Anybody here live in Minneapolist/St. Paul - or elsewhere in Minnesota?

If anybody here lives in Minnesota, please tell me about living there.

How bad is the cold?

The top ranked school I've gotten into is U Minnesota Law in Minneapolis, and unless I get into another T20 school, I tend to think I should take the opportunity to go to U Minnesota.

I've also been offered a decent scholarship there.

My only concern is the cold weather.

Haha, you can do what I'm doing in a few days - go on a scouting trip! I'll be in
Minneapolis from wednesday to Sunday!

I'm Texan raised, so I'll let you know what my impression is when I'm up there!

Originally Posted by LawGuy

If anybody here lives in Minnesota, please tell me about living there.

How bad is the cold?

The top ranked school I've gotten into is U Minnesota Law in Minneapolis, and unless I get into another T20 school, I tend to think I should take the opportunity to go to U Minnesota.

I've also been offered a decent scholarship there.

My only concern is the cold weather.

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The weather is COLD here If you want to live here, you have to like the changing of seasons - in the winter its very cold, very snowy, very wintery. Just a few weeks ago it was almost -50 with windchill. In the summer, its hot, very hot & humid. Rainy spring & usually a nice fall. I love living here because I love the changing of seasons

We live in the SW side of Minnesota but I work in the Twin Cities. Yes its cold here - from about November to April. We can get temps (not counting wind chill) of -20 or 30 (with windchill it can go -40 or -50). But this is mainly up north by Duluth, etc.

The Twin Cities gets its share of cold and minus temps. Luckily it doesn't last long - maybe a week or so at a time, then it warms up. Once you get used to minus temps, then teens and 20's will really feel warm to you.

Originally I was from Maryland where if the temps were under 32 degrees, I was cold. Now its totally different and I would not want to move back to the east coast or where its hot/warm most of the year.

The biggest secret in living in Minnesota in the winter is "dress in layers"

And besides, we get to have a white Christmas every year

Hmmm...What would it be like.......... find a big freezer ... empty it out... climb in... close the door behind you!

Coming from Florida - it would be a big adjustment. But you could do it.

When I moved back here from North Carolina, it was summer time... but at the first opportunity, went out and got myself the warmest coat I could find -full length wool meltoncloth. And boots. And a hat and gloves and scarf.

Eventually, your blood and body adjust.

Folks in MN and Michigan's UP make accomodations for the weather - like plug in heaters for a car's engine block so the oil and other fluids don't freeze.

The Twin Cities are very nice - cultured, etc. Not a bad place to be.

It's home to Northwest Airlines... so Minneapolis to Miami shouldn't be too hard of a flight.

Well, it's -7F right now, the wind is blowing snow across the road at about 35MPH I believe.....and the snot is still frozen in my nose.

I spent the first 34 years of my life in the Twin cities and in the winter it is COLD! Minnesota is sub arctic in the winter and sub tropic in the summer.

I also went to undergrad at the UofM. Great school and probably worth the sacrifice of horrible weather to get your law degree there.

That being said, the parking there is horrible. Things may have changed now, but seriously look into it and chose your place to live accordingly. It might be better to live near the St. Paul campus which has much more available parking and take the free shuttel to the MSP campus.

If you have to take multiple city buses like I did, prepare for frost bite. It is not fun standing at a bus stop in 35 below actual temperature. The U of M never cancelled classes once in the years I went there.

Additionally if you have no idea how to drive in snow, you need to learn. ALWAYS have emergency gear in your trunk. ALWAYS!

Extreme winter weather is not for everyone, but if you are prepared and learn how to deal with it properly you will not have any problems. May not like it, but you will survive it.

The flip side is that Twin City summers are very much like Florida, hot, humid and lots of mosquitoes. So you will get a bit of a taste of home a few months out of the year.

The Twin Cities are actually a fun and nice place to live. There is a lot to do both summer and winter. Tons of lakes if you like water sports (sorry no surfing, LOL). The downtown lake are beautiful and great gathering places.

Congratulations on getting into law school. If U of M is your favorite pick, please don't let the winters scare you off. You will learn to cope with them. In fact, it won't be long until you think 40 degrees is a heat wave and time to go out in shorts. Seriously, this happens.

So it's really cold.... got it.

How about any pros?

Yup, just this morning at the bus stop, I was thinking, gosh, I'm sick of the cold. -20 with the wind currently at my house, -18 in downtown saint paul. If you have the means, come up now and see if you can handle it. It is possible. My husband is from egypt, and he's adjusted relatively well. He's even to the point that when it reaches 20 degrees, he gets all excited and wants to go out for a walk because the weather is so nice

Pros:

*The Twin Cities has an excellent legal community. We've got a number of law schools, a number of firms, and lots and lots of contacts to be made. However, that does make it more difficult to get a job here after you graduate, but if you don't like the cold, then you wouldn't want to stay anyways I came to the cities after college, thinking I could work as a paralegal with just my bachelors. Nope, had to have experience AND a paralegal certification just to get in the door.

*Relatively diverse, for the midwest. Wide variety of restaurants, sports teams, arts opportunities, museums, things to do.

*I *think* there might be underground tunnels connecting some buildings at the U. Anyone who went there who can verify that? I work in downtown minneapolis, and all the buildings are connected by skyway, so after I arrive in the downtown, I can hop into any building and walk almost anywhere I need to go.

*excellent public radio.

I grew up in Minnesota. I love the weather. The change of seasons is fantastic, autumn being particularly beautiful. Plus, as people said, culturally, there's alot to do. The theatre scene is especially progressive and interesting.

And, with all the lakes within the city limits, it's a beautiful place to walk around and explore.

If you like sports, there're the Twins and the Vikings.

I love Minnesota!

(And, dressing in layers in the winter is definitely key!)

Originally Posted by LawGuy

So it's really cold.... got it.

How about any pros?

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Some folks have already mentioned the positives - lake country, culture, dining, sports, theater... The TCs are actually very nice - it will have a totally different vibe than Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area.

Large Hmong population, too. So I wonder if there is some good food of that type there - Laotian, Vietnamese, etc. Nothing like a steaming hot bowl of pho to warm up on a frigid day.

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Large Hmong population, too. So I wonder if there is some good food of that type there - Laotian, Vietnamese, etc. Nothing like a steaming hot bowl of pho to warm up on a frigid day.

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We also have a fairly large population of east africans - eritreans, somalis, some ethiopians. The lutherans provided a lot of support for refugees, so we have the the largest (I believe) populations of hmong and somalis outside of their native countries. Quite a bit of diversity restaurant wise.

We're still predominantly an area with a heavy northern european stock and culture, but there's a good sprinkling of other cultures mixed in.



Oh, also, how could I forget, we have the Mall of America, and even better, an Ikea Granted, I haven't been to either of them in over a year, but they do provide amusement for your visiting guests, and the Ikea is great for furnishing an apartment relatively cheaply. The husband and I were inventorying our furniture last night, and half of it is from Ikea.

Originally Posted by rahma

*I *think* there might be underground tunnels connecting some buildings at the U. Anyone who went there who can verify that?

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Not quite there yet - will be tomorrow! But they sent me a map of campus yesterday, and yes, there are tunnels that connect some of the buildings. If I can figure out which ones are the law school related buildings, I'll let you know if they're connected when I get to work. Left my maps at the lab last night!

I grew up in the Twin Cities. After living in Southern California for a year and Eastern Iowa for a few years...I can say I prefer the weather in Central Wisconsin/Minnesota. Winter is cold, but then you appreciate the summer more. Last summer we ran the AC a total of 5 days. I couldn't do that when we lived in Iowa or Southern California. Iowa was too humid and So Cal was just hot.

The Twin Cities, as others mentioned, is very diverse. It's HUGE. Sprawl is hitting suburbs that were mostly farm fields when I was a kid. There's lots to do, many shows to go to (concerts, clubs, etc). There's the Science Museum, the art museum, the 2 zoos. There's about every kind of restaurant you can think of.

I enjoy visiting the Cities once in a while, but prefer the small town feel of the city in Wisconsin I live in now. Most of my family has moved out of the Twin Cities, so we rarely visit anymore. One of these days I need to go up to the Ikea though.

Dressing in layers will be your friend. But there are lots of places to buy winter gear. And don't forget winter sports like skiing and snowboarding.