<p>I just got back from a DC trip to look at Georgetown. I'm in love with the city. How's NYC compare? I haven't been out there yet.</p>
<p>NYC is very very very different from DC. Bigger buildings, more people,more crowdedness, more nightlife, more everything.</p>
<p>NYC has the a lot of crime but DC has the most in the USA.</p>
<p>FACT: New York is the safest large city in the United States!
<a href="http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=1091%5B/url%5D">http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=1091</a></p>
<p>DC is much younger (the social scene is largely twenties and college vs. NYC is more young thirties, or feels that way). DC has much more grass, the buildings are lower, it feels much cleaner (the metro in DC is carpeted! vs. homeless people and smells like **** in NYC), the nightlife is located in hubs (adams morgan, gtown, foggy bottom) vs. NYC its everywhere (a club can be next to a grocery store).</p>
<p>Finally the people are very different. NYC is more artsy (in an intense way) and people take themselves seriously at everything, DC is more laid back and fun-loving. </p>
<p>I am in NYC now but its because my job is cool and I don't want to leave it. Otherwise I'd say DC is a much better city for a person like me (fun, chill, friendly, likes house parties over bars). I think DC is the best city in America and I am not alone in that sentiment.</p>
<p>People love NYC too, and those who do can imagine no other place. Sadly, I think its the pits.</p>
<p>i'm kinda shocked at the person who said dc is "fun and laidback" because, growing up ten minutes outside of it in maryland and spending lots of my free time there, i always perceived dc to be extremely conservative (not politically, politically they are very liberal and often stuck up about it). i felt so much freer once i moved to new york. people dont judge the things you do, they dont care if you eat on the subway, etc. i also feel far safer in new york than i do in dc. that probably has a lot to do with my dad growing up in one of the worst neighborhoods of dc (it's even worse now) but also with the fact that it's a lot less crowded. the metro closes pretty early, and i didnt really find that many things for teenagers to do in dc - there's lots more in new york. there were two clubs my friends and i would always go to (neither carded, but we were usually the only high schoolers there - the rest were college and twentysomethings), and the rest of the time we would just wander or go to museums/the theatre/etc. whereas new york has more than 2 good clubs, tons of art galleries, poetry readings, etc.
sometimes it does smell, esp on trash nights, and i think more in the summer. but new york is beautiful. there are lots of green spaces, you just need to know where to look.<br>
it's a very different vibe from dc. if you come to visit new york, which you must, make sure not to just go to the times square/theatre district area.. visit morningside heights and soho and the west village and you will get a better idea of how much cooler new york is than dc.</p>
<p>I think it is incredibly fun and laidback. Adams Morgan is practically like Mardi Gras every weekend, with people all under 30 flooding the streets and eating, drinking, whatever. Also, its so easy to live in, people have house parties, barbeques, etc. People dress in a laidback manner, I guess I like having just a few streets to hang out - its more a free for all. In one night a few weeks ago I ran into three friends, and went to two house parties. Drinks were $3, and the city is just so light (its clean, lighted streets, quant architecture)! Poetry readings and museums aren't my bag though (I like them but they aren't going to be the focus of my free time), so its not a lure. If you want poetry, small plays, museams, etc NYC is THE place. Its too big for me though and way to impersonal. People don't smile. Like I said it depends who you are. I like disney and slip and slide, NYC likes i-bankers and dark art spaces. Look at the movies that come out of NYC - usually brilliant but dark movies. That is NYC to me. If you want total "freedom", i.e. eat anywhere, drink anywhere, at any time you can do it - no one cares. I agree DC is more conservative socially (more fratty), and it bothers me too, but conversely NYC is cold. Depends where you're willing to sacrifice I guess.</p>
<p>Go Philly!</p>
<p>(I feel like Ralph Wiggum saying 'Go Banana!')</p>