Moving to the US to study

[lili85]

Hello everyone!

I am 25 year old Norwegian girl who's been suffering from ME for the last 5 years. For the past year I have been treated by a great doctor who was cooperating with Kenny de Meirleir before, and now with the WPI, and my health has improved a lot! I am still not 100%, but I am well enough to start thinking about going back to school next fall.

I am considering either going to Colorado (in the Denver/Boulder area) or Chicago, but I was hoping that someone in here could help me with some input on where would be the best for me to live so that my body can continue to recover.

I generally seem to be doing much better during the spring and the summer, and a lot worse during the fall here in Norway.. I don't feel good whenever it is damp or raining, or like now that the temperature has started to get below freezing. I'm aware of the cold winters in both CO and IL, but I have a feeling Chicago would be the coldest and hardest on my body...

Anyways, I am open to any suggestions or opinions so please feel free to comment!

:sofa:

 

[Andrew]

Chicago is known for it's cold weather and harsh cold winds in the winter. Denver/Boulder are near some beautiful mountains, at very high altitudes, and cold during the winter. But maybe this is not as cold as where you are. Why don't you search Google to find the monthly weather of places you are interested in going.

 

[Sasha]

Hi lili - Andrew makes a good suggestion about looking at weather websites.

A friend of mine unavoidably had to go and live in Chicago for the past year and really hated the bitterly cold winters - she said if she tried to go outside when it was cold, the tears froze onto her eyelashes! I don't know how this compares with where you are in Norway.

Is it possible for you to be a bit more flexible in terms of where you go to study? Could you choose somewhere partly for its good weather in the fall/winter? It would be good to help your health as much as you can.

 

[illsince1977]

Hi-
I am a refugee from Chicago weather. I grew up there and moved to the Boulder area when I was 23. Chicago is bitterly cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. Fall is actually the driest, most temperate season in Chicago. But the Boulder/Denver area's winters are easy to take compared to Chicago. It's dry, not humid, with the occasional Chinook wind blowing through that melts all the snow and makes it feel like spring or even summer.
Which schools are you considering and for what fields of study?

 

[lili85]

Hi Andrew, Sasha and Susan,

Thank you for the replies!

I have been looking at the weather websites, but it's sometimes hard to know i.e. how bitter the cold is just by looking at the different temperatures. But you are absolutely confirming my suspicions (about Chicago). I lived a year in Boulder 8 years ago (before I got ill, so I don't know how my body would respond to the weather/altitude there now), and I loved how dry it was and the seasons they had there. The reason why I am looking just at these two places is because I have close friends that I could live with in both places, and because I know I would be getting a scholarship and student loan from the Norwegian govt. Since it might be an adjustment to study abroad again, I would really appreciate to have some close friends nearby just in case...

I'm mainly looking at CU in Boulder, and DePaul, Loyola or UIC in Chicago. I have already completed a Bachelor in International Business in Switzerland (but this 3 year degree is not accepted for entry at Master level in the US), so I would transfer those credits and do 2-3 semester in order to get my bachelor's in International Business. After that, I am looking at doing a Master's in Higher Education Administration or Student Affairs (where and when I am not sure yet). If you have any recommendations when it comes to schools, also in other places, I would really appreciate it! Thank you!

 

[illsince1977]

I am a UIC graduate, class of 1976. Waiting for the bus in winter was highly unpleasant and often delayed 30-40 minutes, then 2 or 3 would show up simultaneously. I was also able to take the El (elevated train/subway) but it was a longer walk in the bad weather. Chicago is a wonderful town, but I hated the weather and compared to Colorado and California, it's pretty ugly unless you're right on the Lake. I don't think I could tolerate the humidity, the cold and the heat in Chicago anymore, but I am very debilitated. I got sick right after moving to Colorado, so never had to endure the bad weather on top of the illness. My parents were from Germany and they said they never endured the extremes in the weather there like in Chicago.

And I worked for CRJP, a psychology institute affiliated with CU in Boulder! I find that when I go up to about 5000 feet it really bothers me, but I live at sea level now. I think I would adjust after a couple of weeks if I were living at Boulder's elevation again, but have no idea.

 

[ixchelkali]

lili85, you might want to search at www.city-data.com for each city. It gives you lots of useful data, including weather. The weather data shows humidity, precipitation, days of sunshine, amount of snow, etc, instead of just temperature. And they have forums where you can post a question and people who live there will try to answer.

 

[lili85]

Hi ixchelkali,

Thank you for that link! I've had a look and compared the two, and it def seems like Boulder would be the best place for me. Does anyone in here know anything about mold in the two places? I read somewhere that there is very little mold in CO because it's so dry there, is that correct?

Susan, it seems like I would feel the same as your parents (even if I'm Norwegian and I'm supposed to be used to these conditions). Chicago weather sure seem very harsh during the winter.

 

[illsince1977]

Hi Lili-
Chicago is harsher in the summer, as well. My parents were definitely referring to the heat and humidity of summer, also. Perhaps you are not as concerned with summer because you're intending to take a break fom classes then and return to Norway, though. It doesn't cool down in the evenings/nights during heat waves the way it does in dryer climates and at higher altitudes in my experience, which makes it hard to sleep. Of course these days everyone has air conditioning.

In general I would think your thoughts on mold would be correct that CO may be preferable, however indoor mold is probably much more a byproduct of dwelling construction and drainage since every locale has rain. We were amazed to find we had high toxic mold counts in our house because we were positive the walls were mold free because we fixed all the problems causing mold in the walls. What we discovered is the concrete slab floors were porous because some had never been properly sealed, but more importantly they had cracked due to a combination of improper drainage around the house, tree roots growing under the house from trees that were too close and probably earthquakes. The mold came up through the slab. We just finished fixing the problem in every room but the kitchen. I really need to order another test kit and re-test the house. Your friends could do this for you in their homes if it would help you make the decision. My report was done by http://www.themoldlab.com/home_test_kit.shtml .

I wish cleaning up the mold in our house had helped my health, but alas it seems to have made no difference whatsoever.