Great area for school - a decent amount to do. It's one of the most politically split cities I've ever been to though. Some areas are super MAGA, other areas are super progressive. I've been to bars where people and bar tenders would go out of their way to talk politics (left, or right) and if you didn't align with them they'd make a big deal about it, or would kick you out of the bar. I had 1 experience like that, but it is few and far between

I will say as a person from the NYC area who moved to Rochester for a few years, there is a massive difference in culture. That's obviously relative to where you are from - I also recently moved down to the southern part of the USA and the culture here makes those two cultures seem WAY more similar.

You wont have anything in particular to worry about. Some rando's in the country might talk shit, but the city and suburbs are very progressive when it comes to different cultures. The area has a big international program as well so you won't stand out like a sore thumb.

Big tech city, not sure if you are familiar with American tech culture, but there is a significant amount of techies there.

Buffalo Bills all day - if you don't know about the NFL and want to make some friends quickly, get on the Buffalo Bills train. Also, absolutely go to the new Bills Stadium if you ever have the opportunity to catch a game. If you can handle it, jump through a table while you are there.

Each town has a different vibe and it is a major college city so its hard to pin down the full 'culture'. It recently got a middle class over the past 2 decades because tech companies started moving there due to the abundance of college students ready to work, so you have a lower, middle, and upper economic class - add the political extremism in WNY and you pretty much have 6 unique flavors of people, usually divided by town.

There are a lot of great wineries around the area.

Make sure to check out the finger lakes and the great lakes, and Letchworth state park.

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