What difference does it make to live somewhere for a time? It's a pretty difficult matter to pin down. There are a lot of people with a vested interest who insist that it makes all the difference. Usually that's the people who've lived in the world as well as the home, and who gain some precious (and often quite material) advantage by insisting that they know the world and its travails better than you, the mere reader, the viewer, the armchair general, the person who has never been there.
But it does make a difference.
