<p>Here’s my take a Syracusan child. Syracuse is a relatively small city of about 145,000 people. </p>
<p>Syracuse isn’t rural at all, but if you really want to get away from the downtown area there are lots of pleasant little suburban communities, and rural areas that aren’t too far away. Actually, it’s kindof a tradition for a lot of us to go apple picking in September or October at one of the apple orchards outside the city.</p>
<p>The city though, is noted for it’s festivals. There are tons of em. Irish, Italian, Polish and all those ethnic festivals, there’s the Taste of Syracuse, the Apple Festival, Shakespeare Festival, JazzFest, etc etc. We’ve got plenty of those. This time of year (end of August) the Great New York State Fair is up and running, and there’s a lot to do there.</p>
<p>As other people noted, we’ve got museums (The MOST, the Everson Museum of Art, plus smaller more specialized places like the Salt Museum), a big mall (Carousel), lots of good restaurants, esp in Armory Square.</p>
<p>There are a number of theater groups too. In addition to touring groups of major productions like Spamalot and Phantom of the Opera, there are local companies. One thing I really enjoy are the dinner mysteries at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Those shows play every Thursday. The foods good and the shows are funny and clever. There’s also a Symphony Orchestra.</p>
<p>Syracuse’s newspaper “The Post Standard” is pretty good, and there are lots of local TV and radio stations that offer internships. </p>
<p>Umm yeah. There’s a lot to do in the sports world. SU dominates in Men’s Basketball and Lacrosse. Syracuse has a Triple-A baseball team (The Chiefs) and hockey (The Crunch). We had a short lived soccer team (The Salty Dogs), but this is America, nobody cares about that kind of football.</p>
<p>In the winter there are mountains not far outside the city for skiing and snowboarding. In the city itself there are a number of indoor ice rinks, but if you want to go skating it’s better to go to the outdoor rink in Clinton Square. It’s a nice atmosphere right next to the Civil War and Jerry Rescue monuments, AND they’ve got great hot chocolate. :)</p>
<p>Sooo… yeah Syracuse is a city, and it’s great.</p>