<p>Hey, I am new and want to know if Oregon would be a good fit for my life. I want to hear from Oregonians and others about the good and bad of the state. I am considering college in Eugene. Please tell me anything and everything that comes to mind.</p>
<p>I’m an Oregonian, I live in Portland, and I looooooove it. It’s so green, there’s so many places to go hiking/camping/backpacking, and the weather is fantastic (never too cold or too hot, and pleanty of good ol’ liquid sunshine). I can’t speak for Eugene, but Portland is full of so many different kinds of people, it’s incredibly diverse, and there’s so much to do downtown. And yes, it absolutely is hipster central, we ride bikes and eat from food carts.</p>
<p>I live in southern Oregon and it’s also great. Sunnier and hotter than Portland and Eugene. Hard to say whether it’s a good fit for you life, not knowing anything about your life… but it’s a good fit for mine. There’s a lot of natural beauty, quality of life is good, the unemployment rate is relatively high, wages relatively low (although a minimum wage that’s better than many states), it’s pretty politically liberal if you’re reasonably close to the I-5 corridor, very conservative if you’re not. Eugene and Portland are as blue as they can be. Good microbreweries, good wineries, lots of indie arts, great outdoor opportunities like hiking, biking, rafting, etc. What else to do you want to know?</p>
<p>Oregon’s a great place to be. The weather is great, too. There is a lot of rain in the winter months but it definitely beats cold, snowy winters. In the spring and summer the weather is gorgeous. The range of outdoor activities is virtually unlimited, but even if you’re not a outdoorsy person the landscape is still beautiful to look at, and far more green than dusty, brushy California. Not nearly as hot either.</p>
<p>In general, the Pacific Northwest is an awesome place. I’ve met very few people who say that they absolutely hate living here (I lived in the Midwest, where I heard this constantly).</p>
<p>About me- I live in Colorado right now and am so sick of it.
I love rainy climates and I do enjoy sun, but not for 300 days a year. I want to know more about Eugene because I plan on attending UO. Is Eugene a boring town? What is the party life like, and is UO a good academic school?</p>
<p>I think UO a much better school than a lot of people give it credit for. Of course, like with every university, some programs are stronger than others. The architecture and journalism programs, for example, are top-notch. And, of course, if you want to do anything sports business related, there’s really no better place to be.</p>
<p>As someone who grew up about two hours from Eugene and has been there plenty of times (but won’t be moving there until September), I can definitely tell you that it’s not a boring city. At least around here, it’s got a reputation of being very eclectic-and more than a little eccentric, but in a good way. There are plenty of things to do if you go out looking for them.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about majoring in Political Science, or International Studies. UO has great programs for studying abroad. How are those undergrad programs?</p>