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I'd like to know what Europeans think of the 10 cities in the United States listed below, especially if they are considering visiting or moving to the United States. Which of these 10 cities would you most likely visit or relocate to? Please tell why you would be likely (or not likely) to go to these cities, either visiting or relocating.
After some responses, I might ask people from other parts of the world to give their opinions of the cities listed, but first I'd like to hear from Europeans only.
Disclaimer - I'm European but have lived in Chicago for 4 years. These are the opinions I would have given 4 years ago before moving here.
Boston - olde worlde, lots of students.
Chicago - metropolis type city, cold and windy
Indianapolis - er, they race cars there?
Milwaukee - sorta like Chicago but colder?
Minneapolis-St Paul - Brandon and Brenda Walsh used to live there
NYC - awesome shops, glamorous, super fun
Portland - hippies live there, possibly cold
San Francisco - fun, lots of hills
Seattle - see Portland, and it rains
Washington DC - secret service on every corner and you can't go anywhere
Personally I would have chosen any of these places to live in, (Chicago was picked for me), but most Europeans dream of living in NYC, closely followed by San Francisco and then Boston.
I wouldn't have planned to visit Indy, Milwaukee, Twin Cities or Seattle or Portland. I just didn't see any reason to visit any of those places and for the Midwestern cities I still don't really, even though I have been to Indy and MKE. I probably wouldn't have specifically planned to visit DC either but when I lived in Europe I didn't know how many amazing museums they had.
My opinion is untainted by ever having been to any of these cities so I'll say the first thing that comes into my head:
Boston - probably the most European-feeling American city, probably a lot of historic sites, annoying accent though. Lots of Irish people.
Chicago - Where Jerry Springer is filmed and there's a massive airport called O'Hare. I'm sure there's 100000x more to it than that though so probably worth a visit. Isn't it where Al Capone used to live? Called the Windy City, presumably wind caused by the lake whose name I can't remember. Lake Michigan?
Indianapolis - where the Indy 500 is and where there used to be a Grand Prix. I know which state it's in but if you asked me to point to it on the map I'd probably be hundreds of miles out.
Milwaukee - cold winters, they probably used to make something there but now don't, don't know much else. It's near or by one of the Great Lakes. Nice name for a city.
Minneapolis-St Paul - even colder winters, don't know much else.
NYC - similar to London in many senses, famous '**** you' attitude. My parents travelled around the US on honeymoon in the late 70s and somehow ended up in a rough part of New York so I grew up with stories of the number 1 city in the world being a lawless dystopia with every corner full of people injecting themselves and getting shot, streets full of blood and broken glass, etc which has always intrigued me (though I know it's nothing like as bad now). Definitely a place I'd like to visit some day.
Portland - it's by a beautiful coastline, nice mild climate, probably laid back with lots of outdoor stuff?
San Francisco - Full of hippies and gay people smoking pot. Lots of fog in the summer for some reason, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Earthquake-prone.
Seattle - grunge music, damp weather like here, lots of mountains, quite liberal by US standards. There's something called the Space Needle but I don't know what it is.
Washington DC - Full of politicians and really rough gang neighbourhoods living side by side. An American friend of mine said that her car got shot at there after taking a wrong turning. There's a well-known museum called the Smithsonian and probably hundreds of others.
I'd expect there's a lot more difference between US cities than any other country in the world, but some of those don't really register with English people (can't speak for other Europeans). Some that do would be Detroit, Orlando, Las Vegas, LA, Phoenix, Philadelphia, New Orleans and maybe Dallas (for the TV show alone).
Boston: Harvard, very well educated people, Boston accent, Irish
Chicago: Amazing skyline, deep dish pizza!, the windy city, lots of good museums, the Chicago symphony is awesome, Wrigley field . I have many friends there and like it a lot.
Indianapolis: It's in Indiana, need I say more? I just drove by on my way to Cincy once, seems to have a nice downtown. Can't say more about it. Not really interested in seeing it.
Milwaukee: My second home. Lived there for a while and could imagine to move back. Cold winters, wind chill, awesome beaches at Lake Michigan, beer, frozen custard, Sobelman's, proximity to Chicago, tons of festivals during summer, unfortunately a few sketchy areas, Eastside. Miss it!
Minneapolis-St. Paul: COLD. I think it's the coldest city in the contiguous 48, ahead of Milwaukee. More white collar than Milwaukee.
New York City: Crowded, busy, loud, too much hype around it. Not my cup of tea.
Portland: Never been there. From what I saw it seems to be a nice city but it is too isolated. Oregon is beautiful but Portland is not by the ocean.
San Francisco: For a long time my favorite city in the US. I love the location, I love the climate and the old victorian houses. If it weren't that expensive I could see myself living there.
Seattle: Starbucks! If I could pick a city to live it would be Seattle. It just has the perfect location: Mountains and the Pacific ocean in one place. It's rarely hot in summer and pretty mild in winter. It is very clean and relaxed. Seems like a more down-to-earth cousin of San Francisco.
Washington, DC: Not really an opinion about it. I've heard they have some nice museums and awful traffic.
If I had the choice it would be either Milwaukee or Seattle, perhaps Chicago or San Fran.
Chicago is good only for visiting, I don't like this city and especially people who live here, both Americans and immigrants (like me). People are stressed here and would kill for money (not all but too many). Summers too hot.
Minneapolis - this city seems to be calm, temperature is perfect to me. If I had a chance I'd move there right away.
I haven't visited all of these cities but from what I know about them I could move to:
Milwaukee, Portland, SF, Seattle.
Life in Europe was more fun to me, but after 5 years of living here I got used to USA and now this my home (but not Chicago).
I'd like to know what Europeans think of the 10 cities in the United States listed below, especially if they are considering visiting or moving to the United States. Which of these 10 cities would you most likely visit or relocate to? Please tell why you would be likely (or not likely) to go to these cities, either visiting or relocating.
After some responses, I might ask people from other parts of the world to give their opinions of the cities listed, but first I'd like to hear from Europeans only.
Boston - strong economy and the Boston area is the educational leader in America, as far as I know, anyway.
Chicago - high murder rate
Indianapolis - NASCAR
Milwaukee - brewing center
Minneapolis-St. Paul - gay, bad weather
New York City - nice city to visit for a week, but I wouldn't want to live there
Portland - gay, supposedly puts in a lot of effort into making the city "green"
San Francisco - gay, full of homeless people, has problems with gangs as far as I know
Seattle - gay, bad weather, depressive city
Washington, DC - crime ridden
All in all, if I ever was to move to the USA, it wouldn't be to any of these cities. As for visiting as a tourist, I already visited the only city on the list which I wanted to visit (New York City), so I have no interest in visiting as a tourist either.
Wow! The responses so far have certainly been enlightening. For a long time, my perception has been that Europeans tend to prefer to be in places which they perceive to be worldly, rather than places that they perceive to be provincial. The responses regarding some of the cities was anticipated, but was not anticipated regarding other cities. If there are other Europeans who haven't replied, please feel free to do so.
Let's hear from Asians now in addition to Europeans.
Wow! The responses so far have certainly been enlightening. For a long time, my perception has been that Europeans tend to prefer to be in places which they perceive to be worldly, rather than places that they perceive to be provincial. The responses regarding some of the cities was anticipated, but was not anticipated regarding other cities. If there are other Europeans who haven't replied, please feel free to do so.
Let's hear from Asians now in addition to Europeans.
What was it that surprised you? Oh, I haven't noticed that there are many Asians on here I'm afraid.
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I just drove by on my way to Cincy once, seems to have a nice downtown. Can't say more about it. Not really interested in seeing it.
