend going to NYC? my mom said its the most exiting city in the US.. but that there's alot of crime there etc. i tried to tell her all that stuff about how its the "safest city in the world" etc, but NO. meh..

and Hawaii seems awesome! but i think i can recall my mom saying theres way too much crime there, too! but.. i mean, its an island! (or loads of islands) how bad can it be??

and though i absolutely loved san francisco, i dont want to live there.. and want to visit another city! a new one! i havent really checked out L.A, all we did there was go to disney land, so yeah.. keep coming with suggestions, people! that year is gonna be great :)

escapeoftheape

In spite of the characterization of Texans as slack-jawed yokels and/or cowboys, as well as the rather plains-esque nature of a significant portion of the state, cities such as Austin offer a highly cosmopolitan atmosphere while maintaining a distinct air of Southern charm, in addition to a climate and environment the likes of which exists nowhere else in the United States. Many areas of Texas possess a unique blend of relative aridity while maintaining a plethora of plant and animal life, most notably in the Hill Country surrounding Austin and in Big Bend National Park (my favorite hiking spot, by the way).

In addition, if you do not like one part of Texas, you can simply relocate to another. The place is huge.

EDIT: Example of what I was talking about with the aridity combined with biodiversity

Just don't go too close to New Jersey. CrimzonTide

Dude, San Francisco is not the cleanest city ever. I live there. Yes, theres composte bins, recyling, and trash. Theres a lot of hobos there. The weather is nice usually around 65%. totally awesome! But, extremly expensive! Nice toursit place though. Lots to do. If you got money you might wanna move to SF.

Heh. I was thinking of taking an exchange for my 3rd year of University to the UoC. Not that hard since its a sister University to my own. The fee's are also exactly the same so I don't have to pay the exhorbitant US fees.

Is california really that bad? I went to America when I was younger and we spent a couple of hours in LA. Didn't really seem that bad to me. Mabye I didn't see the 'ghetto', or whatever its called.

Heh. I was thinking of taking an exchange for my 3rd year of University to the UoC. Not that hard since its a sister University to my own. The fee's are also exactly the same so I don't have to pay the exhorbitant US fees.

Is california really that bad? I went to America when I was younger and we spent a couple of hours in LA. Didn't really seem that bad to me. Mabye I didn't see the 'ghetto', or whatever its called.RKfromDownunder

There's no such thing as the University of California--the University of California is the state college system, not one school.

[QUOTE="CrimzonTide"]Just don't go too close to New Jersey. B05T0N

I was actually gonna recommend Jersey, it has pretty much anything to experience within two hours. You would be a short drive from both NYC and Philadelphia, which are two cities, you would probably want to visit. Also Jersey Shore is nice. Good Weather too, warm but Not to hot most days. Figuring your from Norway, jumping right into the Florida or South Carolina heat might be a little tough, but those are just my recommendations

[QUOTE="B05T0N"][QUOTE="CrimzonTide"]Just don't go too close to New Jersey. gameplaya4lyf

I was actually gonna recommend Jersey, it has pretty much anything to experience within two hours. You would be a short drive from both NYC and Philadelphia, which are two cities, you would probably want to visit. Also Jersey Shore is nice. Good Weather too, warm but Not to hot most days. Figuring your from Norway, jumping right into the Florida or South Carolina heat might be a little tough, but those are just my recommendations

Then just go to Philly or the Suburbs instead.

I was actually gonna recommend Jersey, it has pretty much anything to experience within two hours. You would be a short drive from both NYC and Philadelphia, which are two cities, you would probably want to visit. Also Jersey Shore is nice. Good Weather too, warm but Not to hot most days. Figuring your from Norway, jumping right into the Florida or South Carolina heat might be a little tough, but those are just my recommendationsgameplaya4lyf

Florida, awesome place. West Palm Beach is where its at.

just stay away from belle glade, or pahokee for that matter.

Dude, San Francisco is not the cleanest city ever. I live there. Yes, theres composte bins, recyling, and trash. Theres a lot of hobos there. The weather is nice usually around 65%. totally awesome! But, extremly expensive! Nice toursit place though. Lots to do. If you got money you might wanna move to SF.

Helloiseeu

Ive been to:

Rome
Milan
Florence
Venis
Paris
Munich
Tokyo
Kyoto
Barcelona
London
Washington DC
Los Angelas
and a few others

And San Francisco is by far the cleanest, most laid back, and friendly "big city" of them all. THat aint pride, thats experience talking. And the bad people (hippies, yuppies, and hobos) well, theyre really not so bad. Except for that guy that dresses like a plant and scares you!

Go to Florida. California's too weird. We even have our own Hollywood.:DDracargen

but california knows how to party.

Go to Florida. California's too weird. We even have our own Hollywood.:DDracargen

but california knows how to party.

[QUOTE="Helloiseeu"]

Dude, San Francisco is not the cleanest city ever. I live there. Yes, theres composte bins, recyling, and trash. Theres a lot of hobos there. The weather is nice usually around 65%. totally awesome! But, extremly expensive! Nice toursit place though. Lots to do. If you got money you might wanna move to SF.

mrbojangles25

Ive been to:

Rome
Milan
Florence
Venis
Paris
Munich
Tokyo
Kyoto
Barcelona
London
Washington DC
Los Angelas
and a few others

And San Francisco is by far the cleanest, most laid back, and friendly "big city" of them all. THat aint pride, thats experience talking. And the bad people (hippies, yuppies, and hobos) well, theyre really not so bad. Except for that guy that dresses like a plant and scares you!

No New york? You haven't been to a big city unless you've been to NYC

You should totally go to California, NorCal East Bay 510 YAY AREA GO BAD

Well considering LA is HUGE, don't let your mom be fooled just by the citie's crime rates. It totally depends on when district you're planning to go to. From watching the History Channel, there are areas where there's a huge risk of getting shot if you're black because of the radical Latin gangs over there. Something like 150,000 people in the city are gang members. It's nuts. But if you go to an area close to the more urbany parts of it, it'll be just as safe as anywhere else (of those cities) you've listed. Anyway, Santa Barbara....Coincidentally my older sister lived there for about 3 years for college and my brother is currenly there for his college. It seems like everyone is going there, weird knowing the city isn't even that big.

Anyhow, it's great to see some non America haters from oversees.

[QUOTE="Dracargen"]Go to Florida. California's too weird. We even have our own Hollywood.:DMrGeezer

but california knows how to party.

hell yeah it does have you guys ever heard of the song? Woodland Hills is a good place to start just need the money but come to cali I love it.

[QUOTE="Helloiseeu"]

Dude, San Francisco is not the cleanest city ever. I live there. Yes, theres composte bins, recyling, and trash. Theres a lot of hobos there. The weather is nice usually around 65%. totally awesome! But, extremly expensive! Nice toursit place though. Lots to do. If you got money you might wanna move to SF.

mrbojangles25

Ive been to:

Rome
Milan
Florence
Venis
Paris
Munich
Tokyo
Kyoto
Barcelona
London
Washington DC
Los Angelas
and a few others

And San Francisco is by far the cleanest, most laid back, and friendly "big city" of them all. THat aint pride, thats experience talking. And the bad people (hippies, yuppies, and hobos) well, theyre really not so bad. Except for that guy that dresses like a plant and scares you!

seems like california is a really populare state! But just ignore the cities i listed in the first post, as said before, i can choose whatever state i want now! :) my mom wont let me live in NYC or L.A. and not woodland hills either, as its so close to L.A :( but she does, on the other hand, allow me to live in florida! Is miami a good place to live? i've watched CSI, and it does seem rather "dead" to me.. if you know what i mean!

and again.. if you say, like some of you did "stay away from new jersey", then pleace tell me WHY you suggest i stay away from there! :) or else it wont have any affect on me :P

and yeah, i want to experience the "real" USA.. but the real USA to me, is the USA i see on TV.. and all the TV shows i watch, are recorded in california, so i thought that'd be the place for me! is the california on TV anything like reality?

and also.. hobos. i remember seeing LOADS of them i san francisco. they kind of ruined the whole city-image for me! as for Santa Barbara.. tbh it was pretty boring. well, actually.. REALLY boring. I remember we lived right by the beach.. and one day i tried to find the "center of the city".. but there was no city! only.. streets. really uninteresting. the weather was good, though. but i'd like a bigger city.. this one just didnt feel right because of its size. it didnt feel like a "city", more like a village or something!

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"][QUOTE="Helloiseeu"]

Dude, San Francisco is not the cleanest city ever. I live there. Yes, theres composte bins, recyling, and trash. Theres a lot of hobos there. The weather is nice usually around 65%. totally awesome! But, extremly expensive! Nice toursit place though. Lots to do. If you got money you might wanna move to SF.

camreeno360

Ive been to:

Rome
Milan
Florence
Venis
Paris
Munich
Tokyo
Kyoto
Barcelona
London
Washington DC
Los Angelas
and a few others

And San Francisco is by far the cleanest, most laid back, and friendly "big city" of them all. THat aint pride, thats experience talking. And the bad people (hippies, yuppies, and hobos) well, theyre really not so bad. Except for that guy that dresses like a plant and scares you!

ya. truthfullly I found most of Italy to be full of asshats, especially the waiters. BUt Rome was by far the worst city I have ever been to, historical importance be damned. Swarms of scooters, pickpockets, drunk kids groping girls, smoky, and mean.

[QUOTE="syorks1"]Don't go to California. I hate california and i live here. freshgman

but the old wrinkly people... :?

seems like california is a really populare state! But just ignore the cities i listed in the first post, as said before, i can choose whatever state i want now! :) my mom wont let me live in NYC or L.A. and not woodland hills either, as its so close to L.A :( but she does, on the other hand, allow me to live in florida! Is miami a good place to live? i've watched CSI, and it does seem rather "dead" to me.. if you know what i mean!

and again.. if you say, like some of you did "stay away from new jersey", then pleace tell me WHY you suggest i stay away from there! :) or else it wont have any affect on me :P

and yeah, i want to experience the "real" USA.. but the real USA to me, is the USA i see on TV.. and all the TV shows i watch, are recorded in california, so i thought that'd be the place for me! is the california on TV anything like reality?

and also.. hobos. i remember seeing LOADS of them i san francisco. they kind of ruined the whole city-image for me! as for Santa Barbara.. tbh it was pretty boring. well, actually.. REALLY boring. I remember we lived right by the beach.. and one day i tried to find the "center of the city".. but there was no city! only.. streets. really uninteresting. the weather was good, though. but i'd like a bigger city.. this one just didnt feel right because of its size. it didnt feel like a "city", more like a village or something!

escapeoftheape

Well in California I would recommend living in Napa for a change, but youre not 21 so its kinda pointless living in the middle of beautiful wine country if you cant go wine tasting. But the high schools up there are nice, theres a lot of good scenery, and the people are "sophisticated" (sometimes snobs, but in a liberal way, not a vain way like people from Souther Cal) so they would likely enjoy someone from Norway living there lol.

And ya, unless youre a college student, Santa Barbara is kinda pointless lol.

yeah, aah.. i forgot, in USA you have to be 21 to drink.. here the age limit is 18.

and about the drivers licence! i know the age limit is 16.. but does that count for all states? and how much does it cost? (for normal car, i guess..) id love to have a car that year..

Cali is the best.

Beaches, Weather, Girls, Fashion, Schools, Disneyland, Almost no natural disasters. We got it good.

I live in California and it's horrible.

It may look great, but the people are messed up.

So many stuck up socialites, jerks, gangs and more.:(

Will you guys please say WHY i should pick those cities you listed??

and ive heard it rains alot in seattle! thats something im trying to get away from here :P

Im biased an Im gonna have to say Chicago. I think that if you want to see average midwest America its a good place. Its not at all boring and Id say its a world class city and really second only to NYC in the US. There are a huge amount of amazing museums and Art institutes, zoo's and the shedd aquarium. You have some great teams representing the biggest sports in the nation. You have a great culktural scene with the theatre district, awsome jazz/blues clubs and great places like the metro to see shows.

The city itself is huge with alot of people but its never overcrowded because its spread out, but its never hard to get anywhere becuase of the subway and elevated trains running between buildings and throughout the city.

You have some of the best resturants and clubs in the US, Its not as flashy as a las vegas, LA, Miami or NYC, but thats more a reflection of what I think are the down to earth people that live in the city.

Not to long ago we had an exchange student from Japan and he loved (of course he was older and could get into all the bars and nightclubs so that may be a factor) but even then you wont run out of anything to do. Just stay out of some areas which really are kind of dangerous, but there would be no reason to go there in the first place.

If you are looking for nothing else but to party well then you should wait till your 21 and then head out to Las Vegas, LA, NYC or Miami. If your looking for a place with some good, average people in a huge multicultural, metropolitan enviroment then I would suggest Chicago because I think it would be a good soil

id safe choice.

Otherwise maybe NYC, or Philly so you could travel to NYC, Maybe Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Texas(the stereotypes give it a bad name but its a great state, I think you will like it).

I wouldn't go to Southern Cal for the reasons everyone was stating and dont go to New Jersey because its filled with these people:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=t3M3mNHJPlM

and these guys..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M

No offense to anyone from Jersey I got some friends there

Will you guys please say WHY i should pick those cities you listed??

and ive heard it rains alot in seattle! thats something im trying to get away from here :Pescapeoftheape

It doesn't rain a lot in Seattle--it's just cloudy a lot. The rain thing is a myth. New York City gets more rain than Seattle does. Anyway, please stop basing the United States off of CSI, TV Shows and Movies, because it's nothing like that. Also, Miami is a LOT less safe than New York City, and definitely more dangerous than Woodland Hills.

I dont know about chicago.. i mean, i cant live IN a big city.. i have to live outside one. i see alot of people have said philly is a great place.. id be interested in hearing more about this one, please :)

and also, i dont get how you can judge the population of an entire city because of a few people! thats like saying "everyone in america are fatties, dont go there.." i mean, sure.. some of you are HUGE :P but not all of you. im not saying i hate bad people or anything, i'm just saying.. dont judge an entire city because of one or two people.. and sure, i might not go to venice because of all the oldies, but thats not the same!

now i want a beautiful place, preferably with a beach, hot weather, little criminality, nice high schools, as thats what i will be attending.. and it should also be close to a bigger city. woodland hills sounds pretty nice, but isnt it kind of only for millionaires etc? and that village one of you were talking about, where you needed a gold pass to enter.. my mom would love that :P, but she wont be able to afford it!

anyway, thanks so much to everyone for helping me out on this :) and please, do post reasons WHY you suggest living in one particular city.. or to stay away from one!

I dont know about chicago.. i mean, i cant live IN a big city.. i have to live outside one. i see alot of people have said philly is a great place.. id be interested in hearing more about this one, please :)

and also, i dont get how you can judge the population of an entire city because of a few people! thats like saying "everyone in america are fatties, dont go there.." i mean, sure.. some of you are HUGE :P but not all of you. im not saying i hate bad people or anything, i'm just saying.. dont judge an entire city because of one or two people.. and sure, i might not go to venice because of all the oldies, but thats not the same!

now i want a beautiful place, preferably with a beach, hot weather, little criminality, nice high schools, as thats what i will be attending.. and it should also be close to a bigger city. woodland hills sounds pretty nice, but isnt it kind of only for millionaires etc? and that village one of you were talking about, where you needed a gold pass to enter.. my mom would love that :P, but she wont be able to afford it!

anyway, thanks so much to everyone for helping me out on this :) and please, do post reasons WHY you suggest living in one particular city.. or to stay away from one!escapeoftheape

I live in both Philly, and the Philly suburbs, so feel free to message me.