What's it like where you live?

[Ribbs]

I moved to Asheville, NC about six months ago with my partner. (Originally from WA state) I really love it here, it's quite the opposite of Seattle. The property I live on is a beautiful plot of land with a stream running through. It's a shared commune of punks, hippies and artists, off the grid with solar panels, rain wells and a huge garden where we grow and sell all our own produce. The city itself is tucked away in the mountains, very liberal and close-knit, with lots of great restaraunts and live music. (punk and metal are very thriving music genres) the community here is wonderful, the restaraunt I work at gives out free food vouchers to the homeless and the financially unstable. You can look in any direction at any given moment and see mountains all around, with very little tall buildings. However, outside of the city it's very easy to be reminded that it is the south... Rednecks and right wingers, lots of hate and racism. Anyone else from NC? I'd love a pony hunting buddy!

[zombienixon]

I moved to Asheville, NC about six months ago with my partner. (Originally from WA state) I really love it here, it's quite the opposite of Seattle. The property I live on is a beautiful plot of land with a stream running through. It's a shared commune of punks, hippies and artists, off the grid with solar panels, rain wells and a huge garden where we grow and sell all our own produce. The city itself is tucked away in the mountains, very liberal and close-knit, with lots of great restaraunts and live music. (punk and metal are very thriving music genres) the community here is wonderful, the restaraunt I work at gives out free food vouchers to the homeless and the financially unstable. You can look in any direction at any given moment and see mountains all around, with very little tall buildings. However, outside of the city it's very easy to be reminded that it is the south... Rednecks and right wingers, lots of hate and racism. Anyone else from NC? I'd love a pony hunting buddy!

I thought Asheville would have been similar to Seattle. I haven't been there many times, but I know the kind of place it is. Pretty much the polar opposite of the surrounding countryside.

[Princess Lala]

I really like reading all of these! Its so interesting where everyone lives!!!! I would LOVE to see more Florida people post in depth about where they live- ice been trying to talk my husband into moving back to Florida. I love Texas to death, but I want the beach and Disney World to be a weekend thing. I miss it all to death, I don't want it to be just a once a year vacation spot, I miss calling it home!

[Sea_Breeze]

I live in a coastal town of roughly 60,000. Our province is mostly dairy. You can ski and surf within 30 mins on the same day if you wish. Oh and you can leave your front door unlocked and wide open for 6 hours and find that you havent been robbed ! That actually happened tonight, door can't have been locked properly. Yep I love this place

[Broken Irishwoman]

No Dutch people in this thread? Well, I'll be the first then.

I'm from Limburg, which often feels like we're not even part of The Netherlands. Unfortunately I'm from the city of Wilders, the most hated politician from The Netherlands at the moment. I'm sincerely sorry that my city gave the world this special kind of idiot.

However, thankfully my city also gave the world the "frietei" ("fry egg"), which is a snack like a croquette, but with an egg in the middle, and I believe there's curry powder involved as well. I'm a bad citizen, as I have yet to try one.

My city is also very, VERY loved by Germans. On Saturday's there are more Germans than Dutch people shopping here, in some stores the cashiers will even address you in German by default. I'm still not sure why this city is so much fun for our neighbours, but it has definitely become a big part of our culture.

I can't really think of anything else at the moment, but I will edit my post when I do.

[Harmonie]

I live in Northeast Oklahoma - essentially on the outskirts of Tulsa.

I'm going to try hard not to hate too much here. Anyone who knows me well, or has seen me post about the weather probably knows I do not like it here.

Most people would describe it as 'boring' around here, but I will say it was a great location for someone passionate for band instruments, like me, because we have a number of public school systems that highly value music. I was very fortunate to be a part of a band that got to compete on a national level, that and more. What inspired me to ever join band and play a band instrument was my cousin being a part of that marching band.

Anyway, sorry, enough of that, I know. The cost of living is pretty low. Our gas prices got down to $1.19 a gallon around a few weeks ago. My area of town is also pretty safe.

On the cons side... The climate is wild. It also leans on the warm side all year-round, which I do not like because I'm a cold weather lover. We didn't even get a winter this year. Northerner's would never consider what we got a winter, but this year we were really ripped off. >.> What we do always get is heat and severe thunderstorms. Oklahoma is known for tornadoes. Tornadoes are terrifying.

My area is also known for being very conservative and Christian, neither of which describes me in the least bit. I have found plenty of nonbelievers and met other LGBT people, though, so that's that. Nevertheless, I have been subjected to a fair number of slurs. However, I imagine I can't escape this no matter where I live.

I think I was actually successful in not tearing the place down, too much. o.o I deserve a medal for that... Really, very uncharacteristic of me to hold myself from ranting too much. xD Regardless, my mind is becoming more and more set on moving... to Michigan. Some very weird things have happened in my life recently that have all pointed me there. I hope it works out.

[Lore-Lei]

I live in southern Hungary, on The Great Plains, which is exactly like how its in its name, plain great.

On the environtmental part: Flat, lots of flat. As in, when you look at the horizon, you can't see blue silhouettes of mountains or hills, only small forests in the distance. I live in a small city, around 6,000 people and declining, it's surrounded by fields all over, especially that extremely bumpy road almost nobody ever uses for that reason. Hungary is notable for its terrible road quality and how expensive it is (corruption, of course), but I put that rant away for now. Yes, it's mainly that, forests and fields, and the river Tisza. We have a lot of old, abandoned and seemingly endless roads that have their own little charm for me, I don't know why, really.

On the everything else part: The government is corrupt enough that they can do anything, make it into the news and get away with it, gas prices are fairly low compared to a few years before. Finding a job is more or less impossible around aside that major city where they don't take you in because you're not from there, but apartment prices are ridiculously high because of the university. Don't ask me about politics and religion, firstly because I don't go out nearly enough to know the latter well (albeit most people I've met are atheists), secondly because everybody hates the gov.

[daffodil101]

I'm in Brisbane (capital of Queensland), skin-cancer capital of the world    We're pretty lucky here.  Weather is basically 9 months of summer, 3 months of, well, I think it's winter, you have to wear jumpers (sweaters), but people from colder climates say it's nothing!  It's often in the mid 30s (celsius, not sure what that is in farenheit. Hot!) here.

We're also lucky because our rainy season in is summer.  This means we escape the nasty bushfires that ravage a lot of the south where the biggest populations live.  Brisbane has about 2 million people, and lots of southerners move up here to escape the expensive housing markets and crazy traffic situations of Sydney.  Houses are still expensive, Australia has a growing homeless population.  Like a lot of western countries, our government is increasing the wealth gap and people are slipping into poverty.  But it's nowhere near as bad as in some places around the world, just heading in that direction.

I'm lucky to live only a couple of hours from the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.  I'm saving up to go for a short holiday.  The beaches are beautiful and there are rainforests in the nearby mountains.  I'm about a thousand km south the Great Barrier Reef, so travelling there is more expensive, but we're very blessed to have such beauty nearby and one of my goals is to try and get and be in nature more

[tikibirds]

PLACE: Gaomi City, Shangdong Provience, China

Gaomi city is a small city in Northeastern China. It belongs to Weifang City, which is a much larger city. There is about 900,000 people here but it feels like I live in the countryside. There really isn't anything to do here for fun. Since Gaomi isn't a tourist city, many people have never seen a foreigner before, especially of they come from the near by villages, so I get A LOT of random people taking pictures of me or wanting to take pictures of me. And lots of staring, like full blown staring compitition - staring. Its not cause they are being rude, its just that they are very curious as to why there is a fat, red head in their city. There are 3 other foreigners that teach on the other side of town. All Americans.

The area here is flat but if you go to Qingdao (Tsingdao), there are mountains and the sea. The weather is very dry and windy. In the summer it can get over 100F  but its not that cold in winter. it seems to stay in the 30's and not really any snow. Or rain for that matter.

The air pollution is horrible. The AQI is almost always in the 200's which is Very Unhealthy. Sometimes its about 300 which is hazardous. You cant drink the water out of the tap, it needs to be boiled first. I've pretty much been sick with respitory issues since I got here in August.

Alot of crap is censored and to access stuff like facebook, google, CNN, netflix you need to sign up for a VPN to break out of "the great firewall of china." People say the censorship is getting stricter but honestly I cant tell. I dont think whatever the gov't is trying to do has much effect on foreigners. Most of us have some kind of VPN to access the outside world anyways.

on the other hand, Gaomi - well, China in general, is very safe. I frequently have to walk home alone after 8 PM. Not something I would do in NY

SHangdong Provience is the part sticking out that looks like its poking North Korea. 4 hrs south of Beijing via bullet train.
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There really isnt much to say about Gaomi as its VERY boring. I am glad my contract is up in 6 months.

[kaoskat]

Thank you guys so much! This is so awesome! I'm loving reading about all these places!

[Princess Lala]

I kind of want to review where I lived in Florida! A lot of people always ask me what it was like in Florida. I lived in two different parts of Florida, I will try not to go on!

Place: Lakeland, FL
Very warm and sunny place in Central Florida. It was sunny every morning and always really rainy at night. Very humid and less alligators than a lot of other cities.

Spoiler

Pros:
Very short drive to WDW! I lived less than an hour away and being a Florida resident got me discounted admission on not only admission to WDW but to all parks in Orlando!
I loved the part of the city I lived in- a long time ago when I lived with my dad, we had a big house off Lake Hollingsworth. I used to go out to my bus stop everyday I went to highschool, my area of the city was the safest so I could walk out in a cute skirt. Lots of wildlife nearby, I had wild egrets in my yard. I used to let our miniature greyhound outside and chase them after school! I loved my high school as I went to Harrison Arts Center and Lakeland High. I was going to look into animation because I wanted to be an anime artist at the time. Lots of oppurtinites opened up for me there because I wanted to be a marine biologist later down the road which is perfect for a Florida resident. Trip to the beach was an hour and a half, I used to go to Clearwater and occasionally Treasure Island beach! Houses are cheaper there than in my city in Texas. Orange trees in my old backyard! If you wore a Florida Gators shirt- even if you hate football (like me!) everyone loved you. You were the awesomest of you had a bumper sticker, shirt, hat, bag, anything Florida Gators! 2 hours to the north we had natural springs with wild manatees you can pet! Lots of shopping areas and big cities nearby! In Winter Haven, a city very close to where I lived, we had a legit alligator park with FREE ROAMING alligators and no fences! Just a little trail you walk around  in the woods on with no cameras, totally safe right!? xD The gators were so used to people you could get really really close! An OK place for families, lots of schools and food choices!

Con's:
Sinkholes. You NEED to have sinkhole coverage if you are a house owner. Also trampolines were apparently banned in my city unless you have a permit? The rise of crime has dramatcy increased since I lived there, Cuban gangs from Miami are about from what I last heard. Flood hazard and obviously potential hurricanes- although Lakeland is inland, we got our deal with damage. A lot of people had a low-standard of living there, although my area in South Lakeland was the safest, the north and middle were bad areas. The sewage plant was in the middle of our city, hated when we drove by it. Rednecks....lots of them there. A lot of whites were really racist in high school, it was terrible and sad. Drugs- this was a huge problem in high school, almost everyone did meth and I was really pressured at several times by the other honor students. Stand your ground law- I was scared at times so I always smiled sweetly like an anime schoolgirl at *anyone* to reassure I wasn't anything threatening! Light pollution- gotta go out into the ocean (as in on a big sturdy boat) at night to really see them! Dad used to skywatch with me, the waves were rough at night. Fire ants....oh my those fire ants. Bug in general, lots of bugs. Oh dear those bugs...sometimes anole lizards got in our house! The soil was actually sand where i lived so we couldnt grow any flowers. Lastly, the drivers. The roads are less confusing there compared to Texas but I say this because of my dads sake. I miss him sooo much! He moved from the north to Florida because of his passion for Disney and nature, I definetly feel it and it was heartbreaking when I had to leave Florida despite its downsides.

Place: Longboat Key, Florida
A beautiful tropical paradise out on the ocean surrounded with serene sea life, out in the western part of Florida in the Gulf.

Spoiler

Pros: The perfect place to visit, let alone live on, if you LOVE the ocean like me. I mean I am hardcore deeply connected to the Gulf-Atlantic and this place was my paradise. It looks EXACTLY like the beaches you see in the Bahamas- aquamarine crystal clear beaches with the softest white baby-poweder sand. Amazingly clean and VERY low crime rate (neighborhood scout gave it a 92 when I lived there which means its 92% safer than all cities in US) so there was no murder, rape, only pitty theft and vandalism. I could seriously go out in the beach skinny dipping if I wanted to (but I didn't hahahaha!). There were sea turtles that would show up sometimes, they were beautiful!!!! Dolphins, sharks, octopus, Forbes sea stars, even some crabs I couldn't identify were only 50 meters from my bed. I used to wake up early with my dad and find buckets of whole sand dollars early on the beach right at dawn! At dawn, the sand looks like a soft pastel purple. Beautiful sunsets that I thought only existed in paintings! Lower light pollution. Resturaunts on the island has FRESH seafood caught locally! Lots and lots of warf crabs and anole lizards- there were the "pidgeys" of the island. There like no other kids, so my siblings and I were pretty spoiled!

Con's:
First off, obviously storms are your enemy living on an island in the middle of the ocean. Even a rainstorm can cause flooding! Hurricane warnings (I never experienced any) you had to evacuate the island. Living there is EXPENSIVE, let alone if you want a condo. There are apartments there but they were like a thousandish a month? I cant remember. NO fastfood chains- but i believe we had Publix! Sunburn. So much sunburn! Also for school you had to leave the island and go to school in Sarasota or another close city, same with your job. It was very hard to get a job there if you aren't like a doctor, dentist, scientist, technician, etc. My dad was a computer software developer so we lucked out! Not a good place for kids, Sarasota and I think...Siesta and Maria Island (can't remember names!) I think are better if you want a family. More of a vacation spot than family-convienience. Everything on the island was expensive and we had to drive off the island to go shopping. Waiting on that BLEEPING bridge to the mainland to FINALLY lower after boats have crossed was annoying!  Tourists trash and party the island on holiday weekends- we had a lot of police patrolling doing their best to keep it under control. Bugs- if you hate bugs or other critters don't go there at night. Crabs are everywhere at night on the beach, they looked like spiders and got into our house!  Not much to do on the island other than beachcomb, the Country Club, or other touristy things. It was my paradise though, I miss living there.

[Corona]

I live just outside of Los Angeles in a small suburb called San Marino. It has the highest population of Chinese people in LA outside of Chinatown and a lot of money.

I live in a guest house in the backyard of a very nice conservative Muslim family. It's really nice, they let me have my space, bring over some of their food (which has ruined any Middle-Eastern restaurant for me forever it's that amazing) and I get to keep my dog. My rent is unheard of cheap for this suburb, it's one of the most expensive places to live in the state.

In my area of San Marino, it's a lot of the typical upper-middle class family suburbs. Nice houses, manicured lawns, some gated mansions but not a whole lot, and a Starbucks whenever you need one. There's a few houses in the area that get used for films a lot so everyone knows which streets get shut down for filming often. It's such an LA problem to arrive late for work because of a TV or movie shoot.

The climate is what you'd expect from LA. Rainy winters and springs, worse during El Nino (except this year has been pretty lame in terms of rain,) really hot winters, and brisk by California standards autumns. When it rains, it pours and the streets around here flood really easily. A 15 minute drive to work can easily turn into a half hour of caulking your car and floating it across streets like it's the Oregon trail.

San Marino's only big tourist spot is the Huntington Library (which got attention for its multiple blooms of a corpse flower.) I guess you can include the Hubble House, where the Hubble Telescope guy lived, too.

Where I was born and raised, 15 minutes away in Pasadena, that's got the New Year's Day Rose Parade. I have lived in Pasadena all my life except for the last year, never been. I have been on the street where the parade was since I used to work there and would have to sweep up trash and drunk people the day after.

[Barnacle_lady]

Time to tell something where I live.

I live in Hollands capital Amsterdam and its comparable to San Francisco .

The city has a very rich history going on from the Golden Age with trading overseas. A lot of nationalities live over here and with the food they brought with them there is a lot of choice of cuisines. And its very gay friendly. There are also a lot of cultural events and museums. And ofcourse the city is wellknown because of a certain girl who wrote a diary during WW II.
I like to live over here because you can be who you want to be without people finding you akward. People are mostly interested the why So its not all about the coffeeshops (smoking)
We got public transport 24/7, canals and we are a kingdom.
Is there something I don't like, yes but its more a national thing: life over here is expensive.

The weather looks normal, no extreme heat or frost most of the year. But it can rain a lot.

[Broken Irishwoman]

^ Except when we suddenly got 38℃ last summer. That was BAD...

[ponybanker]

I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, otherwise known as the Rushmore state. We are also known as the "great plains"
Has a population of about 180,000 people but swells to well over 200,000 on any given weekend, ugh!
I absolutely love it here. Its a beautiful clean city, with friendly people and a great economy. People think it would be cheap to live here but its going up pretty quickly. Our main economies are farming, medical ( lots of hospitals/clinics) and banking. Everywhere is hiring and has been since I moved here 6 years ago. Its great to raise families here and there is surprisingly a lot to do. Winters are cold (though this one wasnt so bad) and spring and summer we do get hail storms, tornados and mosquitos lol. We are a 4 hours drive from Minneapolis and like 2 1/2 hours to Omaha and Fargo now that they changed the spreed limit on I-29 to 80mph (woo hoo!).
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