Life has a totally different ring to it in a big city like the one where I grew up.  Truth be told, it's not a really "big" city, but it's big enough.  I grew up in Syracuse, New York, which is a relatively good sized city, and fifth in population in the state of New York.  We have big malls, lots of great restaurants, the state fair, lots of festivals, and a pretty good night life scene.  In short, there are plenty of things to do if you know where to look.  The high school kids tend to hit up the malls, whereas the college kids crowd the bars and shops around one of the three college campuses in the city, and the older generations enjoy tasty food at nice restaurants both in the city and in the surrounding suburbs and townships.  If you are a willing day-traveler, there are plenty of things to go and see with Canada being just a few short hours drive North or West, and there are wineries, caverns, and Erie Canal cruises to take.  There is a lot of history and a lot of commotion most times of the year...if you can avoid the snow.  I got to have a taste of what my home town has to offer this evening as I hit the town with my best friend and the other groomsmen for his wedding...all three of whom were friends of mine from high school.  As we drove into downtown I realized that I had never really taken much advantage of what my city had to offer when I was a kid.  Much like I am now, I was much too busy to do anything outside of school activities then.  Once I was old enough to venture out on my own and see what there was to see and enjoy the restaurants, brewpubs, wineries, and bars, I was off to Florida for college and on my own down there.  The twenty-two hundred mile difference between where I lived for six years and home made it very difficult to get home all too often.  Some years I only made it home for a few days for Christmas, but thankfully now with a shorter distance between New York and the Midwest, I have been home several times already in just a year.  I was really excited to be able to hang out downtown with my friends this evening and have a fun yet relaxing time celebrating my buddy's last couple nights as a bachelor before tying the proverbial knot.  It was a little bit surreal as we parked the car and rounded the corner to a famous little place called Hanover Square which this evening was lined with lighted shops, bars, and eateries and filled with the sounds of live music.  There were many people around enjoying the music and dancing with drinks in hand as the sun set over the city.  It was really great and I felt like I was reconnecting a little bit with my hometown roots.  I reminisced to one of the other guys that the last time I had even been down this particular street was when I marched down in conducting my high school band in the Memorial Day parade the spring of my senior year.  After I said it, I realized that that was about eight years ago...scary!  Anyways, we ended up going here and there for the evening, and I personally enjoyed that we were around a big city atmosphere but still paying small city prices for food and drinks.  One of the other guys who happens to live currently in Boston was regailing us with stories of going out and paying three times as much for a drink half the size as here...and then ending up spilling half of it on the floor because the room was so crowded with people dancing.  At that moment I was for once in my life really thankful for the small town life that I've always thought that I never wanted.  Back when I was in high school, all I could think of was how to get out of this city to someplace bigger and better and farther away.  Although I'm very comfortable in the big big cities, I can now appreciate what a smaller city, and even a little town like where I live now has to offer.