Get ready for some Southern-style hospitality and serious socializing (read: hard partying), because the 'Real World' is back, y'all, and it's headed for New Orleans.

The 24th season of MTV's long-running reality show premieres Wednesday, June 30 (10PM ET) with a new cast of eight young adults thrown together in a big, fancy house for a few months of fun, volunteering, self-exploration and countless nights of carousing. And New Orleans, take two, might just be a comeback for 'The Real World,' which has seen ratings and interest drop in recent seasons.

This season's crop of housemates is a diverse bunch from across the country, including a hockey enthusiast from Wisconsin, a liberal Muslim from Michigan, a self-made Bostonian and a surprisingly progressive Mississippi native who also enjoys strutting her stuff in so-called "stripper heels." Among the rowdy lot are firebrands and peacemakers, pretty girls and rambunctious guys.

TV Squad spoke to cast members and got the scoop on what goes down in the Big Easy.

One of the more unusual members of the household is Eric, a 24-year-old from Arlington, VA, who works for the State Department by day and does stand-up comedy by night. His real life and that of the 'Real World' "[are] two completely different worlds," he told TV Squad. "I might as well be on a different planet.

"In New Orleans, I was surrounded by twenty-somethings with issues. And here [back in Virginia after filming the show], I'm surrounded by 50-somethings with thrift-store ties."

For viewers, the new 'Real World' promises a mix of the show's requisite issues, but also some of the richness -- and recent history -- of its home city. "I just absorbed everything," Eric said. "It's pretty interesting when a car-full of high-school girls [passing by] is listening to New Orleans jazz instead of Britney Spears." This season marks a return to the bayou-bound city ten years after its first run there, in season 9, and five years after it suffered unprecedented destruction from Hurricane Katrina. The roommates' volunteer activities this season will underscore the region's ongoing struggle in the aftermath of the hurricane.

"You're going to learn a lot about some of the roommates in the house, based on how they react to volunteering and the bigger picture of doing something for someone else," Eric said.

For Eric, the contrast between the city's vibrance and struggle post-Katrina is striking. "On the one hand, it's really cool to see everything that the city is known for -- the French Quarter, jazz fest. All the music is still going strong," he said. "On the other hand, ... literally a mile and a half away dilapidated houses are still there. It's five years later. You hope that the country hasn't forgotten that something huge has happened there. It's mind-boggling."

Real World XXIV: New Orleans - MTV Shows

Of course, this is the 'Real World,' and even a city in flux can't suppress the housemates' hedonism -- or raging hormones. "There's definitely no shortage of romantic exchanges this season," Eric teased. "If you put a bunch of attractive 20-somethings in a house, I think it's almost science."

There's also no shortage of conflict. While season 24's first episode features the series' signature household meet-and-greet -- complete with hugs, screams and lots of mutual drooling -- it also includes the first face-off. Ryan, a 21-year-old hair stylist form Tempe, Ariz., steps up as the season's resident firebrand, touching nerves and causing fights from the get-go.

Ryan's tendency to stir up conflict (with a little help from his roomies), it would seem, only becomes more routine as the season unfolds. Ryan's in-house rivalry already made headlines in March, when he accused roommate Preston of peeing on his toothbrush. On the cusp of the new season's debut, his attitude hasn't changed. "I would never, ever hang with anybody that is on the show as a friend," he said. "The two most normal people would be Knight [the hockey player] and Eric. ... We were able to have some fun."

Ryan also has mixed feelings about New Orleans. While he praises the locals' pride in their hometown, he also calls it "a super boring, dirty place with a lot of rules.

"I think the experience with the cameras, and the ability to live in a cool house, was a lot better than the actual city, and who I was roomed up with," he said.

Regardless, both Ryan and Eric are sanguine about how season 24 will unfold. As the show kicks off, Ryan -- who has yet to see the show's episodes himself -- had nothing but enthusiasm for what viewers might see, including his own antics. "[The producers] can make me look like the most awesome, fun person ever," he said. "They can make me look mean and crazy. ... I'm not worried about it, but hopefully they capture truly who I [am]."

Eric, meanwhile -- who's back at his job at the State Department after his New Orleans stay -- isn't sweating it either, even if his diplomat colleagues see him tossing back beers on sultry, Southern nights. "There are two famous people walking around the State Department right now," he said. "The first is [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton. And the second is Eric Patrick."