5 ms·

I interned at UCalgary during Summer of 2016 as part of an international students exchange program. After the initial euphoria of being in a foreign land, I fel

I interned at UCalgary during Summer of 2016 as part of an international students exchange program. After the initial euphoria of being in a foreign land, I felt pretty much the same way as many other posters here. The people are exceedingly polite, the infrastructure is top notch (compared to most American cities I have visited) and feels like it was built assuming 130% capacity or something. The public transit was free downtown. The city govt was clearly doing a bit of work. Yet I felt the downtown area very lacking. Calgary on the whole had a very uncanny valley feel to it. Apart from the weather I don't have any complaints about the city. The nature and recreation is world class, Indian food is aplenty, the people are incredibly nice and accommodating yet I wouldn't go back. I guess it just wasn't for me.

ghaff 5y ago
Honestly, what you say is pretty typical for a lot of North American cities--and elsewhere as well. (Although many/most don't have the nature and recreation options.) There's nothing wrong with them necessarily. But unless you specifically value living in a city for some walkable access to a few restaurants, markets, etc. there usually are not a lot of unique entertainment and other options that aren't available pretty much everywhere that isn't very rural.
- pixelgeek 5y ago
  > Honestly, what you say is pretty typical for a lot of North American cities Not the infrastructure. Almost every American city I visited looked like it was falling apart.
  - rakejake 5y ago
    Yes, I found this very surprising. Calgary is as car centric as any average American city and yet they had amazing footpaths and shining public transit. To be fair, their infrastructure is much newer and they don't really have a crime/homeless problem
- rakejake 5y ago
  I don't think so. I'm talking about the vibe of a city. Iirc pg wrote an article long back about the vibe of a city. Vibe is a bit amorphous but I tend to think of vibe as a condensed view of what the city is about, a function of political tendencies, culture (music, sports, tech, entrepreneurship etc) and general friendliness. Job opportunities and decent social life are usually necessary conditions. Major cities like SF and NYC usually have all of them, provided you can afford living there. But a city like San Antonio cannot offer everything, so if you don't dig Texan/Hispanic culture and don't like basketball, the grand river walk is not going to make you want to live there.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    I think we're agreeing. If all you have is a riverwalk or otherwise a nice core but nothing much else that isn't pretty much generic city, that probably isn't much of an attraction to people who don't have some other reason to live there. As a counterpoint if you want something city-lite and don't want the expensive and concentrated NYC experience, maybe a smaller and slower place will be attractive. But, personally, if I can sample most of what a city has to offer in a weekend, I'm probably not interested in making the tradeoffs of city living.

ghaff 5y ago

Honestly, what you say is pretty typical for a lot of North American cities--and elsewhere as well. (Although many/most don't have the nature and recreation options.) There's nothing wrong with them necessarily. But unless you specifically value living in a city for some walkable access to a few restaurants, markets, etc. there usually are not a lot of unique entertainment and other options that aren't available pretty much everywhere that isn't very rural.

pixelgeek 5y ago
> Honestly, what you say is pretty typical for a lot of North American cities Not the infrastructure. Almost every American city I visited looked like it was falling apart.
- rakejake 5y ago
  Yes, I found this very surprising. Calgary is as car centric as any average American city and yet they had amazing footpaths and shining public transit. To be fair, their infrastructure is much newer and they don't really have a crime/homeless problem
rakejake 5y ago
I don't think so. I'm talking about the vibe of a city. Iirc pg wrote an article long back about the vibe of a city. Vibe is a bit amorphous but I tend to think of vibe as a condensed view of what the city is about, a function of political tendencies, culture (music, sports, tech, entrepreneurship etc) and general friendliness. Job opportunities and decent social life are usually necessary conditions. Major cities like SF and NYC usually have all of them, provided you can afford living there. But a city like San Antonio cannot offer everything, so if you don't dig Texan/Hispanic culture and don't like basketball, the grand river walk is not going to make you want to live there.
- ghaff 5y ago
  I think we're agreeing. If all you have is a riverwalk or otherwise a nice core but nothing much else that isn't pretty much generic city, that probably isn't much of an attraction to people who don't have some other reason to live there. As a counterpoint if you want something city-lite and don't want the expensive and concentrated NYC experience, maybe a smaller and slower place will be attractive. But, personally, if I can sample most of what a city has to offer in a weekend, I'm probably not interested in making the tradeoffs of city living.