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Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

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Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#791

Post by ajuc »

xchaotic wrote: post #735
ur-whale wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weather and outdoors aren't great in Krakow. Language is also a pretty big problem: true, some educated youngsters will speak English, but the bulk of the population doesn't speak a word. Would not recommend.

have you actually been around Krakow much? There's climbing spots in the city itself, skiing slopes 1-2 hours away, Tatra mountains 100km away and beautiful Jurrasic valleys to the North-West, lots of green areas in the city and huge forests to the East, perfect for cycling or running. Weather is a mix - some snow in the winter, some lovely sunshine in the 6 warmer months and lots of rain and in-between weather on th…

Kraków has a big problem with smog in the winter. Most Polish cities do, Kraków is one of the worst.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#792

Post by mixmastamyk »

jayalpha wrote: post #638
nik736 wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd argue it's better than Portugal. Why is it better?

I prefer Portuguese people since I speak Portuguese and Portuguese are much more welcoming and friendly. This could change with overtourism which also makes Lisbon comparably expensive. Spain is more diverse and still has cheap big cities. Cheaper than Lisbon.

Has the smoking situation improved any? Remember a lot of it indoors in Iberia.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#793

Post by JoeAltmaier »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #787
honkycat wrote: post #780

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sick of people saying this. Iowa City is not a world class city. Period. Iowa City is a backwater. It's population is extremely white. "street music downtown" and "dozens of clubs and events" is a complete given in most major US cities and the only reason you would think that is special is if you have never left the midwest. The city is ugly and has literally no public transportation. It is extremely car-centric and…

No; I think its enough for one person most of the time. I can participate in the activites, or I can go home to my house in the country 10 minutes away. There is a new downtown transit center with a very convenient bus system. Bike lanes and paths have been created everywhere. And yes its a mixture of cultures; that's kind of the point. You can run to Silicon Valley and hide among your own brogrammer tribe, or you ca…

And thanks for promoting the idea that Iowa is ugly; keeps folks away which is nice. Right now we're in fall color; I hiked along the river this weekend and it was gorgeous. Can spend an afternoon at the lake with the cousin if I can wrangle an invite, or go to the public access. Camping, canoeing. The best secondary road system around, with thousands of miles of countryside biking opportunities.

Not everybody likes all these things; some folks want only the bright lights and noise. But I add my 2 cents to round out the discussion.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#794

Post by tptacek »

dtornabene wrote: post #621
assblaster wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chicago is a terrible option: Major parts of the city are off limits to white people due to threats from gangs on racial basis, but also random violence from crowds of "youths" who troll around nicer areas of the city looking for victims. Insane traffic, but if you want public transportation, you can look forward to dirty buses and subways, and again, threats of violence directed at you. Miserable long winters. High…

So, in case this doesn't get completely flagged, which it should, its also dead wrong. I lived in Chicago for years, family from Chicago, so I've been coming there literally since I was born. The cost of living is low, and the idea that "major parts of the city are off limits to white people" is exactly as absurd and racist as it sounds. I worked on the south side, and am painfully white. I biked and walked around th…

Same: Beverly, Evanston, Lakeview, Uptown, and finally Oak Park, where we raised our family (youngest is off to college later this year). I have never once been the victim of a racist attack --- not even anything verbal --- but, in Beverly, I saw my black friends victimized, firsthand.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#795

Post by eclat »

nik736 wrote: post #625
niccolop wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spain offers you a mixture of international cities, and technology hubs. There will never be another "Silicon Valley", but as an alternative where you can find stimulating and rewarding work, I'd argue it's better than Portugal.

> I'd argue it's better than Portugal. Why is it better?

Good luck getting by on English alone though.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#796

Post by PascLeRasc »

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

What do you think of the bicycling culture in Braga/Lisbon/Portugal in general? Are there a lot of protected lanes, do you feel like bikers are respected on the roads, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#797

Post by jachee »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #712
pc86 wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pittsburgh is great. I live in a city you've never heard of and pay $1125/mo for a one bedroom apartment. A good friend of mine lives in Pittsburgh and pays $1200/mo for a 5 bedroom house (rental) in an unpopular but safe and growing neighborhood of Pittsburgh proper. The cost of living is insanely low and Pennsylvania is a low tax state (flat 3.2% person income tax), which compared to California can equal a few hund…

> Public transit sucks. There is a light rail/trolley line from downtown into the South Hills area. It's great if you live next to it or can get to a park & ride. I hit it on the weekends to bike the trails along the rivers downtown. I haven't used the buses much, but the few times I've needed them, they weren't bad. The thing that makes Pittsburgh traffic bad is the topography. Outside of downtown, nothing is a grid…

As a daily user of the PortAuthority bus system, it's far from "Sucks".

$100 all-you-can-ride per month means I don't even think about cost, and the Transit app makes route planning super easy.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#798

Post by astrodev »

msadowski wrote: post #22

If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities there (PK and AGH for technical schools, UJ for humanities, medicine and some tech too and UE for economics). The tech scene seems to be constantly growing, with lots of international companies having their offices there. As a senior dev in Poland you can earn…

*top in Poland, of course, since the academic record of a typical Polish professor resembles that of a decent-but-not-great grad student in the US (Google some profiles and check on Google Scholar if it sounds like an exaggeration)

Krakow can be really nice and interesting, but you should probably be white and Western. Otherwise, you may be setting yourself up for a tough time (not because of any recent events).

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#799

Post by tptacek »

YorkshireSeason wrote: post #472

81 Nobel Laureates This is misleading, because it falsely counts winners of the "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences Prize in Economic Sciences" as a Nobel price. Alfred Nobel did not donate a price for economics. The Sveriges Riksbank (= bank of the swedish empire) created this price (against the explicit wishes of the Nobel foundation [1]) in order to 'cash' in on the reputation of Nobel price. This is…

I don't think the University of Chicago, which is one of the most exclusive and renowned schools in the country, is really trying to mislead anyone. Harvard, Yale, and Stanford brag about their Econ Nobels as well.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#800

Post by eclat »

ur-whale wrote: post #576
galfarragem wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Portuguese IRS: https://github.com/galfarragem/learning-notes/blob/master/no...

So basically, if you make more thank 50k euros per year, you start working for your own benefit around mid-june. Yeah ... pass.

Yup.
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