Moving To Florida

[M&JB 80]

Hello everyone. I am looking for people who are living in FL. How is it there? Hubby and I are planning to move there this coming winter. Can someone who lives there tell me stories how she/ he is living there? Please state your city. Thanks

[millefleur 5,046]

I'm from Northeast Florida originally, grew up there and still have family there. What exactly do you want to know?

 

Are you curious about schools, jobs, particular cities, etc? Or more general "life in Florida" information?

[M&JB 80]

59 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I'm from Northeast Florida originally, grew up there and still have family there. What exactly do you want to know?

 

Are you curious about schools, jobs, particular cities, etc? Or more general "life in Florida" information?

Where in Northeast? Have you heard of O'brien, Branford, Lake City, Live Oak?

Schools, jobs, what race are living there, I'm Filipino and would like to meet some Filipinos too. And yeah, life in general

[millefleur 5,046]

22 minutes ago, jdb said:

Where in Northeast? Have you heard of O'brien, Branford, Lake City, Live Oak?

Schools, jobs, what race are living there, I'm Filipino and would like to meet some Filipinos too. And yeah, life in general

Oh ok, I'm from the Saint Augustine/Jacksonville area. I don't know too much about those cities. That's a few counties over from where I'm from.

 

Duval county has very good public schools. When I was in school, we had some Filipinos in my class and the atmosphere was generally welcoming. The Duval county area is large enough that you get a mixture of races and nationalities, although it is still predominantly white. Anywhere with a population of 1 million and up in Florida is bound to be diverse.

 

What makes you interested in those cities in particular? They seem rather on the small side.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

28 minutes ago, jdb said:

Where in Northeast? Have you heard of O'brien, Branford, Lake City, Live Oak?

Schools, jobs, what race are living there, I'm Filipino and would like to meet some Filipinos too. And yeah, life in general

Haven't lived in Lake city but I pass through it often.  It's very white bred for lack of better term

[Transborderwife 4,666]

FYI, lots of Filipinos in the Tampa st Pete area

[M&JB 80]

51 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Oh ok, I'm from the Saint Augustine/Jacksonville area. I don't know too much about those cities. That's a few counties over from where I'm from.

 

Duval county has very good public schools. When I was in school, we had some Filipinos in my class and the atmosphere was generally welcoming. The Duval county area is large enough that you get a mixture of races and nationalities, although it is still predominantly white. Anywhere with a population of 1 million and up in Florida is bound to be diverse.

 

What makes you interested in those cities in particular? They seem rather on the small side.

Yes I think you're right about them being small cities. We are looking for a place with that particular reason. Well we hate the city, not hate "hate", but we are used to not being in a large or crowded place. Thank you for the input, though. I will look more into that.

[M&JB 80]

51 minutes ago, Transborderwife said:

Haven't lived in Lake city but I pass through it often.  It's very white bred for lack of better term

Which city do you lived in? I did a little bit of research and you were right that it's mostly white people. We are currently living in Flagstaff, Arizona, where it gets really cold during winter. 

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, jdb said:

Yes I think you're right about them being small cities. We are looking for a place with that particular reason. Well we hate the city, not hate "hate", but we are used to not being in a large or crowded place. Thank you for the input, though. I will look more into that.

What is your standard for large and crowded? Because for my standard Jacksonville is a pretty quiet and humdrum place despite the population. It's very spread out and mostly consists of suburbs. I wouldn't call it busy at all. 

 

I think you'll find that most cities in Central and North Florida are very laid back and quiet. The only exception would be the college towns like Tallahassee, Gainesville, etc and inner cities of the large metro areas. Most people in Florida live in the suburbs and perfer a quiet lifestyle. That's why it's a famous spot for reitrees. 

 

Very small towns, however, can be backwoodsy and even racist. I would personally not feel comfortable in some small towns in Florida, and I'm white, lol. Small towns on the coast (either the Gulf or the Atlantic) are more friendly but they tend to be much more expensive.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

33 minutes ago, jdb said:

Which city do you lived in? I did a little bit of research and you were right that it's mostly white people. We are currently living in Flagstaff, Arizona, where it gets really cold during winter. 

I'm in Clearwater/largo area 

[lon552 437]

17 hours ago, jdb said:

Where in Northeast? Have you heard of O'brien, Branford, Lake City, Live Oak?

Schools, jobs, what race are living there, I'm Filipino and would like to meet some Filipinos too. And yeah, life in general

My house is in the Orlando area (Oviedo) and I work in Jacksonville. I think you will find Florida most hospitable. Southern hospitality is still alive here but it is on the decline. As for schools I recommend researching through Greatschools.org. When I moved here from Alaska 10 years ago I researched the best schools for my daughters for the area I was going to be working in using Greatschools.org and it has everything you'd want to know and more about the schools.

 

It would be easy to assume that jobs in the larger metropolitan areas would be more abundant but that's an easy assumption. It's going to be subjective to what your career is.

 

My fiancee is Kosovo-Albanian and I've investigated finding local Albanians in the Jacksonville area by using Facebook and searching for groups there. I didn't have a lot of luck other than subscribing to Jacksonville Albanian community events (concerts and such) but I did manage to find a small Albanian cafe not far from my apartment in Jacksonville which has opened doors to the Albanian community here. 

[Empress200735 6]

we live in East Tampa FL, people are nice ...............i love the weather, still adjusting.