Home: Mississippi
Mississippi will grow on you, it's a scientific fact.
While many of Columbus's accolades are purely based on proximity ("We're only 2 hours from Memphis!" "Starkville is fun and it's just 20 minutes down the road." etc.) there are in fact many other reasons to like living in Mississippi. Now that I am officially a resident, as I have rented a house and told the post office where to find me, these reasons become continuously clearer.
Now I would like to think that I am no stranger to southern culture, but even so some things still surprise me. Everything moves more slowly around here. Sometimes this can be quite annoying (in traffic, waiting for a restaurant check, playing football for Ole Miss) but, generally, it's nice to be given the chance to smell the magnolias.
Another entertaining fact is if you want to find some good food, your best bet is to get off the beaten path. Hwy 45 has Applebees and related restaurants, but the far superior Proffit's Porch is on the lake right before Waverly Ferry becomes a gravel road. The rule of thumb is, if life was a movie, you would want to eat at the place where the soundtrack would have the loudest banjo music. Gravel road is better than paved road. Eating out of the back of someone's house is better than eating in a designated restaurant building. And of course if that house is actually a trailer with a bad roof and a dog chained to a tree across the yard, you have found the perverbial trump card of Mississippi fine dining.
I call myself a resident, but not a local. First of all, I think that takes much more time and commitment. Second, I don't think I have it in me. I love drinking sweet tea* by the river and having the waitress address me as "hun" or "sweetheart" as much as the next man, but there is also a space in my heart for the places where the soundtrack would feature alternative rock or even some rhythm and blues, and no matter of banjo picking will take that from me.
That does not mean, however, that I don't think I could learn to love living here.
*I felt it should be noted that for all the criticism sweet tea receives, it is actually a healthier alternative to most soft drinks as black tea is full of antioxidants and the sugar used is better for you than the high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks.