tell us about where you live

[aussiecreeder]

okay this is quite simple, here you tell everyone about where you live. most of us i assume live in cities, but for those in rural areas then tell us about your smaller town. random facts are better here obviously. for instance if you live in washington d.c and you tell us "i live in my nation's capital"...well thank you captain obvious! well i'll get the ball rolling i suppose;

melbourne, australia
has highest greek population in the world outside of athens
is highly multicultral
mid-sized city at about 3.5 million people
used to be the capital
lots of great restaurants and always popular events on such as the this weekend's grand prix.
weather can be all over the place, yesterday it was great and today it is terrible LOL.
just CRAZY about sports.....

[Rocketqueen]

well i would but i dont know much about it some where in the usa between St Louis And Chicagio in southern IL these folks are really homestead down to earth people and everybody on the block i live on i dont think i have not met person yet who is not been on drugs or on parole

[RMadd]

well...

I technically live in a suburb of St. Louis, a city of about 12,000 that's southwest of the City of St. Louis, maybe 5 miles distant.
My suburb, Crestwood, is largely residential and somewhat commercial (a mall and a whole bunch of stores along one of the main roads... really, the rest is mostly homes, schools, and parks).
As far as St. Louis itself is concerned, people love baseball (specifically, the Cardinals) more than just about anything else. I guess people get excited when our hockey (Blues) or football (Rams) or any college team does well (Mizzou, SLU, or Illinois), but the Cardinals are a year-round passion.
The metropolitan area isn't too diverse (the 'burbs are largely middle class and populated by white folks), but the City of St. Louis itself has a decent-sized African-American population. Also, since the '90s, there's been a tremendous influx of Bosnian immigrants to St. Louis. But, unfortunately, the city is still somewhat segregated, insofar as that minority groups tend to be not quite so well off in terms of socioeconomic status and, therefore, tend to live nearer to each other.

I spend roughly 9 or 10 months a year attending school in Springfield, Missouri. It's a city of about 180,000 in the southwestern corner of the state, in a region known as the Ozarks (old old old mountains that, like the Appalachians, got flattened by time & weather, etc.).
Just last year we got a pro sports team, Minor League AA Cardinals (an affiliate w/ the St. Louis Cardinals). For baseball and football, people tend to split loyalties between St. Louis (Cardinals & Rams) and Kansas City (Royals & Chiefs), although the preference seems towards the Cardinals and Chiefs, both of which have been in their respective sport longer.
As far as the make-up of the population, the city (and region, really) is frightfully white. Something like 95-98%!
It's also a college town of sorts, insofar as that there's one major state university (which I attend) and about 3 or 4 private schools. So, even though there's likely around 30,000 college students around, it's really not much of a small college town. The diversity (or lack thereof) is reflected in the student populations. You'd think that, in a state in which KC & St. Louis have fairly sizable minority populations, there might be a decent number of minorities at a state school. But that, unfortunately, is not the case.
Driving in Springfield is hell. It's one massive grid system with a crapload of stoplights. Lots of old people and rednecks drive here, and really aren't accustomed to normal "rules" that people follow in St. Louis and such.
A few claims to fame I've heard about Springfield:
+ The most restaurants per capita in the U.S. Seriously, if you drive around for 15 minutes, you'll have at least 20 or 30 places to choose from.
+ The greatest number of Chinese restaurants per capita outside of China. Sure, the food isn't the same, but there are alot. Along those lines, Cashew Chicken is a Springfield (MO) original.
+ there was another, but i forgot it!
Brad Pitt also grew up here.

[Dogstar]

I live in Philadelphia, PA, population 5 million (that's the metro area, too, not just the city itself).
It has a diverse population, including African American, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin, you name it.
I live in the outskirts of the city where it's more residential, rather than like a downtown. I'm about a mile from a city park called Fairmount Park, which stretches a good 10 to 12 miles from my area into the downtown. It's fun to ride my bike down there.
There are some really good restaurants here, along with a good dose of history, with Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin, etc. People from all over the world come to see the Liberty Bell. I've taken many friends and family members to see it and the national rangers always poll the group about where it's from and it's a good mix.
The city has a big boxing history. The big venue back in the day was the Blue Horizon and fights are still held there, though the casinos in Atlantic City have taken a lot of the boxing business. It's a big sports town, but the people are pretty parochial in that they rarely pay attention to any other teams but their own, unlike New England, where they seem a bit more knowledgeable about teams in general. The big sport is football. It's 365/24-7 Eagles, Eagles and more Eagles. Basketball is pretty big, too, and though this used to be considered a baseball town, poor ownership and management have doomed the team in the last 15 years and people have responded by not showing up at the ballpark. Even the new park didn't sell out every game the first year.
The hockey team has a rabid following. They often sell out, but it's not a city-wide craze. More people are into football and hoops more than anything else.
Philadelphia is also famous for the cheesesteak, which is like shaved steak on a torpedo roll covered in Cheez-Whiz (blech). There are several variations of this sandwich, but it's not authentic unless it has Cheez-Whiz, so they say . I think it's gross, but then again, I don't eat beef .

The music scene is pretty cool. The city has a rich R&B and rock history. Some famous Philadelphians: Bill Cosby, Patti LaBelle, Jill Scott, Pink, Will Smith, Hall & Oates, Teddy Pendergrass, Silvertide, the Hooters...the list goes on