I'm an Aussie who recently got back from the US, having done a semester exchange at ASU. I had a crazy time and fell in love with america, and would love to go back one day. I have the opportunity to do a placement in Spokane, WA as part of my degree as a family friend knows a top researcher in my chosen field in the US.
I wouldnt be going for two years, but I would have to start saving money now if i wanted to go. The question is, is it a good place to do my placement? Of course I could find placements/internships in Australia, but doing it in the US would be a great experience. The closest place I went to spokane was SF, as i did not have the money to travel to too many places, as I wouldve probably visited Seattle otherwise. I would be going for a semester if I went.
Pretty much all of WA is a nice place to live.
Never personally been there, I'm on the other side of the cascades in Vancouver, but it is a college town. I've heard nothing but good things about Spokane.
[QUOTE=The Vman;41053739]Pretty much all of WA is a nice place to live.[/QUOTE]
Hows the weather? Heard the northwest is cloudy and rainy all the time, and im from sydney so im used to good weather most of the time
Eh that's a bit of an exaggeration. Yeah it rains, but only in Late fall, early winter, and spring. We don't get a lot of snow either, except for the Mountains.
The upside of all the rain we do get is everything is green. They don't call it The Evergreen state just because of the trees.
[b]Edited:[/b]
[img]http://www.dnr.wa.gov/SiteCollectionImages/Plants/em_fwf_wa_rainforest.JPG[/img]
[t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Hoh_Rain_Forest,_Olympic_National_Park,_Washington_State,_1992.jpg_-_Cropped_1.jpg[/t]
[img]http://0.tqn.com/d/gonw/1/0/b/E/-/-/mtbakerfall.jpg[/img]
Had a friend move there after so many years, He said he enjoyed it when he was there. Apparently like half of the FP population lives in WA so expect it to smell like FP (What ever that smells like)
Honestly, I've never met anyone. :v:
I hear that marijuana is legal in WA now. My time at ASU has turned me into a giant stoner. Cant wait already.
Oh yeah that too. Like I said, The Evergreen state.
[QUOTE=Del91;41053768]Yeah it rains, but only in Late fall, early winter, and spring[/QUOTE]
so 3 seasons out of 4?
I live in WA and been to Spokane a few times and in between. I live in Tacoma myself, and in Washington is just a chill place. Weather can be bipolar sometimes, but it's a nice place to just chill.
I live in Spokane, WA near dowtown. I like it here, the only thing that sucks is downtown you will find a lot of homeless people in certain areas. Now once you get out to the valley things get more spread out and very peaceful. Housing isn't horribly expensive and there is plenty to do for me. And if you run out of things to do then save up some cash and head next door the seattle for a week.
I've lived in Washington all my life and as far as the weather goes it's only really rainy on the west side from what I've seen. I currently live in central Washington and out here ( and eastern Washington ) it's mostly dry and sunny. We do get some rain, but not nearly as much as the people out towards Seattle would get. So if you've got your mind set on Spokane I wouldn't really worry too much about it raining.
Pretty much what Vman said, Washington is a great state overall, so I would definitely say it's a good idea to move here.
[QUOTE=Nazereth666;41054132]I live in Spokane, WA near dowtown. I like it here, the only thing that sucks is downtown you will find a lot of homeless people in certain areas. Now once you get out to the valley things get more spread out and very peaceful. Housing isn't horribly expensive and there is plenty to do for me. And if you run out of things to do then save up some cash and head next door the seattle for a week.[/QUOTE]
Whats there to do for fun around there? I will likely not be 21, or turning 21 in the middle of my placement, so hopefully there will be something to do before I can get into bars.
[editline]16th June 2013[/editline]
BTW how do i make a gif file my avatar? i want to make [img]http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mj-laughing.gif[/img] my avatar but it came out as a still pic
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054248]Whats there to do for fun around there? I will likely not be 21, or turning 21 in the middle of my placement, so hopefully there will be something to do before I can get into bars.[/QUOTE]
Depends on what you like doing, of course Spokane isn't a huge city like Seattle. I am an outdoors kind of guy so I go out and walk on the trails around my area. (I live right across the street from SFCC)
We have a few malls as well as plenty of stores to shop at, there is a bus system in Spokane so if you don't have a car then you can get around the city. If you like live music or other events we have the Spokane Arena where there are sports event and concerts as well as The Knitting Factory which is a concert house where people perform all the time. Downtown there is the Riverfront Park which is a huge park that sits on a small island of sorts.
[img]http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/RFPMap.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.clickthegoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4735939426_cf335ec5c7_b.jpg[/img]
This will be your typical view at night downtown.
[img]https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/Graduate/Graduate-Student-Council/Pictures/River-park-square.jpg[/img]
You can see the riverfront mall at the end of the road (with the big glass front) which sits right in front of the park not a lot of stores inside but it does have a very nice AMC theater.
There are some cool views in Spokane.
[img]http://livability.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/photo_gallery_750x495_scale_crop/151SPOSUB008.jpg[/img]
[img]http://weddingmapper.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/photos/6/28/153883_l.jpg[/img]
[img_thumb]http://www.greaterspokane.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Spokane-Aerial-from-Todd.jpg[/img_thumb]
When you get out to the valley things start to look like this.
[img]http://spokanes.com/hillyard-skatepark/spokane_valley_ymca/spokane_valley1.jpg[/img]
[img_thumb]http://inlandnw.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mullansigns.jpg[/img_thumb]
Sorry for the streetview image but this area is familiar to me because I used to live in the blue house on the corner. This is typically what residential areas look like in the valley.
[img]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1783/j7ex.jpg[/img]
holy shit that place looks nice
Whats it cost to rent a downtown/near downtown apartment around there?
Also, how far is this place away from downtown?
[img]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1783/j7ex.jpg[/img]
It would be cool to rent a house if its not too expensive.
Keep in mind im used to $400+ per WEEK rents in Sydney for 1 bedroom apartments, so i doubt it will be too expensive for me.
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054590]Keep in mind im used to $400+ per WEEK rents in Sydney for 1 bedroom apartments, so i doubt it will be too expensive for me.[/QUOTE]
Keep in mind that the wages in AUS are higher as well. I don't think I've ever been to Spokane and I'm not a fan of Eastern WA, but from the pictures it doesn't look quite as bad as Wenatchee. You'd probably prefer their weather over Western Washingtons, it's generally hotter and less wet.
Well, we do have the highest Minimum wage in the Country. :P
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054590]Whats it cost to rent a downtown/near downtown apartment around there?
Also, how far is this place away from downtown?
[img]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1783/j7ex.jpg[/img]
It would be cool to rent a house if its not too expensive.
Keep in mind im used to $400+ per WEEK rents in Sydney for 1 bedroom apartments, so i doubt it will be too expensive for me.[/QUOTE]
There are some places that will run you anywhere from $500 to $1000+ a month near downtown. My old house in that picture is out in the valley which is about a 15 minute drive on the highway from downtown.
Check out some real estate websites for the area, there is a lot of property for sale usually all around Spokane.
[QUOTE=Nazereth666;41054750]There are some places that will run you anywhere from $500 to $1000+ a month near downtown. My old house in that picture is out in the valley which is about a 15 minute drive on the highway from downtown.
Check out some real estate websites for the area, there is a lot of property for sale usually all around Spokane.[/QUOTE]
I most likely wont have a car so ill have to live downtown, but that area looks amazing. How is life in Spokane for a young adult? My only experience of America is at a top party school, so im a bit used to just getting drunk/high all the time lol. hopefully it wont be too quiet up there
I had a cousin who lived in Spokane. She said it was a really nice place, hell, last I heard she was trying to move back.
Personally, I find the place rather boring, but if you are looking for a nice quiet scenic place to live, WA is a great state.
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054768]I most likely wont have a car so ill have to live downtown, but that area looks amazing. How is life in Spokane for a young adult? My only experience of America is at a top party school, so im a bit used to just getting drunk/high all the time lol. hopefully it wont be too quiet up there[/QUOTE]
Oh hell man people get crazy as hell here, and since I live across the street from the college their are a lot of noisy people around here. Pro tip, if you wanna get the best chance of having neighbors who are more tolerant to noise then live near a college. I had a party in my apartment that lasted till about 1AM which is 3 hours past curfew at this place. Next day the neighbor joked around saying it sounded like we were having fun.
By the way the bus system runs to the valley so you are not stuck downtown.
[QUOTE=Nazereth666;41054864]Oh hell man people get crazy as hell here, and since I live across the street from the college their are a lot of noisy people around here. Pro tip, if you wanna get the best chance of having neighbors who are more tolerant to noise then live near a college. I had a party in my apartment that lasted till about 1AM which is 3 hours past curfew at this place. Next day the neighbor joked around saying it sounded like we were having fun.
By the way the bus system runs to the valley so you are not stuck downtown.[/QUOTE]
curfew? i hope this is some sick joke
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054906]curfew? i hope this is some sick joke[/QUOTE]
I don't mean a city wide curfew, but obviously if you live in an apartment and are banging around, yelling, and having a party all night there is a chance people will get pissed off. So yeah a lot of apartments buildings have curfews set to keep the residents happy.
[QUOTE=Pace.;41054906]curfew? i hope this is some sick joke[/QUOTE]
no offence man but if you're expecting wild all nighters why are you moving to a small city in WA
[editline]16th June 2013[/editline]
I mean that in relation to sydney - like its bound to be a bit quieter, sydney is pretty hectic party life
[QUOTE=killerteacup;41054971]no offence man but if you're expecting wild all nighters why are you moving to a small city in WA[/QUOTE]
Because its the only place i can do my placement?
and im 19 years old, not 40, of course im expecting wild all nighters!
I'm thinking i could rent a house if thats the case, esp if i can just take a bus downtown anyway, but id like to be closer to the social/city scene. I get bored real easy
I was there visiting my grandma a few years ago. It's the largest city i've ever been in.
It seemed pretty nice, it rained really hard one of those nights (it was like June) and was awfully hot. They have a amazing park around the river, and we shopped at a multi-story mall which was pretty fancy.
I really can't compare it to anything except what we have in Montana, though. I was probably just happy to be somewhere different. Once you stray from downtown it seemed like just a larger version of Billings. Didn't get to experience the whole city.
I lived in WA for a few years. Easily one of the best states I've ever been too. I miss it a great deal tbh, it is one of the only places that I've ever really wanted to go back too after leaving.
The outdoors are incredible and the amount of shit you can do is awesome. Then at the same time you can drive to the city/cities and enjoy yourself there too.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
