donc: I'm originally from Oxford, OH (Miami U.) and know Athens well as it, too, is a small, rural university town (Ohio U.).
FWIW: it (Ohio, U.) was just picked one of the top ten party schools in the nation.
In general, living in a town like that means you either work for the university, have a small biz that depends on students/university, or you commute to a larger city for work.
The plus side is that you get all the nice aspects of small town/small city life, but with the cultural advantages of a large-ish state university to bring in lots of top cultural activities, not to mention all of the sports (watching) opportunities -- and the girl watching is spectacular when those first warm days of spring arrive.
The minus side is that some grow bored in the small town atmosphere, the weather is very hot and humid in the summer, while winters can get ugly every now and then, or just be cold and wet.
Such towns usually have pretty good public schools and are usually good places to raise kids.
Not a lot of opportunities for water sports unless in a pool, or drive to great lakes.
Drive south from Athens and you arrive in Appalachia pretty quick -- lots of scenery and abandoned coal operations -- and then the Ohio River/sewer.
Just my quick 2 cents worth.
Jim |
