[This idea was actually inspired *in* a dream: in the dream, I was reading a posting on IBD by hazel, about how she was adapting to life in her new town with help from faculty wives; this led me to think of the following idea for the Halfbakery, all within the dream.] [My dreams do not normally have any predictive power, so I don't think hazel needs to start worrying that she will be moving shortly.] [Actually, I do not normally dream about either IBD or the Halfbakery; this in itself may be the start of a worrying trend.]
My wife, moving to Cambridge, and myself, subsequently moving to New York, and host of others we have either met, read or dreamed about, have experienced culture shock, to greater or lesser degrees.
So this web site is organized by locality, and allows people to post the little things and the big things that help newcomers get comfortable in that town/area. As with just about every other site on the web these days, other readers can then rate these snippets by how helpful they found them.
Sooner or later, anyone moving to a new place can quickly look up the top ten things that will them get settled in.
People have written books, of course, about adapting to life in Bermuda or the Big Apple, but the average city out there receives scant attention.
P.S. Our own moves took place 21 and 19 years ago respectively, so no special sympathy or best wishes required.-- DrCurry, Jan 10 2005 Like this? http://www.upmystreet.com [paraffin power, Jan 10 2005] Welcome Wagon http://www.welcomew...com/about/index.htmThe institutionalized version for new homebuyers. [jurist, Jan 10 2005] The Knowhere Guide http://www.knowhere.co.uk/Lots of comments about local areas from locals. [furmobile, Jan 12 2005] localmouth http://www.localmouth.comHints and tips from locals here too (UK-only for now). [gloworm, Jul 23 2007] hi [DrC], I've been thinking about a similar thing for new people at work (i.e. the nearby facilities / good sandwich shops etc.) but I'm not convinced that this information isn't available already, and in the same way, I'm not sure that there isn't already info. about living in New York 'out there'.
P.S. good luck with the moves.-- neilp, Jan 10 2005 The dreams are probably a [custard before bed] issue. Congratulations on your upcoming move.
[Ok, actually my sympathies, moving is hell]-- normzone, Jan 10 2005 Don't smaller towns have regular "Welcome Wagons"? And larger cities have "Craig's List".-- jurist, Jan 10 2005 Culture shock, no kidding. Mostly for anybody moving into the US from foreign countries.
Also, I think people's dreams have "predictive power", as you call them. After all, it's the time of the day when our senses shut down (well, sort of) and we're able to actually percieve another signals. I've even read that some people have found out, in dreams, that they had a disease (say cancer, Aids, etc) they didn't know about.-- Pericles, Jan 11 2005 I recently sent a fellow baker a write-up like this after checking out some local colleges for info. I figured they’d have something for new students / professors. They had nothing more than the usual stats you can find on the web. The questions he had included the living environment, pace of the people, stress levels, ease of changing employment, night life, etc. You know, what’s it *really* like there. I had this halfbaked idea myself, but ya beat me to it. +-- Shz, Jan 11 2005 Sure to be helpful. [+]-- Machiavelli, Jan 11 2005 When going on vacation we always use the Lonely Planet guide. It has all the info on where to eat, how to travel and also background info about the place and the people living there. Its not everything you want but it does cover a lot of it.-- Susan, Jan 12 2005 Fortunately for society there are model citizens out there that seem to get by without your system. The trials and tribulations of the upwardly mobile. //Sooner or later, anyone moving to a new place can quickly look up the top ten things that will them get settled in.// I think you are understating the problem although I'm glad you brought it up. Are these the same ten things that the Flinstones wanted ten thousand years ago? Your vagueness brings in croissants but so do dragneters picking up fringe votes. What top ten things are you talking about? Therefore it's baked. Let's all.-- mensmaximus, Jan 12 2005 not sure how I should react to the news that a New Yorker, that I've never met, is dreaming about my wife to be!
Still ... a good idea [DrCurry], similar to the www.upmystreet.com but rather more personalised, like a electronic guestbook for a house or area maybe?-- jonthegeologist, Jan 12 2005 random, halfbakery