For five days I stayed in Time Square in NYC for the U.S. Open over the Labor Day weekend. My observations:
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Big city: The constant noise day and night from cars, sirens, horns, and construction gave me a headache.

Small town: Sit outside at night and be able to hear a truck driving down a highway 2 miles away.
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Big city: Everyone has to be 'trendy' and is a clone of one another wearing all black clothes in the evening. (I thought someone died.)

Small town: If someone didn't die and you are dressed in black everyone will comment that you must think a lot of Johnny Cash.

Small town in the south during the summer: If you dress all in black and go outside in the daytime you will burst into flames.
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Big city: Phoney, plastic people.

Small town: Real down to earth honest people.
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Big city: Try to help a lady with a large/heavy suitcase put it in the trunk of a cab and you get a look like you are from another planet.

Small town: Help a lady put something heavy in the back of her car and you get a 'Thank you.'
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Big city: Give up your seat on a subway to an older woman and someone else will try to steal it.

Small town: What's a subway?
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Big city: You see people walking down the street talking or yelling at someone that isn't there yet not saying anything to the people who are there.

Small town: People walk down the street and pleasantly greet people who are there and say nothing to people who aren't.
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Big city: Paying $4 for a can of Diet Coke in the mini bar.

Small town: Paying .50 for a can of Diet Coke in a vending machine, .35 if it is in front of a Wal-Mart.
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Big city: Having to leave someone to watch the bikes on a tour of Central Park otherwise someone would steal them.

Small town: Leaving your bike unattended without worrying if it will be there when you get back.
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Big city: Can't leave the top down on your convertible because someone will mess with your car.

Small town: Can't leave the top down on your convertible because it might rain or a bird might use the edge of the windshield as a perch, otherwise it is okay.
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Big city: Having two policemen every 50 yards on the sidewalk because bad things would happen if they weren't there.

Small town: Only needing a few policemen for an entire town because bad things don't happen, they are only there to write tickets.
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Big city: Being afraid of the cops catching you if you do something bad.

Small town: Being afraid that your parents will find out if you do something bad.
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Big city: Shop keepers have items in the windows of their stores to get you in, but they don't have any in stock and won't sell you the display itme, so they try to sell you an inferior product at an inflated price.

Small town: Bait and switch is illegal and if a shop keeper does that he loses his business license, gets fined, and might go to jail, but since it is a small town it doesn't happen anyway.
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Big city: The air smells like a combination of automobile exhaust, garbage, vomit, and a sewer.

Small town: The air smells like alfalfa, wheat, trees, grass, or rain depending on where you are, unfortunately it can also smell like cow manure if you are too close to the feed lot.
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Big town: A $50 meal at Tavern on the Green with the worst steak and sevice that I have ever had, served with Ore-Ida shoestring potatos and expensive Diet Coke.

Small town: The $8 meal at the truck stop out on the highway with a good steak, baked potato (loaded), salad, homemade rolls, and unlimited refills on the Diet Coke with great service.
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Big city: Nearly $2 for a gallon of super unleaded.

Small town: $1.40 for a gallon of super unleaded.
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Big city: No Dairy Queen, Sonic, or Braums.

Small town: Your choice Dairy Queen, Sonic, or Braums.
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Big city: Smile and say 'Hi.' to a young lady on the street and get a dirty look or ignored.

Small town: Smile and say 'Howdy.' to a young lady on the street and get a smile and a 'Howdy.' back.
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Big city: The horn on your car will wear out in a short time.

Small town: You don't even know if the horn on your car works until you take it in for your vehicle inspection sticker.
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Big city: Buildings so tall that your ears pop going up the elevator.

Small town: What's an elevator? The buildings are short enough, we use stairs.
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Big city: The bus stops every block.

Small town: The bus stops every 20 miles.
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Big city: No telling what language the person you meet is going to speak.

Small town: Everyone speaks English, it is what we learned in school so as an added bonus everyone understands each other.
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Big city: Lots of people yell.

Small town: Nobody yells, it's rude.
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Jeff-Small town: The air smells like alfalfa, wheat, trees, grass, or rain depending on where you are, unfortunately it can also smell like cow manure if you are too close to the feed lot.

This brought back memories! We only had to worry about the feed lot when there was an east wind!:D

and then you go back to your small town college and always forget that you DON'T have to do it

Not always...As the esteemed Mr. Earp and myself will tell you, in Kansas City Metro Area, you would be SOL without a car....a 20 minute drive from the Plaza to the Stadiums would take probably an hour and a half if trying to use a bus other than on Chiefs gameday. Not to mention the fact that the NASCAR track is opposite of the Stadiums, the amusement park is distant from the Plaza, which a good distance from Union Station/Crown Center (Hallmark's World HQ), all of which is no where near the Sprint World HQ campus.

Does Kansas City count as a big city? ;)

I hate the area code thing! They just changed them here, and now I have to redo my whole phone!

My favorite think about a big city is that when some guy is on the street asking for money, wanting you to pay to sit in the lawn chair next to him because he is painted yellow, etc... they don't take it personally when you look ahead and keep walking. I'm at college now, and when I walk by someone that is handing stuff out, and I don't look at him, they get mad! I'm not used to that!

And I've had to replace the fuse for the horn on my car three times, and I've only driven for two years, and my town is only 300, 000 people, but they can't drive!

I like REALLY big cities, though, because I am a personal person, and I like to keep to myself, and when I went to downtown Chicago no one gets offended when they ask me something and I didn't answer.
L.

PS, I'm more afraid of the cops that I am my parents!

Jeff it sounds like you dont like the city. Eventhough I agree with some of your points, I agree Big Cities have lots to offer. One thing that I miss about DC was that there was always something to do. I am in Dartmouth MA a small town and there was nothing to do last night.

I went to McDonald's one morning when I was in high school, and the drive-thru lady asked if my dad went to McDonald's every morning to get coffee... oddly enough, he did. She said she could see the resemblence... That kinda blew my mind too :p