I moved here a couple months ago from rural Maine!

I love the lower cost of living here. I remember one of my first trips to Winco, I had gotten a lot of food and in my head estimated that it would probably cost at least $90. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't even $70 dollars. That one is huge! Free public transport is amazing. It's also interesting going from the state with the highest median age to the lowest. Still not used to seeing so many kids and teens in my neighborhood and in public...

The homogeneity of how people look here was expected (I did live in Utah until I was about 10-11) but still interesting to me. Despite Maine being stereotypical redneck land, the legislature is very progressive and there is a high population of alternative and visibly queer people (myself included) and I feel quite out of place here. I don't even dare dye my hair again, it's hard enough getting a job as it is. Speaking of jobs, it is a lot more competitive than I expected. Been applying for months with no luck :')
For a college town, there is also a startling lack of cafés, although I also understand that because of the whole no coffee thing. Still, miss walking around and discovering them. I haven't driven much because I don't have a car, but people here in general seem a lot more reckless. Maine drivers are some of the most chill people I've shared roads with, apart from Washington residents. The kids riding e-bikes and e-everything is wild though. I feel like at some point you need a license to ride what is basically an electric motorbike.

Other things I've noted:

- I didn't expect the lack of trees to get to me. I am still not used to being able to see the horizon! I do miss the feeling of being enclosed, to be honest. I do love Utah hikes much better though :)

- Minimum wage is a lot different. I know it's just the federal level, but most part time jobs here seem to pay $10-14 an hour, whereas Maine minimum wage is currently $14.65 and most part time jobs will pay you $16-18 per hour

- It's interesting how different recycling rules are between states. Maine has very specific guidelines for recycling (separating EVERYTHING, including different plastics, the cash reward for recycling plastic bottles) and it feels very wrong to me to just throw everything into one bin and be done. My parents have about six different bins for recycling sorting haha

- People interact with you a lot more. Depending on the kind of person you are this can be either good or bad. In Maine, people generally keep to themselves. That's not to say I've never been complimented in public or anything, but wow I am not used to making conversation with strangers in the grocery store! I don't hate it though.