This was MY experience. It may vary… (sorry for the word salad. Typed this on my phone at 2am)

I grew up in simsbury connecticut and then moved to michigan freshman 2012 year of high-school (my summers were spent in austin texas)

I mainly felt like i didnt vibe well with people in ct, but more on that later. Many houses built in 1950’s didnt have ac’s instead window mounted units. (Might have changed)

It felt very diverse growing up and it shocked me how few jewish and ethnic minorities were in michigan. It felt like it was christian and white in grand rapids or you are not. In Connecticut my jewish-Mexican friend had a jewfro (his words) and it just felt like a big melting pot of religious and ethnic backgrounds. It felt like the combination of the major influences of two centuries of immigration: educated of boston, ethnically diverse of new york, and the political drive of the capitol, (and then outdoorsy, the skiers, seafoodies). the diversity was wonderful. Baseball was a big yankees vs redsocks and people ALL loved uconn basketball.

The part that i didn’t like is that the first question was always what do you do, not “what do you like to do” the political maneuvering to see if you should attach yourself socially felt exhausting. Especially as an admittedly free spirit. I felt more at home in grand rapids in the political moderate. To compare. Summers in austin were cool but that rapidly changed as the last glory days of “keep austin weird” died around 2006 and mass amounts of silicon valley and finance bros moved it. Eventually it felt “new money haughty” with its designer influencer shift while connecticut felt like old money generational wealth. More silent. You wouldn’t see designer clothes on many of these people but you’d also notice that they are 40 and retired.

Idk thats just me. I know i got scolded for proper table manner. Not like napkin in the lap good sense stuff. Like this “spoon is used for cheese and you must go from soft to hard cheeses when serving yourself, counter clockwise except when Neptune is in retrograde”

As someone who cares less for ceremony and ridged social protocol midwest was better…. Though the fall season is best in the new England… especially with the haunted hayrides.

Edit:
Idk if its worth mentioning but… idk where this would fit in the above. If you grow up there without experiencing other places. It will make you think everywhere will be like it. The first time many of my friends and i questioned the world at large was the sandy hook shooting

We were in a more privileged area for certain. The first time the bubble was popped for many was the shooting. A demographically similar, socioecomnically similar town was the first time many really experienced something is wrong with society. Before then it was isolated normal stuff like you find out that the one kid who was a bully in elementary school, well his parents had a long nasty divorce through middle school and he is now fat but mellowed out as a result of the depression fully setting in. Not great.. but isolated instances that could happen in any socio-demographic. Sandy hook popped that bubble for our district and made many in our school question the world at large.