The best.
I have known Ann Arbor since I was 9 years old and I lived there for 6 years as an undergraduate student. I consider it my home town. Keep in mind that this is from someone who grew up poor in a small town, so I may perceive things a bit differently–though I do work in Manhattan now, so I can make somewhat of a comparison.
It is a liberal, wealthy town comprised predominantly of liberal, wealthy students. As far as diversity goes, you won’t get the same level of diversity as you would, say, from a Chicago or a New York City, but there are folks of all types, and a great number of international students. During my time there I was friends with 1st and 2nd generation Chinese, Indian, Latino and Muslim students. It is similar to a big city in that nobody is particularly fazed by people from other cultures. Second languages are in abundance, and there is a thriving and active LGBT crowd.
As far as food and entertainment goes, Main St. is full of unique places. There is a nice live jazz club called Good Night Gracie as well as a comedy club, a handful of campus night clubs, some fabulous upscale restaurants like Gratzi and its next door neighbor La Dulce Vita. There are other places off campus such as Zimmerman’s which provide excellent food if you’re willing to shell out the dough. There are a ton of small, independent-owned boutiques. If you leave campus you can find a fair amount of farmer’s markets and organic food stores. There is a large organic food movement here and most of the townies I know participate in some kind of communal food system. Ann Arbor is a cappuccino drinking, hybrid-driving, weed-smoking hippie town, but the hippies have money and a good education.
Because everyone is so rich, the University has state-of-the-art computer labs and resources and is always on the forefront of developing technology and research. This includes medicine–there is a huge university hospital complex which provides excellent medical care; just stay the hell away from University Health Services. If you are a doctoral student you are going to have excellent benefits–my husband was a research assistant after he graduated and I must tell you University of Michigan really takes care of their own. If you’re into sports, which I’m not, University of Michigan is obsessed with them and you’ll have no problem getting your fill of exciting sporting events.
I am extremely proud of my alma mater and the only really negative thing I can think of to say is that the beurocracy is a bit much. It may be different as a graduate student but as an undergrad it was very easy to get lost in the red tape. It is a huge school. Also, housing is very expensive, but possibly you wouldn’t notice a difference if you are from the city.
There is a beautiful Arboretum, a lovely botanical garden and a couple of small-time museums, but you aren’t going to get anything like The Met. We have decent theatre-- at the Power Center I’ve seen performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company–but we aren’t Broadway. There are always, if you are interested, student-held dance performances and theater and choral groups. It’s a very artsy town, and there is an annual Art Fair every year which showcases some really spectacular talent. It is huge and usually takes up blocks of campus.
For the record, any city-dweller who knows where I am from has remarked that they love Ann Arbor. There are a ton of students from New York City at the University and they seem quite comfortable here. There are such a vast number of students I should think you wouldn’t have difficulty finding people you relate to, including a future spouse. I think it’s a good place for people who are curious about the small-town, Midwest existence but who are terrified of running into backwards, racist hicks. Michigan has a lot of these people but they avoid Ann Arbor. It’s like its own private bubble of political and ideological thought. It is very insular in that way.
God I am so jealous of you. I hope to go home someday.
(I used to live in the upstairs apartment of a house on Thayer St.)