Wisconsin is an odd state to say the least. Northern WI is a different universe from Madison and Milwaukee. Milwaukee is pretty much a miniature Chicago; Madison is a bizarre mix of politicians, students, academics, scientists, and an assortment of minority groups that really aren't found anywhere else in the state besides Milwaukee (the University of Wisconsin-Madison draws lots of Asian students as well as other underrepresented groups); northern WI is pretty much how people imagine it - lots of wilderness, beautiful lakes, hunting/fishing/camping/hiking/etc, with lots of very conservative people and a little bit o' accent (the accent isn't nearly as bad as in northern MN though - WI IS NOT FUCKING FARGO, lol). People don't have any accent in Milwaukee and Madison as compared to anyone in the rest of the Midwest (same holds for most places south of Milwaukee and Madison as well).
The rest in list form:
- Madison is highly overrated as a party city. Unless you're into dive bars with overpriced drinks or shitty house parties...
- Milwaukee is highly underrated in general. It has a fantastic downtown area with a huge, lively arts scene (from underground punk bands to Shakespeare in the theaters to all kinds of public art), fanfuckintastic museums, plenty of fun bars and clubs, AMAZING dining, all on top of being very clean and very safe.
- Counter to the safe downtown in Milwaukee, it is also the most segregated city in America, and the ghetto bounded in by downtown and surrounding suburbs is home to one of the highest homicide rates in America and plenty of other crime, leading to very bizarre racial tensions. The "encroachment" of black people into a particular very white area over the past 5 years is starting to bug out the suburbanites big time, and it's an issue that is largely underaddressed.
- SUMMERFEST! And all the lakefront festivals! Every summer, the Henry W. Maier Park along the lakefront downtown hosts the largest music festival IN THE WORLD (verified by the Guinness Book of World Records) and a laundry list of ethnic festivals like Festa Italiana, Polish Fest, Asian Moon Festival, etc. They are all amazingly fun and have tons to offer. At Summerfest, you can hear ANY kind of music you want - literally, accordion bands to zydeco to rock to punk to techno - and it has been headlined by everyone from Bob Hope to Britney Spears to Bon Jovi to Dolly Parton to Metallica........
- The term "tyme machine" isn't that widespread anymore, contrary to popular belief. I used to say it because my parents did, but now all of us use "ATM" because it's the more common term (and for reference, "tyme" stands for "take your money everywhere"). Another fun WI word is "bubbler" (which actually only really occurs in Milwaukee and some Northern areas, but everyone knows what it means). Wisconsinites say "soda," not "pop."
- Sconnies vs. Coasties. You hear this mostly in Madison, but there is a lively (although pretty much fake) rivalry between the Sconnies (Wisconsinites) and Coasties (kids from the east coast). UW-Madison has a HUGE population of students from the east coast, largely because UW is a good school and far more affordable than most east coast schools. Coasties have a uniform that makes them distinguishable from sconnies, especially in the winter - Ugg boots, black stretch pants, North Face jacket. (And I say that with loving hatred for those coastie bastards
)
- Milwaukee is home to about 8 zillion breweries and is still the central location for Miller. The old Pabst brewery enclave (it's HUGE) is being redone as a commercial/residential center, and they are trying to preserve the historic architecture (it's mindblowingly beautiful). A lot of breweries have started opening bars and restaurants in their factory locations (or teaming up with restaurants, etc.), and you can get a freshly brewed beer with a Friday fish fry a lot of places in the downtown area.
- As mentioned in the previous point, friday fish fries!!! They have them at damn near every restaurant in WI. Yum.
- Everything you hear about the delicious dairy products is true. I am fantastically lucky to have the Babcock Dairy available to me (the university's dairy products are sold on campus), as well as two ice cream places right up the street. You can actually buy Babcock Dairy products in a lot of grocery stores as well. Deep fried cheese curds are delicious, and everyone should try them. Another favorite you don't see much outside of WI is frozen custard, which makes ice cream seem like frozen shit. Culver's is actually a disgusting McDonald's style ripoff of the delicious custard and butterburger places in Milwaukee. Kopp's, Gilles, and Leon's offer some of the most fucking delicious food ever. (And if you have store-packaged Gilles custard available in grocery stores near you, it is not AT ALL representative.)
- Milwaukee is home to the Sprecher brewing company, which makes, hands down, the best root beer in existence (and that is not just my preference - lots of taste tests I have encountered agree!). Every bottle tastes just a liiiiittle different - it's all small-batched and packaged ONLY in glass bottles. They also make an assortment of delicious beers.
- State Street in Madison is the most overrated place you'll EVER go. It's fun to maybe visit once or twice, but it's really just a collection of restaurants and boutiques along a long road that goes from the UW campus to the Capitol. That being said, it's the place to go if you want some FANFUCKINTASTIC ethnic food. My favorite Mediterranean restaurant is a block from my apartment (yes, I live on State Street, and it sucks, lol). You can get everything from African to Afghani to Indian to Japanese, and the vast majority of the places are run by people that actually came from those countries, so the food is truly authentic and very, very delicious.
- UW-Madison devotes the second largest (iirc) amount of money for science research (behind Johns Hopkins) of any institution, and it has issued one of the largest amounts of patents of any institution. It is a central location for stem cell research (and a UW professor was the first to isolate human stem cells) and has a huge agricultural research base dealing with ALL aspects of farming. UW alumni have received 19 Nobel Prizes and 24 Pulitzers.
- Bascom hill in Madison is a BEAST. If you have a class on Bascom hill every year of a 4 year program (it's smack dab in the middle of the UW campus), you will climb the equivalent of Mt. Everest 17 times over. Let the record state that I hate that fucking hill, and walking up it at 9 in the morning in 0 degree weather is a bitch. I do not want to go to class tomorrow morning.
The hill is certainly amusing come mid-January when it usually gets icy...
- Most people don't know that Milwaukee has some nice beaches. Bradford beach in downtown Milwaukee is a popular summer hangout. (Most people don't go in the lake anymore though - it's FUCKING FREEZING even in the summer and it's not all that clean anymore
)
- Madison's liberal reputation isn't exactly true... I can vouch for hearing plenty of conservative bullshit, some of it directed at myself for being bisexual and/or having neon red hair. It's mostly to do with the fact that it's a weird conglomeration of extremely conservative people from rural areas and young students as well as some older hippy types. The political history of the UW campus is awesome, but students here today are extremely apathetic and usually the stereotypically spoiled middle class kids (I'll put it this way - tons of businesses have shut down on State Street this year because of the economy, but the Urban Outfitters just remodeled.......).
Lousiana 
hahqhqhq There is this sense of humor, this way about people from Louisiana that I love.
