Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Understandable English.
I hope you are well and that you have had a great day.
Or, if you're starting your day, I hope that you have a great day ahead of you.
Today we are going to be talking about living in big cities and in small towns or villages.
And really just the comparison.
So what are the positives and negatives of each?
So comparing them together.
I have lived in both big cities and small towns.
I have also lived in a medium-sized city, so not a huge city.
So, I feel like I have lived in both small, medium and large cities.
And of course, we usually prefer what we are used to.
So if you were born in a big city, you will be used to that.
So used to the busyness, the noise, like lots going on, lots to do.
And if you're born in a small town or maybe in the countryside, you're used to more nature, more quiet relaxed, peaceful way of life.
And both have positives and negatives.
And neither is better.
There is no better option.
It depends on each person.
So almost each of these points that we will talk about today could be positives or negatives for each person.
It depends.
It could be a good thing for you or a bad thing for you.
The first point is the buzz of big cities.
So the busyness of big cities.
Big cities are really alive.
They are like a living thing.
And transport around those big cities are like the veins where, let's say, the blood moves through the big city.
And there's always something going on.
The great thing about the buzz or the busyness of big cities usually means there are a lot more opportunities.
So opportunities for jobs, for cultural events, for leisure activities.
So doing relaxation, going to museums, going to restaurants, new bars, lots of new things all the time.
And of course the reason for this is because there are more people.
So more people buying food, more people spending money and going places.
However, for some people, this can actually be a negative.
So this fast pace, noise, and often a higher cost of living than other parts of the country.
And constantly doing new things, spending money, going to new places.
It is really a lot of consuming.
And it can be, for some people, quite tiring.
They want to just have a slower, more relaxed pace of life and just appreciate the little things and what they have.
Now, that doesn't mean that people in cities or big cities don't appreciate what they have.
It just means that the level of consumption so new things and things that they buy and do is usually a lot higher than if you live in the countryside, for example.
So the second point I will look at is with villages or rural areas.
And that is just that nice aspect, so a positive aspect of peacefulness.
Village charm and rural positives.
So it is the opposite of a big city.
And that is.
You know that there's a lot more peace and quiet and often a lot more nature and nature related activities.
Close knit communities.
So what that means is that people tend to know each other.
So they know their neighbors.
They know who lives down the road.
They know the local shop person.
They're more connected.
And that is something which can be a negative in a big city is that people are often less connected.
And big cities can actually feel like very lonely places.
And it's almost quite ironic, especially from someone who comes from such a small village like me, that I often feel less lonely in a smaller, quieter place than I do in a big place full of lots of people.
And that's because people are less connected in cities, I think.
They engage less with one another and they don't know each other.
It's a lot of strangers in one place.
And that's fine too.
And of course some people are more outgoing or talkative than others and they don't struggle with that connection or loneliness as much as others.
And this brings me to the next point, and that is social life in the city versus the village.
So social dynamics, so how we socialize can be quite different.
In cities, there are so many different places.
You can go to a different place every time you meet your friends and just continue to do that.
New places all the time.
In villages or small towns and cities, you tend to go to similar places.
You maybe revisit the same locations, do the same activities more than you would in a big city.
And for some people that is a nice feeling doing a similar thing, having familiarity, which means, when you expect something.
But for others, it is boring and they want new things.
And of course, in a big city too, you can go to the same place if you want to.
You're not forced to do new things all the time.
So that is definitely probably an advantage in a big city.
However, it can be just a matter of preference, because in the big city, every time you go to a place, there is usually different people.
You don't really see people that you know very often, whereas in a smaller location, town or village, you will meet people from your area, maybe from your school, from your job, from the places around you, and in that way the social life is more connected locally, and that can be nice for people who are well connected in their community.
Okay, so the final point which I will talk about is definitely an advantage for big cities.
And that is the availability of services.
So big cities have more people and, of course, as a result, they have more businesses, more services, more transport options.
And from that way, it can be more comfortable.
However, in villages, for example, that have less, I think people just live differently.
They're used to driving places, for example, of asking someone for help, having local contacts.
This is much more of a normal thing.
So if you move from a city to a countryside or area or a village, you'll probably miss the convenience.
So the easiness of everything in a big city.
But if you were born in a village, it's nothing crazy for you.
You know how to handle it and you know how to live there comfortably, which is great.
And you might find it overwhelming.
So too much for you in a big city.
I hope this was an interesting episode for you.
And I would like to know, do you live in a big city or a small town or village, for example?
And what do you like the most?
What is your favourite place to live?
Would you rather live in the city or in the countryside?
And also, just to remind you to check out this podcast on YouTube at Understandable English Podcast.
There we put the episodes of this podcast with English subtitles so that you can pause the video.
You can write down words that you don't know and understand even better.
So to help you learn vocabulary.
Thank you for listening.
I hope you have an amazing rest of the day and I will see you in the next episode.
Goodbye.
