[PSmith08]

Originally from Bedford, IN. Small town (<15000) noted for its limestone production, proliferation of churches, and not much else except its proximity to Bloomington, IN (home of IU). It is not particularly affluent, and has a large farming and factory population. It is probably a good enough place to grow up, where everybody knows everyone else. However, it is still a small town with all the problems that such environments have.

I now reside in West-Central Indiana (Montgomery County, IN) for most of the year because of college.

 

[Teerawit]

Athens, Georgia:

Typical college town, home of the UGA Bulldogs. Very vibrant music scene. Famous bands that made their start in Athens include REM, The B-52's, and Neutral Milk Hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens%2C_Georgia

Not much more than college and music here.

 

[rsabo]

Good ol' *town, PA...home of the eight-foot-tall dredyl, right next to the "holiday" tree. Supposedly one of the "best places to raise children" by some study, which is odd, since you can't throw a stone without hitting a pothead in my school.

BTW, my trip leader over the summer (Langskib) was from London, Ontario. The first time he said that he "was from London", I thought "odd, he doesn't have a british accent."

 

[Oistrakh]

I live in Middlesex County, MA....Not going to tell any more information about the location... Its located in a quiet town but access to local malls/shopping centers.

 

[dvallere]

Reading, PA. During the time I lived there (70s and 80s), it became known as the "Outlet Capital of the World" because outlets were beginning to burgeon across the US but the concept of the outlet, supposedly, originated in Reading, where textile mills sold their "irregular" goods in the basements of the factories. Even up to a few years ago there were outlets in the old factory buildings, though no factories operating there anymore.

After I graduated from college and moved away, Reading became known through some study as the city with the 2nd-largest population of retired people (after Ft. Lauderdale). I can believe it. Seems like, if ya don't get out of Reading early, you can never leave!! I have cousins who tried to move away and they just can't; even though they have good jobs in interesting cities they keep chucking it all and going back there, though I have no idea why.

Now living on the Seattle Eastside, though probably further east than fewtch - I'm on the east side of Lake Sammamish. He's right. Don't move here

 

[nabwong]

I'm from Singapore, the cleanest and safest place in the world. The weather is great all year round. Food is so cheap and there's lots of variety. The ladies seem to be prettier than 10 years ago

US$400 million Esplanade Concert Hall and Theater. I played a sonata with wind ensemble there in dec 2004. It was amazing.

Best way to travel, MRT

Satay at Lau Pa Sat

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh I live in Middlesex County, MA....Not going to tell any more information about the location... Its located in a quiet town but access to local malls/shopping centers.

lol....you're such a secretive person.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Athens, Georgia: Typical college town, home of the UGA Bulldogs. Very vibrant music scene. Famous bands that made their start in Athens include REM, The B-52's, and Neutral Milk Hotel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens%2C_Georgia Not much more than college and music here.

Don't forget AthFest!

....

Wait, that falls under music too.

 

[Asr]

Boulder, CO. Beautiful, isn't it? In the winter, those mountains are the ideal picture of snow-capped.

Very cool "college town" and the students radiate a lot of youthful energy during the school months. Tons of outdoor activities in the summer (hiking, cycling, running, etc), and the best ski resorts are just a few hours away - Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Winter Park, etc.

Lots of good restaurants, and the quality of life here is high. Prime for retired/retiring/thinking about retiring folks. Quite a few sci-tech companies in the area.

Just a short 20-minute drive away from the Flatiron Crossing Mall, a huge shopping complex built around the mall itself. And 40-50 minutes away from Denver and Estes Park.

 

[smeggy]

I'm from a little village in Kent, England. 2 pubs, 2 churches, 1 racetrack and a shedload of farms. Mooo!

 

[Aman]

I was born in NYC, but I lived in Fairfield, CT for just about my entire childhood.

It's a place full of rich, artless people. Lots of gigantic houses, lots of beautiful green lawns, swimming pools, old-fashioned buildings housing modern shopping locations, etc. I believe the median income for a household in the town is around $90,000 - but you definitely need to earn more than 200,000 a year to live in Fairfield currently, as the average house in Fairfield is around 700,000 800,000 - and that salary is definitely a stretch!

According to a survey, Fairfield was the second-safest place to live in the entire United States. Fairfield has only had one murder during its entire existence, and it was a very recent murder of a jewelery store owner by a robber who lived in New Haven, CT, far away from Fairfield. In fact, Fairfield is so "perfect" in terms of crime protection that most teenagers who leave it for college hit a huge, rude awakening. Fairfield is incredibly sheltered and corporate - everybody lives on 5 acre property in the normal 5-person family, never get into any trouble, and never face any crime of any kind. The town also has one of the best school systems in the country, however, so I suppose you get what you pay for.

Some images I found:

- The best hotdogs in the world!!

I swear, I've not had a better one in all of my searching in NYC!

 

[imho]

The place I was born!
[size=large]SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA[/size]

 

[saint.panda]

I don't really have a home town in the strictest sense but I'm orginally from Beijing, China, surely one of the most fascinating and smogiest cities in the world. Lived there for about 6 years and visiting from time to time. Most of my life I've been living in Munich, Germany, which is famous for its Oktoberfest, BMW and probably the soccer team Bayern Munich.

As for the future, should Beijing be able to take care of its environmental and infrastructural problems (mainly traffic and lack of a proper subway system) within the next 10-20 years, that's definitely the place where I would want to live in the future. The city really has a lot of energy, diversity, and opportunities. And everything's so cheap, too, especially the food. I'm somehow confident that the overall climate in China will have improved till then as well (another condition for me to live there) as long as they can manage to implement the right policies till the end of this decade in order to maintain social and economic stability and a healthy growth rate. For that they'd probably have to create a decent social security system, improve the school system and access to it (compulsory nine-year school free of charge), reform the crappy banking system, ease internal migration, and finally push through a real land reform in the countryside. And they need to do something about the average Chinese person's manners, it's horrible. Much has to do with migration from the countryside to the city but much of the inherent cultural heritage of the people has also been destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. Anyway, I still love that city.

 

[allenf]

.

 

[allenf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy I'm from a little village in Kent, England. 2 pubs, 2 churches, 1 racetrack and a shedload of farms. Mooo!

That'll be Brands or Lydd?