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What do foreigners think of NY?

8K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  Stratosphere 2020 
#1 ·
Are you not American? Did you ever visit NY? What did you think of the city? Did you ever get out of Manhattan? Less than 2 million out of NY's 8million people live in Manhattan. And large chunks of Brooklyn are now very hip and quite expensive, for example. (By the way I'm not actually from Brooklyn)

Please don't use this thread as an opportunity to bash America. After all, NY is very different from much of the rest of this country. I think more than 80% of NYC voters voted for Kerry, for instance.
 
#2 ·
brooklynprospect said:
Please don't use this thread as an opportunity to bash America. After all, NY is very different from much of the rest of this country. I think more than 80% of NYC voters voted for Kerry, for instance.
Gee, Brooklyn, that sounds a lot like the percentages in Chicago (you know, the city that kept Illinois blue). I hardly think much of the experiences of New Yorkers are all that different from Chicagoans, San Franciscans, etc. And I hardly think that those from abroad have to think "highly different from the rest of the US" in evaluating New York. It is an American city.
 
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#4 ·
Before anyone accuses me of being anti-American, I'll point something out first. I like some US cities. Chicago, LA and San Fran for example. NYC, however, just doesn't do it for me. It's too isolated from street level, I think there are way too many ugly buildings, there is one major litter problem and it just doesn't seem to have the facilities of other cities it's size. NYC is the last US city I'd choose to live in.
 
#6 ·
"Please don't use this thread as an opportunity to bash America. After all, NY is very different from much of the rest of this country. I think more than 80% of NYC voters voted for Kerry, for instance."

I promise not to hijack this thread, but 48% of America voted for Kerry. A Democrat is not an endangered species, and leftists of all stripes (this is not a bash on New York; I've experienced the same phenomenon in Wisconsin) should stop pretending that to be American is to be conservative.
 
#9 ·
edsg25 said:
...sounds a lot like the percentages in Chicago (you know, the city that kept Illinois blue). ...I hardly think much of the experiences of New Yorkers are all that different from Chicagoans, ....
Why do you always bring up Chicago?? What does Chicago have to do with a thread about what non-Americans think of NY?

Yes Chicago, Boston, SF etc also voted heavily against Bush. But all I said was that NY is different from much (not all) of the rest of the country.

48% of people voted for Kerry nationwide. In the city most heavily attacked on 9/11, more than 80% voted for Kerry. In fact, support for Bush was higher in French opinion polls than in his election results in NYC.
 
#13 ·
I like NYC. My opinion of it, is that it is a great city to visit, in which to go shopping, and to party. However, I don't believe that NYC is a very livable city. For brokers, securities dealers and hordes of bankers NYC may be a heaven on earth, but apart from that, I REALLY don't think it is in easy city in which to live for the ordinary person. Chicago is much more livable. Maybe because of the well-rounded mid-western atmosphere of the city.
 
#14 ·
I don't like NYC for these reasons:

1. Dirty in general.

2. Subway line/time is too frequently altered without any precaution.

3. Subway does not stretch out to every part of NYC. For much of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and the entire Staten Island, you need your own car.

4. The skyscrapers make me feel that I am cooped up. Sometimes I want to see a clear sky, not interrupted by skyscrapers.

5. Telecommunicaion infrastructure is very poor. I cannot use my cell phone in subway, accessbility to computers & the net is very low.

6. I need more public restrooms.

7. Cost of Living is high compared to other cities (I didn't realize it but once I visited Phliadelphia, I found that Philly is whole lot cheaper than NYC.)

8. Accessiblity to on-land natural environment is very low. I can find some parks like the Central Park, but I want true natural parks/mountains.

9. I cannot drink alcohol on streets, and why did I have to wait until 21 to become eligible to drink alcohol? (Maybe it's a matter of USA, not solely of NYC.)

I like NYC for the following reasons:

1. A lot of theatrical/musical venues: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Broadway

2. Bus system is very good.

3. Good city layout--easy to locate places.

4. Well-developed library and (academic) database.

5. It's a seaport--I like to see sea. :)

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In summary, I like NYC's cultural infra and information database. However, the good info database is hard to use b/o poor information infrastructure. Also, I want NYC to improve transportaion system. In terms of nature, well, it's kinda inevident, so complaining on that won't produce any change--I may just live with it.
 
#17 ·
Some cities in "red" states voted for Kerry, also. Kerry won in the city of Columbia with like 70%+ and Richland County by almost 60%. It's most of the rest of South Carolina we have to blame for this state's "red" status. :)

Back to the subject, I grew up just outside of NYC in central NJ. As many hundreds of times as I've been to NYC the thrill was always there when I saw the Chrysler Building, the ESB and the Twin Towers (u/c when I lived in NJ) peak up over the horizon about the time I would reach Elizabeth on the way to the city. I've been to London, Chicago, Atlanta and many other large cities, but the thrill of NYC has still not been matched by any of my visits to other cities.
 
#18 ·
brooklynprospect said:
And large chunks of Brooklyn are now very hip and quite expensive, for example. (By the way I'm not actually from Brooklyn)
I think Brooklyn is still quite cheap compared to Manhattan. My friend just got 2-bed-room APT with only 1200 USD /month. That's simply impossible in Manhattan, no matter the location is.
 
#19 ·
waccamatt said:
Some cities in "red" states voted for Kerry, also. Kerry won in the city of Columbia with like 70%+ and Richland County by almost 60%. It's most of the rest of South Carolina we have to blame for this state's "red" status. :)

Back to the subject, I grew up just outside of NYC in central NJ. As many hundreds of times as I've been to NYC the thrill was always there when I saw the Chrysler Building, the ESB and the Twin Towers (u/c when I lived in NJ) peak up over the horizon about the time I would reach Elizabeth on the way to the city. I've been to London, Chicago, Atlanta and many other large cities, but the thrill of NYC has still not been matched by any of my visits to other cities.
I think this thead is for foreigners, not for Americans.
 
#20 ·
If you are a fan of Skyscrapers, than how could you not love NYC. I have never walked so much in my life through an endless sea of buildings and interesting sights. So many things to see, museums, broadway, neighbourhoods/ppl, great restaurants and shopping. Central Park is beautiful and just the perfect diversion in a perfect location. The city is very diverse (part of its appeal to me being from Toronto) though and I regret not leaving Manhattan but I thought it best to stay there as I was alone.

I also found New Yorkers as a whole very friendly and accomodating and some of them were extraordinarily colourful hehe. In one case, I remember this guy in Mcdonalds Screaming and yelling at someone over the phone (I have never seen anyone so angry with someone on a cellphone and he was actually punching and kicking the air while talking lol.

Overall a great city with energy and an appeal all its own. I don't think it would dissapoint most people and since I love big urban jungle cities, NYC it was fine with me.

The only negative was some nasty ass smells I have never inhaled b4 but I got over it hehe.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I was in New York for a week one month ago. As probably most visitors, I spent all my time on Manhattan, except for a small walk on Brooklyn heights and on Staten Island.

Here follows some of my impressions.

First of all I think it was an amazing city. To walk around on Manhattan among so many tall skyscrapers is an incredible experience! It was one of those things I had promised myself I had to do before I die, and it was just as I had thought it would be. The feeling of grandness, of beeing in a huge cosmopolitan diverse city was unlike anything I have experienced (and I have also been to Mexico City and London).

* People: More diverse than I've ever seen. And I've never seen so many friendly people in my life. Not to mention very good service. New Yorkers are much more relaxed and openminded than Northern Europeans. All the talk about New Yorkers beeing so unfriendly must clearly be a myth.

* Transport: Subwaystations was in a poor shape, and the smell in some of them were horrible. Other than that I think the subway-system worked exelent. The concept of express-trains running parallell with the ones stopping at each stop was quite cool. I was also quite impressed by how the subways wasn't overcrowded, given the large amount of people travelling with it. One thing that was strange to me was how glad car owners were in using their horns. Another how they had poor skills in street parking.

* Nightlife: We looked really hard, but couldn't find that much good nightlife. I think this is a huge difference from Europe. Bars are quite different, with more focus on eating than drinking. And why must every bar have several TV's showing sport all the time?? West Village was okay, but nothing exeptional. There are areas with just as good nightlife here in Oslo. Maybe we didn't find the right spots, but then NYC have done a good job hiding the nighlife.

* Litter: It wasn't that much of it laying in the streets, not more than here. But garbage was just thrown out in the streets in big, black plastic bag, in order for them to be picked up by the garbage trucks. That seems awfully unhygienic to me. What about rats etc?

* Most things are bigger there than here. The buildings, obviously. The streets are wider. Cars are bigger. Hamburgers are bigger. The most frequent question I got when I came back was: "So, are there alot of fat people there?". The answer to that is; no, not much more than here. But there are more thin people.
 
#24 ·
I love New York. I like the city's architecture, history, towers, the sense of 24 hour life, markets on many street corners, the beautiful fit people, easy traffic layout, great city layout with each town in Manhattan having its own sense of character, inexpensive subway system, lots of taxis to get you around, being lost in central park, city culture, diversity and tolerance.

I applaud New York for being strict on prohibiting smoking in bars, restaurants, disco and so on. And For fighting crime at an effective manner. You really feel safe in Manhattan.

What I hate about New York is the rude and unfriendly attitude of some, litter on the streets in certain areas, ridiculously expensive but understandibly so, the rich trying to buy out poor Harlem which in itself is a very unique part of Manhattan and not providing sufficent affordable housing. For one I dislike the agenda of converting Manhattan into one rich island.

The Bronx is trying to get its act together, I have noticed many positive developments going on there. It is a start and has a long way to go. I am not that all impressed with Queens, yet it is clean and green but somehow a stranger in NYC, Staten Island the same. Brooklyn looks great and some how very NYC-ish with lots of potential, I could see that borough become the next Manhattan extension in the distant future. It seems as if prosperity by those making it in Manhattan are now penetrating the boroughs.


All in all I could live in NYC and I am planning on doing so too. ;)
 
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