And, I have to start by saying that this has been my experience and others may vary (and do).
I have been asked about 'Minnesota nice' ever since I move up here. After eight years here, my take is this:
Yes, there is 'Minnesota Nice' here. But there is very little 'Minnesota Friendly'. The nice I have gotten is the nice one gets from the front receptionist in the main office of a major corporation. In other words, they are superficially nice and that is as far as they are going. I once met a person who had moved here from my old area. He taught me a saying that has proven to be more and more true every day. He said, "A Minnesotan will give you directions to anywhere except their house." When I was in the hospital getting my heart bypass, I met one nurse who was from Georgia. She laughingly told me that she had been up here for ten years and the people here 'still did not know what to do with me!'. I now see that they 'don't know what to do with me' either.
That has proven to be the norm for the past eight years.
Now, I am not going to sit here and act like I am the greatest thing since sliced bread and everyone is evil because they don't like me. But, I have never had an issue with social interaction before moving here. And, I have met with a few locals here who have agreed with my assessment. Their take is that it has some basis in 'Scandinavian culture'. Which I find interesting, as I have known others from such regions and they did not act like this. But for whatever reason, I am just not accepted up here. I suppose I am not helping by following the old adage: One gets what one gives. I am not mean by any stretch, but these days I have given up greeting those who cross my path and I don't try to engage in conversation since no one is willing to engage back. I am a bit worried about this as the time is going to come when I go visit my old home again and they are going to think I am a rude S.O.B. with this behavior. I suspect this is why the current situation bothers me. Because where I am from, such behavior would get one isolated and shunned for being stuck up and rude as hell.
Sorry, I did not mean to ramble on about this. There is noting for me to do anyway. I don't belong here. I cannot afford to leave. We let ourselves be conned into the move and now my husband and I are paying the price.
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