Moving to Indiana

Moving to Bloomington, Indiana

March 2008

My husband is interviewing for a post doc in Bloomington Indiana. I am worried about relocating there. Has anyone lived there with a family? Our daughters will be 6 months old and 3 years old when and if we move there.

Is there a Jewish preschool in the area? Is there any tech industry in there, so that I can find work (I do design and branding)? What areas are good to buy a house in for families? How sophisticated is the area?

Hoping some positive responses will ease my anxiety of perhaps leaving our family, friends and the Bay Area for the midwest where the nearest city is 50 miles away.

Thanks! mari

I grew up in Bloomington, IN, as a professor's kid. I'm 39, and my parents no longer live there, so I can't tell you anything really about current conditions. But, I can say that as eager as I was to get out of there at age 18 -- what 18-year old isn't eager to leave home? -- it was a very nice place to grow up.

Sophisticated? It's your basic midwestern college town. IU brings *a lot* to the city in terms of cultural opportunities, especially with its music school. And it also brings a lot of really smart, sophisticated, educated people living there, from all over the country and the world. There is definitely at least one synagogue (a friend's father growing up was the rabbi there), but my lack of current knowledge means I can't say whether there's a Jewish preschool. I would guess there is. There was definitely a Montessori school. I grew up going to the farmer's market, participating in liberal political activities, and watching independent films. Is that at all reassuring?

Sure, it's also in the middle of Southern Indiana, which is about as red state as they come. I worked at our (democratic) congressman's office in DC when I was in college, and the letters from Bloomington constituents were markedly different than the letters from the rest of the constituency. And I think that division is felt a lot in town, too, and at the schools. I do recall feeling a pretty strong division between University-affiliated families and locals (with local professionals like doctors, etc., falling somewhere in the middle). The positive to that is that I grew up surrounded by really high-achieving peers, where expectations of success were set very high by families. We all played instruments, learned other languages, involved ourselves in intellectual activities, and went on to very good colleges.

As for where to live, I'm sure there's lots of new communities and developments that I don't know a thing about. I grew up halfway in between Bryant Park and College Mall, and that was a very nice area. The area just south of campus is really nice. Spicewood and Sherwood Oaks are old subdivisions that I had many friends in. I went to South High School, and I do think the University-affiliated families are more prevalent there, even still. I have done recruiting for my (ivy league) college, and it came up once in conversation with the college's admissions officer that I was from Bloomington. He said, ''oh, you must have gone to South, right? That's where we get applications from.'' Then again, my mom taught at a middle school that fed into North High School, and she just went to see one of her former students play as a soloist with the SF Symphony (Jonathan Biss, the pianist, not Joshua Bell, the violinist, who is also from B'ton, and also went to North). So, don't worry too much.

As for the ''nearest city [that] is 50 miles away'' -- you'll probably be happier in, and find more of what you're looking for, in Bloomington, than you will in Indianapolis. I suppose Indianapolis might give you some job opportunities in your field, especially if you can swing it without having to make a daily commute, but growing up we had no reason to go to Indianapolis for much at all. It had the airport, the closest outlet stores, and I saw some rock shows there, but other than that? There's more going on in Bloomington. anneh

We moved to Berkeley from West Lafayette, IN where we were in school. Different part of IN (Bloomington is nicer) but have a few comments.

Bloomington is obviously no Berkeley but I have to give it credit for being a funky college town in its own right. It's very much a college town so the town revolves around the University. Given that, college sports are huge. Even if you're not a sports fan (we're not) fall football games and ''tailgating'' can be a lot of fun with kids - so much to watch and hear and taste! Other sports as well.

Bloomington to Indy is about the same as W.Laf to Indy and we found ourselves there pretty often for all things city life - certain stores as well as the zoo, parks, children's museum, etc.

The other thing you'll find is just amazing peace of mind about the relative safety of the area. You can find places to live where the kids can ride their bike in the street and walk to the neighbor's house and you don't have to worry.

And, in the end, it is just a post-doc. By the time you discover the new places to go and new things to do, the post-doc will be over and you can move on. I've been a post-doc and understand that the importance of a good post-doc fit for your husband. If it's a good fit, it's definitely worthwhile. You won't get bored in the area in the lifespan of a post-doc (I'm guessing 2-3 yrs).

Lived (near) there.