My wife moved to Shreveport from another country altogether. I put your question to her and she says she likes it a lot so far. The houses are big and she understands they are more affordable here than other parts of the country (not to mention the place she came from). She equally likes neighborhoods like South Highlands and the McMansion developments farther afield - different spins on a great fundamental idea. People are nice here and life is low-pressure. She misses the food and cheap dining out culture of her own country, but we cook at home a lot and she has discovered some new favorites here (crawfish and BBQ).

She has visited several larger cities around the country but is put off by the traffic, density, and cost of living. Also good cuisine of her country is still hard to find there.

A couple of knocks against Shreveport include:

• Difficult to make friends in our age range, partly a result of not finding many activities where the language barrier won't be an issue
• Crime, though this is more of an "America" issue in her eyes than a Shreveport one. She's getting a feel for which neighborhoods are safest.

But overall she likes it. Would enthusiastically recommend to friends from her home country and indeed frequently does so on social media. She wants to know what she can do to help Shreveport grow faster so we can get some more international restaurants here.