Non-natives: What was your first impression of NYC? (Rome, Italy: living in, shops)

[Platinum333]

I just stared upwards because it felt like the buildings were going to devour me. So tall and so many of them so close together haha.

Also, I remember coming in thru The Bronx into Queens and I was asking my guy, @ the time, if there was some sort of parade or holiday today..since the streets were packed..and he said " No, it's like this all the time" lol.

[LCM81]

I was 15 years old - it was June 1997, and I visited NYC for one day on my East Coast Girl Scouts tour by bus.

We stopped, and I knew I was in love for life. The memories are vague but I remember seeing all of the people just rushing by. I remember being amazed by how huge the buildings were. Me and my cousins went to McDonald's and were amazed that a Big Mac Value Meal was over $4.00. I remember seeing all the flags in Rockefeller Plaza. Then we drove uptown through Harlem and I remember the streets were packed and all the kids were outside playing streetball with a milk crate for a hoop. And then we got out and went to one of the Vendors and I almost bought this green Coach knockoff. Then I remember we sat on a real stoop (!!!!) and took pictures and the neighbors next door were just looking at us like are they serious? LOL. I remember taking a bunch of pictures that day but I cannot find them for the life of me. Oh well.

I finally made it back to NYC last summer and I'm coming back later this month. My love affair with the city is still intact. All I need to do is make the move permanantly, which I will one day soon.

[LittleMathYou]

Originally Posted by K.O.N.Y

suburban?

Perhaps gentrified is a better word.

[Motion]

I've never been to the city but I wonder sometimes what my reaction would be. Because NYC is a city we see so often in the media from news shows,TV shows,movies,documentries etc. So I'd be surprised if most non New Yorkers don't have a general idea of what the city is like just from all the media images we get of it.

[Agbor]

First went there at 9 years old..didn't process much except being underground in the subway was different..Decided to go by myself at 18..in 1977..got there @ 6:30am. impressions: so many people
hanging out so early in the morning...rows upon rows of porno theaters..why so many male-to-male
porno ones?..stepping over guys laying in the streets...walked around until the stores opened..lots
of underground subway shops...tons of people..remember guys passing out fliers to whorehouses hidden
in NY Times..woman throwing pots at husband or boyfriend...impression more like an amusement park
than a city..nuns directed me to the U.N. signed up for a tour..clerks asking me in stores if I am from
Upstate..sitting in the bus station at 10:00pm...to come home seeing VERY STRANGE characters..

Went back in 2006 and 2007..notice the panhandlers there give a long elaborate story or put on a show
for money on the subways..rode the 6 from the Upper East Side to ChinaTown at least 6 people got up
with a sob story and thats 3 down and 3 back!!

Went to the Village for the first time..never saw guys making out and holding hands in public..

Was visiting friends there who are natives so they clued me in on the in's and out's of NYC..

I really like it there..but don't know if I want to live there..I probably could though..

[nva79]

first went there when i was very young (mid-90's), don't remember alot, but liked it. When I spent more time there in the early to mid 00's (pre-teen, teen), really liked it, intrigued, got the impression that everywhere in Manhattan was as vibrant as mid-town and didn't notice anything negative. When I spent more time there last year(2008), loved it. Leaving the cliche places like times square and venturing to different places, I noticed some negatives (con-men, dirtyness of the subway stations, etc.), but that did not diminish my opinion of the city. Infact, it made it more real and now as an adult moving to the city in the fall, I have to say it is truly the most amazing city I have been to.

[daaaaave]

I've been here just a few days...a few things:

1. People are kinda hard to figure out here. I'm from a big city, but it's a little different here with so many people. I see why there's a rep that NYCers are rude, but I don't think it's rudeness...I'm still trying to figure this out. People are very direct, but still sometimes I think I am too direct and it comes off rude, I dunno, gotta figure this out. Tough love I guess.

2. It can be pricey, but it's not really. I'm already figuring out where to go and it seems cheaper than DC in a lot of ways. Also, apartments can be found for less than $1500 even in good areas...they are small and old buildings, but not necessarily a walk-up.

3. Women are much more fashionable here. Even a lot of older women still appear to spend a lot on clothes. It's intimidating.

4. Subway is much better than DC, but dirtier. (I expected this)

[Mightyqueen801]

I grew up thirty miles from NYC but we only went there on school field trips to see the UN, Museum of Natural History, etc. My parents, who also grew up in my town, didn't go to the city--to them, it was a scary evil place full of sin.

At 20, I went to secretarial school and a teacher challenged me to apply for a job in the city. I did, ended up working at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and I remember walking down 42nd Street thinking, "Wow, there are a lot of dirty movie theaters around here." I was clueless.

Ten years later my mother-in-law and her new husband, who was from Wisconsin, visited from Florida and he wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so I went there for the first time in my life, at the age of 30.

It's now been 30 years since I started working here. I love this city--would live here if I could afford it and still hope to at some point in my life. I'm too old to do a 500 s.f. apartment with three roommates, but maybe when my kid is out of college I might be able to make the move. At least SHE gets to live in Manhattan, since she goes to college here.

[Larry St.Onge]

I came to the USA from Northern Quebec 1963 I was work up top of a tower in NJ and could see the Empire State building...Went to NYC that week end and had my first pizza...was 10 cents a slice...and 42nd street was wild...Char broiled steaks were $3.99 ...I was making $5.12 per hour back then...Great money...

[tooldude]

I liked NYC the first time I went there. Lots of people walking around lots of tall buildings. very busy and fast paced city