Why Succot in Israel is so cool

Can't say this was the most exciting chag for me between not having money to spend and doing hectic things like job searching and cellphone fixing, but there are some great things I've been thinking about.

Succot is a country-wide celebration. Seems like everyone gets into it, and everyone helps each other celebrate. My apartment doesn't have a porch for a succah, but some neighbors built a succah outside called "Succah Achvah" with a sign welcoming everyone to come eat and enjoy the holiday in the succah. I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow. An alternative is going to almost any restaurant-- the sidewalks on most main streets are covered in Succot extending out of restaurants. Some even have a breeze of air conditioning. Yesterday in town I bought a muffin and walked down the street to a succah set up by Chabad. You can always count on Chabad-- it wasn't on a truck, but supposedly there was one of those somewhere too. For your lulav and etrog, there are "shuk arba minim" set up all over town with many sellers to choose from. Some are small and at street corners while others are huge and had hundreds of people there at once. If you can't get your own lulav and etrog, once again there are Chabadniks standing all around town ready to help you fulfill the mitzvah. My sister-in-law also saw some women in the women's section of the Kotel walking around with lulavim to share. There are parties and events all over the place, but I could also hear music (and sometimes fireworks) every night from the living room of my apartment.
Simchat Torah was fun too. It's all about shul hopping. It's a social scene- there's no way to escape it. At every shul there is just as much shmoozing as dancing. The fun is wandering around town to different shuls seeing people and differences in how shuls do hakafot (Shir Chadash vs Shira Chadasha). Seems like everyone was going to huge potluck meals. It was a long. hot day, but totally worth all the walking and standing. And for us Israelis who aren't burnt out by Yom Tov yet-- there are hakafot shniyot in Gan Hapaamon, right down the street from me, later this evening.