Seriously, I hate this city
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5/9/2012
Look, Columbus sucks. I absolutely hate this place and I wish I would have stayed here a few days before deciding to move here. The air quality is horrible and this year I have had BY FAR the worst allergy season I've ever had in my entire lifetime. To call Columbus a "real city" is a complete JOKE. This is a cowtown at best full of cliquey, standoffish, backstabbing, mean, ignorant and boring people. This is funny because you'd think it would be quite the contrary with the fact that this place somehow houses one of the top colleges in the country. My thought is that the city suffers from brain-drain in that the best and brightest individuals leave for better areas of the country. This city has some of the worst drivers I have ever seen and I've been to other major cities such as Cincinnati and Cleveland. Columbus is about as worse as it gets driving wise. The land area is just way too small to accommodate the over 730,000 plus people that live here. The sad story is that even more people are moving here by the day. Roadways are a nightmare during Rush hours and most times of the day and there is no form of a highly developed mass transit system like a rail system. Columbus only has COTA as a bus system which is honestly a joke.
The restaurant scene is horrendous. If you want to go out to eat, you have your choice between all of the typical chain restaurants. This is a travesty especially if you were used to tasty mom and pop, small business eateries etc. Nope, you won't find much of that in Columbus. In terms of entertainment, there is nothing for young people to do around here. It's extraordinarily boring. The city also has no culture whatsoever. There is nothing that defines the city or makes it stand out from the competition. Yes, there is a melting pot of diverse culture that lives here but they contribute nothing at all to this city. Most share the same agenda that I have, they just tolerate this place because this is where they work but they show no loyalty or contribution to the region.
How about land geography? Well, Columbus is a whole lot of nothingness. It looks like someone cleared out a farm and built a bunch of buildings on top of it. The terrain is extraordinarily flat and there are no interesting parks or natural wildlife areas. If you like nature, here is another reason to hate Columbus. The suburbs are your typical cookie cutter suburbs where there racial segregation and income disparities become apparent. Downtown Columbus is a joke and is dead after rush hour traffic has cleared. It also looks like trash in that it should belong to one of the smaller, more economically depressed Ohio cities like Dayton.
Speaking of economy, the economy in Columbus in my opinion is typical of what you'd see in Ohio. It's not as bad as Northeast or Northwest Ohio but it is not far off. Don't be fooled as there are no jobs here and you can really do better some place else in the country.
How is the weather? It is schizophrenic like most of the city's residents. One day it might be 80 degrees and the next 5 days it's raining with highs only in the mid to low 50's. When you wake up, the sun and warmth will smile in your face and later that day the cold will freeze your spirit. The summers get hot and muggy and the winters are long and cold even though it doesn't snow much here.
I failed to mention the wild, psychotic obsession over the OSU buckeyes but why even bother? Unless you're into OSU football, you will already have a big enough reason to feel overwhelmingly out of place here.
I know after reading all of this, you are wondering to yourself "Well, what is good about Columbus, Ohio?". To be honest, absolutely nothing and I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart. The place is abysmally lame and overrated. Anything that I have found tolerable about the city are traits that I could find in a city with better weather, more friendly, educated residents and a stronger, more diverse economy. I don't plan on staying here much longer and am seeking to move in a couple years. If you're reading this and deciding whether or not you should "take the plunge", step away, no..., run away from the diving board before you make a mistake you will regret. There are better options. Remember, location is everything.....
John | Columbus, OH