milwaukee is not that bad. just google bad neighborhoods and stay away. should be fine. a lot stuff to do. there is the summer fest every year there. it's by lake michigan. has the bucks, brewers, etc. short drive to chicago and madison. both has different things to offer. slightly longer drive to green bay to see the packers. i believe there is a ferry in the summer that takes over the lake to michigan. there are a lot of microbrew in wisconsin. you can try those, probably not available in texas. good beer and brats, and cheese. there are more. can't think of any now though.
Milwaukee is definitely going to be a culture shock. But it has it's pluses. If you have the money you might want to stick towards the lake shore: Lower East Side, Upper East Side and the Shorewood area. When people talk about the East side, they're talking about anything directly north of downtown. So if you have some good money, try those areas first. Anything south of Oklahoma and west of 43rd is also another possibility. Also anywhere near 794 going south of Bayview also might be ok. Places to avoid: anywhere west of I-43 north of the Marquette interchange. Walker's Point gets a bad rap, but I grew up there in the 70's to mid 80's and it was great, but it has changed a lot. Milwaukee is a much better city during the spring and summer. So if you can make it past the crappy winters you'll be in for a nice surprise when it starts getting warmer. There are lots of festivals and I mean a lot. Hell, even Chicagoans take the Hiawatha up to Milwaukee for Summerfest and all the other festivals during the summer. Food wise: Brats and Fish fry's....and Beer!! Downtown Milwaukee, like Houston's, can seem very dead, especially in the winter. Milwaukee does have a real river walk even though the river is dirty as hell. One more thing, Milwaukeeans have a sarcastic streak in them. Some more than others so make sure you give as much as you get. This local website might help: http://onmilwaukee.com/ If you need more help just let me know. I have lots of family living there so they might be able to help with any questions.
I had a horrible childhood in Milwaukee. I was bullied and picked on being a minority. And it didn't help that I lived in the same ghetto neighborhood as Jeffrey Dahmer.
Milwaukee's record regarding race relations is not the best. African Americans, Asians and to some extent Latinos have borne the brunt of some really bad treatment, especially by the police. I was very lucky not to have to deal with as much as others. Sorry to hear that your childhood there was so bad.
Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans. Actually, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land." Spoiler but really. I enjoyed my short time in Milwaukee. They recently spent a lot of money redoing their downtown area and it's pretty nice. Also, summerfest music festival is fun
