NO NO NO, getting out asap
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1/30/2014
I'll try to keep my review from being too scathing ... I moved here from Boulder, CO a few months ago and was looking for work out of state after not finding what I needed there. I managed to find a good job in my field down here and had never been here before, so it was a shot in the dark I won't pretend to know everything about abq but after 4 months here's what i've learned..After having lived in 8 states and 3 countries and have at least visitedmost US states, I gotta say NM and ABQ has it's quirks, for better or worse.
Pros-
-Good Food, good number of restaurants
-Beautiful sunsets
-mild weather(winters been great)
-diverse culture
-now i'm stretching...
Cons:
Prevalent racism.. it's real, as a well dressed younger professional-type white male, I get dirty looks wherever I go. Abq seems very cliquey and overall of everywhere i've lived seems to be the least friendly. There are lots of people here who grew up here and this is all they know and they'd rather just stick to their circles and not let new people in. I'm a very social guy and even with going out on occasion I don't feel like this is a good place to be the new guy in town, most people are pretty set in their ways and have their own circles.. I "feel" like an outsider here more than anywhere else i've lived and i've moved many times.
I've met very few people here who I can relate to. Everyone seems to be completely swept up in a massive party culture here and have no intention of getting out of here. Most people smoke, drink and rage out like most nights of the week. I think this is where "the land of entrapment" partly comes from.. people partying their lives away here instead of seeking out education, better opportunites etc. Being 26 I partied alot the past few yrs and am not judging anyone, I still go to some bars here and stuff but the amount of people who have nothing in their life but getting high and f***ed up is astounding, lots of people i've met here that could have been friends but getting too high or whatever to do anything but sleep.
I've never seen so many tattoos, I have several myself but i'm talking about neck and face tattoos, i've never lived in a place where i've seen so many like on the regular basis, connected to the employment issues? well maybe at least partially.. there are an incredible amount of people living off uncle sam here ijs.
Smoke shops, mother of god i've never seen so many.. again nothing against smoking but promoting the party culture is a problem here, it says alot about the kind of people the city will produce. The liquor stores are packed at most times of day..I honestly wasn't familiar with many states that sold liquor at gas stations, grocery stores etc and I don't think that helps that culture i'm talking about.
Stupid people..I guess it's a stereotype for New Mexicans to be poorly educated and everything but lord have mercy. I meet tons of people(mostly hispanic) who have horrible vocabulary, close minded, ghetto don't know anything about the world beyond Abq. I've never heard the word "mines", ever, as in "that is mines" .. I die everytime lol. I'm in school right now and have seen a ton of local students who I don't know how they made it that far, kudos to them for getting education though. One of my teachers is honest to god the worst teacher i've ever had in terms of her knowledge and grammar usage.
The best word I can use for this city is a word I hate.. "Ratchet". I actually met a pretty cool chick recently but she turned out to be ghetto AF.. all her friends thugs, swaggots, Cholos and people who generally want nothing out of life. She tried to get me to pay for every single thing in a few dates, turned out she had no direction in life and was a leech. never returned my calls or anything after passing out from smoking too much, typical Abq. If you are a single white guy who likes Latinas like me, good luck, most are not open minded.. most are ratchet, twerking hos nd only love the Cholo, gangbanger types..earrings, neck tattoos, shaved head, a typical look here, just being real about it.. there is a certain culture that exists here nowhere else i've seen. Also very few good looking women in general, i've heard that before about abq.
Bad drivers, i've seen 2 intersection related accidents and several near misses.. every state says they have bad drivers but I see a ton of it here..people not paying attention and lots of swerving drivers too.. top DWI state I hear and it's not hard to see why.
I don't think this is a place you want to be if you are white. I hope that doesn't offend anyone but I mean it. I've had many friends all over the world of diff cultures but there is something about Abq where the hispanics here act like they own the place and treat you like a true outsider, I feel very unwelcome.
I'm trying to be open minded about this place, really am.. I grew up in NY and know all about unfriendly people but damn.. unless something really blows my mind here i'm gonna finish up some school and get out of here in a year or two.
In summary, just feels like a trap here.. too many people doing nothing but pissing their lives away, poorly educated and lack of resources, discrimination is high if you are not hispanic and/or look/speak educated, professional etc. I like the sunsets, weather, some good food here and there, there are some opportunities for medical professionals here which I am and also research with Sandia Labs and some other high tech ventures.. but this is a place is clearly a place to visit not live imho.
Other places i've lived that i'm kind of comparing against:
Albuquerque, NM 4.5/10
Boulder, CO 8/10
Colorado Springs, CO 9/10
Ogden/Salt Lake City, UT 7/10
Syracuse, NY 7/10
Albany, NY 6/10
Lancaster/Lebanon, PA 7/10
Reading, PA 4/10
Brandon | Albuquerque, NM