I used to live in Baltimore (near Fell's) in the mid-2010s and just moved to RI a year ago. I honestly love it. I live in Cranston and everything you need is within 15 minutes! Providence is small enough of a city that it is walkable. The winters in NE are cold but bearable although the cost of heat is kind of nuts. The driving here is nowhere near as bad as in Baltimore although still not great haha. Food scene is 200x better than in Boston though not as good as DC. Crime I luckily have not had much experience with (my house and car in Bmore was broken into 2x in 2 years), so I'm very conscious of locking everything all the time and not leaving my car in the driveway (though all my neighbors do...) I'm also in my early 30s making friends, through group fitness mostly, but most people are very friendly here! The only culture shock I can think of is the number of people who have their windows tinted so dark (even tho technically illegal). It's really hard to see what other drivers are doing and I'm very cautious as a pedestrian when crossing the road.