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Hi Lindsay,
I think you mentioned that Austin was too big and asked about the population. Yes, it is big, but it doesn't "feel" big - I know that sound silly, but true.
The population of Austin proper is only about 600,000 - but the metropolitian area, including all the suburbs is much bigger.
I think the reason it "feels" smaller is that it works hard to keep its small town "feel".
For example, we celebrate Eyeore's birthday - yep, once a year, we have a big festival in the park! We also have Spamarama - where everyone enters their "best" (ahem) spam recipe, complete with the finished product and judging for winners. Once a month, we have the Citywide Garage Sale downtown. It's really more like a big antique sale. All you have to do is say to someone, "Are you going to the Citywide?" and they know exactly what you mean. The first Thursday of each month - we have First Thursday (real unique name, I know) where a downtown street turns into a giant sidewalk sale/street festival. Thousands of people come down to shop, eat, mingle, listen to music and just have a great time. It's things like these that help Austin to keep its small town "feel"
The city revolves around the University of Texas whose campus is almost right downtown. The capitol (Austin is the capitol of Texas) is on 12th street and the campus starts on 15th street. The University has an enrollment of about 50,000 students per year. I think the U keeps the city "young".
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 Gayle
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