cities we live in

[Faust]

merz, конечно, говоря о владении 4 языками я не имею ввиду на уровне лингвиста. Но двумя из них я владею достаточно свободно чтобы общаться и читать/писать без проблем (один из них русский, как я думаю ты уже понял); уровень остальных 2 со временем падает, ввиду отсутсвия постоянной практики .

No shit? Where did you learn Russian?

[eat me]

No shit? Where did you learn Russian?

I was born to Russian parents in Riga, during Soviet times. Then the whole USSR thing collapsed and so I'm technically Latvian, which stands in my passport, but my mother tongue is Russian. Although, I do of course speak Latvian, just not as well anymore. I also went to a school with German sponsorship, which meant half of subjects were thought in German and a quarter of them were about Germany. I hated it being forced on me, so no wonder my German gets worse and worse with every year. And then I moved to the UK.

[Alesha]

I was born to Russian parents in Riga, during Soviet times. Then the whole USSR thing collapsed and so I'm technically Latvian, which stands in my passport, but my mother tongue is Russian. Although, I do of course speak Latvian, just not as well anymore. I also went to a school with German sponsorship, which meant half of subjects were thought in German and a quarter of them were about Germany. I hated it being forced on me, so no wonder my German gets worse and worse with every year. And then I moved to the UK.

Земляк! Wow, I was born in Ventspils not too far west of Riga...

[eat me]

Haha, small world. I know where Ventspils is, though I've never been there.

[Alesha]

I have no idea where it is either. I just see it in my Passport all the time.

[laughed]

this one's been dead for awhile....
anyone live or been to berlin? i've been hearing a lot of great things about it lately, as well as always wanting to go- and would love to visit. so much so in fact i'm thinking of hitting the german lessons pretty hard this week. it's either berlin, hong kong or paris. berlin right now is number one. paris a close number two - though the french people i've met have been complete assholes and yes, dirty. hong kong - don't know much but i know i love you. and that may be all i need to know.

[mononon]

^i think a few members here are from berlin.

i'm not from HK, but it's a city I go to twice a year and love - hopefully will work there a couple years after graduation next summer.

[laughed]

one of my old roomies lived in hong kong for a bit and he said it was super cramped even by nyc standards. ny doesn't seem dense to me by any means so i'm not sure how bad hong kong could actually be. i also heard the food was downright terrible and parts of hong kong were beyond dirty. i don't have the money to visit every city i'd like or i would just do that, for now i have to live through the net. he also said it would be hard to live over there if not established with a pretty good foundation already.

[nekroterrorist]

I spent 5 of my pre-teen years in Hong Kong, don't really remember much.

At the moment I split my time between the cities of Christchurch and Auckland in New Zealand, about 2/3 and 1/3 of the year respectively.

Not a fan, planning to head to Europe - considering Netherlands, Norway, Sweden - for post-graduate study.

[Faust]

this one's been dead for awhile....
anyone live or been to berlin? i've been hearing a lot of great things about it lately, as well as always wanting to go- and would love to visit. so much so in fact i'm thinking of hitting the german lessons pretty hard this week. it's either berlin, hong kong or paris. berlin right now is number one. paris a close number two - though the french people i've met have been complete assholes and yes, dirty. hong kong - don't know much but i know i love you. and that may be all i need to know.

I just visited a few weeks ago. It depends on your interests, I would say. There is definitely palpable cultural energy there - no doubt about it. And it's mad cheap, so it draws a young crowd from all over the world - everyone speaks English there.

But, it's not a very charming city - since it got a real beating in WWII. It actually reminded me of Minsk - huge avenues, postwar boxy buildings, etc. So, the architecture leaves something to be desired. We stayed in Mitte and that is very charming, of course. Lots of cute cafes, restaurants, stores. The food is very good, but I much prefer the sausage in Vienna (sorry, theaddict!). This is, of course, from a very limited experience from a 4 day trip. But you gotta go at least once, for sure. If stripped grit is your thing, this is your city. I must say, I need a bit of that old-world charm, since I am starved of it being from the former SU and now living in the US.
I think if you moved all the young people from Berlin to Paris, that would be my ideal city.

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

I been numerous times in Berlin, as my sister lives there.
One of things I quite enjoy there is the sense of
open spaces and slowness, compared to London where
everything seems so cramped and fast paced.

I went to the Weißensee Cemetery for the first time this Christmas,
and I know, that this is one thing I have to experience during summer.

[laughed]

paris is soooo damn tempting.....so tempting.
but i have a feeling a can learn german a tad quicker than french.
now i got antwerp, ghent and amsterdam thrown in the mix.
berlin is still number one though. from what i gather it will be easier to find a good, cheap place to live in berlin than the rest. i don't know. hell.

[thehouseofdis]

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Currently living just outside of Portland, Oregon. There are a lot of great things about this part of the country but cutting edge fashion is not one of them.

I lived in Seattle during the whole "grunge" era, which was really interesting and brought a lot of energy to the city but it was followed by the dot com era which sucked the soul out of the city and then 9/11 helped to bring on its demise. I go back to Seattle a couple times a year and it consistently gets worse as all the independent and cultural spots in the city get forced out, absorbed or close. There are still some good things about Seattle and Puget Sound but not enough to make me want to live there again.

Portland reminds me of a younger and American version of Antwerp, if that makes sense. It also reminds me of a smaller and more affordable San Francisco (without all the hills). There are a lot of independent restaurants, shops, artists and designers in Portland as well as some industry. It's also a huge hub for creative professionals. Portland does have its share of young fashion designers but they are more DIY, although the quality and number of designers has increased dramatically in the 9 years that I've been back. There are some very good designers here but they seem more influenced by classic design and retro styles, so it's not really the SZ aesthetic. The fact that Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and Nau also has an influence on what gets designed.

There are great restaurants (and some of the best coffee around) in Portland and tons of good bands as well as excellent record (yes, LPs) and book shopping. Cost of living is going up but it's still much cheaper than any other big city on the West Coast. It's also very easy to get around by bike, streetcar, lightrail, bus or walking.

The thing that most people think of as the big drawback of Portland is the rain, which isn't really true. It rains more in other parts of the country, but Portland has more than its share of grey skies which can get really depressing. It's beautiful light for photography but can wear on your soul 8-9 months out of the year.

Of all the places in the US to live Portland is definitely near the top and I feel it's a great place to visit if you have a chance. However, after nearly four decades in this part of the country, I'm going to finally make the move to New York in April* to pursue my interests and continue my career.

I lived in Graz, Austria for a year which wasn't so bad. It's kind of similar in size to Portland as well. I really like Vienna with all of arts and beautiful architecture but it can be a little conservative.

I also lived in Antwerp for a summer, which I loved and preferred over Brussels. I love the size of Antwerp and the art and fashion scene. I also like that it's on the water and is so close to so many other great cities. The big draw back that I found in Antwerp was the price of going out to eat. It was really hard to find anything to eat that was inexpensive and good. I also found that it was difficult making connections in Antwerp, but I think I just needed another 3 months there.

Of the cities I've visited, I'd love have the opportunity to live in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tokyo, Prague, and Vienna for a few years.

*I hope to meet more SZers once I'm out there. I also may need to get some recommendations on places to look for apartments from all you New Yorker SZers in a couple of months.

[michael_kard]

Athens, GR - A city that used to be too beautiful to stay that way. From an architectural perspective, something like 95% of Athens' citizens live in horrible 70's apartment buildings and ugly late-90's condos. As far as art and culture are concerned, there are some cultural activities going on but things are generally quite pretentious, while most new creative concepts and ideas come from abroad. Anything that's actually worth one's attention gets lost in the chaos.

Greeks are, for the most part, insecure posers who will spend most of their life trying to prove to their peers that they're wealthy and prosperous; this has been going on for a while. My classmates in high school used to spend hundreds of euros every week going to expensive clubs while most live in 80 sqm appartments and their parents own a Mercedes and a Porsche. Now most of them are living in Boston and London, only to interbreed and perpetuate this ugly lifestyle (hence why I chose to go study in the middle of nowhere; no Greeks around).

Fashion does not exist. Greek designers are not even worth a lol. There's no more than 5 stores that sell designer clothes, and all of them sell overpriced and sometimes old merchandise. Overpriced is the key word here, and applies to almost everything that's imported. Xenomania is basically a major issue, most people are dumb and narcissistic Burberry/DSQUARED-wearing victims, but with a snobbish mentality towards anything new, a product of domestic propaganda and the false assumption that what some people devised 2000+ years ago has something to do with us and our intelligence. Greeks still think they're superior to other people (and races...brrr).

Generally, the city has a few seriously beautiful spots, but ugliness prevails in almost every corner. This, combined with a general lack of inspiration and originality, TOTAL corruption on all levels and ugliness just makes me want to throw up. And the worst thing is that I know I'm a product of all this, and in many ways I've accepted most of those things. I still haven't managed to escape, probably never will, but for what it's worth I'm trying.

[laughed]

in regards to portland - i used to go there for work a few times a year...cool city. I agree, it feels a bit like a smaller san francisco and the huge trees are nice, etc. BUT it is EXACTLY like ifc's new show - Portlandia. I can promise you that in only two episodes I have seen, I can confirm that 3 things on the show happened to me almost exactly as portrayed in the show...The lesbian feminist ladies in the bookstore - yeah - there is a B**** that works at Powell's and she chastised me for wanting to see an Araki Book they had stored in a case. I was two seconds away from unloading on her. I'm pretty sure she still works there and if I ever visit portand again - which I highly doubt - I would love to walk in with an iPad playing Portlandia with a scene from the bookstore and just let it run right in front of her face and say "yes, this is you you B****." A friend of mine moved there about three months ago and when we talk everything that comes out of his mouth now could be a Portlandia episode. Great show. Another friend has become a victim of Portland - I had known her for over 5 years and when she moved there she become a complete snob for no reason - a la snobs on Portlandia. Watch the show if you haven't seen it - That's Portland in a nutshell.
Again, it's not baaadddd. But it's funny, that's for sure.