People will tell you that you are so incredibly lucky to know your neighbors. They will be amazed at how small your graduating class size is and will even say how great small communities are because they are like a giant family.
I have the exact opposite outlook on living in a small town.
1. People knew everything about you.
They knew the good and the bad. They knew who your siblings and parents were. They knew if your parents had money. They knew if you were a great athlete or a great student. Since everybody knew everybody, they began to think they were entitled to judging these people.
2. Your last name is key.
If your parents weren't born and raised there, you were basically an outcast. Those with the "right" last name were given more opportunities than people without the "right" last name. They would play and start more games. They would be favored by the teachers. I can not tell you how many times I got yelled at in class for doing the exact same thing as someone else, but because of their last name, the got no repercussions.
3. You see people you know everywhere.
No matter where you go, you are likely to run into someone you know. I remember countless times having to stand in Walmart listening to my parents babble on and on with a neighbor. I can not tell you how many times I ducked behind clothes racks just to avoid seeing someone I knew.
4. The school is "broke".
The school systems always claim to have no money. The people that suffer from it are the kids not in sports. The football team gets countless donations and they aren't even remotely good. The drama department has to take money from the students or the teachers pockets just to buy supplies and props. Any props that are leftover are usually junk anyways. The band has to do multiple fundraisers a year just to be able to go to competitions. I don't see the volleyball girls or the football boys having to raise money for transportation. This is not to say that they don't fund raise at all. The volleyball team sells meat, but it's to pay for new uniforms. The football boys sell cards that give you discounts to various places. (Mostly in a town 25 minutes away from where I live.) These cards also are not used for transportation. What gives?
5. Everybody acts like rednecks.
No matter where I got around my small community, you always see that one truckload of boys being complete idiots. Driving with your windows down and your music up and stepping on the gas really fast is not cool, nor will it every be cool.
Even though I've had my differences with small town living and I don't like some of the aspects of the people there, it's home.
