You’re not just moving to Minnesota, but Minneapolis, which is a great city! Lots of art and culture, wonderful downtown and the people value good health. Residents value diversity rather than shunning it, which means you still have a decent variety of restaurants and little ethnic enclaves with special events. They even have a decent public transit system, including light rail to the Mall of America and right smack dab in the middle of MSP Airport. You literally walk only a few steps out of the station to get into the line for security check.
Minneapolis is much less of a culture shock for a CA to Midwest transplant than, say, Des Moines or Omaha. It feels in a way a lot like major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, but without the huge populations and the problems that come with that. I had a Minneapolitan tell me once that some locals, proud of the very metropolitan life of their city, refer to it as the “Minne-Apple”. The biggest thing you will have to adjust to is the snow. I lived in Iowa for five years and just never could accept having to live in that kind of weather. You certainly learn how to drive/survive in it, the challenge is simply letting the PITA factor roll off your shoulders. Even natives struggle with it, and many definitely don’t like it, but they live with it. You will slip on ice and fall flat on your rear at least once every winter, it will hurt, some people might even giggle at you (moments before they fall themselves) and then you’ll pick yourself and move on.
Other than that it is a great city. If for some reason I had to move to Minneapolis or there was a huge reward for doing so, I wouldn’t put up much of a fight. But, I know that I would eventually have to move back to CA because it is just a better fit for me personally. If you hate California’s culture and love the weather, you probably won’t enjoy Minneapolis, but if you at least like the positive aspects of California’s culture, you should be fine in Minneapolis.
