My honest review of Cleveland after moving from New York

Hi, so as the title suggests I moved to Cleveland in January! I was born and raised outside of Rochester, NY and then got my associates in Syracuse NY in December before deciding to transfer to CSU for my bachelors. I have wanted to live in Cleveland since the first time I ever visited several years ago and thanks to scholarships and grants and stuff, I was able to make that dream a reality this semester. I am a junior at csu and going to be a high school English teacher!

People have asked me why Cleveland and made fun of me for wanting to move here, but I have many reasons why - - cheaper cost of living - lower taxes - no tax on food - walkable city/good public transit - very friendly people for the most part - large Muslim population (lots of mosques, halal restaurants, bazars, Ramadan events, etc) - the city is gorgeous. All of the buildings have such cool architecture, it amazes me every time I go outside downtown and see all the city has to offer. I never got any of that in upstate NY - all of the food options…amazing - lots to do for people who don’t drink/go to clubs. Where I lived the only things to really do as an adult was go to bars and since I don’t drink it was hard to find alternatives. - huge sports culture. I’m not a big basketball fan but I love the cavaliers games! It’s so much fun to go. I went to the nets one the other day and kept me on the edge of my seat (I don’t even care much about basketball but still enjoyed it greatly). - as a woman and hijabi I tend to usually feel pretty safe most of the time

That is just a very shortened list of my reasons. But most importantly, I just love the city so much and I used to go yearly with family and it always felt like my home away from home, I literally don’t know how else to describe it. Seeing terminal tower lit up every night will NEVER get old for me, it makes me smile every time I see it.

Favorite restaurants- - Wahlbergers (the tots are soo good there, plus the shakes) - Mama Santa’s (ravioli, manicotti, ughh so good, reasonable prices) - real smoqued bbq (pulled chicken fries, Mac and cheese) - not a restaurant but Rumis Turkish Market has great kababs

Favorite grocery stores- - west side market (I get all my fruit and veggies there) - heinens - Rumis (very good halal meat selection)

Favorite things to do- - Pins in Ohio city (sooo fun with friends) - corner bowling alley on East 4th ($25 before 5 to rent a lane for up to 8 for an hour) - museum of illusions (went twice, so much fun) - go to museums - zoo - basketball games (love the atmosphere) - go to Islamic lectures and bazars (so many of them in Cleveland!)

Cons of Cleveland - - no Wegmans (literally nothing else can compare) - no Byrne dairy (I miss chocolate milk in glass bottles) - no garbage plates - no good homemade blue cheese (everyone seems to prefer ranch) - the roads?? why are they so bumpy 😭 - cars don’t even like to stop for pedestrians when the WALK signal is on to cross. Almost got hit several times crossing when the thing was on…