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  • MikeN
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 2205

    #16
    I've lived in Manhattan since 2004. Before that I lived in Rockland County, NY, which is very close to the city. Spent many weekends (and skipped school days) coming into the city to skateboard.

    There is nowhere else in the United States that I would want to live. I really need to be surrounded by that 24 hour element. I need to be able to get sushi at 5am, or any cuisine delivered within 30 minutes. I love being able to walk out my front door, and be within 10 minutes walk of the greatest *anything* in the country. I can have what probably is the greatest pizza, greatest burger, greatest french food in the country whenever I want it. Why settle for less when you can have the best?

    Amazing museums that people travel across the world to see, every movie before almost anyone else. Fresh markets, great bars and clubs. And I get to be a DJ for a living and make good money doing it! Yet my neighbor still has the feeling of being a real neighborhood. I know my neighbors and the local store owners. And I have a Vespa so I never have to take the subway and save a ton of money on cabs.

    Some people prefer peace and quiet. After I moved into Manhattan, my mom got remarried and moved to Burlington Vermont. Oh my god I want to kill myself when I am there. Nothing going on, bad food, no stimulation. My poor mother (even though it's her choice to live there) makes me bring her bagels from my local bakery and bread from Balthazar every time I come visit. She's a born and raised New Yorker, I don't know how she manages up there.

    BUT, there is another city that I love almost as much.

    Paris.

    I'm here right now for 3 months. I really, really love Paris. As of a year ago I had never been here, but now this is my 4th time here since last July!

    It's obviously totally different from NY. I love the architecture, how all of the buildings are so low (especially compared to NYC), and how there seems to be a vast history within every street. I became pretty obsessed with it since my first visit last July. Before I came here for the summer, I had a french tutor who taught me for 2 hours a day, every other day for 8 weeks to prepare me.

    The food here is amazing, I can't even go into detail. I found a boulangerie down the street that makes the best sesame baguette I've ever tried in my life. I bought 3 of them today for €0.50 each and ate them for breakfast lunch and dinner.

    The shopping is incredible, of course. Right now the dollar is getting weaker against the euro... every day I see it falling. And after all the presales this week, I really need to watch my money so I can survive for the next 2 months. It's a very expensive city. It's much more difficult to find a good cheap meal here, compared to NY.

    My French is improving pretty steadily, but my group of friends that I've made here mainly consists of english-speakers, so it's a bit harder to learn.

    What's really amazing is how close I am to so many other amazing European cities. Antwerp is 2 hours by train. I'm going to Amsterdam in 2 weeks. I have a trip planned to Vienna, Rome, Berlin and Copenhagen in July. I'm going to a friends beach house in Biarritz this upcoming weekend. It's amazing living here, but you really need to have a good chunk of money saved up (like I thought I did...) if you plan on coming here for any significant period of time.

    I do miss New York a lot though. As soon as I return, I am going straight to Katz's for a huge NYC meal.

    Comment

    • galia
      Senior Member
      • Jun 2009
      • 1719

      #17
      I live in Paris and have for most of my life (well, I spend my childhood in a suburb of Paris, but close enough)

      I never really thought much about it until I went and lived in New Delhi for a little under a year. Then I started missing the city as I would a person, and realised that it is my home and that I love it. Not just because of everything it has to offer, but because of the air, the buildings, simple things like walking home and being surrounded by beauty, and the variety of the differend places.

      Of course, I love the museums, shops, theatres, parties, restaurants... but even when I'm overworked and can't really do any of these things, the mere fact of being in the city is food for the senses. I feel really lucky to live here

      Comment

      • Alesha
        Senior Member
        • Apr 2009
        • 303

        #18
        Lived in various places... Considering that Paris gets such coverage, and Vegas is currrent hellhole, I'll tell about couple of truly wonderful places:

        - Johannesburg, South Africa. If you can imagine business capital of Africa, you got it all wrong. Better to see it for yourself. At night you are not required to stop at red light, if your alone on road. This is becouse there is a 1% chance that there is someone with Ak-47 waiting for you at the traffic light. Its a melting pot of Dutch, British and local cultures and wierdest place on earth. Dangerous, hot, and full of business opportunities. Not very hot on fashion though.

        - Pretoria, South Africa. Thats where half the people who run Johannesburg and South Africa live. Has a few very nice places, and nice century old english schools. Much safer to.

        -> Both cities allow to explore africa increadibly well. Paris? There is nothing particulary cool in Paris that you won't see in other cities in Europe. Sure there are tourist hotspots, but all europe feels the same if you filter the semantics. Africa however, offers truly crazy experiences. I'll never forget the wonderful hunting in Kenya, meeting a scorpion crawling on floor as I came out of shower in bungalow, the namibian deserts... Many of those lovely spots garantee you a total solitude and a chance of early but original death. Some are less dramatic.

        There is also African Las Vegas called Sun City. Ridiculously crawling with tourist but offering a pseudo colonial experience. There is Kimberley diamond mines and animal farms ( little crocodiles are very cute, little lions are not kittens and bite harder than most adult dogs)

        But all this is fairly boring if done over and over.

        Than there is Central africa. If you are seeking adventures - this is where you should head. Generally this is where you need not look for trouble and fun. I'd share experiences but I don't think it won't backfire on me.

        Years I spend in Africa were wonderful. I think I should return there someday.
        Originally posted by interest1
        I'm pulling you off my friends list if you don't put down the vodka.

        Comment

        • galia
          Senior Member
          • Jun 2009
          • 1719

          #19
          Originally posted by Alesha View Post
          Paris? There is nothing particulary cool in Paris that you won't see in other cities in Europe. Sure there are tourist hotspots, but all europe feels the same if you filter the semantics.
          I admit, as much as I love paris I have to sort of agree with that. I think it's more a question of affinity, but oddly enough I feel Brussels is much prettier than Paris, but less vibrant.

          I don't really know if that makes any sense...

          Comment

          • Fade to Black
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2008
            • 5340

            #20
            Originally posted by EatBabies View Post
            I hear you. I'm in the DC area and need to get the funk out.
            Seems like the solution is to not live anywhere full time but rather out of a suitcase.

            I'm in Hong Kong, and I spend 98% of my breathing time imagining desperately I was somewhere else.

            The thing faust said about NY being alienating if you don't have money is how HK is pretty much, as for the friends part, well see the first half of this sentence.

            i have a morbid fascination/obsession with the idea of Los Angeles in the mythic sense, although every time I am physically there I get bored and want to leave by the end of day 1.

            loved NY since I was a kid, don't think I can live there. Probably due to some weird kind of childhood perception to this day I find that place extremely intimidating and aloof.

            Tokyo is great, but as some fellow Chinese friends of mine have agreed on, we just like it there because we don't know the language therefore don't understand the curse words they're throwing at us while they bow and smile. Definitely can't live there

            ideally i'd like to be in some quiet place in Italy. Anywhere where nobody gives a fuck, really, so big cities are all out of the question other than for occasional vacations to get a dose of contact with "civilization."
            www.matthewhk.net

            let me show you a few thangs

            Comment

            • Alesha
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2009
              • 303

              #21
              My experience (aproximately 6 month I spent in Italy) show that there is no such place that can be truly quiet in Italy, unless you can afford estate in Toscana or something... As soon as some Romeo finds his Juliet next door, you will have trouble dreaming of new Guidi shoes that night.
              Originally posted by interest1
              I'm pulling you off my friends list if you don't put down the vodka.

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                #22
                Originally posted by eat me View Post
                Faust, so true. Perhaps, it's true for every megapolis, or only selected 'lucky' ones?



                Where to?

                merz, any details on LA and why do want to gtfo of there?



                Classique, if I'll have $10k gaming would be the last thing on my mind :).



                huh? zamb, come on, you know better than that.
                I'd like to move to either Amsterdam or Paris. Paris probably would be the first choice - I still want to learn French.

                I don't know if alienation is true in every megapolis - I know people in New York can be especially aloof, prickly and haughty.

                I think Zam meant NYC is the fashion capital of the US.
                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • Fade to Black
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2008
                  • 5340

                  #23
                  Originally posted by Faust View Post
                  I know people in New York can be especially aloof, prickly and haughty.
                  always been my impression. The people in NY leave me colder than a city like Paris which stereotypically is defined as very snobbish and elitist. I'd say it takes thick skin to live, let alone thrive there.
                  www.matthewhk.net

                  let me show you a few thangs

                  Comment

                  • Vanna
                    Senior Member
                    • May 2008
                    • 1217

                    #24
                    Originally posted by Fade to Black View Post
                    Seems like the solution is to not live anywhere full time but rather out of a suitcase.

                    I'm in Hong Kong, and I spend 98% of my breathing time imagining desperately I was somewhere else.

                    The thing faust said about NY being alienating if you don't have money is how HK is pretty much, as for the friends part, well see the first half of this sentence.

                    i have a morbid fascination/obsession with the idea of Los Angeles in the mythic sense, although every time I am physically there I get bored and want to leave by the end of day 1.

                    loved NY since I was a kid, don't think I can live there. Probably due to some weird kind of childhood perception to this day I find that place extremely intimidating and aloof.

                    Tokyo is great, but as some fellow Chinese friends of mine have agreed on, we just like it there because we don't know the language therefore don't understand the curse words they're throwing at us while they bow and smile. Definitely can't live there

                    ideally i'd like to be in some quiet place in Italy. Anywhere where nobody gives a fuck, really, so big cities are all out of the question other than for occasional vacations to get a dose of contact with "civilization."
                    I can see how living out of a suitcase can work for some, but I'm a pretty sedentary person, and am not really an admirer of that kind of "Freedom." I think Karl Lagerfeld said something once about hating to travel, and liked to romanticize more the idea of living in a particular place, rather than being there in reality. (But, he'd be more than willing to travel if someone provided the private jet, haha).

                    I do agree with you about NYC though, but I think that the illusion has really started to fade. I wonder if people tend to get lost in the idea of NYC, that it's intimidating grandeur is reflected in the people. I found that it has been just the opposite. I go quite frequently for respite, and every time that I have gone I have met more interesting, more welcoming people than I ever would have in DC. Young, creative people who made all kinds of sacrifices just to be there, but are still managing to live their "Dreams" fully. It has been really, truly inspiring. I think being surrounded by that kind of energy has allowed me to see past my own brooding, and become re-energized.

                    As far as DC is concerned, you do get that impression of aloofness. All of these hill-rats and IT guys think they're on the cusp of great change and importance, but they are just a part of the rat race like everyone else. It is like a cultural and intellectual void, although DC does have its merits (Like free museums).

                    Honestly, I love the idea of living in a place like London or Paris. But as far as the latter is concerned, I think the language barrier would really affect my ability to enjoy my time there. My dad speaks French fluently, I took it for 9 years, and still, nothing stuck. Est ce que tu parle Francais? Je parle Francais un peu.
                    Life is a hiiighway

                    Comment

                    • eat me
                      Senior Member
                      • May 2009
                      • 648

                      #25
                      concerning Paris... I went there for a day to talk to some people at MMM's HQ, and gosh did I hate the place. Although I'm aware that part of the impression might be due to my chaotic schedule that day and the fact the it didn't go to plan, but Paris left a really gloom impression on me. Dirty, stations covered in graffiti (even the nice, touristy ones, you'd think someone would clean up once in a while), post-apocalyptic two-story trains, drunk second-generation parisian smoking and sniffing his shoes on the underground, homeless person camping on one of the stations, narcs roaming about with 2 huge dogs on the other, dark (city of lights? my arse) streets barely lit up with the light from Eiffel tower (which was quite nice, have to admit) and occasional lamppost, everyone dressed in black, etc. When I got back to London and went on the tube station I thought it's the cleanest place on Earth. And London is dirty.

                      So, I'll definitely come back one day to try and have a nicer time, but so far Paris for me is really far away from the place it's all hyped up to be.

                      Alesha, I haven't been to Africa, but it seems to me that it's kind of like Scarface. Everyone loves the movie, until some gangster-dealer wannabe shoots your friend in the face. Then you'll think, oh, hold on, maybe it's not so cool after all? I mean, honestly, what's the appeal?

                      As soon as some Romeo finds his Juliet next door, you will have trouble dreaming of new Guidi shoes that night.
                      Tell me about it. Italy is one of the last places I'd want to live in. So annoying to hear their drama over which milk carton to pick, or how the bus skipped the stop. And the amount of cheese these people say to each other, and boys to girls in particular is out of this world. Food's probably great though.

                      Fade to Black,
                      Tokyo is great, but as some fellow Chinese friends of mine have agreed on, we just like it there because we don't know the language therefore don't understand the curse words they're throwing at us while they bow and smile.
                      Interesting, because I was kind of wandering for a while how it would be to live there.

                      Also, what about Scandinavia/Belgium/Denmark? I mean, it's clean (I have a thing for cleanliness), it always strikes me as fashion-forward, it's also very cool in terms of industrial and product design, and modern architecture. And the nature is beautiful. And the forests are dreamy. And the metal is actually popular (in Sc. at least). Any SZers that live there would care to shed some light?

                      Comment

                      • marco-von
                        Senior Member
                        • Feb 2009
                        • 133

                        #26
                        I think you are looking for a place called utopia.

                        I live in a small town and i am like ftb and spend alot of time dreaming of where to go. But i am not a city person , while i enjoy visiting the big cities i couldn't live there. I cant handle the pace of the places really frantic nonstop action.

                        I really think when you are young its hard to feel settled and content with what you have. I am the same but i am sure as i get older and make my mistakes and see the rest of the world i've yet to see ill probably end up back in scotland drinking scotch in a modernised rocking chair with built in speakers.

                        Comment

                        • Faust
                          kitsch killer
                          • Sep 2006
                          • 37852

                          #27
                          Eat me, Scandinavia is a strange place. Sure, all those cities look clean, crisp, and modern from the outside, but it seems that every single young interesting person wants to get the hell out of there. I loved both Copenhagen and Stockholm when I visited.
                          Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                          Comment

                          • Alesha
                            Senior Member
                            • Apr 2009
                            • 303

                            #28
                            Originally posted by eat me View Post
                            Alesha, I haven't been to Africa, but it seems to me that it's kind of like Scarface. Everyone loves the movie, until some gangster-dealer wannabe shoots your friend in the face. Then you'll think, oh, hold on, maybe it's not so cool after all? I mean, honestly, what's the appeal?
                            You know, sometimes you do not choose where to live and what to do, so you should be ready for everything. Personally I didn't really feel particulary bad living there, in fact I have very fond memory of it all. Best experiences in life are always the most intense. It was a great personality building experience for a young man.

                            Appeal... Lets see. Beautiful scenery, lack of human civilisation en masse... Not to mention the business opportunities. It is definately not for everyone. But there is appeal.
                            Originally posted by interest1
                            I'm pulling you off my friends list if you don't put down the vodka.

                            Comment

                            • prednisone
                              Member
                              • Nov 2007
                              • 48

                              #29
                              Originally posted by merz
                              but hey, i'm biased. i still can't find a halfdecent vet in this town and its in my sick interest to have you out here, on first-name basis with moomers (who does, in fact, have a last name..)
                              Hey Merz did you ever get my last PM regarding Moomers (Moo-merz?)?
                              FS: Julius FW05 leather fencing jacket sz 3

                              Comment

                              • Faust
                                kitsch killer
                                • Sep 2006
                                • 37852

                                #30
                                Originally posted by MonaDahl
                                I live in downtown Brooklyn... easily my favorite place. It's very familiar to me, very comfortable, but very urban so it's never boring. I also live in an interesting intersection of neighborhoods, so I've got a lot of different cultures and ethnicities that all kind of converge in my area. I love being able to walk everywhere, and while I love manhattan, I love being able to return to brooklyn, which, save for williamsburg, is pretty free of all of the pretense that manhattan is filled with.

                                I hope to live in Paris for a few years of my life as well...I love the city, but not for any reason that would be of use to anyone else. I've spent a lot of time there, and had a lot of important life experiences/realizations there, so it's a very sentimental and important place in my life. I also would like to perfect my french.

                                I think the two things that these places have in common that anyone can access is that they allow for life experience (that's the best term that I can come up with, sorry). You don't feel suffocated and you don't feel lost, and there's enough room to spread out and really live your life.
                                Wait, when did you move?!
                                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                                Comment

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