What Country Are You From?

[Sabrina]

[FONT="Tahoma"]I'm sure many of you have noticed that we have this event running in the event center: [URL="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=59315"][U]OtakuBingo![/U][/URL] It looks like fun and yet I've discovered that unless someone mentions it in their posts or profiles you can't see what country they are from. So that got me wondering if we really do have people visiting here from ten different countries.

I'm sure we do, but I'm curious to know who and just what country they are from! So why not tell us what country you are from and a bit about it or about why you like it. If you have states like we do here in America (yes that's where I'm from) then tell us about your state.

I was born and raised here and the only thing I've ever done is visit a few other states that are close to where I live. However, Utah is fun for all the great skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer since we have five National Parks.

Anyway, I'd love to visit other places so, tell us about it! :catgirl:[/FONT]

[Japan]

I live in America obviously, however I lived in England prior to Washington state for three years. I went all over the states and Europe and I also went to Mexico and Canada as well. I want to live in Japan right now though.

[Cat]

I live in the States as well. I've been to a few of the states mostly when we moved from Vermont to Arizona. I've also been to San Diego a few times. I love that city but expensive to live there sadly at least for my family. We kind of did the "things would be better out west" kind of thing.

The only other country I've been to is Canada. Even then it wasn't that far into Canada. Even though we live close to boarder of Mexico I've never been there either.

However I like where I live now compared to Vermont. Its warmer and not as rainy. The winters are cool but very few nights are really cold unlike Vermont that is snowing far to much. Don't get me wrong I love my birth place as well but the climate just doesn't work with me.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]San Antonio, Texas, United States. Home of almost 2 million people, strong medical and tourism industry. Best known attractions are Sea World, the Alamo, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Good food, good parties, good times.

Texas probably is the most odd mix of everything I have personally seen. The terrain shifts gradually from dense woodlands to rolling hills down south to coastal plains and out west with deserts and mountains. Cultures range from Germans in central Texas to a heavy Latin American influence throughout the state to kind of a southern dixieland feel out east. The entire state has a heavy "pro-Texas" feeling to and I have to admit I have a great deal of personal pride in my state, perhaps even more than my country.

Plenty to see and do in Austin, Houston, and Dallas too. Could head down to the coast around Corpus Christi or Port Aransas, maybe even Padre if you want to drive a long way, haha. Pretty good selection of parks like Enchanted Rock and Big Bend. Plenty of party places throughout all the cities I mentioned above but ESPECIALLY Austin - there are so many bars and live music venues in Austin it is unfathomable.

Cool state, but there are a bunch of evangelicals scattered throughout it. Pretty Republican throughout it too. It has a nice amount of history to it as well as we fought for our independence and inadvertently spawned the Mexican-American War which gave it a hunch amount of territory, including California.

Good times.[/color]

[DeLarge]

[SIZE=1]English, born and raised. I've never lived anywhere else but South England, even though my extended family is spread right across the country. It's fairly typical of many of the stereotypes: rainy, cold and houses people filled with a vague sense of misery and depression.

As for fun things to do, London is only a short journey from where I live, so there's plenty to do there, the London Eye, Tower of London, all kinds of shopping, gigs, culture and weirdness if you venture down towards Camden.

It may seem like I'm complaining in a half-arsed way, but I really do love living in England, I don't think I'd trade it for anywhere else in the world. There's no other country in the world that does drinking quite like we do.
[/SIZE]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]California, but because I've lived in both the North and South, I think I'll just talk about the Bay Area, which is naturally in Northern California.

I live in the East Bay, which is a nice way of saying, not San Francisco, not Oakland, and not San Jose. In fact, it's relatively nice here in the sense of it's exceedingly diverse. We live across from a Chinese couple, down further are two Indian families with two daughters that do traditional dance every Sunday in their garage. And there's a Kenyan couple two doors across. The East Bay is noteworthy for its odd mix of both the biggest car industry in the state as well as it's thriving music, art, and social sect. We have a yearly Art and Wine festival that shuts down six city blocks in the name of getting completely smashed while looking at very cool artwork.

[URL="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5258478"]Wenland's flowers is one of the booths that was there this year but it's so cool, I'll show you instead of just telling you.[/URL]

The weather waffles between completely overcast and 50 degrees to sunny and roughly 80. The nice part about being on the coast is the weather is relatively mild, it's not too dry, but it never gets hot enough to be welteringly humid. That's probably why a moderately sized four bedroom house in these parts is now usually sold for 900,000 USD.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Lunar]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I live in....America, of course. My ancestors are from Africa, and most of my family are from Detroit. I'm not telling where I live, but it starts with a C.[/COLOR]

[Vicky]

[quote name='Sabrina'][FONT="Tahoma"]

Anyway, I'd love to visit other places so, tell us about it! :catgirl:[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1][I]From the very depths of Hell itself![/I]

Actually, I'm from Greater Manchester, close enough though. The City Centre isn't really Hell as such, it's full of wonderful... crap. And a great variety of people. When you go further out you get to the industrial area (or rather, former) which is all run down and full of abandoned factories. The area around there is poor and full of horrible idiots; poor families, poor morals (do your human geography!). Then if you go a bit further out you get the richer areas which are nice - then the areas like New Mills which are full of fields and lovely folks.

Unfortunately, the industrial area which is all run down is the largest part of the city. It's where houses were built around, see, which are now council estates. Despite being crap, Manchester has character. Lots of character. Apparently I've been told it's the centre of Art, Higher Education, media and commerce in the North.

I'll tell you what adds to the character, the stuff that comes from the city. Mostly the music scene which is still running real strong. If you don't know it, look up the 'Madchester' music scene from 1980 - 1990.

Plus, you should see the great people who came from this city (The Happy Mondays, Joy Division, the Smiths, Ian Brown, the Chemical Brothers, Anthony Burgess, Noell Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Mark E. Smith, Friedrich Engels... loads more, just look it up).

The only good thing about the [i]present[/i] Manchester if we ignore it's amazing cultural music past and all that jazz is the Gay Village *shrugs*.[/SIZE]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I was born in Phoenix, AZ. We moved from Phoenix to Showlow, AZ once, but only for a short time, then back to Phoenix. My uncle and cousin lived in our house in Phoenix over that time. We moved from Arizona to Ohio when I was ten and a half. Which is where I still currently live.

I've missed Arizona ever since. I always put Ohio down but in all honesty I don't think I would be the person I am today if we hadn't moved here. I discovered martial arts here, anime, God. Lol. Really though, I know how a lot of my childhood friends in Arizona turned out(I still keep in touch), and I'm thankful I left because I'm not like them.

Ohio has a lot of things to do I guess, most of which I couldn't give a crap about. I don't care about the Hard Rock, the Indians(baseball), the Browns(football), or pretty much any entertainment we provide. Ha. Thhe Science Center is cool, and the Zoo, but Zoos are in every state. :p I hate the winters, its the longest season here! My favorite part about this state however is the park system. The Metroparks are amazing! I think its also known as the emrald necklace because it stretchs throughout the whole state, all lined with wildlife, and trees. Its a great place to bike, run, walk, relax.

I've always wanted to move back to Arizona, I miss the desert, plus other things. However its getting so populated there, and I know it won't be as I remember it at all, after ten years... I've considered New Mexico though, it still has the desert, and possibly not as over crowded. Somewhere out West at least.

I've through a lot of other states, and I've been out of the country twice.

When I was younger we visited family in California, Ohio, and West Virginia. While moving to Ohio we went through Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Colorado. I've also been to Pennsylvania, & New York. Illinois last weekend.

I went to Japan last summer, which was such an amazing experience since I have been wanting to go there for so long and just making that come true for myself was so awesome. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

My last out of country experience was Israel, this past May - June. I can't put it into words how breath taking it was. I've been wanting to go there for a few years now, aswell, especially after what I've learned of the bible in the last few years. Just seeing where Jesus walked and spoke was something I'll never forget. The Mediterranean was so beautiful, and floating in the Dead Sea was incredible. I would definetly go back here too if I had a chance.

Hopefully my next stop will be Egypt, but we'll see where life take me. I would also like to go to Seattle, Washington to visit my grandma, uncle, and cousin eventually.[/SIZE]

[Boo]

[size=1]The Netherlands.

Don't know what to tell though, apart from my usual jokes about prostitution and marijuana being legal in the Netherlands. Oh, just so you all know, mushrooms will be announced illegal here within now and very soon.

Well, I like the Netherlands. The weather's fine. Not too warm, except perhaps in summer, but then it's allowed. Would like some more snow in winters, though. The land is nice and flat, we don't have much real big cities, there's loads of bicycles (and I love bicycles), good food, common basic knowledge of english (and several other languages) amongst inhabitants and well... coolness.

What I don't like, is that the Netherlands lack good music. The amount of good music here is severely small.

Oh, by the way... England, if you're looking for your old flagship HMS Royal Charles, try looking in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum.[/size]

[chibi-master]

I live in America...! Oh, poop...I just envisioned Bandit Keith...><

[Aberinkula]

[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"][SIZE="1"]I live in America... whoo! It's boring, WHOO!

My heritage comes from Europe though, mostly thourgh Hungary and Ireland and I have a tad of Dutch. The Irish was obvious in me when I was a baby.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

I live in America in the state of Utah. I wouldn't say it's boring though. Like Sabrina mentioned we do have five National Parks so if you have a weekend free, there is always somewhere you can go to. Plus we have the advantage of being close to other places like Yellowstone/Teton National Park and the Grand Canyon. So it's a good place to be since there are a lot of places that are within a 6-8 hour drive.

I haven't been out of the states yet, but I certainly want to. I've been to the border of Mexico, but not into it and the same with Canada... I really need to fix that one of these days. Heh.

[Kenso]

[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]At the moment, I live in the Northeastern portion of Pennsylvania (United States, of course). And I hate it. Don't get me wrong, it does have it's good points. There's still a lot of untouched forest, which is beautiful, especially when it snows, and I'm practically dead center between New York City and Philadelphia (no more of a difference driving than like 15 minutes). That said, I've never been to either (except for the Philly airport).[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]Wilkes-Barre, where I live, has fallen apart in the last two decades, and while it used to be a pretty awesome place (from what I know of its past), it's nothing now. The nearest theme park is like 1 1/2 hours away, and I've been there so many times it's boring now. And there is almost nothing within the city.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]Admittedly, our music scene isn't horrible (Breaking Benjamin came from our music scene), if you're the type to go out to bars and the like. I'm not. The only time I go to a bar is when my uncle's band is playing (nothing impressive, as his supporting cast is bad, but it's just for fun for them).[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]However, all this will be changing in January, when I'll be moving down to Phoenix, Arizona. I've been down there and loved it, and my mom lives down there. And since there's nothing here (including jobs), my fiance and I are gonna take a shot at moving elsewhere.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]Other places I've been: Spent the first three years of my life in Alaska, lived in California for a while, visited Boston numerous times (wouldn't want to live there, but not horrible for a visit), San Antonio (HATED IT - but I was there for BMT, so I could be biased), VA Beach (that was fun), and North Carolina. As far as I can remember, that's about all of them. Oh, and I've been to New Jersey, but that's was visiting people for a day, and we didn't really do much except enjoy the inground swimming pool.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Korey]

[quote name='DeathKnight'][color=crimson]

Plenty to see and do in Austin, Houston, and Dallas too. Could head down to the coast around Corpus Christi or Port Aransas, maybe even Padre if you want to drive a long way, haha. Pretty good selection of parks like Enchanted Rock and Big Bend. Plenty of party places throughout all the cities I mentioned above but ESPECIALLY Austin - there are so many bars and live music venues in Austin it is unfathomable.
[/color][/QUOTE]
[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]
Ken, I'm saddened by the fact you did not mention anything about us here in West Texas, especially El Paso. Seeing as we're pretty much the only major city in West Texas, we're kinda hard to pass up. Shame on you, you are a disgrace to Texans across Texas... :p

I've been all around the state as well and I love my state tremendously. There is plenty to do in Texas, and most cities have enough to do to keep you occupied for quite a while. Here in El Paso, we are rich in Mexican heritage and customs...seeing as we're right on the border. We also have a giant National park right in our Mountain range, so we have lots of hiking oppourtunities. El Pasoans love to party and we celebrate in style. Pinatas, mass amounts of drinking, dancing, mass amounts of drinking, tons of food...all equate to an awesome party. We are also home to some of the best restaurants in the nation when it comes to Mexican food. Our food comes second to none, because it feels like a home-cooked meal. [/FONT]

[Drizzt Do'urden]

American born and bred. I live in Ohio right now, if you have the chance to visit...Pass. No not really we do have some good attractions here. Cedar Point (fantastic amusment park) rock and roll hall of fame, Pro football hall of fame, The reds, browns, indians, bengals, and the blue jackets.

I've been around the country and the world through my military service and I have to say as far as the states go. I've had the most fun and seen the most in Texas, I was stationed at San Antonio (though didn't get to see much the first time around ) for boot camp. Then I came back to finish my Tech School in Wichita Falls (Great little town)

If I had to pick one place to live though it would be England, I got to do a Tour of Duty their and it was fantastic. So much history, the sights, and anyone thats from their Bournmath(SP) Beach was the greatest.

[Imp]

[quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]California, but because I've lived in both the North and South, I think I'll just talk about the Bay Area, which is naturally in Northern California.
[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Well well well Raiha, I had no idea you lived so close to where I live. I live in the Bay Area too, except in San Jose. Which, I heard a while ago, now has the tenth largest population of any city in the US. Erm... w00t?

Okay, so there are a few good things about the area I live in. I have pretty easy access to food from nearly every part of the world (nearly every part of the rest of the US as well), it's only an hour's drive to a daytime vacation in San Francisco, and the air never gets muggy. And I do like the area my house (or should I say condominium) is located in--it's nearby a creek.

But for me at least, the bad things seem to outweigh the good. The summers here, for example, are too long, and too dry. If you live here for as long as I did, you might grow tired of nearly 300 days of sunshine a year... and who knows, you might miss the snow. Secondly, the housing prices here are fairly high, and that combined with the above and below means I won't be living here once I become independent. Thirdly, for the past eight years (at least) I've had to stand shamefully under the government--though I don't know, that might change later this year provided things go well. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

I've lived in California all my life, save a year and a half when I was very little. I lived in Singapore then--you know, the tiny island off the tip of Malaysia, located about one degree north of the equator.

I think I'd like to move out of the state or even out of the country once I start living on my own. Out of the country would especially be nice--I've been thinking somewhere in Japan or the UK (the latter seems a slight bit more likely), due to various factors. (Yes Drizzt, I feel the same way you do! It can also be noted that I speak with a British accent for no apparent reason.) Though in both cases I can say I like the music and the culture better over there. Where I currently live, as for the music... the most popular genres are hip-hop (among younger people) and country (among older people). And I dislike both. I'd love to go into detail about the music, but if I did, the mods would have to move this post to the Entertainment section.

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"]I'm in the US, though Sabrina already knows that. =P I've been to Japan, but I was little at the time so I don't really remember it. It was a case of my father taking business trips there with my mom and her dragging me along since I was little. I'd love to go back and see it now that I'd actually remember it clearly.

Though at the same time there's a lot to see in the US that I really want to get around to visiting as well. After all, like Sabrina said, we have five National Parks here in Utah and since I don't have a car... I haven't seen a single one. That doesn't include the fact that Yellowstone is only six hours from here and I haven't been there either.[/COLOR]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff]Okay I want to play too.

I'm from America. I was born and raised in Western New York State right near Lake Ontario and know the difference between lake effect snow and the other stuff. Sadly I haven't really moved far from where I was born and I don't know if I ever will again. Unless I can manipulate a few people and well then only if I am garanteed a job.

I've been all over New York State and we have a lot of really interesting things. To the West of me Buffalo has a good zoo, we have Niagra Falls (nice 2 hour drive from where I live) and a short drive to Canada. There's also the Finger Lakes Wine Trail about fourty-five minutes east of me and the second Sephora in Upstate New York. And I can't forget to mention all the museums and festivals here in my own city of Rochster.

One of my friends lives in Troy- it's very pretty there and just a short drive into Vermont (Well when you get to Hoosick- if you ever do get there try the Country Veiw Diner, it's practically tradition now) So I go there a few times a year and she comes here. And we can't forget downstate, which no one ever does. Oh yeah and the 1,000 Islands and North Country.

I used to live in Killeen Texas just off Ft. Hood the largest Army base in the free world. Worst city on Earth! Seriously! The crime rate is insane there- 2 months before I moved there some woman was dragged from her apartment, raped and left for dead in a feild across from my apartment complex. Oh yeah and some guy was shot in the apartment across from where I got my mail. The rest of Texas is okay, I liked Grapevine, Dallas and San Antonio well enough. But do not go to Killeen if you can avoid it.

Vermont is pretty- I've been to Bennington- well I went last year and I will probably go again this year. Las Vegas kicks serious boo-tay! You know if you like all you can eat buffets with good cheap food, gambling, and nearby canyons. Oh and Pheonix! I love Pheonix! I have a friend in Chandler and I can say there is a lot to do there too.

Canada is great too, but I've only been to Toronto. I plan on going out to British Columbia next year to visit my boyfriend's family. He keeps promising I'll see some real mountains when I go out there. I also want to go to Alberta and Ireland- but Ireland has to wait until this damn recession ends or I move to British Columbia (Salmon Arm to be exact)[/color]

[Sandy]

If someone didn't know it already, I'm from Finland, one of the Scandinavian countries located in northern Europe. The summer this year has been a cold and wet one, and the saddest part is that it only gets colder and more wet as we move towards fall.

So is it a wonder Finnish people are considered gloomy and grumpy? ;P

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Well no surprises here from me, I'm from Ireland and I honestly wouldn't consider myself a half-decent tour-guide for my entire nation, so I'll just take the lazily efficient way out and give a link to the Wikipedia article [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland][b]here[/b][/url] for anyone who's interested. For anyone considering visiting Ireland at any point I would advise them to schedule the trip during the summer only for any chance of sunshine.[/SIZE]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

[quote name='Sabrina'][FONT="Tahoma"]I'm sure many of you have noticed that we have this event running in the event center: [URL="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=59315"][U]OtakuBingo![/U][/URL] It looks like fun and yet I've discovered that unless someone mentions it in their posts or profiles you can't see what country they are from. So that got me wondering if we really do have people visiting here from ten different countries. [/FONT][/QUOTE]Personally this makes me think that Shy would have been better off making a slot of... find members from ten different states/countries. A mix if you will. He'd probably get more responses to the game if he did that. Anyway...

I am in the US of A. My ancestors are from Germany, but they came to the states a very long time ago so for all intents and purposes I come from here. The state I live in, Utah, is a fun place to live. We have lots of beautiful places to visit and overall it's been a nice place to live.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='Sandy']If someone didn't know it already, I'm from Finland, one of the Scandinavian countries located in northern Europe. The summer this year has been a cold and wet one, and the saddest part is that it only gets colder and more wet as we move towards fall.

So is it a wonder Finnish people are considered gloomy and grumpy? ;P[/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff] Cheer up- at least Europe gets six weeks mandatory vacation and health care.[/color]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"] For anyone considering visiting Ireland at any point I would advise them to schedule the trip during the summer only for any chance of sunshine.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff]Noted.

I forgot to add the following:

Anyone thinking of visiting Western for good sunny weather or the festivals- go in the summer. If you like snow, come in the winter.

Pheonix, Las Vegas or Texas- Any time from fall to early spring is best. Only go south if you like feeling as though you're about to melt and don't buy that 'dry heat' bull crap. It's hot. If the thermometer reads 108 degrees (about 40C or so) humidity or a lack of it won't make a bit of differece

And if you have a sudden desire to try and plug your vehicle in please visit northern Alberta in the winter.[/color]

[Kenso]

[quote name='ChibiHorsewoman'][COLOR=#9933ff]don't buy that 'dry heat' bull crap. It's hot. If the thermometer reads 108 degrees (about 40C or so) humidity or a lack of it won't make a bit of differece[/COLOR][/quote]

[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Having experienced 90+ degrees (including triple digits) and 70%+ humidity and 110 degrees at <5% humidity, it's a real big difference. Don't get me wrong, it's still hot, but it's far more tolerable when there's no humidity. I'll take triple digits with low humidity over 80+ with mid-to-high humidity any day of the week. The only thing that doesn't really notice the difference is the interior of your car. Honestly, if you're going anywhere it's past 80, stand back when you open your car door.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[chibi-master]

Heat is heat. Humidity just makes it more annoying...