Interesting so far: I see that most people so far live where they prefer to (in terms of urban/rural/suburb), moreso than people living in one setting and wishing they were somewhere else.
I'm SORT of in the latter category (I voted 3). There's a lot I like about the city I live in, but I find myself growing tired of the city, and looking forward to trips into the country more and more (whether it's to visit my sister in rural Virginia, driving up North (in Minnesota) on fishing trips with my buddies, or even just taking a drive by myself out of the city, to unwind). I've lately dreamed of living permanently in a rural area, where I can live a simple life in a less impersonal setting, maybe write a book, and live more on my own schedule, at a more relaxed pace.
Which is interesting, as I grew up in the city, and when my family moved to a small town in Pennsylvania during my high school years, I feared the transition--and came into the new setting hating it, and resisting its ways. A lot of that was anger at being uprooted from the familiar, at a time when my high school life was just starting to improve and I was coming into my own there, I guess. But I missed all the stuff there was to do in the city.
But now I live in the city again, and find that I don't really take advantage of all the "culture" and stimuli unique to cities--what I like most is hanging out with my buds in their backyards, grilling some burgers, and just shooting the bull--something I could do ANYWHERE, and something that people in small towns do all the time. I don't really need the other stimuli, and I've begun to loathe the "ratrace" of urban life, in seeming competition with thousands of people I don't really care about because I can never know all of them. I'm getting restless here, I guess.
Is it a "grass is greener" thing? Maybe, but I've seen both, and know the advantages and disadvantages of both urban and rural, and I think rural is best suited for my temperament. BUT ideally, that rural setting should have some beautiful natural stimuli--a lake perhaps, or maybe mountains, and DEFINITELY trees--I wouldn't like living in flat, treeless farmland.
One thing I've always said--having also lived in suburbia--is that I'm sort of "all or nothing" as far as the urban/rural dichotomy: I like cities in some ways, like rural areas in some ways, but HATE the 'burbs--they are the WORST of both worlds, without the best, IMHO. But that's just me.
