In the last month or so, a lot of things in my life have gotten shaken up quite a bit. After I graduated college in the spring, I moved about an hour away from St. Paul (where I went to school and where my friends/girlfriend live) for the only job offer I received. Fast forward a couple months, my girlfriend broke up with me and I absolutely loathe my job. It's having a detrimental effect on my health, attitude, and the way I treat others, so I've come to the conclusion that I have to get out of it. I was originally planning to move in with a friend back in St. Paul, but I started thinking about other options. I feel like I'm at a certain point in my life where I'm not really tied down anywhere and I should get out and try something new, because that option isn't always going to be there for me.
I'm thinking Seattle for a few reasons: I've lived in the Midwest my whole life and want to go to the coast; my brother, sister-in-law, and niece all live in Seattle, and they're some of my favorite people (they're the only people I know out there); it seems to be a pretty fun city filled with young people (I'm 22) and great music/art; I've visited many times and generally really like it there.
The problem is, I need to make up my mind very quickly on this. Moving there would mean moving away from my small but tight-knit group of friends that I've established in the Twin Cities, and that's scary for me. I also will need to somehow find a job pretty quickly out there (I've already applied for a few). Any advice?
Yo homie, I live in Seattle. It's the fucking tits. Forget the Twin Cities, fly from your friends, and you will have the experience of a lifetime out here. From reading your post I can see that you're ready for a change. I grew up in Montana and when I came to Seattle, I didn't know anyone out here. Not a soul. It was scary but it ended up being the best decision I ever made. We're home to Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Modest Mouse (well, Issaaquah is), and you can check out the history of these fantastic musicians at the EMP Museum, which looks frickin' awesome. There's also a ton of sweet science fiction stuff there, original shit from Star Trek and Star Wars and M&M's from space. Speaking of cool architecture, the Space Needle sticks out of our city like a totally bitching alien spacecraft. I'm actually waiting for that thing to take off one of these nights. Oh shit, you enjoy smoking Mary Jane Wanna? Well guess what son? It's legal here! Cops don't give a rat's ass! So smoke on up! Hell, there's a group of rasta dudes that sit around at Pike Place all the time blazing up. I've bought weed from those guys. Just gonna take a wild guess here--you enjoy consuming food. Well I've got good news. Seattle's food is incredible. We're right on the Puget Sound smack dab in the heart of the Pacific Northwest so that means fresh seafood out the ass. And if seafood isn't your thing, we've got other options too--Paseo in Freemont serves Cuban sandwiches that are off the chain. Dick's burgers are out of this world good, the best 2 A.M. drunchies you'll ever have. I'm Italian so I'm partial to Petra on 4th and Belltown for great Mediterranean cuisine. Valve's here. Microsoft's here. Amazon's here. If you've got an interest/career path in the tech field, Seattle is the motherfucking place to be. Even if you don't, (like me for example) the thousands of guys/gals employed at those places are usually pretty chill. Hell, everybody in Seattle is chill--we're all stoned! Sports fan? Me too. We've got the Mariners (who suck, but that means cheap tickets), Seahawks (do not suck, atmosphere is unforgettable) and the Sounders (cheap tickets, one of the most LIVE crowds at any MLS venue in the country). Check out Almost Live's guide to living in Seattle. It's hilarious and John Keister, one of the writers/actors on the show, taught me how to write screenplays. We're truly the only place in America where you can be a suicidal gay pothead, and not break any laws in the process! We're forward-thinking. Progressive. And it really doesn't rain as much as people say. More like, drizzle. I actually like the rain, but that's just me. Come to Seattle.
Wow, thanks for the amazing post! This honestly makes me feel a lot more excited about potentially coming out there. I am definitely a tech enthusiast, but unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of good technical experience in the field. One of the positions I applied for out there was an administrative position at the Google campus in Kirkland, though! Any advice on what neighborhoods I should be looking at for a place to rent? So far I've been looking at Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Fremont, and Ballard. Housing in the University area district definitely seems to be the cheapest, though. I'd like to live in a fun area with nightlife, etc. but I don't have a whole lot to spend. Could definitely make do with a small studio.Valve's here. Microsoft's here. Amazon's here. If you've got an interest/career path in the tech field, Seattle is the motherfucking place to be.
I moved from Ann Arbor to Seattle back in '05 - site unseen. My brother was living in Portland at the time with his girl and they wanted to check it out too, so we all moved in together. Got a place in Upper Queen. I used to walk down that crazy ass hill to hit up the bars in Lower Queen, which I affectionately refer to as The LQ. Still have no idea why that term hasn't taken off yet. Easy Street records is down there so I would kill some Dick's and then listen to records all day. Once the evening rolled around I would sit up in Kerry Park and watch the sunset behind the Olympic Fucking Mountains. Yep - Olympics to the west and Cascades to the east. It's a 50 minute drive to Snoqualmie for decent skiing at the Summit. Go a bit north to Mt. Baker for an even better downhill. Baker, btw, has the world record for snowfall in a month AND in a year. 95 feet beyotch! After that first year, I got a little sick of living with a couple so I moved to the north end of Cap Hill. I used to say it was where Hipsterville U.S.A. ended and really really old money began. I was working in the ID at the time and would usually walk home. Throw on some headphones and cut through the city up to Pine. Maybe stop by OMA's insanely progressive library, walk through Lawrence Halprin's Freeway Park - which feels like forest hiking but in the middle of downtown, and might have even ended up at Sun Liquor from time to time. That's a great little bar tucked away on the hill. They make a fantastic Manhattan. Working on 4th was great cause my lunch opportunities were pretty spectacular. Chinatown, Pioneer Square, I could even walk to the market and back in an hour. On weekends I would jog around Volunteer Park and sometimes pay my respects to the master himself - Bruce Lee. Brandon is buried right beside him too. I would cruise Broadway pumping Sir-Mix-a-Lot's 'Posse on Broadway'. Shout out to Rainier. To add to onehunna's list - Seattle is home to the Fleet Foxes, Pedro the Lion, Heart, Quincy Jones, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, and Dave Matthews. Dave lives in Wallingford I think. I hear he walks around like it ain't no thing. I even had jury duty once in the courthouse downtown and sure enough, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab was in the stands with me. It was a hung jury, but me and Ben both thought that fool was guilty. True story. And yeah, the venues are great here - small and big, easy to get to. The Capitol Hill Block Party is fun, Bumbershoot (in the City Center) is good, and just the drive down to Sasquatch along the Columbia River is worth the trip alone. It's easily one of the best looking parts of the entire country. I should also mention that the Pacific Northwest is one of the few remaining temperate rain forests on the planet with some of the oldest living trees in the world. I live in Vancouver now, but still have a handful of friends in Seattle who manage to get me down there a few times a year. I stay at my buddy's in Ballard. He has a boat now so after a bit of volleyball in Golden Gardens, we shimmy up the canal on his sunrunner and watch the fishing boats come in. Last time I was on the water, we saw a yoga class on paddle boards. No joke. That had to be the most Seattle thing ever. Ha ha! And as far as the rain goes. Just be prepared and you'll be fine. Besides, the water keeps everything super green and makes the city glisten with the most charming sparkles - be still my heart.
All of those locations are good. I've lived in Belltown, which has a ton of nightlife, but is very expensive. Right now I'm on Capitol Hill, which also has a ton of nightlife. It's the gay district, but if you don't mind getting hit on every now and then it's a lot of fun. I had a girlfriend who had a place in Queen Anne and it's nice there, and not as expensive as it is in the heart of the city. Quieter, too. The U District can be sketchy but yeah, it's cheap and fun. Tons of UW students up there. I head up there whenever I wanna get white boy wasted.
Luke, where you at in MT? I attended the University of Montana in Missoula. I can see why you'd want to get to Seattle, but Montana sure is an amazing state. I look forward to one day returning.
I've definitely been through Butte and seen the carnage that is the remains of the mine. Hard to believe that at one point it was the most wealthy place on earth. Good luck getting to Seattle. Montana is a special place to me, can't wait to someday go visit Missoula.
I can confirm that Seattle is an awesome city. My girlfriend is in grad school at UW so I visit frequently (I'm currently based in Los Angeles). The food is great, the people are fun, and the public transport is amazing. One of my biggest regrets is not getting into the UW MSTP program. I definitely look forward to applying for postdoc/residency in Seattle. Speaking of technology, there is a lot of super-cool global health innovation. Seattle is home to the Gates Foundation and PATH. Plus, there is a lot of cool work coming out of UW on the application of cellulose based devices for cheap, rapid, point of care diagnostics (the lab of Paul Yager).
I always say take a big risk and travel/move while you can. As soon as you grow up you have a life, wife, kids, job stability, etc and your vacations are your only time. After college i worked a bit and eventually broke up with my boyfriend. I spent a week at my parents and then immediately took off on a 3 month adventure to live in Sydney with no plan & a bit of money I had gotten from my security deposit. It was a time and life experience iI will never forget.
Thanks for the advice! Any tips on making do with little/no money? I have loans to be paying and not much good experience so I'm fairly certain I won't be able to find a job that'll pay that great. And from what I understand, rent in Seattle isn't terribly cheap (though it doesn't seem to be all that terrible from what I'm seeing).
I think the biggest thing is having a thorough grasp on how much money you have and how much money you spend and watch every dollar. I've always been OCD with my accounts. Now there are apps like Mint and stuff that do the hard work for you. If you figure out and watch closely you can survive on a way smaller amount than you expect. Finding a good place to live is probably the single most important thing. Find out from people who live there the different areas and get recommendations for areas that are still nice but cheaper than the rest. Find a room there on a month to month basis and live there while you feel area place out. Once you live somewhere for a bit you know exactly which neighborhood you want to live in, and being tied into a 1 year lease can suck in those situations. Plus you never know the friends your going to make, job you're going to get etc. If I were you I would spend a couple more paychecks where you are, and save EVERY penny, and research places to live. Save as much as you possibly can right now and accept that you may have a miserable month not spending any money. But it'll all be worth it when you have a couple extra bucks in the place you really want to be. Another way I saved boatloads was not being a beer snob - the cheapest beers (bud light, coors light, miller light - whichever one is on sale that week. If the beer ain't on sale, walk your ass to the next store. Learn to cook for yourself. If you're on reddit, I recommend /r/frugal and /r/budgetfood and /r/Cheap_Meals/. Once you stop eating out, and take note of where you spend you money, you realize how much you can save by cutting out that morning coffee, that tall can from the corner store, whatever etc. Those little things that you don't even realize you are buying because it's $5 here or there make a huge difference in your monthly budget. Also, don't waste your time on the get money quick schemes. There are sites like Mechanical Turk and fivrr and donating blood (is that still a thing?) but the amount of time you spend on them isn't worth it. It's way more worthwhile to try to get an office assistant or data entry job off craigslist. Help a small biz for $8 an hour, 5-10 hours a week. They tend to have more flexible scheduling, and maybe you can end up doing some of the other work from your other job. That can bring in an extra $160-$320/month. Lastly, keep in mind it's all temporary. If you work hard, focus on grow your skills not just the paycheck, and try to be a good person to everyone you come across, opportunities will open up. People like helping people they know and trust and like. In Australia, I ended up living into a closet for a fraction of the rent. I didn't end up paying the last half months rent because they enjoyed their feisty little American chick. The room was exactly as big as the air mattress I slept on. It was phenomenal. Because I religiously washed the dishes and wiped down the counters EVERY SINGLE MORNING (things people typically hate doing and put off until it's gross) they didn't mind the piles of clothes and stuff that would float out of my "bedroom" and into the hallway. Little things like that make a big difference. Be happy and keep your head up.
| I feel like I'm at a certain point in my life where I'm not really tied down anywhere and I should get out and try something new, because that option isn't always going to be there for me| -Amen. Very wise if you to realize this. I remember sounds_sound telling me that his brother had a hard time moving to Seattle because the people there were "cold," and hard to get to know. But since you've got family there, you should be alright. Go for it! Also, often where one friend goes, others follow. Perhaps you'll be the first of the group to head there and others will follow? Good luck!
I might say that that is a product of my brother more than anything. I think he has Aspergers.
I read that online somewhere too when I was doing some research. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I think Minnesotans have sort of the same reputation (reserved, somewhat passive-aggressive), so I suppose maybe I'm already used to that? I am sort of worried about moving away from my friends and not meeting anyone new out there (I'm not exactly shy but not all that outgoing either). Thanks! And thanks for the advice, I think I'm leaning towards going, just having reservations.I remember sounds_sound telling me that his brother had a hard time moving to Seattle because the people there were "cold," and hard to get to know.
Good luck!
Seattle is a great town. But beyond that, the best advice I could give anyone is to find a job you really love. You have to spend so much of your time at work that getting up every day to go to a job you hate inevitably makes life suck. No matter where you're living, if you hate your job you should quit and find a new one. There is no amount of money I could be paid to go to a shitty job every day. Been there, done that, and now that I have a great career I would kill myself before going back to that way of life.
Thanks for this advice. I will definitely take it to heart. One of the biggest reasons I'm not happy in Minnesota right now is because of my lousy job, and one reason I'm hesitant about just jumping out to Seattle is that I'd probably have to take the first job offer that I receive. Maybe I should bide my time here for a while longer (while I have a source of income) so I can continue applying to places in Seattle, and wait until the right offer comes along? My only problem is I don't have much real good experience that would land me a good job. I mostly have administrative experience, so I've been applying to those sorts of positions. I've also sent in a couple inquiry emails to running/triathlon stores, but who knows if I could make enough there to sustain rent, food, and loan payments.
Unfortunately I need to somewhat make up my mind in the next ~36 hours so I'm not sure that's completely feasible. But I won't rule them out (especially for later on in the future), can you give me some good reasoning? Austin has always appealed to me. EDIT: Scratch that, I really only need to decide whether or not I'm going to go to St. Paul in the next 36 hours, so I suppose I am open to other places (but I'll be honest, assuming I don't go to St. Paul, I'm heavily leaning towards Seattle).
Hahaha, I have seen that one. But in trying to be convincing I shared the more realistic of the two haha.