Loved the rapid roll-in of the fogs, cool afternoon winds and the Sutro Tower on top of Twin Peaks as well the old wooden Victorian villas, the hills and the lack of humid weather. Plenty of sun, surprising how tanned I got considering the cool temperatures.

Food (huge helpings at cheap prices compared to the pittance at expensive prices here!) and clothes so cheap. People very friendly and willing to engage in hour long conversations.

Have not been feeling happy since getting back home. I find Australia too PC, too hot to wear decent fashionable clothes, too restrictive and Sydney is very expensive compared to SF. Oh and Sydney is full of people who love themselves with huge attitudes and are very unfriendly. Can’t wait to leave as SF suits my personality, whereas Sydney does not.

In SF one can do pretty much do whatever one wants. Very liberal minded with no attitude. Am now in the process of applying to move to SF permanently, don’t want to be here in Oz any more. SF rocks big time! Now I know why my olds didn’t want me to go to the US in the first place.

I miss SF’s academic bent, the cultural diversity, the laidbackness, the prettiness, the microclimates, the people. I love going to Chrissy Fields one day to go running, with the GG bridge looming up ahead. I love being able to walk to the other side of the bridge (SF side, not Marin side) after my run for an amazing hike over to the beach (I forget the name, but it’s topless on the SF side). I love going to Funky Door Yoga for my Bikram. There’s always the Broadway/Lyon steps if you’re wandering around and looking for a pretty view of Alcatraz, GG Bridge, and the Palace of Fine Arts in one fell swoop. Oh, yes, I forgot about the Telegraph Hill wooden steps leading up to Coit Tower… who can forget about them?!

I wish I could just pick up to do a day trip north, south or east– go oyster shucking in the North Bay, Napa for some wine, east bay for fruit picking, Monteray just because. I miss being able to run down to the peninsula for dinner parties with friends– BBQ’s! Then of course there’s Tahoe in the winter time and the awesome snowboarding with friends.

There’s also the food. NYC has better food, more restaurants, more stuff to eat… but SF is really ALMOST but not quite as good. I am willing to forfeit that part, especially since in SF there’s cheaper sushi (Sushi Zone!) and Normandy Crepes (not available in NYC– Ticouz!).

I think what I miss most is that ppl are laid back and happy in SF which makes me laidback and happy. There’s so much less pretention in SF but just as much sophistication and intellectualism. I am sick of NYC. Really, really sick of it. If only my family didn’t live in NJ/NY, you can be sure there is only one city for me, and it’s located in a Bay area in the Northern part of CA.

@ Leslie: Our lives are so different. It makes me think of the awesomeness of the internet – bringing together people from all kinds of places and lifestyles.

I love living in the Arkansas Ozarks. I grew up here, moved away for graduate school, and then returned, a little earlier than anticipated, because of a house-and-land deal that we just couldn’t pass up. We have 16 hilly, wooded acres and a tiny 1930s rock house. It’s in need of renovation, and we’re in need of its expansion, so it’s a tear-your-hair out sort of life, but I think(hope) it that eventually it’ll be a funny, character-building experience.

Our nearest town has about 300 people, one gas station, a post office, about 50 churches, one B&B and one sometimes-open cafe. It’s small, and backwards in plenty of ways, but it’s funny and interesting.