During the job hunt, a main factor for many people is location. For me, it is not necessarily a deal breaker, but if I have a choice there is definitely a few cities I would love to be in. San Francisco was never really a city I saw myself living in. I don’t particularly love fog, and I am not your typical San Franciscan. I have been there many times visiting friends and family, and never felt that the city was as alluring as other places I had been. However, my brother, and best friend both believe that there would be no better place to live. Since they are two people I love very much, and would love to live near both of them, I decided to give San Francisco another chance.

I was there this past weekend visiting family, and my brother took the opportunity to convince me that it really is the best place to live. I decided to use his eagerness to my advantage, and began to think of my trip like an interview for the city. During an interview, the interviewer is trying to get to know you, your history, your weaknesses, and your strengths. I already had recommendations from many sources, but I needed to form my own opinion. I decided that I should go about interviewing San Francisco in the similar way.

My first question was what is public transportation like, and how would I get from one neighborhood to the next? My brother told me that biking is the way to go, however I am unsteady riding a bike around campus, and the thought of dodging buses and bikes does not seem like an option for me. My other options included buses, zip car, or simply having my own car. To me, it seems like a city that you need a car in. And this is definitely a factor I am going to consider if choosing to live there.

The next question was where would I live, and does it feel like a safe place? A desire I have for my future home is to live somewhere that I feel safe walking around at night by myself. I don’t plan on running around my city alone at all times of the night, but if I need groceries and it is 9:30pm I want to feel like I can simply walk down the street and feel fine about being alone. Ultimately, I decided that in certain neighborhoods I could imagine myself doing this in San Francisco.

I also looked at things like proximity stores I love, restaurants I would enjoy, and many other slightly superficial attributes of the city. Basically I was seeing how the city would fit into the culture of my life. While I ultimately decided that I could in fact live in San Francisco, I did not have the emotional connection that I have with many other cities. It was an interview that went very well, and met all my checkpoints but the city didn’t convince me quite yet. I guess I might have to just move there to fall in love with the city my friends and family love so much. How do you decide where you would and would not call home after graduation?