Considering relocating from Champaign, IL... Help!

[supernova9]

Hey everyone,

I am a single guy in my late 20's who just graduated with a second Bachelor's in high school English Education (first was in PR/Marketing). I'm considering a move out of Champaign, IL, and have Austin, Louisville, Raleigh, Portland, and Seattle on my list. I would know no one moving into Louisville and Raleigh, and have a younger friend and an older cousin in Austin and an younger cousin and older friend in Seattle.  One friend in Portland.

I was in Louisville last year for Lebowskifest, and had a blast there. Bardstown Road / Highlands area was great, but I saw nothing else outside of the Executive West. Lynn's Paradise Cafe was great, too. :-)

I was in Raleigh-Durham/Chapel Hill for a bit last year, and it seemed pretty cool, too, but it was very brief.

I'm visiting Austin, Portland, and Seattle over the course of the first two weeks of June.

What would make any of these places a good choice for a single guy looking for a change? How is the market for education jobs? Craigslist has been no help for the latter, and it's hard to get any sort of feel for where to live just based on price alone. I'm looking to meet someone, as well, and am curious to the prospects of singles in the area. Does a new, outgoing person get a chance to assimilate, or the cold shoulder? Looking forward to your repsonses!

[BH]

I don't have a bunch of info for you but I would go with Portland or Austin.  

[primushead]

Wow...I was basically in the same situation as you were a couple of weeks ago...recent college grad wanting to do something different and cool.  

I have a fairly good knowledge of the Triad area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).  There's definitely a lot of young professionals there with a large pool of jobs.  Downtown Raleigh is a lot of fun...cool music, good bars, food, and things to do like that.  Traffic can be kind of a pain, but you'll find that in any large city I suppose.

On the plus side, it's a 3 1/2 hour drive to the mountains, and a 2 hour drive to the beach...so it's a great central location.  

Good luck in whatever you decide!

[fitzcarraldo]

I don't have a bunch of info for you but I would go with Portland or Austin.  

Some good info on Portland from this thread (scroll down a bit):

http://www.mymorningjacket.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1208020275

[supernova9]

Anyone else care to chime in?  I could really use some perspective....

[tower]

I live and teach high school in the Louisville area...

Louisville is slowly becoming more progressive I think but it's got a long way to go. The downtown area is coming along with some revitalization.  The Highlands is classic Louisville in all its weirdness and eclectic nature and a very cool place to hang out.  The music scene is...hmmm, well interesting. As a musician in this town playing originals it is difficult for a couple reasons. A lot of people go out to see and hear crappy cover bands and overlook many of the great original musicians. On top of that there are a lot of great musicians doing their thing on any given night.  That's a good thing for you but spreads crowds thin. MMJ was basically ignored around town until they became big elsewhere, now they are sort of Louisville's fave sons.  WFPK is highly supportive of local musicians but the other stations in town are the typical Clear Channel classic alternative rock stuff.  

If you are looking for a teaching job in Louisville you can probably find one pretty easily...just go to Jefferson County's site and apply. The problem is they are one of the largest districts in the country and are terribly mismanaged. You'll get hired in the district but they'll place you at a crappy school. There are some ways around it but it's difficult and political.

I teach at a surrounding county and I've been at worse places but I've also been at better.

It is pretty cheap to live around here as opposed to those other places but then again those other places are pretty damn cool.