North Carolina

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Home : 2003 : September : 27

North Carolina
By Amie

I live Durham, NC, and I really like it. It's in the Research Triangle area near Raleigh and Chapel Hill. The climate's great. The area is beautiful. It's not as crowded as Boston (I lived there for nine years.), so it's
easier to get around. Things are much less expensive. For example, a reasonably nice house runs for about $150-$225K. In and around Boston, you'd be looking at $300-400K for the same house. There's plenty to do - museums, plays, outdoor activities, baseball and basketball games, etc. There's a really active arts community - potters, writers, and more.
The schools vary pretty widely

throughout the Triangle area. Wake County and the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City schools have excellent reputations. Durham's reputation isn't that great, but in reality it depends on the school. I teach in an independent school, so I can't say for sure how easy it is to find a job. My impression is that it's not too difficult, especially if you're flexible about which school you want. The certification process seems like a pain to me, but I don't know that it's actually any worse than any other state. (I'm just not very patient!)