What's it like where you live?

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

A rural florida town that wanted to be a city and tried very hard but ultimately failed and is in the death throes. The county is the worst in unemployment in the entire state and rivaling some in the nation and suffers from outdated educational lines drawn back in the 60's. In otherwords not the best place to raise kids or support a family.

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

Northwest Pennsylvania, specifically lovely Venango County, where the weather is always wet and usually ungodly hot (although in the winter it occasionally deigns to get ungodly cold) and the rednecks are as thick on the ground as bloody topsoil. Also, there's a meth problem. We've got a fair-sized community of Chinese immigrants, which gives the whites someone to harass of a boring afternoon, as well as a single, solitary family of Indians whose son went to my school for a single year, during which no-one called him anything other than "towelhead" or "sand-n***er" (not usually averse to swearing, but I'll go ahead and censor the racial slur, shall I?). Liberal opinions are... frowned upon. Lastly, it's worth noting that aside from the dubious "excitement" that the above offers, there's pretty much nothing for me and my friends to do around here. Local events are mostly geared toward the geriatric and/or violently fundamentalist Christians, and good book/game/hobby shops are completely nonexistent. Basically, it's "get high and watch Fight Club for the 30th time" or "stare into space."

TL,DR: It's a shithole.

 

[Kaendris]

-snip-

I have to say, that place looks like it would fun to explore around mid afternoon. I love the lights and color variations of the city v. countryside.

Looks like fantastic fun. Plus, you have a Castle and a damn Dragon Flag. Amazing!!!!

 

[DeltaEdge]

I live in Michigan, the mitten state! I've lived in several places though. I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, then moved to Troy Michigan at about 3 months old, then moved to Auburn hills at 10 years old, then stayed in Valencia, California with my mother who moved there for few summers, and eventually moved to California, however, we had moved to Saugus by the point that I had actually moved in with her. Then I moved back to Michigan to live with my dad again after I finished the 11th grade, and lived in the infamous Detroit for a year, which sucked horribly, and was by far the worst place I had ever lived(The home itself was nice, as were some of the surrounding homes, but there were a lot of shitty people in the area, not just within a few blocks). Now, I am attending Eastern Michigan University living on campus, so I now live in Ypsilanti, and my parents have moved once more to Belleville, which has been much better than where we had been before. Somewhat country, with a few farms, and what not(I had the misfortune of having to ride by a decaying horse to and from work every day during the summer on my bike). As for Ypsilanti, the campus of my school itself is quite nice, but there are a lot of cruddy looking areas too, almost like my school drained the life out of them, but there are some nice parts to like the downtown areas. And, it's only 10-15 minutes from my parent's house, so that's very convenient for me.
/End life story

 

[Madman123456]

If you where to throw a giant dart in between the german cities frankfurt and cologne you might hit me, so i'd ask you to refrain from doing that...
Fairly rural area here, it's cold and rainy now but we had a warm summer, we'll have about half a meter of snow i guess.

We have half decent internet speeds here, up to 20 megabit. Some public transportation is there but it's not reliable enough to get to work with so you need to have your own vehicle to get to work or anywhere really.

Two stores of supermarket chains are here so i can get cheap food within walking distance and if want some nice meat i'll go to my neighbor who is a butcher. I get eggs from another neighbor, who has hens, geese, two donkeys and a goat.

Energy is fairly expensive so we went trough something recently where people rediscovered firewood. My sister and brother in law loaned me some money recently so that i wouldn't have to be cheap with a new car so i can get one that can pull a decent sized trailer with firewood, ten of which will get them through winter nice and warm in their badly insulated house which was build in the 1870s, possibly; documents where lost in WW2. You can see damages of the war everywhere if you look hard enough.

Regarding the War's aftermath, in the "townhall" building in the cellar i found some old shit, among that a few postmarks with address of the mayor's office from of which someone had carved out the swastika.
We also have little monument with the names of the german soldiers from our little town who died in the world wars. No motivational sentence under the names or declaration of how we miss them or something, just the names.
You have to be very careful with that topic in our country; you'd do best if you stay very far away from it.
Actually, if i where to run for any office my opinion about dealing with the war, in that we have still have to deal with some things about it could damage my career.

Back to nicer things: We have forests. A lot of them. The town here has air clean enough to be deemed to be "health resort" worthy under our laws, despite many people blasting out carbon oxides from their firewood and despite everyone needing a car to get anywhere.
Regarding the car, i paid about 1500? for my license. License law has been severely upgraded just as i was in school for the license and now i got 6 licenses to be able to drive the same contraptions i'd be able to drive under old license law.
I have a license for the car, i have a license for small trucks up to 7.5 tonnes, i have a license for small tractors, a license for a trailer for my car, a license for a trailer for the small truck and license for a moped.

European laws are weird.


If you'll excuse me, i will have some breakfast, consisting of black bread with "Blutwurst" (sausage made from blood) and coffee.

 

[Frybird]

If you where to throw a giant dart in between the german cities frankfurt and cologne you might hit me, so i'd ask you to refrain from doing that...
Fairly rural area here, it's cold and rainy now but we had a warm summer, we'll have about half a meter of snow i guess.

[...]

Two stores of supermarket chains are here so i can get cheap food within walking distance and if want some nice meat i'll go to my neighbor who is a butcher. I get eggs from another neighbor, who has hens, geese, two donkeys and a goat.

[...]

Back to nicer things: We have forests. A lot of them. The town here has air clean enough to be deemed to be "health resort" worthy under our laws, despite many people blasting out carbon oxides from their firewood and despite everyone needing a car to get anywhere.

Sounds like you live somewhere around the Westerwald Area from what i can gather...does your license plate happen to begin with a "WW" or a "NR"?

 

[Madman123456]

Sounds like you live somewhere around the Westerwald Area from what i can gather...does your license plate happen to begin with a "WW" or a "NR"?

"WW". "Im Westerwald, da pfeift der Wind so kalt." (In the western forest, the wind blows cold", something like that)

Hui Wäller?

 

[Frybird]

Sounds like you live somewhere around the Westerwald Area from what i can gather...does your license plate happen to begin with a "WW" or a "NR"?

"WW". "Im Westerwald, da pfeift der Wind so kalt." (In the western forest, the wind blows cold", something like that)

Hui Wäller?

Sort of kind of maybe not really.

Lived in a town called Puderbach almost my entire life (until i moved to Bonn a few years ago), wich technically isn't Westerwald ("NR") but in my opinion close enough.
After all, it's also a fairly rural town surrounded by forest with sh***y public transportation and a dependency on cars, despite being called a "Luftkurort" (...uuh...i can't properly translate that, it means the air quality is very good and healthy and low on pollution)

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Strange. People wander around in a daze thinking they know why they are doing what they're doing and that it's extremely important that they get it done and they seem to all have a current purpose that they know doesn't satisfy them whenever such a thing has been satisfied in their past. Strange.

 

[Griffolion]

I live in Lancashire, which is in the north west of England. I live rurally on a 16th century renovated mink farm. The nearest city to me (Preston) is 20 minutes away in the car. There are fields all around me, mostly surrounded by sheep/cattle. I live 5 minutes away from where [a href="http://yankinyorkshire.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/sticky-toffee-pudding.jpg"]this[/a] was first created. I'm also not too far from some lovely walking places.

Overall, not bad. I'm more of a city person. I'm moving to the US next year, as my future wife is American. Both excited and not excited at the same time. It's a new thing, and I get to be with her. But I'm not looking forward to going back 70 years with regard to healthcare policy, a lack of regulation on telecoms and communications providers, essentially letting them create monopolies and charge through the nose for relative shit (my job is in IT, so this matters to me), and a terribly inconsistent school system (since kids are on the horizon).

 

[Madman123456]

Lived in a town called Puderbach almost my entire life (until i moved to Bonn a few years ago), wich technically isn't Westerwald ("NR") but in my opinion close enough.
After all, it's also a fairly rural town surrounded by forest with sh***y public transportation and a dependency on cars, despite being called a "Luftkurort" (...uuh...i can't properly translate that, it means the air quality is very good and healthy and low on pollution)

Hello neighbor =)

 

[BitterLemon]

I live in São Paulo, biggest city in Brazil. It has a 20.000.000 population on it's metropolitan area. It's a place of extremes, I guess. It's the most developed area in the country, but has a hell lot of inequality, with some very wealthy neighbourhoods side by side with very poor and violent regions, with lots of intolerance between different classes. The city expansion was chaotic, with very little urban planning, so everything is a bit chaotic and not much pretty. It's kinda ugly to be honest, with a very poluted river crossing it. Everything is overpriced and the living cost is way above the average... you can buy bigger property in New York for a lower price than here.

Transit is one of the worst in the world, with only 5 subway lines and traffic congestions everywhere. My commute is only 6 miles, but in the worst days, it take about 1 hour and half to get home. Sometimes it's faster to go from my parents house to my work than going from my house to work. They live in a city 60 miles from São Paulo, by the way. It's that bad.

For all the terrible things, though, it's a cultural cauldron. Lots of immigrants, mostly italians, spanish, germans, chinese and japanese. People from all over Brazil come to São Paulo to try a better life, bringing their culture with them. Like US, Brazil is a gigantic country and each region is completly unique in terms of culture... so São Paulo have a bit of it all. It's hard to think of something that you can't find here.

There's major brazilian museums here, like MASP, Pinacoteca, SP Museum of Modern Art, Latin America Memorial. There's a beautiful park called Ibirapuera. The Interlagos circuit is where the brazilian F1 Gran Prix is held . The city center is very antique, with beautiful historic buildings and lots of different bars to hang out. It's not uncommon to visit a bar and find out that the owner don't even speak portuguese. There's a neighbourhood called Liberdade (Liberty, in portuguese) that's populated mostly by chinese and japanese people and it's a must go place to eat delicious food for a reasonable price.

The people born here have a fame of beign overstressed, always busy and not much easy going... so, pretty much the contrary of the brazilian stereotype. Others states consider the "paulistas" very snotty people, and it's kinda true. São Paulo thinks itself as the most import thing in Latin America. But it's a stereotype... the city has every kind of people and you can find very friendly folks around here.

To finish, a beautiful music about São Paulo, by a famous brazilian singer, Caetano Veloso:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V9Z9aBYt4g

Translation to the lyrics:
http://lyricstranslate.com/pt-br/sampa-sampa-its-nickname-city-sao-paulobr.html

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Right now I live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, going to the University of Southern Mississippi. I can't find many good pictures of it. A tornado went through the area not too long ago and most pictures are of the damage that was caused. However, I'd say I'm enjoying my time here. Plenty of options in town to eat at, and plenty of things to do on campus.

My hometown, however, is about an hour's drive south: Biloxi, Mississippi. It's not a terrible place to live, really. But...

Spoiler

Casinos are pretty much the only reason it's even on the map. At least I think so. That and there's a neat-looking lighthouse between two roads on the beach. I dunno if I'm underestimating where I live, but I honestly haven't seen too much that really makes the place stand out besides those.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

The easies way to describe the youth culture of my hometown is to say its like a hippie chick and a thug Mexican fucked and made a baby that doesn't know if it wants to be hard or pseudo-intellectual.

Beyond that, there is a strong drug culture but among the locals it's mostly marijuana, exstacy, or psychedelics. The rich kids here to waste college do the hard stuff, but also throw the best parties. It's also very common to smoke tobacco among locals. I at a pack a day don't stand out too much. Furthermore, I have been told at an assembly by the chief of police that the police do not care about underage drinking as long as it isn't public and doesn't result in drunk driving. However, despite common drug, tobacco, and alcohol use, there is a strong culture of intellectualism, usually tied to liberal or truly leftist ideologies, although Libertarianism is a fairly common belief as well.

Most of the older people are devoutly Catholic as most of the town is Hispanic. The white population is generally Protestant, but there are some Irish Catholics. Hispanics are across the board more devout.

There's a river running through the town that's nice, and even devoutly religious people are generally really laid back. Other than that, everybody blares rap out their radios.

I love this city.

Edit - and by this city I mean san marcos, Texas

 

[TehCookie]

I think the Pure Michigan tourism video captures the state perfectly.
I live in the patch of farmland between Flint and Detroit. I haven't lived in any other areas so I don't know ho wit compares. The weather is humid and hot in summer and freezing in our 8 months of winter. Don't go north of the river. http://spotcrime.com/mi/flint (and if you really want to see it light up set the date back a year). When I visited Ohio I was also shocked to learn having a 24/7 liquor store on every corner isn't common and in Ohio most of the stuff they sell is watered down. Are other places like that?

Another thing I always see on there which I find odd is public transportation. In Flint the only thing are buses, which are used as bathrooms or places to sell drugs. If you read the encyclopedia dramatica page on Detroit, it's hilariously accurate (and of course offensive).

 

[Artina89]

I am from Leeds, a city based in west Yorkshire, in the north of England. It's a pretty nice city, and is the UK's largest centre for business, legal, and financial services outside of London. Having said that, I really want to leave and spread my wings. I spent four years living in Nottingham, on account of my attending the university there, and I loved every minute of it, but that could be because of the friends that I made, many of which I am still in touch with. Next week I am going on vacation to Montreal, Canada to see a friend who lives out there, and I will be taking the time to see what its like there, as I am interested in moving to Canada.

 

[OneCatch]

I live in Cardiff, Wales.

Hey, me too! You're only about the second person I've seen on the Escapist from Wales, let alone Cardiff.

In fact, you can see my place of work (where I am right now in fact) in your second-to-last picture. A few hundred metres to the left of the millenium centre and the Welsh Assembly

 

[Ravesy]

-snip-

I have to say, that place looks like it would fun to explore around mid afternoon. I love the lights and color variations of the city v. countryside.

Looks like fantastic fun. Plus, you have a Castle and a damn Dragon Flag. Amazing!!!!

It is a great place, always plenty of things going on to keep you occupied . Unless its raining... *looks out of the window* like today!

I live in Cardiff, Wales.

Hey, me too! You're only about the second person I've seen on the Escapist from Wales, let alone Cardiff.

In fact, you can see my place of work (where I am right now in fact) in your second-to-last picture. A few hundred metres to the left of the millenium centre and the Welsh Assembly

Haha, nice to see a fellow Cardiffian, its good to see a few of us around here!. Would I be right in assuming that you work in one of the bars/restaurants at the bay then? (trying to rack my brain for places to the left of the Millenium centre and WA .

 

[OneCatch]

Haha, nice to see a fellow Cardiffian, its good to see a few of us around here!. Would I be right in assuming that you work in one of the bars/restaurants at the bay then? (trying to rack my brain for places to the left of the Millenium centre and WA .

Nah, an office building about a street away from the bayside restaurant wharf. On the same street as the old Coal Exchange. Live in Roath though. What about you?