You moved from a big city to a small town. What were your circumstances, and how'd you adjust?
Because I saw myself becoming the stereotypical parisian. I was stressed, angry, overworked, insomniac, and a social alcoholic. One day i was walking down the stairs in a busy metro station and a guy (suit, tie,€50 haircut) growled at me because i was in his way. Not grumbled, growled. Like a dog. I decided i didn't want to become this man. A month later i was packing up.
I'm currently living in Paris, renting a pretty huge apartment in the 15eme with 2 roommates, but I'll be moving soon into a new apartment I bought myself in banlieue. If given the opportunity I'd have preferred staying in Paris but it's way too expensive to buy anything here (like 10k€/sqm...).
I was born in the suburbs of Paris, childhood was cool but once you reach puberty and go to high-school, you'll start to see that you have a lot of stuff that you can do (bars, activities,...) you also have to deal with the reality that you'll most likely won't be able to live close to your work, and that means a mean travel time of 1h morning and then 1h evening, meaning you'll end up doing little of your free time if you account for doing groceries and food (which felt important to me, I wanted to avoid takeout and stuff like that as much as possible)
That plus the fact that the comute is pretty much lost time, I wasn't doing anything useful in the train or by driving the car, and couldn't go to work by bike which would have alleviated some of the downsides cause at least I would be getting some activity.
I've spent my entire life moving among different rural suburban areas. I was born in Acton, CA, moved to Flagstaff, AZ, had spent a couple years in rural Ohio, and currently live in a town about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, PA. I've never spent longer than a couple hotel nights in a major city despite visiting many as a kid. Now that I'm less than a year away from graduating college, I'd really like some honest insight.
Because the truth is I'm completely tired of driving 25 minutes to reach a restaurant, store, or anything more exciting than a gas station. I'm also tired of run-away, aggressive pets, hostile people, ignorance, bug infestations, and the overall subtle hostility that living out here is. For almost half a decade now I've been nurturing this idea of living in an apartment somewhere deep inside a city. To be able to walk anywhere in a two two mile radius and find things, even if not necessarily everything, I'd want, and to have the ability to train ride to the locations farther away. All the while being surrounded by the pinnacle of human civilization; it honestly sounds like a dream.
So to me moving out of the parisian ambiance was a goal that I don't regret achieving one bit, but this is mostly true to my needs and I can see why some people would want to live there, it was just not for me.
I'm currently living in Paris, renting a pretty huge apartment in the 15eme with 2 roommates, but I'll be moving soon into a new apartment I bought myself in banlieue. If given the opportunity I'd have preferred staying in Paris but it's way too expensive to buy anything here (like 10k€/sqm...).
I was born in the suburbs of Paris, childhood was cool but once you reach puberty and go to high-school, you'll start to see that you have a lot of stuff that you can do (bars, activities,...) you also have to deal with the reality that you'll most likely won't be able to live close to your work, and that means a mean travel time of 1h morning and then 1h evening, meaning you'll end up doing little of your free time if you account for doing groceries and food (which felt important to me, I wanted to avoid takeout and stuff like that as much as possible)
That plus the fact that the comute is pretty much lost time, I wasn't doing anything useful in the train or by driving the car, and couldn't go to work by bike which would have alleviated some of the downsides cause at least I would be getting some activity.
I've spent my entire life moving among different rural suburban areas. I was born in Acton, CA, moved to Flagstaff, AZ, had spent a couple years in rural Ohio, and currently live in a town about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, PA. I've never spent longer than a couple hotel nights in a major city despite visiting many as a kid. Now that I'm less than a year away from graduating college, I'd really like some honest insight.
Because the truth is I'm completely tired of driving 25 minutes to reach a restaurant, store, or anything more exciting than a gas station. I'm also tired of run-away, aggressive pets, hostile people, ignorance, bug infestations, and the overall subtle hostility that living out here is. For almost half a decade now I've been nurturing this idea of living in an apartment somewhere deep inside a city. To be able to walk anywhere in a two two mile radius and find things, even if not necessarily everything, I'd want, and to have the ability to train ride to the locations farther away. All the while being surrounded by the pinnacle of human civilization; it honestly sounds like a dream.
So to me moving out of the parisian ambiance was a goal that I don't regret achieving one bit, but this is mostly true to my needs and I can see why some people would want to live there, it was just not for me.
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PICTURES (حمد أبو شعلان)
Me - Larry
