Come tell me the best thing about living where you are.

I've noticed we're a mixed bunch of sorts here, with forum members seemingly scattered around the globe and a fair few from the USA - which is, I'm ashamed to admit, a country I know nothing of.

Come tell me about where you live!

I'll start..

I'm from the UK and the things here that I love are Earl Grey Tea, the NHS, Cadbury's chocolate, and a well cooked Sunday Roast Dinner.

I also have a soft spot for the Scottish accent, I love British sarcasm and it never fails to make me smile when I hear a London'er swear! **hangs head in shame**

What are the best things about where you live?

I've lived quite a few places (Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England; Kavala, Greece, Picayune, Mississippi (near New Orleans) and now Northwest Arkansas.

I adored Scotland- the people, the accents, the beauty of the land and even the weather (I love cold weather).

I liked London but wasn't crazy about it. I did like that you could get around very easily with public transportation and liked the weather, but it was just too big a city for me and too crowded

I disliked Greece immensely. We were in a small village and nobody like Americans. I did like the weather and the beauty of the place... it was a harbor village so right on the water and Greece is beautiful!

I was born in South Mississippi and after traveling we went back there to live and raise our family. Love the people and the food and the culture and the friendliness and just about everything BUT the weather... endured far too many hurricanes and the heat and humidity is a killer in the summer.

We've only been in Northwest Arkansas for 7 months but so far I'm really loving it. The people are super-friendly, the area is gorgeous and so far the weather is great!

Squiggle - Your avatar is a work of art! I can't stop myself from glancing at it over and over, c'est magnifique!

Regarding South Mississippi, you say you love the culture. But what is Mississippi culture like? Every now and then, I hear randomly about the 'Deep South'. Is this Mississippi?

Thanks so much!

Well, we were so close to New Orleans (40 miles) that we were influenced more by Cajun culture than Mississippi culture.... French Quarter, crawfish, fishing, alligators, swamp... you name it LOL I don't know if you've ever seen a show called "Swamp People" but my grandpa and daddy did that kind of thing regularly... I remember many times camping in a houseboat in the swamp, giggin' for frogs to have frog legs for supper, and I've eaten things you don't want to know about LOL!

I'm from Oregon/ the pacific northwest. Absolutely beautiful... It takes a lot of rain to get that green. Our beaches were called coasts cause of the cold...as far as culture I would say not much. Tye dye and loggers. Moved to Chicago. Cold freezing weather when I moved, lasted 8 months then headed to sunny California. Then las Vegas Nevada. Not much culture here, the weather is great except for summers...something going on all the time. Some of the best restaurants in the country/ world. I've traveled around. France England Australia New Zealand Hong Kong Spain Mexico Guatamala El Salvador. I find each location has its own uniqueness and beauty just like the faces we paint.

I live in the most Southern part of Canada... that little arrowhead part of Ontario, that sticks right down into the USA... I'm on the end of it.

But I can say that crossing one river makes a world of difference to cultures! Going over to Detroit is like another world LOL

As for here in Windsor, summers are extremely hot and humid, winters get pretty cold but we don't get nearly as much snow as we used to when I was a kid. It used to be an auto maker city, but ever since the big 3 crashed with the economy, they all pulled out except for Chrysler and even they are pulling back. Our city is having a hard time figuring out a new direction to go, but new jobs are coming thanks to a mayor with vision (which of course most of the really vocal people hate either because they hate any change at all or because his vision doesn't match theirs... but he's bringing jobs). I love living in Ontario. While I would be willing to change cities, I'd never leave Ontario.

I love where I live!

I live in a city of 75,000 smack-dab in the centre of the Great Lakes of Canada. It's called Sault Ste. Marie. We're right on the border of Michigan, USA.

Being right on the border... I can ship things cheaply to our twin city in America! It's a nice bonus.

We're also surrounded by nature. I love camping on Lake Superior... it is a truly beautiful rugged landscape, with cold clear waters and big rocky cliffs, and lush forest. There are tons of lovely sand beaches within a half hour drive, some deserted. The summers are hot here, but the winters are quite cold with looots of snow. Not so much of a fan of winter.

We also have the biggest mall in Northern Ontario, yippee!

As for food, we have a huge Italian population, so it's PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA! There must be over 50 pizza restaurants in the Sault. We all have our favourites. Thankfully, we're just starting to get some new restaurants with different cuisines, like East Indian, Japanese, Thai... it's definitely a welcome change. I love poutine as well.

I've lived here my whole life, and I don't think I'd ever move!

What a great thread!

What do I love about Jacksonville, FL? It's like a mixing pot of the USA... Everyone is coming here for a new start & so we have a very multi-cultural city. We are a military town w/ several navy Bases(that's what brought us here 15 yrs ago). Even w/ this rough economy, Jacksonville is growing & expanding & we have new exciting business growing. We have a very cool arts culture that I've just scratched the surface on. The best thing in Jacksonville, is it's the home of my church (www.celebration.org). It's a multi-cultural, multi-campus church that is making an impact & helping people world wide. Food in Jacksonville is OK... Most mom & pop restaurants have been replaced by chains (very unfortunate, since I miss this from living up north). The weather is perfect & perfectly dangerous depending on the seasons. We do have hurricanes, but we live for spring & fall when it's often in the 70's to 80's. We have the beach (Atlantic Ocean) & lots of amazing wild life. Fishing, boating & all things outdoors (except mountain climbing... we are very flat:-) Jacksonville, FL is the largest city in the USA acreage wise... Going from one side of our city to the other can take up to 2 hours (and I use the word city lightly, since it's still quite open in some areas w/ no buildings). Our biggest down fall is we do have a high crime & murder rate due to gang violence:-(

BTW, I love Earl Gray Tea as well

I am from Equador, I love it!!, it is a small country, but have everything you wish, now I live in NY, and I love this city as well!!, the public transportation is amazin, you can go anywhere without a problem, you have a lot of different cultures and you learn a little from each, go to Manhattan it minds go to have fun, there is all kind of interesting people, suddenly a someone dress in crazy cloth doing something interesting, a show, or just fulling around, museums, shows, parks, beautiful places or just to relax drinking coffe in front of the river, I like here!!

I am from Colombia, which I love and miss a lot, in USA we are from Tampa Florida where we still have a house and go to visit as often we can, I love Florida, the heat and my normal one floor house.
Now I live in Sindelfingen Germany, yes the Mercedes Benz town, I will need a full page to tell you why I love here, but I've traveled around Europe a lot and I like Germany the most, is beautiful with crops in different colors at this time, very clean, houses out side are painted in alike colors so the overview of the towns are neat an clean, most cars are new and German -BMW, Mercedes, VW,Porsche,Audi and Opel so streets make it look like a wealthy place, very safe, our kids can play outside on the street or parks without supervision, Germans are 2 sides only mind people, is black or white you can't negotiate with them which make them look rude, but when you learn how to understand them, they are great and they live for the warm, so as soon the weather allows you, everybody eats on the balcony, the take sunbaths on the parks and ride bikes and in the restaurants everybody seats outside.
I hate the construction plans, houses are 3 floors minimum, and often stairs access from street, so every birthday is a fly trip to the stairs with my fat max.
and the worst thing is parking space, we brought our cars from Florida, that don't fit in our garage and in a lot of public parking lots.

I'm from Tegelen a small town in the Netherlands, and love it here!
It's right to the border of Germany.
The Netherlands are a trading country, so lots of contact with other countries all over the world. A small country, but great in some kind of stuff like art, sports, cheese, liquorice, waterworks, mills etc.
I love it Dutch people are cool, not making fuzz about a lot of things, just go with the flow.
And we've got a great soccer team!

I am from the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania in the Northeastern USA. I live about 20 minutes or so outside of Pennsylvania near Valley Forge (for anyone that has studied US Revolutionary History). I love how we are right in the middle of so many different cultures and places. The city with its art, history, and events is only a 20 - 30 minute drive. An hour in the other direction takes us to the farms of Amish Lancaster. An hour North will take us to the Pocono mountains, and 2 hours East takes us to the New Jersey beaches (Ocean City, NJ is where we usually go for vacation). The area I live in is pretty advanced economically, so we didn't feel as much of a crunch from the economy and real estate fall out as many other areas. I do wish life moved a little more slowly here though. It is constant running and everyone is always in a hurry, when I would love to slow down and experience every moment of every day as a gift to be cherished (which I TRY to do, but working 2 jobs and raising 2 kids plus volunteering keeps me moving pretty quickly!). The only climates NOT within driving distance are desert and rainforest (although August can be awful humid and sticky here). I love the food (Philly cheesesteaks and soft pretzels), but it is very fattening! The people are often "cliquey" but most are pretty cordial. Some are wonderful and would do anything to help anyone (most of my friends are like that), but many are so self-centered that they give a cursory glance and nod and go back on with their routine. I'm sure that relates to the economic temperature here. I have lived here nearly my entire life and can't imagine living anywhere else.

Wow, great to see replies.

I'm late getting back to this thread as DS ( DS = Dear Son - do you lot use acronyms here?) has a bad tummy. Sooo, bad tummy has meant constant diarrohea, his constant diarrohea has given him nappy rash and it's made him really sore and uncomfortable, poor lovey. He's little bum is really suffering, bless his heart and he's taking up most of my spare time.

Aaanyway...I love, love, love reading your replies, it's apparent how diverse USA is for starters. I mean, I thought I knew it was so, but most of what has been written has left me a little baffled. Giggin' for frogs?! Swamp People?!

Psalmbook - You have my sympathies regarding gang violence. Gang violence is becoming more and more prolific here. There was a national outcry recently when a 5 yr old girl was caught up in open gun fire. She was shot in crossfire between rival gangs, in a shop, during daylight hours. She's now paralysed for life. Situations like that have left alot of people here rather uneasy, because as you must know owning and using fire arms here in the UK is illegal, yet gun crime numbers are rising fast.

Who was it that mentioned the Amish? Communities like this fascinate me. They live very simple and hard working lives don't they? Although I've always wondered why they live their lives as if they reside in a certain timeframe? Everything is very old fashioned (1800's ish?), with the bonnet hats and full dresses, and the men with the beards and traditional period dress. Why is this? Why specifically that particular timeframe? **Clueless emoticon**

I actually had to look on Google maps to see all the differant areas of USA. Most of your individual states are bigger than the whole of my country!! Blimey. Is it true that when you start school,you have to learn about each and every one of your presidents. And how many states do you have?

Oh, and Becky, your mention of ' Ocean City' reminds me of something outta Pokemon!
But I bet its as beautiful as it sounds.

I'm from La Porte, Indiana, this little town litterally 10 miles south of the Michigan Border and 90 minutes from Chicago. Basically, if you're looking at the great lakes, imagine Lake Michigan as a big finger pointing down and my town is right on the tip.

What I love about La Porte is it's size... it's small and homey. We have so many lakes around the town, 5 I think, a few rivers, and don't even ask me how many ponds; so the area is ripe with fish to caught. La Porte is a very typical Midwestern town, with plenty of Big City influence as we are technially a suburb of Chicago.

The thing that put La Porte on the map is a story of greed, malice, and murder. Our resident celebrity (now long deceased), Belle Gunnes is who made our town famous for being one of the country's most infamous serial killers, having lured in on premise of marriage or companionship and then killing some 50 men for their money.

La Porte is a town of history. We have our own museum that tells the history of the town and hosts many more fascinating objects, includng an antique car museum. Rumly and Allis Chalmers tractors were built here for many years before they went under. Now, La Porte is home to one of the largest antique tractor collector clubs in the country (and my dad happens to be the president )

Oprah owns a huge house in our county.

I'm proud of my town, and it makes me sad that it is dying economically, though we just elected a young, new mayor with big ideas and she seems to be doing a great job so far. I really hope she can turn this town around. I do plan to move away someday, though I don't want to go far, as much as I say I want out, I still know I love this town and it will always be a part of me.

The only thing that would make it better is if I had my boyfriend here with me, but for now, until we both get back on our feet, he is in Texas and we have a long distance, albeit healthy, relationship going until then.

I was born & raised in South Boston, MA. My house faced Carson Beach & the Bay. I woke up to the sound of seagulls. Across the bay now stands the beautiful JFK Museum. As a child, I never thought I'd live anywhere but near the ocean & it's lovely, salty sea air. WRONG!!! My husband & I raised our kids in the suburbs north of Boston in a town called Billerica. Every year they have the "Yankee Doodle Homecoming". He was a man "...run out of town, tarred & feathered on a rail". for being loyal to King George during the Revolutionary War. Boston is a lovely "walking city". Massachusetts, one of the six "New England" states, is wonderful. It has mountains, ocean beaches (Cape Cod is famous), farms, rivers, mill towns fun & history galore...AND you can hop in your car & in 1-2 Hrs, be in a totally different state & environment. Well, we loved it & we left it, & followed our daughters to Florida. We live now in a gated community in West Palm Beach, Florida. The cons...it's FLAT!!!! Many of my neighbors are not "from FL, but like me...transplants. Unfortunately, they're not Red Sox fans, but Yankee fans from NY! Did I mention Boston is a sports town? Just look at any pic or video of any game...any sport. The venue is sold out! Win or lose, we love our Sox, Celtics, Bruins & Patriots. OK, the pros to FL living: 1st, our grandchildren. We moved when the 1st grandchild was about to be born & never looked back. Next: THE WEATHER! I never realized what a downer it is to have 3-4 grey, cloudy days in a row (Boston) or how UPLIFTING it is to have sunshine almost every day. A screened in pool in the back yard is not too shabby either. Basically, I LOVE my country & am so thankful for the life my family & I live.

I currently live in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada.
map

Latitude: 55.17. Longitude: -118.797. We are so far north we get a "Northern Living Allowance" from the federal government which is a tax deduction. I think the intent is to encourage people to stay here.

Winter is usually about 8 months, construction season is 4 - which includes repairing the potholes from the previous winter on the paved roads and re-grading the gravel roads.

Most people drive SUVs or huge pick-up trucks because cars can't handle the ruts in the snow during the winter as they don't clear the roads often. When it is a heavy snow year people send their repair bills to the city for undercarraige, axel and tire damage and the city pays it rather than clear the roads properly.

Our three industries are oil & gas, forestry and farming. Everything else pretty much supports those. We have a lot, A LOT of hotels which the oil companies use for their crews. All of the oil companies have offices here and there are rigs all over the north west of the province and we are the hub so all the crews stage out of here... lots of bars where the rig pigs spend their money (which benefits me on occasion).

Fine dining... hmm, doesn't exist. Not to the calibre we know from living in Vancouver and travelling the world. There are a couple of very expensive places and the food is good but it isn't quite there.

We moved here in January 2000 and since then things have picked up... we now have FIVE Starbucks (zero when we arrived). There are FIVE Tim Hortons (one of them is the BUSIEST in the country). Everything here is drive-thru... even pharmacies and banks.

Since we got here they have opened two Japanese restaurants and a Thai. There are quite a few Chinese take-out places, a couple with dining rooms. No decent dim sum places nor a high end authentic Chinese, just typical North American style. There is a well established Greek place which is quite good. Lots of chains: The Keg, Earls, Mr. Mikes, Boston Pizza (X2), Pizza Hut (x2), McDonalds (X3 + Walmart), Wendys, A&W (x2 +Mall), DQ (x2), Dominos, Five Guys, Subway (3 + mall), Fatburger, Quiznos (x2), Pita Pit (x2), Dennys, ABC, Smittys, Humptys...etc. Rig pigs eat out and like lots of cheap food!!! There are also lots of pubs and sports bars with food that are popular (and I benefit from them too!) And most of the more high end (for here) hotels have restuarants.

We have three movie theatres. Two live theatres - Grande Prairie Live Theatre and The Douglas Cardinal Centre for the Performing Arts which is at Grande Prairie Regional College - I work at both. We have two concert facilities that bring in touring artists - Crystal Centre (we had ELTON JOHN here last month!) and the TEC Centre. We have an annual rodeo called the Grande Prairie Stompede - the world champion Chuck Wagon driver, Kelly Sutherland, is from Grande Prairie.

We have an Art Gallery, a Centre for Creative Arts and a pretty extensive community calendar of activities. Lots of dance schools and performing arts programs.

We have an AJHL team, The Grande Prairie Storm, and there are an infinite number of organized sports for all ages.

There are two high schools - one public, one separate (meaning Catholic system - they have two separate school districts in Alberta). So there are two grads each spring.

We have eight (soon to be nine with the new Walmart expansion to a super Walmart) grocery stores. One mall of 181 stores, a couple of retail developments of big box stores. There is a Walmart (obviously), Sears, and Zellers - which is closing and turning into a Target at the end of the year. We have lots of the major big box - Staples, Michaels, Winners, JYSK, Best Buy, Future Shop, The Brick, Home Depot, London Drugs, etc.

We have a regional airport (10 minutes from my house) that connects us to Edmonton International (an hour away by plane).

From my house which is in one of the older parts of the centre of town (built in the late 50s and early 60s - my house is the same age as me!) it is a maximum 10-12 minute drive to get out of town and into either forest or farmland. South you are in forest in about 10 minutes, once you are over the river it is two hours the next gas station. North you hit small towns every 30 min to a few hours along the highway. West the BC border is about and hour away, and east it is a 5 hour drive to Edmonton.

This is a redneck town. Getting dressed up for opening night at the theatre means clean jeans and kicking the sh*t off your boots.

It has actually changed a lot since we got here. Used to be if you wanted to cross the road, and were standing on the side people would stop to let you cross. Now... they don't even see you when you are in a cross walk with a walk signal!

The population has almost doubled in the last decade. Lots of new sub-divisions spreading out.

But you still can't go to the store without running into people you know and taking longer than you intended as you stop to chat!

I like it here. I like the weather - it changes so often. The huge open sky where the rain storms blow away, the clear night skies with the Aurora, huge stars, seeing meteor showers.

I like seeing moose wander down the back lane, the herd of white tail deer on the road when I leave for work in the morning, the wolves surrounding the car when we went to Jasper...

And I like the opportunity I've had to build my business in a relatively competition free environment - now I can operate as an established artist against new start-ups.

I live in Alfaz, (it means "fertil land" in arab), a small Spanish village on the Mediterranean Coast. It's 7 km away from Benidorm, a very touristic town (where I lived for over 19 years). I'm pretty sure I'd die if I lived somewhere far from the sea. I LOVE, I NEED, the sea. My town has a beautiful small harbour and two beaches (sand and small boulders). The weather is warm in the winter and hot and sunny in the summer and that's one of the reasons why we ENJOY "LIVING THE STREET" , I mean we like going out to have a cold beer and some "tapas" (small portions of food like garlic prawns, meatballs, spicy french fries, ...), and go for a walk in the evening and have and ice cream. I love being, as Linda said before, the "mixing pot" in the East Coast of Spain. We have more than eighty different nationalities living here and we have the biggest norwegian colony of Europe. So you can find restaurants and shops from India, UK, Greece, Evuator, Dominican Republic, Rumania, Rusia, Italy, Japan,... Yes, you guessed it, I'm in love with my town (I wish Spain had a bigger "face painting culture" though)
http://www.google.es/search?q=fotos+playa+alfaz+del+pi&hl=es&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=P5m5T4PmD_GR0QX5qKGHCA&ved=0CGgQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=800

We do learn about all the presidents, but I have forgotten most of it! There are 50 states in the USA. 48 are on the "mainland," but Hawaii and Alaska are not attached to the other 48. You have to travel through parts of Canada to get to Alaska! Hawaii is a series of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Alaska is the largest state by square mileage, but has a very sparse population.

As for Amish, their religion requires that they dress modestly in the way that you see on TV and the Internet and where hats (men) or bonnets (women). They do not drive cars, have electricity in their homes or use any labor-saving machinery that might reduce the requirement of sustaining their lifestyle AS a community. Their main focus is humility and reject individuality and modern conveniences to prevent community members from coveting one another's belongings and conveniences. They are expert artisans and craftsmen. Their furniture is some of the highest quality in the country and very affordable. Their textiles are absolutely beautiful. They are a very respectful people. They do not allow photographing to avoid succombing to the temptation of vanity. It's a very interesting way of life, and very different from what all of us would consider "normal".

Im located in Onalaska Wisconsin..right along the mighty Mississppi River..beatiful country here hot and humid in the summer lots of festivals and things going on all the time...the people are laid back and easy going..The winter months are very cold with lots of snow..
Im orignally from Dallas Texas where its hot in the summer and winter is very mild to none...something always going on the the big city..I met my husband Greg on line in 1999 and have been in wisconsin ever since..I love it here..I don't think I could ever go back to the hustle and bustle of the big City..
And as Becky states about the Amish,, their are quite a few in our area...
and also alot of fisherman in the area along the mississippi river..the hills and water are amazing. I watched the solar eclipse today as the sun sat along the horizon across the river to the hills of minnesota..this is a pic of Greg and I in a valley on a motorcycle ride .[img][/img]

This is so interesting to see what each culture is like.

We learn who all our presidents are in school, but not really every detail about them. If anything... it's sad to say, our school systems are declining & kids do not learn enough history & science anymore. That is why I chose to homeschool 15 yrs ago. My goal was to teach my kids to learn. Now, my hubby is a 3rd grade teacher in our school system & we both see the flaws in the system. So much politics is going into educating our kids that the teacher's hands are tied & they can't teach

I live in a small suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I love that our city has large lots and our house is situated on nearly an acre with a large yard next to a small woods and backed up to about 10 acres of wetlands with a pond. Great for the kids to play outside, garden and explore wildlife. Minnesota has many lakes, ponds and rivers - it has the most shoreline of any state. And even though we have a short summer, many people own boats or a cabin on a lake. And since we have a long snowy winter, many people also participate in winter sports like skiing, snowmobiling, skating, sledding, ice fishing, etc.

I was raised in Liberty, Missouri but have lived in Lampe, Missouri for the last 25 years. Lampe is an unincorporated town just 30 minutes from Branson, Missouri. There are a couple of things Branson is known for, live shows and crafting.The term Hillbilly comes from the area and they are people who are cunning,artistic, and enthusiastic if not learned or sophisticated. Anyone that thinks a Hillbilly is dumb are sorely underestimating them. We have live shows for every taste from traditional Bluegrass to Magic, Broadway,Rock,Kung Fu,to Comedy. People from all over the world come to visit Branson for it's variety, family values, friendliness. I work 4 months out of the summer part time at Silver Dollar City an eighteen hundreds theme park where I paint and personalize parasols.I used to paint faces there too but don't after they made some department changed a few years back. I was very glad to take up face painting as a private business even if I have to reeducated the local market place because I make a lot more working for myself than painting faces for them. I have a Daughter that just turned 20 and she is a very talented artist in her own right. She has a dream of someday living in the UK so I guess she'll have to drag Mom with her when she can afford it. We're currently secretaries for both our local clown alley and magic ring.My Daughter is taking the computer design portion of the job and I'm taking the writing portion.