Hello,
I browse this board every so often and a while back I seem to recall a few people mentioning that they lived or have knowledge of Madison in Wisconsin. I have been offered an opportunity to get a job transfer to this city and I was wondering what peoples opinions are of the city?? Crime rate, people, weather etc
Im going to fly out and check it out for myself but just wanted a few local opinions on the city to help me to get an idea of the city.
thanks for any help/advice!
carl
Hello Jonahkop. We live in Madison, its a pretty cool city. We find its one of the more laid back cities we've lived in, the crime rates really low compared to alot of places and one of its suburbs, Middleton, was voted the best place to live in America by Money Magazine this past year. Not that it means much other than house prices in middleton are pretty expensive. Crime generally involves idiots drinking and driving or fighting after sports and drinking.
I guess it depends what you want from a city but Madison swings from the upper middle class westside to the lower middle class east side. There's a few rough places but these tend to be the odd street rather than whole neighbourhoods and ethnic diversity tends to mean people who come from out of state rather than other cultures. So its a bit anaemic.But the people are friendly and honest and overall pretty cool.
The job situation is good- lots of professional type jobs as well as more normal, working class type jobs (I work for UPS) and of course there's UW Madison which employs, or seems to, half the city. Lots of sport, if you like that sort of thing. Lots of cultural stuff, arts, music, politics (It is the State Capital after all) and tons of outdoor type of things in the summer.
The Downside is, it is Wisconsin, so you get five months of winter.
It still has proper Neighbourhoods, which is nice. A lot of the US is being swallowed up by out of town housing developments and subdivisions, but theres parts of Madison where you can walk to the shops and the pub and not have to drive to get places. Its really cycle freindly too, if you're into that.
Hope this can be of use to you :-)
Hey Servalan,
That was really kind of you for posting all that information about Madison, I really appreciate it!! I have to admit I am kinda excited about the opportunity, I did spend a few hours there this summer and it seemed a lovely laid back town hence my interest.
Thanks once again for the info!
Carl
Hey Carl, how's it going? Welcome back to Britnet. Stay and chat this time! I have Brit friends in Madison who love it. College towns seems to be a good choice for Brits.
You're welcome. we got winter this week. my first experience of cycling in the snow- six inches fell tuesday night so wednesday was nuts. people think i'm nuts for cycling. is this normal expat behavior or should I seek professional help? D
You're welcome. we got winter this week. my first experience of cycling in the snow- six inches fell tuesday night so wednesday was nuts. people think i'm nuts for cycling. is this normal expat behavior or should I seek professional help? :D
We biked to the bus stop after the first snowfall -all 3 sprogs came off their bikes, so now we don't do snow or ice (I would if it was just me)
You're welcome. we got winter this week. my first experience of cycling in the snow- six inches fell tuesday night so wednesday was nuts. people think i'm nuts for cycling. is this normal expat behavior or should I seek professional help? :D
You should be driving your obligatory Ford F-450 Super Duty pick up truck not riding a bike. :)
Trucks are for pussies! 8)