I'm from Texas and now live in northern New England. The snow and the cold were such a shock. I still can't get over -20 F weather and 4 feet of snow. The school I'm at never cancels class, so I'm often trekking to class wishing I knew how to cross-country ski. Ideologically, I fit in better with New England, but people are so friendly in Texas, and I miss that. You can always (try to) avoid bigots, but you can't avoid the weather. I don't really worry about the weather at any of the schools I've applied to - how worse can it get? But I do dream about being in a nice mild climate.
Beatrice - Lots of Texans, including myself, are passionately anti-capital punishment and quite vocal about it!
RedViper - I haven't heard anything from Brown or Harvard.