Hm, looks like I'll be moving to U.S.A. for a while @ some point

[marnold***]

By "tri-state" I assume you mean the greater New York City area? It's hard to offer specific recommendations because, well, the U.S. is a pretty big place. I find it amazing that you could save all that money buying cars, etc., here. I'd think that the shipping alone would kill off any profit. Usually you can address the safety issue (and the cost issue) by living in a smaller town outside the big town. You just have to gauge if you save enough to cover the transportation costs/time.

[mapka]

By "tri-state" I assume you mean the greater New York City area? It's hard to offer specific recommendations because, well, the U.S. is a pretty big place. I find it amazing that you could save all that money buying cars, etc., here. I'd think that the shipping alone would kill off any profit. Usually you can address the safety issue (and the cost issue) by living in a smaller town outside the big town. You just have to gauge if you save enough to cover the transportation costs/time.

I agree. No matter where the larger cities are found, you will surely find lots of crime. Boston is nice but very expensive to live. There also is a ton of traffic to get anywhere you want to go (at least it was that way 10 years ago when I was up there last). Same can be said of the NYC area. I live 2 hours from NYC and there are people who live here and work there. and that is 2 hours without traffic! with traffic you are talking closer to 3! Just to give you the idea of the commute some will go through. They do it because 5 years ago you could get a huge home here for the price they were paying for a tiny one there. Of course, that all has changed... You may want to consider the Philadelphia area. Many prestigious schools and the city has some nice neighborhoods (along with some very bad ones!) and a large suburbia area. There are also many Pharmaceutical companies in the area (possible internship for a bio chemist)