Northern Virginia (when I'm not at college) - it's a pretty nice place, comprised of a bunch of suberbs/towns. Lots of diversity in people, but not quite as densely populated as a full-blown city. Traffic does suck though, especially during rush hour. People tend to live here or further south (where houses are cheaper) and tend to commute north to work here or in D.C. I'm about 15-20 min away from Washington D.C. Weather is fairly decent - hot in the summer, cold in the winter. Located on the mid-atlantic so no real extremes in temperature. Plenty of things to do here and the school system (at least in fairfax county) is rated quite high on the national rankings. Overall, nova is pretty developed, but as you go further south/west, you'll start seeing familiar sprawls of countryside found in much of the southern part of virginia.