Atlanta is one of America's major metropolitan cities, but because it's rather sprawled compared to NY and Chicago, there's plenty of greens and open space. It has great universities (Georgia Tech, Emory, and Georgia State) and good schools (if you live in the right district). There's enough stores and restaurants to keep you busy. It does get cold in winter, but nothing a sweater and a light jacket can't handle, and it very rarely snows.
It used to have a really vibrant international community along the Buford Highway axis, it would have been even more active if not for Georgia's anti immigrant policy and the action of certain police departments. The city of Atlanta itself is rather tolerant of minorities, because the black community is the largest political force there. The thing is that the city (Fulton County) is only about half of metro Atlanta area. My impression is that outside of the city the police departments of the smaller cities can be overly enthusiastic in enforcing Georgia's immigration law. My relatives are completely legal, but they still got stopped and checked by the police on the way to Savannah, even though they were driving within the speed limit. It's not supposed to be legal to stop people like that in America, but they will usually make up an excuse like 'I thought your license light was off' or 'your car matches the description of a car we're looking for' or some other stuff.
Of course, as a DV winner you are a 100% legal immigrant so you have little to worry. Still, it can be a hassle and it does give you a bad taste in your mouth when you encounter it. It also mean that the state is unlikely to be lenient when dealing with immigrants.
http://forums.immigration.com/showt...-was-issued-for-false-statement-at-DMV-FELONY
