Houston

All along I've known that at some point I'd have the opportunity to choose a state where I would want to live. As much as I love Chicago, I decided that for a variety of reasons that moving would be a good opportunity for me. So when it came time to choosing my two states where I'd want to live I had to look at all the options. I always thought I'd enjoy Nashville, but with this process, you can only put what state you'd prefer, not the actual city; so I had to look at other cities as viable options. Memphis is a shithole, so I ruled out Tennessee. So I decided to put Texas and Arizona as my two choices when it was time to send in my geographical preferences e-mail.

I really wanted to be selected for Austin, which I knew was a longshot all along, and pretty much one of the main reasons I put down Texas. Though looking at the whole state I wouldn't be too discouraged if I would get somewhere like Dallas, San Antonio or Houston. Ultimately I was selected for Houston.

I was immediately dejected. Despite having family in the Houston area, I like most people thought of the city as a huge sprawling, humid city with not much character.

It is sprawling and humid, but after doing some research on the city I'm actually really excited to be moving there. It doesn't have the character Chicago, NY or even a Seattle has, but that's okay. There seems to be some nice neighborhoods near downtown that I could live; which wouldn't be too far from where I would be working. There's a big museum campus and quite a bit of culture down there. It's less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, so beaches and the ocean are close, which is nice. Cold winters will be a thing of the past as well.

Plus being a big city there's major sports teams there. I'll always be a fan of the Chicago teams, but if I ever want to catch a Astros game or something like that, I can actually see some games with decent talent.

The more I read and the more I look into the diversity of the city, the more I look forward to eventually moving down there.