Step one: Do some research. If you try to write about an existing place, or base your creation off of a real place, either go there (for more than one day) or find out as much about that place as you can. The second one especially counts if it's in a different country. What's different? What's the same? What makes the place unique? What's probably similar to what you already know? Don't stuff in everything you think you know, keep it subtle. Do the people in the place you live in constantly shout about what makes them different from the rest of the world? Not likely. Step two: Humans are human.