[ghc]

I've stayed in Chattanooga. I'll stick with my $3600 rent, thanks. Tennessee is a very different place from the north, and if you're from New England like me, you might find the culture shock very unpleasant. Even when I lived in Atlanta the culture shock was real, despite there being so many transplants in the city.

I will make no claim as to how someone from the West, Mid-West or South would feel about Chattanooga, however. It is certainly a pretty little city, much like Boulder.

[_fs]

Care to provide an example or two of the culture shock? From California and I've never lived in the south, let alone visited.

[gaustin]

Unabashed racism, homophobia and jingoism. Most people I've gotten to know there start out super friendly and then repugnant beliefs start to emerge as we've become more familiar. I've heard similar stories from other transplants.

eta: I'm not saying this is a universal problem with the south. I'm just saying that I've noticed it there far more often than in other places I've lived and traveled.

[munin]

in the south, i have had way more people scream homophobic epithets at me on the street. not sure why because i'm heterosexual, and one time a car full of old women screamed a lesbian-focused epithet at myself and my wife while we were walking hand in hand.

i grew up in the south and i have no idea what southern hospitality means. where i lived, the running joke about southern hospitality was that <ethnic group> would hear the sound of you reloading before you opened fire.

if you're nerved out when surrounded by a bunch of well-armed, perpetually drunk, ill mannered, poorly educated and xenophobic people, i would not recommend moving to the south.

[ghc]

I think that there is an element of California (inland) that you would recognize as similar to elements of the South (mega churches, militant anti-abortion sentiment, amazing amounts of poverty).

You might just be shocked at the level of homophobia, however. When I lived in Atlanta I worked with a couple who once confided that they had enough scary experiences that they quickly told everyone they were sisters when traveling outside of Atlanta.

[haney]

Out of curiosity what was the most shocking part of your experience in Atlanta?

[doktrin]

Caveats : not the parent, and Atlanta has reportedly changed significantly in the last 10 years.

However, when I visited (~2001), the intense racial geographic separation was jarring. Some areas were literally exclusively white and black respectively. For perspective, I grew up largely in DC proper which is racially divided in its own right, but not even in the same ballpark as ATL. Public transit was abysmal - the metro line from downtown basically ran in 2 directions (N-S, E-W).

People places and things all change. I recently visited Philly and was taken aback at how much it had changed in the last 7 years (for the better, IMHO). That said, I wouldn't hold my breath at Tennessee becoming a great place to live for those outside its demographic mean, although I can make no qualitative assertions about Chattanooga.

[ghc]

For reference: I lived in Midtown and went to Georgia Tech.

1. Highly visible poverty in the city, and frequent crime.

2. Frequent casual racism, even among students at GaTech.

3. Frequent extremest christian advertising, like preachers outside sporting events and aborted fetuses on billboards

4. Religion being a daily part of life for most people I met

There's a lot more that shocked me over the 5 years of living there and dating southern girls, but I still had fun...I just couldn't adjust. I'd never even seen an overt act of racism except on TV when I was growing up.

Also, keep in mind that when I moved to Atlanta, at 18, I'd seen a lot less of the world than I have now. Living in the South changed my perceptions a lot, and I'm now permanently more aware of my surroundings.