<p>"... Houston is arguably Americas most enthusiastically cosmopolitan city, a place where the future has already arrived."</p>
<p>Excerpted from the last line of a special report on Texas in this week's<br>
Economist....
A</a> special report on Texas: : Lone Star rising | The Economist </p>
<p>Where the future has already arrived!</p>
<p>So your point is??? (Sorry I don’t understand the point of this thread, Sorry)</p>
<p>I mean Houston is an amazing place, Texas to me is amazing. I love Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Texas actually has done really well during this recession. Texas’s unemployment was only 7.1 in May 2009, tied for 14th lowest in the US. [url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm]Unemployment”>http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm]Unemployment</a> Rates for States<a href=“P.S.%20I%20don’t%20live%20in%20Texas”>/url</a></p>
<p>I live 2000 miles away, and there have been times that I’ve heard parents say great things about Rice, quietly adding that they wouldn’t want their kids to go to school in Houston… most have never stepped foot in this vibrant city – let alone seen the beautiful campus. The words I copied made me smile and I just wanted everybody to see them, too. (I’ll quote The Economist the next time anyone shows their ignorance about Houston.) </p>
<p>I’ll also mention Rice’s participation in the upcoming 40th anniversary celebration of the moon landing:
<a href=“http://www.discoverygreen.com/en/cev/eb/3924945/:[/url]”>www.discoverygreen.com/en/cev/eb/3924945/:</a></p>
<p>cdz, this is really all about my being a very proud Rice parent… we’re everywhere!</p>
<p>ottoline - its a good place to work. and has a booming economy. yet given the choice of picking elsewhere a lot of people would. </p>
<p>not to say its a bad city, but coming from norcal/boston its kinda clear where I would rather be. That being said, the city - city is a nice place. It just gets more hick as you move out of the city.</p>
<p>As for Austin… I think austin beats Houston any day of the week!</p>
<p>^^ Remove the colon from the end of the link above and it should work. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for both links, Ottoline – from another proud Rice parent!</p>
<p>But in my mind San Antonio bests Austin =P</p>
<p>I love the river walk, Alamo and all those fun things you can do in that town. Oh and the great taste of the food.</p>
<p>Thanks, patsmom, for helping out with my clumsily copied link.
Here’s another one for the 40th anniversary:
[Spacefest:</a> 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Celebration, Houston | Events | Yelp](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/events/houston-spacefest-40th-anniversary-of-the-moon-landing-celebration]Spacefest:”>Spacefest: 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Celebration, Houston | Events - Yelp)</p>
<p>I loved Austin and hope to visit San Antonio, one day, but I think NYC beats out Boston any day! Maybe not for the student life, more for the post-college years… But it’s gotten so tough to find affordable apartments, jobs, there… </p>
<p>It’s so true that Houston’s thriving – you know, it’s the kind of place where the future’s already here. And there’s a good school right near Rice Village…</p>
<p>never been to Santonio… I def. feel they all beat Dallas though</p>
<p>San Antonio gets boring really soon. Austin is clearly the best city in the US.</p>
<p>in the US? I totally dispute that. In Texas, for sure</p>
<p>In the US, Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Seattle(depending on weather) among others totally has it beat</p>
<p>ummm weather and social atmosphere wise, the best to me are NYC, Houston, LA, SF, DC, and San Jose</p>
<p>San Francisco is really cool, as is NYC obviously, but for someone who’s 18-25, I’m pretty sure Austin in the place to be.</p>
<p>For someone who’s 18-25, or any other age for that matter, I’m pretty sure it depends on a bunch of factors and there is no single “best” city in the US.</p>
<p>Oh, snap, son!</p>
<p>I think you guys all forgot about Chicago. I love that city!</p>
<p>true. chicago is pretty wicked sick. But yeah, NYC and Bah-ston beat austin any day</p>
<p>except for October-March …</p>
<p>Maybe you all should actually read the article before saying, “Nuh-uh, THIS city is better!” The article is saying that Houston is “enthusiastically cosmopolitan” because of its attitude towards newcomers and its ethnic diversity.</p>
<p>^^ I think the discussion soon moved slightly off topic a while ago.</p>
<p>79 times a year is definitely lower than any ther surverys I have seen. let me see if there is anything from the WHO on this</p>
<p>I was in Houston just a few days ago renting a place to stay. Observations:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rice and the surrounding area are gorgeous. Already knew that, though.</li>
<li>Love what I had of the food here! I tried a good Tex-Mex place near Rice Village called Goode Company. It was awesome. </li>
<li>The Galleria is an awesome place and also where I realized how ethnically diverse Houston is. Pretty sure there were more Indians, Asians and Middle Easterners in there than white people. :P</li>
<li>I wasn’t impressed with some of the places I drove through. I was following my GPS, and took me through some seriously bad neighborhoods. Also, many of the roads are falling apart, and some intersections are poorly designed and flat-out dangerous.</li>
</ul>
<p>So, I hope I was merely unlucky and only happened to go through many of Houston’s bad areas, and that the vibrant parts of the city are actually there for me to explore.</p>