Its a biggish city with a small town mindset. Its cold, boring, and dark most of the year. Winter daylight? 8ish hours before its dark again. I work dark-dark. I don't see the sun except on weekends in the winter. The summers and fall weather is great/beautiful. Daylight expands to 15 hours. With the melt comes fun outdoor events. I keep myself entertained in the winter with friends playing vid games or checking out indoor conventions and stuff like that. Lots of people get seasonal depression if they stay cooped up inside during winter, so try to find excuses to get out of the house.

Nice places to live? I haven't lived in enough of the city to tell you what parts are sketchy or amazing. I know north of yellowhead around 144 ave is okay because I live there, and I know 106st in the south is pretty okay but has a lot of car theft because I lived there. From what people tell me its pretty equal across the board as far as theft is concerned. Its on the up because of the oil crash right now though. Seems to be a few people getting shot on Whyte ave every year or so. That is a major drinking zone.

Night culture? As far as night "culture" goes here..its mostly just a bunch of drunk people, mixed in with violently drunk people who don't mix well with homeless and gang types. Not much culture. Too small a scene. Some crowds I guess. Punk shows were cool, but that scene is shrinking. DV8 on Whyte still exists, I like that place when they get some decent bands in, otherwise its dead on normal nights. The Starlite Room recently had Days'n Daze visit, that was awesome. Haven't heard of a electronic scene, I think they cracked down somewhat on Raves, but I haven't look within the last 8 years. Most bars and clubs are shitty and boring. Booze is expensive in Canada. There are some comedy club spots around the city though, I like rouge lounge on jasper does it on Wednesdays. Druid as the longest running open mic on Sundays, can be pretty good.