<p>I've lived in Chicago my entire life and I kind of like the idea of going to college in a small town like Hanover. All of my friends think it is a bad idea, but they have lived in the city their whole lives too so I think they are biased. I do worry about adjusting though....would it be hard for someone who is used to the city to adjust to Hanover? Both of my parents grew up in large cities (Boston and Philly) and went to Columbia for undergrad and then the University of Chicago for grad school so they can't really give me any advice other than "we don't know anything about small town life". Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Hanover my entire life.</p>
<p>It is a small town, yes, but the Upper Valley, which is the larger region, has everything you would need. West Lebenon is about a 5 minute drive away, and has all the shopping and restaurants (Walmart, Chiles, etc.). Hanover itself has a lot if places to eat, as well as some Mainstreet shops, but like everything in Hanover, they are upscale and expensive. </p>
<p>There is a bus service in the Upper Valley, called advanced transit, that is free for everyone. It’s a very useful service that runs between Hanover and West Lebenon, as well as to several other towns and DHMC. DHMC, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, is a huge teaching hospital that would meet all medical needs. </p>
<p>Culture in Hanover is centered around the HOP, which is a part of Dartmouth. There is always some sort of concert there. Yo Yo Ma performed there recently, and various other famous people and groups frequently perform. A GOP debate was hosted there last fall, and a democratic debate was also there in 2008.</p>
<p>Over all Hanover is a very wealthy (and politcally very liberal) town, filled with doctors and professors living in big mansions. It’s your quintessential college town, with tons of green space and trees that all turn colors in th fall. If you just travel a couple minutes out of the Dartmouth campus (which is mixed in with downtown hanover) you will find farms and a lot of trees.</p>
<p>It’s definitely different from a big city. The air is always clear and clean, there are tons of things to do outdoors - skiing and skating in winter, hiking and biking and canoeing in the summer - but there is still a lot of traffic at 8 in the morning and 5 in the evening.
If you miss big city life Boston is 2 hours south, and Burlington, VT is an hour and a half north. </p>
<p>You won’t have any trouble adjusting, because you will always have something to do and no time to miss the skyscrapers and the noise and the stink.</p>
<p>there are plenty of students attending Dartmouth from New York City (including Manhattan) as well as other big cities, and they seem to thrive in Hanover.</p>
<p>^ yeah a lot of people from nyc like dartmouth and even if you love cities it might be a nice change to surround yourself in a quaint close-knit small town for 4 years before youre living in large cities again!</p>