Any time I go to a large city im exhausted by being charged for doing anything. How do people have fun if theyre poor(the neat part, you dont, probably). And to make it worse many of them probably have a 1 bedroom apartment so its not like you can sit in there all day long (at least i cant).
I realize im still spending money by being in my house out of town, but still, at least things I buy are owned by me, and im not paying someone else every time I want to do anything. If I want to stay at home all day I have tons of stuff to occupy my mind without going nuts.
I figure 98% of lemmy users live in big cities so id like to hear this perspective!
Walk. Just like I would hike when I lived rurally, walk. There are trails along the River and through the woods, even in the middle of town. But there’s also sidewalks. A town common. Parks. Several playgrounds have pickup basketball if your knees are better than mine, or there’s a track within an easy walk for some more regimented exercise. Our favorite activity starting during Covid is to walk around our city, seeing the sights. It was a great chance to talk with my kids for hours, before they went off to college. And yes we played Pokémon go as something to do while walking (and a game like that is much better in cities), and met several groups of people that way. If that game is too nerdy or childish, there are apps that gamify walking in various ways. If you’re willing to spend a little, sometimes we would stop at a convenience store for a soda or something, but not always.
When I lived in the major city, it was the same only much more. Every weekend had a festival (free). Every weekend had a band playing somewhere outside free. Every weekend had some big free event at multiple parks. Every Wednesday was free museums. Walking the waterfront is really cool and entirely free. Tourist areas sometimes have street entertainers, free. My city is very walkable and has many colleges: every weekend had some event at some college. My city has a lot of history and tourism, organized as a free “trail” and with most historic things free. There are things like a sailing ship that is free to see: you would have to pay for the museum and gift shop but why would you? Read the historic plaques. If a building or something looks historic, look it up.
For a relatively small amount of money, one of my favorite activities was the farmers market: it was huge and cheap (although I haven’t been in many years). Sometimes I just wanted to walk around and see everything (that shopping is selling whole goats?), or I could buy a week’s worth of veggies fresh from the farm for pennies on the dollar. And connect that back to food prep: when I didn’t have much money or time, I’d take all Saturday, goto the farmers market, come back and put together a giant salad for the week, a pasta salad for the week, maybe marinate some meat in some ingredients I bought- basically get half my cooking and shopping out of the way, dirt cheap
For a relatively small amount of money, much cheaper than operating a car, I usually had a subway pass. The core of that major city is very walkable, but the pass opened the entire city by just hopping on a convenient train without having to think about spending in the moment.
As far as staying in the small apartment goes, being in an urban area means gigabit fiber, which I guess a lot of people still don’t have. Being a first class citizen online is priceless and opens a lot of free (after your internet bill) activities involving sitting at your desk
What is this magical city? I’m not being snarky, I promise
If they use the term “Town Common”, probably somewhere in New England. Guessing Boston.
Edit: Saw OP already replied and confirmed Boston.
Boston. I admit not all cities are created equal and I’ve been to a few where I couldn’t find anything of interest but there are also many cities, even in the us, that are quite walkable, have excellent amenities, and convenient transit. I’d put nyc, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and dc in the same category and each is surrounded by excellent small cities; Buffalo, Camden and Detroit not. Austin and Miami have potential but the weather is horrible (I’ll take snow over heat and humidity any day). I really need to visit more cities
Boston has “the emerald necklace”, a chain of award-winning urban parks: one end is the Common and public garden, while the other end is a huge park that includes an arboretum and do they still have a zoo? Boston has tons of history, and the “freedom trail” is a self-guided walk through the city connecting them all. The tall ship uss constitution, the worlds. oldest commissioned warship, yes, officially this is still a us warship and could conceptually sail to Venezuela and protect us from fishermen. It’s absolutely free to tour as are many of the historic buildings.
Cool! I liked Boston when I visited, but I’m the opposite of you weather-wise. I really need to find a progressive place with warm weather. SoCal comes to mind, but $$$
I was gonna guess Portland/Seattle but Boston also makes sense lol.
if you already own an apartment in a city, the chances are that you’d grow used to the space and you’d feel at home, and anything lacking is made up for with closer proximity and easier access to stores and public facilities.
i live in hong kong, one of the densest cities in the world, and i’m able to live comfortably. there’s very little noise where i live because it’s in a less urban area, i get a fantastic view of and immediate access to a riverside park, a mall full of great food and boba just a 15-minute walk away, a library and a big transit hub just a short bus ride away, and from that transit hub, very cheap access to all of hong kong for museum visits, sightseeing, hella hiking and biking trails, exhibitions, etc.
i’ve also lived in berlin for a bit. it was also in a less urban area, in a very tiny apartment, and i was still fine because i had very similar access to amenities. short walk for groceries and transit, access to museums and parks, loads of architecture to admire, and hella döner.
if you’ve only experienced cities in north america… i’m sorry.
The ducks in my local park are free
If you’re a musician, look for open mics / open jams and try to make friends in the scene. Musician-organized diy events are cheap and fun. Especially punk events are cheap.
If you’re interested in art, look for local diy group exhibitions and performances and ask if you can volunteer for support.
If you’re into hacking/diy look for local repair cafes and ask to volunteer.
If you’re into rpg go hang out in local game shops and find a group to play with.
It really depends on what you consider fun!The trick in cities is to know things and people.
Know the guy with the swimming pool.
Know the woman who runs yoga in the park every Thursday.
Know when the museums have free or discounted events for the locals.
Know where the buck-a-slice pizza joint is - the one two blocks from your apartment that’s almost tucked into an alley at the bottom of a brownstone’s side stairs, and that most people would just walk past without noticing.
Cities have lots of free and cheap things, you just need to be a local to find a lot of them.
Know when the museums have free or discounted events for the locals.
Know that the library probably has free passes to the museums, too!
And if you’re in a city with a decent sized college, there are lots of cheap or free interesting things to do related to it: public lectures, music performances, theater, sports…
Pretty much this :)
A while back I switched to using RSS feeds for news, and there are so many free and low cost events out there in my city. Free shows, food festivals, cultural days, free admission days at attractions, music in the park, etc
I’ve been posting some of them to !vancouver@lemmy.ca, but that’s only the events that I was interested enough to click on + think that people here would be interested in as well
For example:
[Science World will have free admission on Friday, Sept. 19, as a part of their ‘Tech-Up’ initiative]
There are also free activities you can do anywhere, with lots of good ideas in this thread. Some extras that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
- Go mapping with StreetComplete (https://streetcomplete.app/) or similar apps where you contribute to public data sets
- Go geocaching! !geocaching@lemmy.world
Sometimes cities also have scavenger hunt type guides where you can explore an area
Don’t you have free museums???
In America, some are free, but many are not.
Yay, capitalistic society!
people
Paying your landlord rent and your other bills every month isn’t enough human interaction for you? I know its more then enough for me.
I would like to kick this back to you, what do you do outside of a big city that is free?
In rural protected areas : outdoor activities like hiking biking climbing picking edible stuffs in the forests.
In small cities : not much.
In rural crops area : dying from pesticides at 50.
Many cities have excellent hiking and biking opportunities. The trails are usually easier, the scenery different, but you probably don’t want to eat stuff you find
The area i live has all this within a few mile walk and there are nearly a million people here. I’m confused. What cities are you visiting that don’t have parks and bike paths. I’ve got a national forest close enough i could walk if i really wanted to. It’s a good 10 miles from me.
Depends on the season. I hunt, fish, garden, and forage in the forest. Sometimes, like this morning, I sit outside and watch the leaves turn pretty colors and fall on the ground. Or I stay up late and watch the Northern Lights if it’s clear enough. Or I can watch a thunderstorm or blizzard roll across the lake. Right now I’m smoking bacon for the winter. I have the last pork belly curing to smoke Sunday and then it’s on to the pork loins for Canadian style bacon.
I don’t need to go to movies, plays, fancy restaurants, or crowds of people. Give me a good pocket knife and a stick to whittle and I can be content with life. But this isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can be comfortable enough with themselves to choose the solitude of a remote rural life. And youth almost always craves excitement over peacefulness.
The issues is that you are GOING to the city. One you live there, you have all your stuff and do your normal thing. You cook at home and play videos games, then read books before walking your dog to the park by your friend’s house. Basically: don’t extrapolate from the perspective of a tourist.
Yep you nailed it! This has given me good insight.
I still couldn’t handle living in one, but for extroverts or college kids I see the appeal. I need wide-open spaces and lots of trees myself.
I still couldn’t handle living in one, but for extroverts
What ? I am an introvert. Cities are the best place for that. I lived in a mud brick cabin off grid in the forest and had more people visiting then I ever did when i lived for 3 years in the city. I put that down to rural exrtroverts would get bored and need other people.
In the city, I used to cycle to the beach, swin in the ocean, have a couple boiled eggs and a banana on a chair near the beach, catch up on some doom scrolling and cycle home etc i lived car free and saved a fortune, got exercise and was able to see the ciry instead of just sitting in trafdic. I used to cycke over to a set of mountain bike tracks and ride in the bush, then ride home.
Now live in a small rural village with my parter and fuck me, people always coming over.
Shitty air, no nature and constant noise are the downsides of city living.
I’m a strong introvert. People stop being people once their number goes past 10 or so. Then you are just looking at an amorphous fluid that you pass through just like air or water. Honestly you don’t notice the people, you notice the buildings, subways, etc.
There is anonymity in a crowd. But the noise and odors are a constant intrusion. The sounds of the crowd, the traffic, and sirens is a 24/7/365 thing and it never stops. Nor is there any escape from it as long as you remain there.
My nearest neighbor lives several miles away and people don’t really bother each other here. There is nothing but trees between us. Visits are always preceded by a phone call or text.
The silence here would be painful for city dwellers.
It honestly sounds like you’ve only briefly entered cities in traffic but stayed in one. All that stuff you mentioned really isn’t a thing. My condo is very quiet and I have lovely trees filled with birds just outside my window. And I live right in one of the densest parts of the city.
Don’t worry about being an introvert in a big city; I’ve lived here for three years and have never seen my next door neighbor, let alone spoken to them. You don’t get this kind of privacy in a village.
use the library. I don’t mean go to the library, I mean use it for free things. for example I can go to like 20 different museums for free through my library. disc golf is free at almost every disc golf course on the planet. parks are free, walks are free. bouldering is free. There’s a ton. it’s all about your imagination.
And in some part, the bravery it takes to go somewhere for the first time. It’s always going to be easier the second time, but the first time is always the hardest and easiest to skip/avoid/excuse by staying in one’s comfort zone.
Your impression of a city is probably skewed by how you interact with it. If you drive in, pay for parking, go to events or attractions, eat out, etc. it all adds up. But that’s not necessarily the experience of someone who lives in a city. They’re living their life, not sightseeing.
I lived in the big city for a number of years. I figured it would cost me $10 one way or another every time I stepped out of the house at some point.
I go for walks in a nearby park, it’s a great way to spend an hour
I’m not poor but most of my fun stuff is free, hanging out at parks (picnics with friends or just relaxing with a book or something), walking/cycling trails, free or pay as you feel shows and weekly food not bombs community dinners.
Nothing wrong with a 1 bedroom apartment tbh, and I don’t understand why not living in a house means you can’t buy and own things lol. I’ve got loads of stuff I can do here if I don’t want to go out, I’ve even got plenty of private outdoor space. If I didn’t have so much stuff keeping me busy I could very easily stay in my apartment for weeks at a time, only really leaving to get groceries, I’ve never gone mad from it.
Tbh I find this life is significantly cheaper given I don’t have as much maintenance as a house, and I don’t need to pay the absurdly high costs associated with a car.
Edit: looks like jerboa broke for me so I’ve got no clue if this posted or what anyone else is saying lol
Regarding your edit: you’re good! Hi!
I’m getting replies in my inbox but I can’t view post comments lol, thankyou!
Honestly I’ve found there’s way more to do for fun that’s free in cities compared to when I lived in a small town. The libraries, museums, parks, etc. are all much larger, more exciting, and easier to access - I don’t even need to own a car to have fun anymore. There’s also more social groups for more niche interinterests. Back when I lived in a town, the options for free(ish) fun were: go to a house, go to a mountain, go to the beach, and all were places you had to drive, god forbid you want to take a bus or walk somewhere, and then the people you would hang out with at those places were just co-workers or people you met in school, because there was no other way to meet people.
I completely agree here. I found city entertainment to be cheaper and more fun for children. Sure my house cost me twice as much but at least there’s a cultural weekend almost once a month at my local market.
I’m not here to argue with anyone about their preferred lifestyle, but I’ve never been so lonely as when I moved near a city. In case anyone thinks that will solve their loneliness.
Minecraft was like $20 and I’ve probably put 10,000 hours into it
Mc is great. I don’t think I have close to 10k hours combined of all my games in 20 years of gaming. Thats nuts man
Fun is a Leftist conspiracy to distract you from producing more for your bosses at work
