10 Things No One Warned Me About Before Moving to the Quad Cities

It's been about 6 months since I moved to the Quad Cities and I've learned some things about the area since then.

Here's my mid-year check-in. It's not all been culture shock learning curves-there are some things from Arkansas culture that carries over into the Midwest, like some of the words we use ("ope" being the first that comes to mind) and the agri-centric aspect of the two states. There are also some things that don't cross over (I would kill for a big Arkansas catfish plate with hushpuppies and sweet tea).

I first visited the QC in December 2021 to interview for my radio DJ gig. (For those of you who asked "why?" when I said I moved here, a v common query I got.)

I had no idea where the Quad Cities was, except for 3ish hours outside of Chicago. My first impression was that everyone was really nice (still true) and that it's a cool community right on the Mississippi River.

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I wasn't totally out of the loop when I moved here but I really only knew this: I knew there would be many cool things happening around here in the summer, that the QC was kind of a spread-out landscape, and that winters would be a lot colder and snowier than I was used to. A lot. But that's kind of where the knowledge stopped.

So here's a little nugget of what I've learned in the 6 months I've lived in the QC.