Merced is a small, growing, agricultural city in the Central Valley of California. I haven't been to the UC Merced campus yet but from what I hear it is quite nice. Merced itself is not that interesting of a town but hopefully with the UC there it has improved. I grew up in Modesto about 30 minutes to the north and had to go to Merced often for swim meets and water polo tournaments. Although, I never really looked forward to going there, it is much nicer than the cities around it. The main growth that can been seen in a lot of the cities in the central valley is due to chain stores making mini malls everywhere.
One of the biggest advantages of living in Merced has to be it's close proximity to Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra Mountains. You can't go wrong with that. Other than that, it's north of Fresno and Bakersfield and south of Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento in the heart of the Central Valley.
Check out the Wikipedia article about it: http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Merced,_CA
Hope that helps.
PS. No, I am not crazy.