Who’s YOUR City? Blog

The landscape flashes by through the window; at first it is buildings, then the gray starts to thin out and is replaced with blurred brown and green resembling trees. The train ride from New York City to where I live in Orange, Connecticut is one that shows great contrast. Looking through the window one could see how the two locations are visually and social different.

I come from the small town of Orange in the state of Connecticut. It is similar to the stereotypical suburban town. There are houses that are just a little too close together, that look similar to each other. Unlike the suburbia of 1950s television shows, in my town there are no sidewalks or identical cars with cookie cutter families in each home. There are areas in my town that are farmland with animals and crops. Driving down the street one can see different landscape and architectural design used to create individuality in the neighborhood.

Living in such a small town means that there is a lot of community. Orange has many town activities that being the neighbors together such as the Volunteer Fireman’s Carnival and the Fall Arts Fair. Having such a close-knit community had its drawbacks. This environment allowed for everyone to be in each other’s business. There is often gossip going around town and it is garneted that my mother will be informed when I am at the local grocery store one morning before school. Having a constant surveillance results in safety, but it also was an invasion of privacy. Now where I live in New York City the neighbors do not even know your name, never mind caring where you go or when.

My favorite part about living in Connecticut was the ability to be barefoot. I had the freedom to walk to my backyard barefooted and not feel any shame or disgust. When I was little I would love to walk outside and feel the earth beneath my toes. As soon as I smelt the fresh scent of flowers and mowed lawn, I would automatically be transported to my imaginary world of fairies and mystery. It is this connection to nature that I miss when I live in the city.

Growing up in a town like Orange Connecticut was nice. There was something special about the community and nature that made an impact on my life. But New York City was calling for me, and as I grew older I found myself spending less time in my small town and more time on the train to the fast paced life of New York City.

Sent by Taryn from Orange, Connecticut

I grew up in Chestnut Hill, which is an uppity suburb of Philadelphia even though it is technically still within the city limits. There, I got to enjoy the small town feel (which I have grown to love) while being within a few miles from a thriving city. The ability to have both so close offered a nice escape whenever one became too much.

The community is close knit yet welcoming. There is always a familiar face in town. A major landmark that Chestnut Hill is known for is the beautiful country club that sits just a stone throw away from Main Street. It is there that I spent most of my summers as a child, playing tennis and meeting new friends. It is also where I found myself as a person. Tennis matured me in ways I never expected, and being part of such a community only added to my desires.

Cooking slowly became another love of mine. Chestnut Hill offers many fresh farm products that I was able to explore and pick to my choosing. This helped me explore my talents as a chef and ultimately brought me closer to my family as I started to cook dinner every night. However, nothing is more present in Chestnut Hill then design (probably because most people have the money to spend) and it is here that I found my future. Most homes are unique in architecture, landscape and décor. I was lucky enough to live in such a community where I could admire and study the intricate structure of most homes. Through connections made at the local country club, I was able to obtain an internship with an interior designer. Moreover, through my internship I was able to explore design through others eyes both in Chestnut Hill and downtown Philadelphia. Slowly, I became more confident until I was offering my own suggestions that people took to heart. In other words I had found my niche.

Chestnut Hill offers a connection found in few other places. One can simply walk to the corner to a deli or bakery and trust that everything being sold is fresh and tasty. The town itself is small but it is beautiful, clean and secure. Police and firemen are always close at hand as they are in every town, however they are not as obvious as compared to New York City.

Furthermore, Chestnut Hill is a town for families. Because it offers so much and is so safe, husbands and wives can go off to work or even away on business trips knowing their families will be ok. Thus, there is never a need to worry. The buildings are small, nothing too big and the roads are still made out of cobblestone and brick. This keeping an old town feel that I adore. The schools are within walking distance and offer a few to choose from, all from grades k -12. Hence, Chestnut Hill is a place to raise a family but more importantly it is a place to be with your family. It is a part of who I am. It has led me to go after my future, while still knowing my roots and it will always be my home town.

New York City is unlike anywhere else in the world. People are nonstop, no matter what time of day, location or even holiday. At times it can be so loud due to overpopulation that it is a welcome escape just to hide inside ones apartment. Expenses are ten fold, even subways in which are more traveled then taxi’s due to the cheapness in price add up as the day/week go by. However nothing compares to the beauty of seeing New York City at night. I will never forget my first night at college when I looked outside my 9th floor apartment window. The way in which light reflected off the thousands of lit buildings was like a perfectly contrasted picture… I was breathless. For me New York City was different from back home just from the size of it. Not to mention the millions of people that surrounded me everyday or the thousands among thousands of stores and restaurants within walking distance. Living here opened my eyes to so many more things. Downtown Philadelphia could be fit numerous times just within Central Park. That idea alone boggled my mind.

Moreover, it is always fascinating to me that so many people can live so close to one another and yet be total strangers. This is so different to back home where the whole town knows everyone and is brought together through shared locations. In New York City, people that go to the same restaurant, or the same stores, people that even live in the same building have no desire to introduce themselves. This always reverts me back to my question about life: “how can people be lonely in an overpopulated world?” Yet, New York City offers so many different ethnicities and backgrounds that the design is so different everywhere you look. For me, a Parsons student, it only adds to everything I am learning, as it gives me a visual. In other words, it brings the textbooks to life. Although I miss home I am intrigued by what New York City has to offer, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to grow culturally through living in this wonderful city. Furthermore, I believe it is important for people to move outside of their comfort zones, because it is there that they really start to grow, as individuals in both their profession and life. It is here that I strive for my future. Philadelphia and New York City have many things in common, however the biggest difference is living in Philadelphia I can always leave the city. New York City has no outlet within Manhattan, even its parks and rivers are clustered with people. Hence, it is here that I am most uncomfortable and because of that, I know I am exactly where I need to be.

Sent by Bridget from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Seoul is my hometown. I was born and raised in Seoul. I have lived there more than 20 years and haven’t lived in other cities in Korea. There is everything in Seoul. You can buy everything in the middle of the night and it is safe to go out in the night. There are tons of restaurants, theaters and big malls everywhere in the city. Seoul is the most crowd city among OECD countries. So there is heavy traffic all over the city. You can hear noise honking sound all day. It is not a good place to enjoy drive your car, such as in California. There are numerous high rise buildings. Just like New York City, Seoul has plenty of skyscrapers, especially in office district. Those are densely located.

What I don’t like about my hometown, Seoul, is the building covered with ugly signs. They don’t match with a building or other signs in the building. In Seoul, most of the citizens live in apartment buildings, which are more than 10 stories higher. And they are in complex structures with free parking space provide to residences for free. Seoul is the capital city of Korea. Although it is not the biggest city in Korea, its scale is the biggest in Korea. Every public offices and government buildings are located in or near Seoul. Koreans are kind and nice people. Seoulian, people who live in Seoul, just like New Yorker, are nice people but people in suburb are friendlier than people live in the city. I guess this is because they are busy of their own activity and surroundings.

Seoul has great transportation system. It doesn’t run 24 hours, but you can take taxis after midnight. You can go wherever you want with public transportation system. It is cheap, convenient, and safe. You can transfer bus to subway or to different line without any charge. Moreover, if you get on bus or subway in 30 minutes, you can ride it without any charge. So you don’t need car to live in Seoul.

Seoul is also eco-friendly city. Like Central Park in New York, there are huge park in Yeoui-island. There are big river called Han River cut across the city. People should do recycling and it is a law. And you should use legalized bag for trashes. Every bus is run by natural gas engine. There is a stream called Cheongye and redeveloped five years ago. It had been covered by cements over forty years and uncovered by last mayor of Seoul, who is now the president of Korea.

The roads in Seoul are not organized so it is hard to find only with address, especially for foreigners. It is not organized in straight or square shaped. There are small branch roads and crooked roads, too. So you need to know the transportations to get there.

Now, there are 250 thousands foreigners in Seoul. It is very diverse city with many races. Comparing to New York City, two cities have many similar things. They both got what big cities should have and shares many things, such as heavy traffic, tall buildings, and great transportation system. And now, both cities are working on sustainability and green movement. I have many things to say when I talk about Seoul because it is my home. Still, there are few things that I don’t like about it by comparing to other cities, like New York, such as ugly signs and lack of consideration to foreigners. Those things are my new findings after I live in New York.

Sent by In from Seoul

“Medway, Massachusetts? Never heard of it.” This is the most typical response after informing a new acquaintance about where I grew up. Medway, also referred to as “Cow-town,” has a small population of merely 13,000 inhabitants. Up until recently, the area consisted of mostly farmland and a few local shops. We have two intersections in town and the number of stoplights in the area could be counted on one hand.

Growing up in such a diminutive neighborhood, everybody in the community knows everyone’s business. One small school system, one police station, one library, and one fire department are established in the district. Entertainment is lacking and the majority of fun activities require at least a 15 minute car drive to the next town over. Cars are necessity to living in this suburban town since there is no form of public transportation besides school buses, of course. The most historical structure in town stands across from old fire department. Medway Village Church is an old white stone building with a steeple. Stone churches were common in small New England areas because stone was widely available from when Indians built stonewalls. Large mills line the central street that connects Medway to other towns. The Charles River flows behind these mills and used to serve as a source of energy and provide work for the locals.

Choate Park is a small recreational area including a pond, a few tennis courts, and grassland. During the winter , there is a small Christmas parade featuring local organizations and fireworks. Within the last few years the two biggest cow fields in town have been transformed into strip malls filled with chain stores such as Starbucks, Shaw’s Supermarket, McDonalds, and a CVS. This was possibly the most exciting thing that ever happened to the little town of Medway. Not for me. I spent most of my time taking jogs around town, working at a local coffee shop, and taking weekend trips into Boston. I was tired of the being around the same people and places. I essentially discovered everything there was to do in the area, and frankly I was ready for a change.

If there was one thing I did love about Medway, it was my house and my job. I lived in a comfortable, peaceful, and clean neighborhood. The coffee shop I worked at was the one out of two coffee shop in town. The customers were friendly for the most part, and I loved my co-workers. The same people would come daily in and order the usua l. This small coffee shop meant more to them then just getting their daily cup of coffee. It was the important social and restful experience that became part of their everyday custom. I enjoyed taking long runs around the area that were not interrupted by walk signs or speeding cars. The street signs were recently updated and painted blue and white, for the town colors, and the sidewalks newly paved. There was a sense of closeness in the community that was both good and bad. It was nice to see a familiar face every once and a while, but that can get uninteresting fast.

The close-minded outlook some people have is unfortunate, the town is mainly white-Catholic and family generations have been living there all their lives. As I began to consider where I wanted to move away to for college, I soon realized I wanted the complete opposite experience from what I had been living. Boston is only a 40-minute drive away and offers a wide variety of colleges to attend. But Boston is a small city, and I had already thoroughly explored it through my years in high school. New York City seemed like the perfect solution.

Sent by Chelsea from Medway, Massachusetts

Not a lot of people in New York know about Shanghai, yes, it is close to Beijing, but Shanghai is unique itself. When I mention the 2010 World Expo, people sort of get an idea of the hosting city, but when they are teleported back in 10 years, everything in Shanghai is incredibly unfamiliar. Born in Shanghai, a city east coast of China, also known as the “Oriental Paris,” I became familiar with the fast change in Shanghai. In Shanghai, one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world, is subject to change within a short time. Within years of time, Shanghai has embraced itself into a multi diverse city in which like the growing of its economic activities, more people from all over the world come and stay here. Like New York, I do not feel isolated here because of elements within the city that bring me the feeling of home, even though Shanghai is 7376 miles away.

Living in Shanghai, I feel very personally attached to places, especially the old Chinese streets where the government is preserved very well. Since Shanghai before was occupied by British, French, and Russia in 1842, 1930, 1840s respectively, many of the building located downtown “Pu xi” of Shanghai shows the intricate designs of the foreign movements. What is special about the British and French building on the bund, is that in combination with old preserved Shanghainese buildings, city dwellers would feel a sense of comfort and peace in a fast pace city. Whenever I go to Shanghai for vacation, I would always go the ShaoXing and TaiKang Road located in the West downtown area of Shanghai. Walking on the roads of ShaoXing and TaiKang Road, I see people under café umbrellas, chattering, flapping their arms, gesturing the waiter, as I walk by. Things are very much slowed down here, also take the street of MaoMing Road, north of HuaiHai Road, the cobblestone lanes, ShiKuMen, doors which are framed with large stones in which olden days tenants live. The culturally rich aspects of the streets bring vitality to the people living in the city.

Living in New York, I feel much differently than the engaging feeling I feel in Shanghai. When I first came to New York, people seem much isolated, or cold in other words. People are harder to talk to, thus harder to find friends even within the dorms I’m living in. That’s only the negative experience I’ve felt coming to New York. In Shanghai, spaces are much wider; therefore people’s hearts are not as crammed. On the streets of Maoming road, old ladies sit on the sidewalk selling orchid blossoms that the faint smell would fill up the whole sidewalk. Sometimes within the week, the old lady would walk home, basket empty, humming the familiar tune of nursery rhymes, in to the ever passionate streets of Shanghai.

Sent by Lina from New York

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, located on the northwest coast of Java. It has an area of 225 square miles and a population of 8,490,000 (maybe even more due to the excessive number of immigrants). For a foreigner to come visit Jakarta, you will be surprised how overwhelming it is to live in this city with the new sights, sensations and challenges. Getting around the city is a huge task especially with the worst traffic jams you could possibly imagine. It requires a lot of time and patience to really get to know the city, the various streets and routes from one place to another. No doubt that the people of Jakarta is the most friendly ones you could find, they are very open and most delightful to welcome foreigners. It is true that people in Jakarta are the most patient people in the world, having to face the horrible traffic every single day.

In Jakarta, people tend to have private transportation rather than utilizing public transportation even though they have a busway system which has helped citizens who work in the city to get around easily. Jakarta is overpopulated with people, automobile, motorcycle and malls.

Indonesians in general love to socialize and they do that whenever or wherever is possible. It is a routine that most people would go out every Saturday night to malls, to shop, to see a movie, to socialize. We have over 20 malls just in a city. Shopping in Jakarta has a lot of forms from the most traditional markets to luxurious, high fashion shopping malls. Shops offer the latest fashion collections from all over the world. During the weekdays, most housewives are mostly seen with their children after school let out mid-day. By late afternoon, the malls are filled with the young teens and young professionals after office hours.

What I miss about Jakarta is certainly the food. It has a wide range of food available from local to international around located all around the city. Indonesia is known for its spices and the places you go to is cheap and guaranteed the best dining experience you will ever have. One of the popular cuisine in Jakarta is Soto Betawi, which is a cow milk broth with beef tendons, intestines and tripe. Other cuisine that is most favored is “gado- gado” (mix of vegetables served with peanut sauce dressing). This particular dish is usually served from hawkers carts, stalls called warung as well as restaurants.

Apart from the friendly gestures of the people, historical monuments, irresistible dining experience and high fashion shopping malls Jakarta is infamously known for its traffic jams and outrageous traffic rules. Street traffic is filled with smog, motor cyclists are mostly underage and are driving without a helmet. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians to walk on therefore they walk wherever they want and cross over. There are no parking meter and we have small tiny roads called “jalan tikus” used as an alternative route to avoid traffic jams.

Sent by Anna from Jakarta, Indonesia

I often find myself missing a place that I had always wanted to move away from. The place I wanted so badly out of seems comforting when I’m in New York City because of the easy familiarity that comes with a place that you’ve spent nearly six years in. Sometimes, change takes you by surprise and it always takes awhile to adjust to your new environment.

Duluth, Georgia is small yet a pretty large area. Over the few years, the city has undergone change for the better and for the worse. Many of my friends have grown up in Duluth their entire lives and have gone from elementary school to high school graduation with the same people. An area known as downtown Duluth still keeps the ‘old-fashioned’ image from the authentic streets to the style of the storefronts. Around that area, there are many independent shops and eateries and also a Town Green with a fountain and areas to just hang out near the stores. Every year, the town holds an annual Fall Festival the last weekend in September with a parade and booths full of various different events that brings the whole town together.

Most neighborhoods have townhomes or apartments grouped together with a name for the cluster of homes. The big neighborhoods are well-known and usually if questioned about where you live, people give the name of their neighborhood. Some areas are obviously are pricier than others and there are a few country club-type neighborhoods around and can indicate wealth status for a person. This is similar to the sections of New York City. Each section of New York City has a name to the area such as the Upper East Side or the Lower East Side. Those areas each indicate something to someone else because each section of New York City is different and can also indicate something about a person from where they live.

Duluth and nearly everywhere in Georgia is a car dependent culture. You can get your license at 16 which are convenient since if you want to go anywhere, you have to drive. It is impossible to get anywhere without cars though, there is never anywhere to actually go except the movies or the mall when you are a teenager. Occasionally, you do see someone walking but it’s rare. The sidewalks make it impossible to even attempt walking because a sidewalk will pop up and disappear at irregular intervals throughout. This is a bad design in part to the city planners because what is a person supposed to do if the sidewalks stop? Then, he or she is stuck walking on a very narrow space inside the painted white line that separates the car from the pedestrians since the sidewalk has become long grass or some other circumstance where the person is no longer able to walk in or through. Public transportation is not a real option because in order to get to the closest train (Marta) stop from Duluth, you would have to drive at least 30 minutes down to another town known as Doraville to get on it. To make it worse, the stops are limited to only the downtown area. No one really uses the bus either because most people do have access to cars. This is a problem because I do not particularly like driving and I’m sure people don’t always want to be stuck with their car to get to any destination. The car culture of Georgia leads to why New York is a good location. A car is rarely needed to get anywhere because the sidewalks do not randomly end. New York City has more options of getting around to wherever you need to go. You have the option of using the subway or bus and the method of simply walking to your destination. Duluth, Georgia is definitely far from New York City. They both have different things to offer yet, have a few similarities between the two cities.

Sent by Ellis from Duluth, GA

I grew up in a small suburban town called Shrewsbury in the state of New Jersey. Being as it is such a small town, it has a very tight-knit community where everyone is friendly and knows each other. There are small “mom and pop” stores, as well as major chain franchises, however, local residents are extremely supportive of local small businesses and actually prefer the service at such stores over the services offered at the large chain companies. There’s the popular local deli and bagel store that everyone goes to, Bagel Masters. The employees know their customers on a nickname basis and even memorize regular customers’ orders, which provides a friendly, personal experience that every local resident enjoys. This is the most popular breakfast place around, and growing up my friends and I always get breakfast there and talk about anything and everything.

In the town over, called Red Bank, there’s a NJ Transit station, which provides transportation to New York City in an hour, so I have been travelling to and from the city since I was a young girl. Shrewsbury is also just a short, ten-minute drive from the beach, where many residents belong to beach clubs or attend public beaches. I believe that Shrewsbury is an excellent location to live in because it is a beautiful suburban town that is a short trip away from New York City, as well as the beach. I really enjoyed growing up in this small town, however, there are some negative things about Shrewsbury, as well.

Because it is such a tight-knit, small community, everyone knows each other, as well as their personal business. Shrewsbury is a very wealthy town, so the majority of the female residents are pretentious, stay-at-home mothers who gossip about each other. This is the main thing that I did not enjoy dealing with when I was growing up in this town. The public middle school located in Shrewsbury is known to be excellent, however there is not much diversity in the student body. The public high school that students in Shrewsbury attend is called Red Bank Regional High School, which is where I attended. It has an amazing Visual and Performing Arts program and has a diverse student body deriving from residents of Shrewsbury and the neighboring towns Red Bank and Little Silver. During high school, I was a Commercial Art major, an excellent art program that helped me grow as an artist and eventually realize that art and design is the field I want to pursue for my career. Despite the few negative aspects of living in Shrewsbury, it really is a great area and I am extremely thankful that I was raised in this town.

Sent by Sophia from Shrewsbury, NJ

Before moving to New York City, I never realized how mid-WESTERN Denver actually is. I find it insulting when tourists come waddling through in their “western gear” cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and wrangler jeans. Only the real farmers and equestrians wear boots, and the cowboy hat is a rarity even then. I know because I grew up riding (English even, not western). However, it is true that there are “wide open spaces.” I don’t need a compass because where ever you are the mountains can always be seen from the west. In the city (New York City) I know east from west and south from north because of the grid system. Denver has a grid system, but no grid system is like Manhattan’s. The mountains are just so much easier to pinpoint.

You need a car to get around Denver. You’d be crazy, or very low income to only ride the bus. It is terribly ineffective and slow. This means a lot of time is unfortunately spent alone in the car. Counteracting that, there is a very large bike population. This is not to be confused with the hipster (fixed gear) bike movement, even though we have that too. A lot of people bike to get around, as we have make bike lanes around the city. This goes hand in hand with the largely focused outdoor culture of Denver. Right in the heart of downtown Denver is Cherry Creek, a manmade creek that runs from Cherry Creek Reservoir throughout the city (inconveniently it separates sections of the city forcing traffic through awkward traffic congestion over bridges and if you’re smart short cut side streets) nestled in Confluence park (it is called confluence because this is the spot where Cherry Creek and the Platte River meet), bordering REI and REI’s rock climbing walls. I think this is what makes Denver so charming. It a perfect example of how Denver interacts as a community.

REI is the main attraction only at first. People roller blade, bike, walk, run, and even kayak to this spot. It is where we all congregate. You bump into someone tubing down the stream, or laugh with someone also watching it carry someone away. The warm sun (that statistically proven to shine three hundred days a year) radiates, and you bask in it eyes closed, hearing the sounds of the stream and people around it. All social boundaries are dropped. You can and will talk to anyone. It is not awkward. You smile at everyone you make eye contact with, and they smile back. You walk up the ramp past REI to Little Raven Street to get a iced coffee drink at the trendy coffee shop called Paris on the Platte, or grab a snack at the local health food chain Vitamin Cottage, only to quickly retire back by the side of the water.

Unfortunately this culture largely is seasonally affected, and for those who are not inclined to winter sports (which is about half), the sense of community collapses once it breaks November. This is when Denver gets old, and it is stuck in the safety from the cold in the car. For those who brave the weather, the interaction continues, and for those who choose to hibernate indoors (consciously or unconsciously) choose to alienate themselves from the culture. The outside crown will switch to skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, hot springs lounging, sledding, tubing, ice skating, snowman building, cross country skiing, and hiking.

Outside the public spaces, the major residential areas are separated from stores, entertainment, restaurants, etc. These spaces are on major boulevards and off highway exits (I-25). The outdoor life is what makes this bearable. The counter cultures like the large gay culture (night clubs, Cheeseman Park, restaurants, shops, etc.), the alternative/new-agey crowd (vintage shops, local designer and artist shops and galleries, first Friday art walk (blocks of galleries down Sante Fe Street) etc. and the young adults (who hang out at coffee shops, go to concerts, art openings, etc.) keep the town from going stagnant in its dull landscape of boring avenue and boulevards of chain stores and restaurants. This is the strong culture radiating out from the people of Denver. It is not a subtle retaliation towards big company domination. There is a proud culture of that stance. That is what makes Denver.

Sent by Gabrielle from Denver, CO

Ever since I moved to Ottawa to attend University, I had unknowingly surrounded myself with some of the most intelligent people I have ever met. Attending networking events through the Telfer School of Management has opened my eyes to Ottawa’s diverse business leaders and has inspired me to become a committed contributor to the local business community. As a start, I joined the city’s TalentBridge program, an organization committed to developin g and nurturing local talent. TalentBridge gives Ontario’s young talent an opportunity to work closely with Ottawa based SME’s in various areas of business. Through this program, I was able to join a local tech company (Seregon) and showcase my skills and abilities in an area open to creativity and a new way of thinking. Being connected to TalentBridge and its members has also allowed me to contribute to ‘Creative Ottawa’ by developing initiatives to harness local talent and become the next wave of leaders in the city. The City of Ottawa has given me more opportunities, both personal and professional, than I had ever imagined. If you are looking for a place where the city embraces creative talent and encourages you to put it to work, Ottawa is the city for you.

Sent by Colin from Ottawa