Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't know where you got your data, but a mate rents a 1 room apartment (studio) in NY in a transitional neighborhood and he pays 2,400/month (600/ week for 1 open room). The average apartment sale in NY is 1.7 million. So I think NY still has Alice and those other cities beat. I was looking at a 1 room flat in a transitional neighborhood of Jersey City, NJ and evem there the price was 1,700/month.
Similar will go for about $2000 month in Sydney.
Quote:
That's city proper. Metro area is 4-5 million I think, similar to Sydney. In Australia we tend to go by metro pop.
6 million actually. But Houston is mostly a car city not so much a pedestrian city. You walk around the downtown, and there's not really much street activity at all, it feels like a huge version of North Sydney. And the city is so massively sprawled, the suburbs cover an area larger than Sydney and Melbourne put together.
Additionally Texans by far are the friendliest people in the US. That is usually the first thing that people notice when they move to Texas.
I think Australians have the same sort of friendliness towards new comers or at least that is the impression I get.
I've been to Texas a few times and they are, indeed, very friendly. Americans generally are more open to strangers (striking up a conversation etc) than Australians. Infact being overly friendly in Australia will usually be viewed with suspicion.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCC_1
I've been to Texas a few times and they are, indeed, very friendly. Americans generally are more open to strangers (striking up a conversation etc) than Australians. Infact being overly friendly in Australia will usually be viewed with suspicion.
It depends. It's not that expected in the city, but I wouldn't say it's usually viewed with suspicion. Especially little old ladies who just want to have a good gasbag. I always appreciate that, and sometimes initiative conversations with them because they tend to be receptive. Usually when I do they seem happy to talk and get all friendly and talkative with me, I like that, it's something that's dying out. Go to the country and you'll see a lot more of that.
Americans can be talkative and stuff, but most are just like most Aussies, regular people doing their own thing.
I've been to Texas a few times and they are, indeed, very friendly. Americans generally are more open to strangers (striking up a conversation etc) than Australians. Infact being overly friendly in Australia will usually be viewed with suspicion.
That's an interesting opinion, as it's the complete opposite of what I've experienced and heard from my American friends living in Oz. Obviously, there is no way to properly measure and quantify it…so it will always be a subjective opinion. Funny how the "grass is always greener" mentally always seems to come into play when it comes to how "friendly" a populous is in relation to others.
That's an interesting opinion, as it's the complete opposite of what I've experienced and heard from my American friends living in Oz. Obviously, there is no way to properly measure and quantify it…so it will always be a subjective opinion. Funny how the "grass is always greener" mentally always seems to come into play when it comes to how "friendly" a populous is in relation to others.
It is different and I find it hard to explain.
Australians are friendly overall and tend to be willing to at least get to know you. Work situations I find for instance to be less clichey and politically oriented than American work situations.
But I would say they don't discuss their personal feelings as much as Americans and probably don't appreciate other people being so open about their private lives or personal feelings and tribulations. A lot of Australian women I have known for instance like to make fun of American women, as American women have a habit of vocalizing every little thing wrong with them or every little problem they have with their man and they are a constant histrionic drama with a lot of shrieking and shouting.
And a lot of Australians are simply not chummy at all or really interested in anything you have to say. Australians also try to get away with as few words as possible to explain something and have a habit of chopping off whole syllables off peoples names and other words, even amongst those "well educated". So that might be an adjustment for Americans used to talking 300 words a minutes.
Also on the whole, Australians can be brutally honest and opinionated. Americans tend to BS or use little white lies in order to be polite, but if an Australian hears or sees something they don't like or you are doing something they think is wrong, they just come out and tell you bluntly. And you especially open the door for that if you ask their opinion, they trend on the side of being frank and that puts many Americans on their back foot.
I fit in fine down there because many of my personality characteristics work with that culture, but with a lot of Americans it can be a clash.
In my opinion, the main characteristic we share is we communicate in a form of english. Other than that, just about every cultural or communication characteristic is different and I spent a lot of time adjusting and learning to where even if I was not the same I could at least be in sync with them.
wanneroo, that was a great post. It really echoes my husband's experience in Australia and my experience (as a kiwi), here in the US.
My husband had heard how friendly Australians were and he was very disappointed when he actually started living there, at how reserved and uninterested in him they were. They were polite but almost wary of an American and people never asked him where he was from or anything about him. I have to say they were like that with me as well but there is always an ongoing kind of rivalry between Australians and New Zealanders so I wasn't surprised.
I have the opposite experience here in the US. People are always eager to find out where I'm from and they love to talk about New Zealand and how beautiful they think it is. Americans here in New England are not even particularly friendly by US standards yet here they are, interested in the life of a New Zealander.
That's an interesting opinion, as it's the complete opposite of what I've experienced and heard from my American friends living in Oz. Obviously, there is no way to properly measure and quantify it…so it will always be a subjective opinion. Funny how the "grass is always greener" mentally always seems to come into play when it comes to how "friendly" a populous is in relation to others.
I think wanneroo summed it up excellently. I sort of made out we were all sullen aholes, which is of course not true. People are friendly in the way they interact with eachother (unless they're driving!) but they tend to not be as open as Americans. I guess Australians are generally more private. Americans, IME, are more likely to invite you to their house for dinner/drinks etc than Australians are.
Australians are friendly overall and tend to be willing to at least get to know you. Work situations I find for instance to be less clichey and politically oriented than American work situations.
But I would say they don't discuss their personal feelings as much as Americans and probably don't appreciate other people being so open about their private lives or personal feelings and tribulations. A lot of Australian women I have known for instance like to make fun of American women, as American women have a habit of vocalizing every little thing wrong with them or every little problem they have with their man and they are a constant histrionic drama with a lot of shrieking and shouting.
And a lot of Australians are simply not chummy at all or really interested in anything you have to say. Australians also try to get away with as few words as possible to explain something and have a habit of chopping off whole syllables off peoples names and other words, even amongst those "well educated". So that might be an adjustment for Americans used to talking 300 words a minutes.
Also on the whole, Australians can be brutally honest and opinionated. Americans tend to BS or use little white lies in order to be polite, but if an Australian hears or sees something they don't like or you are doing something they think is wrong, they just come out and tell you bluntly. And you especially open the door for that if you ask their opinion, they trend on the side of being frank and that puts many Americans on their back foot.
I fit in fine down there because many of my personality characteristics work with that culture, but with a lot of Americans it can be a clash.
In my opinion, the main characteristic we share is we communicate in a form of english. Other than that, just about every cultural or communication characteristic is different and I spent a lot of time adjusting and learning to where even if I was not the same I could at least be in sync with them.
That was a VERY good post and a interesting read! Thanks for sharing your insight. It's opened my mind more to what some of the recent posts on this subject have been suggesting. Nicely done!
wanneroo, that was a great post. It really echoes my husband's experience in Australia and my experience (as a kiwi), here in the US.
My husband had heard how friendly Australians were and he was very disappointed when he actually started living there, at how reserved and uninterested in him they were. They were polite but almost wary of an American and people never asked him where he was from or anything about him. I have to say they were like that with me as well but there is always an ongoing kind of rivalry between Australians and New Zealanders so I wasn't surprised.
I have the opposite experience here in the US. People are always eager to find out where I'm from and they love to talk about New Zealand and how beautiful they think it is. Americans here in New England are not even particularly friendly by US standards yet here they are, interested in the life of a New Zealander.
Americans are even hard to generalize as they vary quite a bit around the country. When I lived in Connecticut I found people to be clichey and they enjoyed their groups of 5-6 people and as most New Englanders are, opinionated and vocal at times. Whereas in the deep south, there were a few large social groups and tons of politeness and hospitality, not all of it genuine and plenty of backstabbing and gossip.
Australians like rivalries and I say they especially like their clubs and most definitely their sporting clubs. They get more into that than Americans and take it very seriously to the point you can offend people by taking a certain side.
I think a lot of times people pick Australia as a place to move to because a common language exists, but it's all different. Even basic things like the seasons are reversed, the sun is on the other side of the sky, the wildlife is totally different, trees and vegetation are different, you drive on the other side of the road and traffic flow is clockwise, etc. When you are younger you can probably roll with stuff like that or not care, but I think once you get in your 40's and you are used to certain things, all that change can throw you out of whack.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Go to the country and you'll see a lot more of that. 
