Austin Travel Forum

I live in Maine which doesnt have a lot to do or a lot of oppurtunity. I am single and in my upper 20's and I want to relocate somewhere that will allow me to not only have an oppurtunity to make a lot of money and build a career but also a place where I can have the time of my life and have a lot of fun so I can get it out of my system once and for all.

I was looking real seriously at Austin but someone who lives in the area who moved to Maine said that Austin is really dirty and brown. That the water is unsafe to swim in (cant see what your swimming with snakes,alligators,jellyfish) and is really dirty. This is a concern because it gets so hot. The bigger concern though is that she said that if I cannot speak spanish I will not be able to get a good paying job. I make 12 dollars an hour and pay about 850 a month in bills right now. Thus I would need to be making at least 10 dollars an hour down there. Am I sunk if I can't speak spanish? I have a background in food service, customer service, retail, phones ect and a bachelor degree in business.....but I cant speak spanish.

I realize that Austin has great people and that it is a fun place for music and night life but is it a good idea for me to relocate there given all the drawbacks I have mentioned in addition to the obvious ones? (traffic, heat) The biggest things that concern me are not having safe places to cool off and swim and not being able to get a good job. Please offer me a balanced opinion. Thank you.

Oh and the other city I was pondering was Pheonix....is there anyone who has tried both?

Duke, this is not a real travel questions, but from an economic standpoint,Phoenix is going to have more opportunities than Austin. That said, good employees are valued and with a bachelor in business you should be able to make more than $12 an hour anyplace. Can't tell you about the water in Austin or the lack thereof in Phoenix. As far as communicating in Spanish, a couple of courses at a community college will give you the basics. I do fine with " mas cerveza por favor"

Hey there, some things I know.

Honestly, Spanish is not that big a necessity. I suppose it depends on what you do, but I have had many friends who moved down here from the north and acquired positions, such as for Apple or AMD or Dell.. the good thing is that the ATX doesn't rely as much on connections (although that still resonates importance) as on ability and the interpersonal skills.

Anyways, the water is not that bad. There are plenty of places to swim. For a big "city," it still has that small-town feel. The people are laid-back as college students abound.

Good luck!

Thanks guys I really appreciate the help. I am still hoping that someone would be able to come on here and confirm with me that I will be able to get a good paying job or a job in the service industry without being able to speak any spanish. I only have 3000 dollars and would be moving down with no job. I dont have the luxery of moving down and chilling out while taking some spanish classes and making 7 bucks an hour. I really want to move down but if the culture requires me to know Spanish to make it in a job that deals with people there then perhaps it would not be a good idea to go down there for some fun and a potential career. I dont have any special computer skills. I just have a background in food, customer service, phones, advertising, and a business degree from College. I have researched Austin for months now and I want to make sure I am going to have a good chance if I uproot my life for this. I dont just want to go down there for the fun. Job security is very important too.

You have a bachelor's degree in business. Get on line and search for some jobs in Austin through the major job-hunters. You know the ones! As far as the swimming - that's crazy talk! Thousands of people swim in Austin. We're going down next month to swim at Lake Travis. There are clear water pools where you can see your feet, and ice-cold natural pools. My take on Austin is not "dirty and brown", but that's just my opinion. Do some on-line research - photos, etc., and see for yourself.

Try to see if you can talk to some industry people via a better venue. Try to set something up before you go.

Okay, for your first concern about water...your friends opinion about water in Austin is simply not correct, there are many clean water spots for swimming here and they are not dirty and brown. Barton Springs is the major spot for swimming, but there are many other beautiful, clean swimming holes in the area. Check out this link for 101 swimming holes around Austin http://austin.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=austin&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.austinchronicle.com%2Fissues%2Fannual%2Fsummerfun%2F98%2F101.intro.html

Austin is a very nature oriented, healthy environment.

As far as the job concerns...first, you do not need to know spanish to get a job here. I work for the State of Texas and there are many jobs here that do not require spanish. I make a decent salary in Austin and I don't know Spanish, so don't worry about it.
It is also pretty affordable here...I pay $650 for a 2 bedroom apartment in a good area.
Job opportunities are pretty good here too...check out www.austin.craigslist.org for job listings and rentals in the area so you can get an idea of what it looks like around here.
Austin is hot though; very hot in the summer, so if you don't like heat, then you may not want to live here. But your other choice of Phoenix would have the same problem.
Good luck with your decision.

Thanks to Butterfly Girl and everyone else for contributing. You guys have been very helpful for sure. I really like the sounds of Austin and have considered it for months. I am not sure why a couple of my friends have bashed it so bad because like you guys say...it doesnt seem warrented. For the record...my friend didnt live in Austin she just visited a few times. She was probably just not a city girl. Anyways since yall have been so helpful I was hoping you could answer some final questions/concerns I have:

1) Spanish is not "required" to get a good job...but is it usually required to wait tables or be a sales person? Those are the easiest jobs to land and may be a way for some quick money if I move down.

2) People in the South and particularly Austin are very nice and hospitable...they like to help. I am wondering how friendly the culture is though. So how are Austinites in relation to how easy it is to make new acquantances and friends and get a little group going? How hard is it to "fit" in. The social atmosphere is important to me whereever I move because I am a single 28 year old male and I like to date and socialize.

3) I also like nightlife and I hear Austin does well with that too. However I come from New England so my idea of nightlife may be different then you folks. I love Jazz Blues and Country...dont get me wrong....and I love live music too...but my heart lies in nice spacious bars with fun themes and contests and crazy wild women. I want mud foam confetti and chaos sometimes. I like large dance clubs with thumping beats and hip-hop and techno and lazors and smoke and rock and roll...do you feel me? Do you guys have some of that down there or what?

You are already saying "y'all" so it looks like you might fit in pretty well here :)

For your first follow up question, I really truly don't think spanish is required to get a job in restaurants here, maybe some sales jobs, but not restaurant. Did you check out craigslist? I looked on the restaurant job section and I didn't see any server jobs that required Spanish.

For your second question about a friendly culture here, I would say it is a friendly culture...people are very cool here. But, like anywhere, it may take a while to find your group of friends. The best idea would be to get involved in established groups that share the same interest as you and if you go out to clubs and places, you should find friendly people. If you are friendly then others will be friendly back.

As far as the club scene goes, 6th street sounds like it would be your thing. I don't know how much of it is theme/contest bars with mud wrestling or whatever, but it does get pretty crazy on 6th street sometimes. I wouldn't say hip hop and dance clubs are the biggest scene here, but Austin does have a little of everything, so you could potentially find your scene here. But, as far as I know, hip hop and dance clubs are not a real big thing here...maybe someone else can give feedback on that.

Since you are not sure what to do, is there any chance you can get a cheap flight and come out here before you decide? That way you can see it for yourself...it might be a good investment of your money.

I would just like to state... I have lived in Austin for 10 years, and not one single time did I require my waitress to serve me in Spanish, pero yo quiero uno mas cerveza, por favor.

If you are so gullible to believe this "friend" about dirty swimming holes and only speaking spanish, I would recommend you also rent the movie "The Alamo". Clearly you will learn we actually did beat Mexico and now consider Austin a part of Texas.

Good luck in your decision!!

umh, yeah, I'm not sure where your "friend" is from--but austin has rivers/lakes--maybe your friend was confusing "rivers" with the bayous in Houston--yes they are dirty & brown,but we don't use them to swim in--we mainly use them to look at the beautiful trees draped in spanish moss all around them!

Everything your friend has said is flat out wrong. Austin is no different than San Antonio or Houston or Dallas as far as hispanic populations go. All have large hispanic populations. Most jobs do not require Spanish. I have a degree and I have also done things like waited tables and have never needed to know Spanish. Erase that concern from your mind right away.

I live in Dallas, but have visited Austin and have had friends that live there. Austin is a beautiful place, but very hot and congested (grew too fast for the infrastructure to keep up). It is a very educated place, and I think you would find the excitement you are looking for. After all, there are over 50,000 students at the University of Texas at Austin. 6th street is a full of bars and clubs, you could probably find your niche there. But obviously there has to be enough social activities and crazy outings to keep 50,000 college students entertained. It is a big music city, music of all kinds. I'm sure you can find the type of music you are looking for. There are most definitely clear waters to swim in, that information was just flat wrong. If you are worried about being cool, just make sure you have air conditioning! It does get very hot.

I would LOVE to see the jellyfish that I've been missing in our waters all these years!
The Hill Country, which is Austin and to the west, is usually green. There are so many rivers and lakes in this area. I live in a town 30 miles south of Austin - we have 3 rivers running through San Marcos. The college students just about live on the water during the summer (which, in this part of Texas, can seem to last from April - October). I work closely with the commercial development section of the City of Austin and I will say there are many, many new buildings and opportunities for all levels of work arriving weekly.
Someone let me know where those blasted jellyfish are...

just curious to see if you've made a decision to move to Austin or not? It's funny how people obtain insanely wrong opinions of places and then infect others. Austin is a fabulous city to live in. Having to speak Spanish is just funny.... The Hispanic population is much more prevalent in Houston and other large cities in the south than in Austin.