Town-tagged

It's technically fall break here but I only take advantage of it to do more work on my projects. We had the first newscast Wednesday and I couldn't walk at the end of the day, that's how tired I was. But I was happy. My students did a top-notch job and I'm proud of them for putting together an excellent news show. We go live next week; the first one, although as serious as it could be, was more like a rehearsal and I saved it on tape.
I take a break from my fall break work to honor a promise to Carmen Holotescu, who tagged me at the beginning of the week. I'm supposed to describe some things about the town I live in. People tend to associate Louisiana more with New Orleans, the city of jazz, but I'm a grad student in the capital city, Baton Rouge, so here's my list about it and the surrounding areas. Some day I might write about New Orleans, or Piatra Neamt, my native town, or Bucharest, where I spent my college years.

3 places I love in Baton Rouge:

• The university lakes -- I fall in awe with the scenery, beautiful houses and the huge oak trees everytime I go by. Very motorcycle-friendly. I secretly dream of having a house by the lake one day.
• The Mississippi levee - it's especially designed for bikers and joggers -- you feel on top of the town, with a great view of the river, the bridge, and the tall Capitol building.
• The Tickfaw Park -- not quite in Baton Rouge, but on the edge, with swamps, cypress trees, alligators, and canoeing facilities.
  

3 places I hate in Baton Rouge:

• The Louisiana Mall -- It exhausts me everytime I need to go get something; I prefer to do my gift shopping online.
• Some of the campus edge neighborhoods, where bikes get stolen and cars broken into.
• Tigerland bar area -- with drunk students driving out at night.

3 places where I like to go out with my friends:

• King Buffet -- they have great sushi
• Coldstone Creamery -- a great icecream place on Burbank Drive
• Highland Coffee -- a cozy coffee place on campus

3 things an outsider would not understand about Baton Rouge:

• There are almost no sidewalks
• You can't live without a car
• The Cajun music on radio :)
  

The fanciest neighborhood:

• I forget the name; I hardly ever go to residential neighborhoods. But I know from friends about rich, gated neighborhoods where people leave their cars and house doors unlocked at night.

The ugliest neighborhood:

• I would guess some neighborhoods where locals advice me to never go if I don't want to get caught in the middle of a shooting. Again, I don't really know any names.

Now my tags. I would like to inivite the following people to tell us about the place they live in:

Andrea - medium-sized town in Transylvania, I'm still not sure which one, although I have an inkling. A good way to find out :)
Andressa - Warsaw, Poland
Ionuka - Atlanta (Ellenwood? Help me, Ionuka!), Georgia
Ovidiu - New York, NY
Riri - Toronto, Canada
Romerican - Brasov, Romania
Ruxi - Washington, DC