Where do you live, and how do you like it there?

[Zima]

I thought it'd be cool to get an idea of what's it like to live in different parts of the country(or world!)

So, where are you from, and what's it like there? What do you like about it? Dislike? I'll start:

I'm from central NJ. The climate here is nice and cold in the winter, but not too cold - most years we get decent snow. Summers are hot and humid.

It's mainly suburbs, and you have to drive everywhere. Some suburbs are nicer than others - there are some not so nice and/or fairly congested areas close to New York(like Newark), but a bit West towards PA there's a lot of rural areas, farms, and vineyards - very New England-like.

What I love about it is the fact that NYC and Philly are both very close when I need them(ie when there's a show I want to go to, and many people work there and commute), but I'm far enough to not have to deal with all the crowds and noise. Many towns are rather bland, but some are unique and interesting, like Princeton - beautiful university campus, nice lake to run along/go kayaking, some nice restaurants and coffee shops and such - or Lambertville/New Hope on the PA border - a very quaint area. We're also quite close to the ocean, great hiking trails, and ski resorts in PA/Upstate NY. What I absolutely hate is the summer heat and humidity. And it's a fairly expensive area. I also hear that people are nicer and more easy-going in other parts of the country that aren't as close to New York.

[Saoirse]

we live in western south dakota. I enjoy it here. the scenery is quite varied and beautiful, people are, for the most part down to earth and inviting (as long as you stay away from the smaller prairie towns), plenty of wildlife and outdoor adventure opportunities, low crime and low cost of living. dislike: the weather. we're semi-arid; July-september temps can get up in the low 100s while January and February temps can be bitter cold with biting wind for weeks. another dislike: the nightlife can be rather lacking.

these are not mine, but are all taken within 100 miles of where i live.

[blindasutsutsu]

I live in Colorado and I absolutely love it. I am just north of Denver so I am relatively close to the city life but far enough away from the traffic. There are few places in the world that you can go up skiing in the morning leave at noon and play golf in the afternoon. I have done that more than once here. Also I like to hike and do various other out door activities and CO averages 300 days of sunshine. Pretty awesome in my book.

I mean who wouldn't want to experience 14000+ feet of awesome hiking with your friends like this:

[shortstuff]

I live on a farm in country South Australia, closest town is about five minutes drive (live about 6k out of town), the town popluation is about 700-800, and it's a farming community. I live the community sprit of the area - you can't walk down the main street without seeing at lest one person you know, and that's without going in to any of the shops.

Likes

The summer, yes it's hot, but the town sort of comes alive or at lest for me with activity, as it's grain harvest and there's a lot of farms in the area and a grain silo in town and theres school holidays.

The community sprit

Knowing that if I ever need help I can ring up the neighbours and ask for help even through we aren't friends.

The wide own spaces

Dislikes

The very limited job opportunities

Limited shopping

Having to travel for most things ie gym,

Winter althrough that's more me not liking winter more than anything

[MikeyWalnuts]

New York City here, Upper East Side of Manhattan to be exact. I love the fun bars, restaurants, shows, and "walk everywhere" feel of the city. I've been here three years though, and my fiance and I are looking to move to Northern NJ in the next few months.

Dislikes - Sky high rent prices, not being able to have a car, did I say the ridiculous rent prices? I also REALLY hate Times Square, like, with a passion.

[Razor]

I live in a very urban part of Florida.

Could be worse.

[illuminatus]

Been in Jacksonville, NC now for over a year and like it, though not necessarily the people, parts of North Carolina are beautiful.

[Rivanariko]

I live in Minot, North Dakota and I hate it. The summers are oppressively hot and humid and the winters are beyond-belief cold. Whoever said that once you get lower than ten below you can't tell the difference was WRONG. -60 does not feel anything like -10. There are no mountains. There are no forests. There are no job opportunities in my actual career field, though fast food pays around $14/hr, so there's that. Thanks to the flood and the oil boom, cost of housing has gone through the roof so no one can afford to live here anymore. If something hadn't opened up in base housing for us about that time, I don't know what we would have done. I'd probably have had to go back home and live with my parents while Husband stayed in the dorms, because there is no WAY we can afford $1300/month for a studio apartment. And that is in a world where we would consider getting rid of the dogs, which is not this world. While I feel like "there's nothing to do" is the most over-used complaint ever, there really isn't much to do. I'm an outdoorsy person, I like hiking, skiing, swimming, rock climbing, etc. and I can't do ANY of that here. Most of the lakes within reasonable driving distance you can't swim in, and the nearest forest is something like 3 hours away. People say it's great if you're an outdoor person, but that pretty much means hunting around here, which I'm not into.

On the plus side, it's relatively safe. I never lock my house on base, and I pretty much only lock my car when I'm at work because I work with delinquent youth. The people are also really really nice. When I lived in North Carolina it felt like people were nice because they were expected to be, here it seems like people genuinely care and just want to help out and be friendly. So that's cool.

We're hopefully moving to Washington state next spring though, and I'm counting down the days till I can get out of here and never come back.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest though, and I loved it there, because it's basically the polar opposite of North Dakota.

[Atalan]

I live in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It is a college town (permanent population of ~26,000 with a university student body of ~23,000). It embodies both the worst things about college towns and the worst things about small towns in the USA. As well, it is mis-named as it's geology is actually that of a river valley (part of the Saginaw Valley). That being said, most of my friends live here. Overall, it would be better named Valley Tolerable.

Oh, and within the last year several restaurants have pulled a "we don't serve your kind here" on homosexual couples.

So maybe it's not so tolerable.

[esteel]

Germany, Nuremberg and i really like it here. A lot of people but still some nice quiet spots. Some images found via google image

[Lefeux]

Afghanistan.

It sucks.

My home is back in South Houston. 5 minutes from the water, 30 minutes from downtown (pro sports, concerts, theater etc) 30 minutes from a large beach (Galveston), 90 minutes from my parents. Nice people, good schools, decent cost of living. Now if I could only get back there....

[MuayTyson]

I am currently living in Seoul South Korea. I am an American from Pennsylvania and I moved to Bangkok, Thailand then to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where I met my wife. We went back to Bangkok, then to Korea then back to the D.C. area and now I am back in Korea for the second time. Korea is not to bad but winter sucks it is a dry bone chilling cold. I moved to South East Asia to avoid winter so as soon as I establish myself and build up the bucks it is back to a more gentle climate.

[Razor]

Australia - best country in the world.

Other than ridiculous video game censorship and the abundance of OVER 9,000 types of creatures waiting to eat your face or your child's face, this is plausible.

P.S. Seriously I can't believe you people just let families of spiders live in your house...

[shortstuff]

the abundance of OVER 9,000 types of creatures waiting to eat your face or your child's face,

You sort of get use of it after awhile, I remeber seeing someone on here liking it to guns in the US, something along the lines of you hear a lot about it, but if you go, chances you see it are low. Besides if their really that bad, I'm sure no one would live here

[Wooksquatch]

I live in Lake Geneva, Wi population of about 7700. Summers are hot and humid and since it is a resort town extremely busy. We stay away from downtown during the summer months. We are a mile from a beach and boat launch, this is where our kids spend their summers. Flocks of tourists and their cars lining the streets of downtown. Where quaint a lot of quaint shops manage to stay open throughout the years. Winters are nice and cold there are plenty of activities as far as winter goes. Winters are less busy too Cross country skiing, snow mobiling, downhill skiing, tubing and sledding. Fall is gorgeous around here every where you look it's like a clown puked a rainbow.

Gary Gygax cocreator of DnD made Lake Geneva his home for years and passed away in Lake Geneva.

Axl Rose owned property here and may have written a song about the girls of the infamous Playboy Club.

Hugh Hefner built his first Playboy Club here.

We have a nice Games store for DnD and it hosts weekly if not daily Magic games.

I love it here.

[Saoirse]

I live in Minot, North Dakota and I hate it. ...

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest though, and I loved it there, because it's basically the polar opposite of North Dakota.

we lived in hettinger, nd for almost a year. we hated it; mostly flat, almost no vegetation beyond scrub brush. Many people were a little rude. Sometimes they were nice, but it was quite common for random people to walk up to me (while I was in the grocery store or where ever), stare at me for a second and demand "who are you?" I liked to think that i was teaching these particular individuals manners when i smiled, shook their hand, and introduced myself. Our neighbor friends made it obvious to us that there were constantly new rumors popping up about us, but they would never tell us what. We had formed some friendships, generally with people who were already somewhat outcasted or who were foreigners (like the Thai guy who had been living there for 10 years). Oh and forget having religious/world views that were anything other than full-on Christian. The day that my husband lost his job, we kind of had a celebration.

[wildross]

North of Houston, TX at the moment

Pluses

- no snow

- good access to downtown Houston

- low cost of living

- close enough to the Gulf that you can make a day trip

- Galveston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin are all within driving distance

- No state income tax

- lots of gun ranges

Minuses

- no snow

- the summer heat and year round humidity (ever have sweat drip off your fingers at 70 degrees at 6AM in the morning...wierd)

- the traffic

- no real seasons in the usual sense, just reasonable and ridiculous

[illc]

Only the "friendly" spiders. The Daddy Long Legs spiders will help keep (deadly poisonous) Redback spiders under control, for instance.

That sounds about right from my experience down there (lived in Sydney for one year 2008-2009) but it certainly takes some getting used to to recognize the Huntsman ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider ) you've found on your pillow as a "friendly".

[RaeVynn]

We live near the coast in washington state... Yes it rains a lot, no you don't have to shovel it.

It is very temperate, weather wise. Very outdoors friendly.

We can easily go to the beach, or the rainforest, the olympics mointains, , or hit some great bike trails.

[tigersheart]

southern arizona....hot summers, mild winters. It is okay, but I miss having more water around.

Beautiful country though.

[Atalan]

My husband is a sooky la la about Huntsman spiders. I have to squish them for him or the kids if they make their way inside. They're outside-spiders only.

I wouldn't like one on my pillow either, though.

The golden orb weavers are friendly garden spiders. Except in Cairns, where they're nightmare fodder for tourists, and probably a few locals.

Man, and I was impressed when the yellow garden spider that lived by the entrance of my apartment took down a praying mantis.

[Razor]

Yeah, my comment earlier was referencing Hunstman spiders. Supposedly they've killed more humans than some venomous species, because they like to hang out in cars as well as houses. And there have been numerous occasions of a person finding one in their car and panicking, causing a violent collision.

I actually researched the bloody thing and promised myself if I ever live in Australia to let them live in my house. They seem pretty cool, and wicked fast.

[Diezel]

I live in San Antonio Texas. We enjoy very mild weather most of the time - but as soon as it rains, people suddenly forget how to drive. Seriously Texans are terrible drivers when it comes to any sort of weather. The summers can be very hot and humid. Last year was a very hot summer, this year is cooler but very humid. I love that there is no snow in the winter - I can run outside all year round (with the rare exception of an ice storm). Real estate is pretty cheap here - San Antonio was not hit by the housing crash - but the real estate market never really booms either. There's no state income tax, but property taxes are a little steep. In general the people here are very friendly - and very proud to be San Antonians. Oh and don't forget THE BEST BREAKFAST TACOS ANYWHERE!!!!

[Ghost]

I live in Australia,but on the east coast in a largish city-town in New South Wales.

Fitting, because I'm not an outdoors-man, always will be a city sorta guy.

I know I need to move to somewhere with more opportunity, maybe Brisbane.

But I'm no fan of crowds (or people), so I'm in a conundrum.

Like: It's a nice run-of-the-mill place to grow up in.

Dislike: The heat in summer, cold in winter, and the amount of derpy bro guys everywhere.

Seriously though, where I live is pretty boring. There is no opportunity for anything (jobs, education)

Definitely moving in a couple years.

[Tocho]

I live near the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. The winters are horrible and cold. The summers are unstable; sunny, warm days are very rare. (Maybe about 10-15 good days throughout all of summer, i.e. May-August) It rains a lot as well.

The university also decided to cancel all language courses indefinitely/forever recently, so I'm pretty much forced to move if I want to study at university level. Which, I suppose, is a good thing since I already wanted to move. Preferably somewhere warm, like... some country in South America. Or New Zealand.

I don't like my city at all.