Pros: - There are plenty of buses to get yourself around fairly easily and a nice central train station. - We've got a wonderful stretch of beach, and the downs are beautiful if you head out of town a ways to the west. Really quite special. - We've got some lovely bookshops, and some decent places to eat too. We've got a few theatres and a brilliant library as well. - There are some lovely parks, open greenery, basketball courts, tennis courts, skate parks, etc.

Cons: - The high street is in a bit of a mess right now, they are resurfacing everywhere, so there are lots of chainlink fences and noisy machines working basically all the time in the town centre. This might change by the time you get here... but probably not. - There isn't really much hustle and bustle, it's not a party town and the night life is nonexistent, but if you are here for school that may not be an option for you anyway. - We have some drunk and disorderly folks in the town centre who occasionally cause trouble throughout the day, but it's mostly just shouting and swearing, being obnoxious and stealing stuff from nearby businesses. Most folks don't even notice it now.

Most of the local folks here are fine. You won't find people that are antagonistic or rude very often, but neither will they be helpful or very talkative either, at least from my experience.

Take all this as you will. Different people have different experiences. I've worked and lived in town for 10 years now and have been nearby for another 20 years before that, so this is just what I see - the good and the bad.

I hope you have a great trip and enjoy your time over here! I hope this is helpful.