10 Things You Might Not Expect When Moving To North Dakota

A lot of people tend to have pre-conceived notions of what North Dakota is like before ever stepping foot there. I didn’t move to the state until I was 13, and I’ll admit that when I first imagined what it would be like I thought of flat fields, farms, harsh winters, and not much else. What I didn’t know was that there is so much more to the Peace Garden State than the stereotypes would lead someone to believe and that the state is actually full of hidden gems.

If you’re moving to ND, here are 10 things that might surprise you:

The winters aren’t always that bad, or at least it isn’t always a frozen wasteland like some people describe it as.

Geof Wilson/Flickr

But when they are, it isn’t the snow you have to watch out for, it’s the windchill.

longitudelatitude/Flickr

Not everything in North Dakota is farms and small towns, we have big cities too.

Jonathan Kotta/Flickr

And no, not all of North Dakota is flat. This photo was taken in ND:

Roderick Eime/Flickr

Sometimes North Dakota is described as treeless, but there are some places in the state that would have a bone to pick with that!

NDPRD/Flickr

Despite not being known for many national or major league sports, we do have a pretty great professional baseball team to cheer for at Newman Field.

Fargo-Moorhead CVB/Flickr

North Dakota has some amazing art, theater, and culture. It isn’t just farms and oil here, there’s so much more!

Katie Wheeler/Flickr

Some of the food may be hard to figure out how to pronounce to outsiders, but trust us, it’s delicious. Fleischkuekle is a good example:

Visit Grand Forks/Facebook

The accents from the movie “Fargo” are not accurate, so don’t expect that. Maybe we throw in a few “uff-da’s” here and there, but “yah you betcha” after every sentence is not realistic.

carquestguy/Flickr

Think there isn’t much to see or do here? You’d be surprised what hidden gems are out here, and there’s lots!

Jereme Rauckman/Flickr

Did you move to North Dakota from somewhere else? What surprised you most about it?