Topic 24 The advantages about living in my city

It is almost always the case that a person who has been living in a rural area for a while confronts certain conveniences and inconveniences of living in a city. One convenience is the number and diversity of stores and shops available in a short distance in a city. A big inconvenience is the traffic congestion that takes place in many places.

One big thing I remind my foreign friend who is planning to move to my city is that there is cultural diversity, or even conflicts. My friend is an international student from Japan who is living in a small town in California. As a foreigner, he confronts with cultures of local people everyday. On the other hand he realizes that there are few stores and restaurants that are native to his culture. It is very normal that such a person gets homesick and starts missing people and foodstuffs from his own country. Moving to a big city will satisfy such needs of him because there are many stores, restaurants, and supermarkets that are run by Japanese companies so he will less likely to be homesick any more.

However, there is one big inconvenience about living in a city, which is traffic. Especially people who drive often feel stressed on the streets that are always packed with cars lining up in the streets. It is always difficult to find parking spots either in the parking lots or on the street. Furthermore, apartments do not always provide sufficient parking spots to their residents. A lot of people who live in city feel less convenient to keep cars and choose to use public transportation. However, unfortunately, the public transportation system is not perfectly great around my neighborhood.

My city satisfies and dissatisfies my foreign friend who drives. The availability of stores and shops that are native to his country soothes his dissatisfaction about being surrounded by different cultures. However, on the other hand, traffic jam that is always the problem in big cities gives new stress that he is currently free from. It is a matter of balance between the two features that he needs to settle in (fix, or resolve).