Those places are so homogenized with and play home to every other culture on the planet, there isn't anything, IMO, that could be called uniquely American. Maybe some of the foods, like going to the original place of Chicago Deep Dish pizza, but that's about it. Unless you want to call that very homogenization the essence of America.

It's just like going to say, France. Would you judge the entirety of the country by the actions of the people in Paris? Or going to London and judging the rest of the country by that city?

To truly experience a country, you need to get out of those mega-cities and experience it. Hell, go see the Amish country, go lobster fishing in Maine, take an airboat into the Everglades, hike Mt. McKinley, go to a rodeo in Texas. Those are all more representative of us than the skyscrapers.

America covers so many climate zones, regional enclaves, and ethnic histories that we can't be truly represented by those mega-cities.

I don't think anybody suggested that NYC LA and Chicago gave a full representation of America

I do get my moments where I'd rather live somewhere else. Germany has its quirks, both in the culture and in the general mode de vivre that we have here. A lot of Germans complain about the bureaucracy, regulations, inflexibility and taxes imposed by the state, and they really do piss me off at times. Getting my ID card renewed is a fucking nightmare in its own right - I've just had my photo rejected TWiCE.

But then, I've lived in France and I've spent many years in the UK, and I wouldn't trade Germany for anything. Life in France is quite simply too chaotic for me, and seeing how unjust life can be in the UK - the wealth imbalance and tax system are horribly unfair there, and the sense of overriding nationalism that seems to protrude from the country lately is very scary - I don't think I could ever live there.

Germans are a funny lot when it comes to foreigners. They have a considerable amount of disdain for foreigners that won't integrate or speak German, but as soon as you get a foreigner that speaks German, integrates into German culture, works and pays taxes, they're not even a foreigner anymore in many Germans' eyes.

If you like survival horror, most of eastern europe countries are good for that hihi

To illustrate this on Russian example:

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2010/10/siberian-ghost-cities-scare.html

:)

With survival I meant more making ends meet cos for example here in Latvia everything costs the same as in developed countries but people get 5 to 10 times less income. They pay the bills and then the survival game begins cos they have hardly anything left for food. I know I'd be dirt poor if I still didn't live with my parents although my income is pretty good compared to majority haha No wonder people are migrating massively.

Canada,Scandinavian countries,Switzerland,Austria,and Germany is pretty cool.But country of my dreams would be Thailand

1. London, 19th c.
2. Rome, 1st c.
3. Çatalhöyük, 8th c. BC

looking at this reminds me of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. :)

anyways most of what I know is that most of russia is an inhospitable place it's too cold and the geography is not good for any person to live thats why most russians live in the western tip of the country

I don't get the disdain for foreigners that wont integrate or speak German. Just people being small minded, it seems. For many people, it is really hard to integrate and learn another language. Many people can integrate and learn another language with ease but many people can't. People are different from each other. Maybe they think, these people are guests, and the least they can do is integrate and learn German, okay. But what if they can't? Should they leave Germany and give up a better life? Should they kill themselves?

Oh, I agree. It is very hard to learn another language. But it's not too hard to expect that if you move to another country, that you at least make an effort. Even broken German would do. It's all about putting the work in to make yourself understood.

We have a Turkish family adjacent to us and the wife of the family does not speak a word of German despite having lived in the country for 15 years. The husband speaks very little German, and the kids, despite being born in Germany, speak better Turkish than they do German.

I'm sorry, but this is not an acceptable situation. We have plenty of Turkish and Russian families in our neighbourhood that have made the effort and have integrated themselves well. Why do the others just outright refuse to?

I agree that an effort should be made. And understand the people who despise foreigners who just refuse to integrate and refuse to learn the language. These people are unreasonable and insulting to the natives. It is like, they are constantly shouting out to everyone "Your language is sh*t and your culture is sh*t" if they put in zero effort.

Infinitely much nicer than Oslo mate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondheim

Warmer too?:)