Subtle differences

I made a quick visit to NYC this weekend, where I witnessed one small difference between that city and the environment I find myself in here in Pittsburgh. Maybe it is the educational nature of the community here, but I do find that in Pittsburgh two common small talk questions have been replaced or slightly reworded.

In NYC a common small talk question is "What do you do?" and here it is replaced by "Where did you go to school/college/university?" And then in NYC the person you're talking to will often ask "Where do you live", i.e. what borough, neighborhood, county, etc. Here that question becomes, "Where are you from?", which I never know how to answer anymore.