So each city has its own idiosyncrasies and Norman’s definitely got its own. So in this video I’m going to cover nine things that I think you need to know before moving to Norman, Oklahoma.
Hey there, if you don’t know me, my name is Marcie Billen and I’m a real estate agent here in Norman, Oklahoma and I work with my team Rüya Team Realty and Keller Williams Mulinix. I have nine things here that you maybe didn’t know about Norman that if you’re moving here or even just visiting you may want to know. Make sure you read to the last one because it may come as a shock if you move here and don’t know about it.
1. Game on!
So the first one is game days, and when I’m talking about game days, I’m definitely talking about football. American football. There are other sports of course, that the University of Oklahoma plays, but football is king here in Norman and specifically Sooner Football. So football season stretches from late August until September. And are game days crazy? Yeah, they totally can be, but there’s only six of them. So what are game days actually like? Yes, traffic pours into the city, typically in the morning, sometimes the night before, depending on the time of the game. When we have a morning game, it’s different than an evening game, or one in the late afternoon. And then people start partying. It’s pretty much a big party day here in Norman and they’ll start drinking between 8 a.m and 10 a.m depending, again on the time of the game. So you’ll see people with beers and other things all around, mostly around campus.
You won’t notice that there’s a game outside of certain streets, so not more than like a quarter mile – half a mile away from the stadium itself. But you’ll hear it, definitely in the rest of the town. And looking onto that stadium whenever it’s full of people is something else. During game time in Norman is absolutely the best time to go to the grocery store; nobody’s there! And you can hear the game at the grocery store because it’s always on the radio, so the entire store can hear it. Another thing that’s interesting about game days is, it’s totally fine to park on the grass on people’s yards within a vicinity of campus, because there’s not enough parking for the stadium. This way people have adequate parking. Home owners and tenants make money by charging $10 to $20 typically, to park on their yard. So that’s game day in Norman.
2. City Slickers
Number two is the way that we use the words “the city.” This is gonna sound a little weird, but we live very close to Oklahoma City, right? It’s – it’s great! It’s great to have it so close and saying Oklahoma City every time you want to go to the city is kind of a mouthful. So we typically say “we’re going to the city” and usually, that means we’re going to the downtown Oklahoma City area or even further north of that. I don’t know if people that live outside of Norman actually call Oklahoma City just “the city,” but that’s what we call it here.
3. Planes, Trains & Automobiles…
Okay so number three is the airport. We do have an airport here, in Norman. So this airport is a small one and it’s technically also a research campus. So this cuts off a few streets in Norman for us. Actually one, in particular, Rock Creek. Obviously you can’t drive through the middle of the airport, so the only thing that that causes for us, is traffic…kind of. Also, Rock Creek doesn’t have an exit off the interstate, which is a little bit strange, considering it’s a pretty big road, but it makes you have to drive out of your way about a mile, in order to get to certain parts of town. If you are thinking about moving to Norman, I do have a handy relocation guide that you can download for free.
4. Drive-In Dining
Number four is really a fun one; it’s Classic 50’s. So Classic 50’s is this cute little drive-in restaurant and it’s been here in Norman at the same spot since 1957. The best way to describe Classic 50’s is it’s like a home-cooked Sonic, and if you don’t know what Sonic is, you probably need to visit Oklahoma and find out. Classic 50’s has a really interesting menu. The last time my husband, Hansom, and I went, we actually got a sprittle and piccolos. What’s a sprittle? Well, a sprittle is Sprite and they put Skittles in it. It sounds sugary because it is. We also got piccolos, which are sliced pickles that have been deep fried, and then of course we dip them in ranch and they’re absolutely delicious. And I don’t even like pickles. They have other food of course, they do a lot of potatoes, they have really great shakes, they have of course, Theta burger um, so if you’re looking for something that’s real Norman, that’s not a chain, then the Classic 50’s is the place to go.
5. Lakeside Life
Okay number five is Lake Thunderbird. It’s great that we have a lake here in Norman; it’s awesome! I honestly, rarely go out there. It’s not in town like, it is kind of within city limits, but it is a State Park. Depending on where you are in Norman, you could drive out there in 15 minutes or 30 to 35, just depending on where you live. The reason I say that it’s on my list of things you need to know is because it has a nickname here, in Norman, and that nickname is “Lake Dirty Bird.” Twice a year, the lake turns over and it’s also where we get our drinking water. It turns over because that’s what bodies of water do.
This means that the water that’s on the bottom of the lake comes to the top of the lake, and vice versa, about twice a year. And we say this because you’ll notice for a couple of weeks, that if you’re drinking regular Norman water that’s unfiltered, then you’re going to have a certain smell with it that’s a little bit off. Doesn’t mean it’s not clean, it’s just different. And then it also may look a little bit different than you normally drink, and honestly, most of us in Norman, filter our Norman water before we drink it. It’s kind of important. We also have a lot of clay around that area, so the lake doesn’t always look very pretty because it looks super dirty. Thus, the name “Lake Dirty Bird.”
6. Ghost Town
Number six on my list is empty summers. What does that mean? Well, we are a university town and the University of Oklahoma typically, has around 31,000 students enrolled. If the majority of the undergrad students actually leave town during the summer, then it feels like the town is much smaller than it really is during the rest of the year. University of Oklahoma is not known for its summer classes, so we do get most students who are, especially living in dorms or university housing, and they leave town. They either go back home or go do something else, and so summers just feel kind of lazy and relaxed here, in Norman. But you really only notice that when you get super close to campus. Outside of that, you just notice that traffic is a little bit less.
7. Campus Life
Number seven is university town living. So you gotta know this about Norman but, um living near the University of Oklahoma, which is a Big 12 school and also a big research university, you have a lot of opportunities that you’re not going to get other places. Like auditing classes, or going to different lectures from people that come in, um and you can get of course, on different websites to figure that out. And then also of course, sports. Football is a big deal, clearly, but also basketball and softball are huge deals as well. We have lots of different sports and it’s usually pretty cheap to go and watch those outside of the big ones, like football. So football can be kind of expensive to go and watch on your own.
8. Commute
Number eight on my list is driving across town, and this really is one for me, but I hear other people say it too. So sometimes I feel like it can take me the same amount of time to drive across Norman than it does for me to get to Oklahoma City. So why is that? Well, it’s because of speed limits, which on a lot of streets is 25 miles per hour, depending on what street you’re driving on, trains, traffic lights, stop signs, um of course, traffic if you’re traveling in the busy part of the day. I mean, we have a big population of over 100,000 people – way over that, at this point. So you will feel some of that anxiety in getting across town, if you’re in a hurry. So that may be something to take into consideration as you’re thinking about moving to Norman; where you want to be exactly, and how much time it’s going to take you to get to other places. Norman just has a big land area, so that’s what you’re going to figure out as you’re driving across town.
9. Ringing in your Ears
As you may know, if you’re thinking about moving to Norman, we have tornado season here. And during tornado season the sirens can go off to warn you that there is going to be, or the possibility that there could be a tornado. And we usually get about 10 minutes before we have to take cover, but they have to keep the tornado sirens in working order, so every Saturday at noon, they test them all at once. All the tornado sirens.
And so you just hear this loud siren going off all over Norman. The reason I say you don’t want to be surprised? I’ll give you an example. My parents-in-law moved to Norman a couple of years ago and we got a call, a frantic call, from my dear mother-in-law on a Saturday at about noon and she was trying to figure out if she needed to take cover. It was a beautiful sunny day in February and she did not. They just test the sirens every Saturday at noon, but it’s very loud and if you don’t know about it, you might be shocked.
Did any of these come as a surprise to you? Let me know if you have any other questions – call, email or text and I’d be happy to help!
