The Times Square in New York City is full of endless tourist sites to visit!
New York City is one of the main tourist destinations in the United States. Millions of people from across the world visit New York City annually. The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Times Square, or Rockefeller Center are some of the central attractions that make it worth visiting. From an outside perspective, it may seem like New York City is a diverse, dynamic, bustling city with grand skyscrapers and several flashy, luxurious shops to visit, but from someone who once lived there, does this notion still hold true?
New York City is a beacon of culture and diversity. By taking a mere five minute stroll down its streets, you may come across restaurants and stores of various cultures and many people of different backgrounds conversing in numerous languages. It’s truly wonderful to be able to experience and learn about different cultures and traditions by tasting food, listening to music, learning different languages, or even by visiting culturally-specific museums which are abundant in the city.
However, it may be a hassle visiting these locations or traveling anywhere in the city. Traveling is a con of living in New York City. People mainly commute by bus, train, or subway for long-distances, and others may resort to walking, hence the crowded streets. You may be wondering, why don’t people travel by car? This is because there is always heavy traffic and it’s almost impossible to find parking. Therefore, traveling by bus, train, subway, or other means of public transportation, though expensive, may be more convenient. These types of transportation take the same route and arrive at their locations nearly at the same time every day, so it’s convenient for people to keep track and construct their schedules around it.
Though traveling may be inconvenient, an advantage of living in the city is the countless activities that people can involve themselves in. You will never find yourself bored in New York City because there is always something to do, whether it is something that you’ve never tried before or something that interests you! For instance, take the ice rink in Rockefeller Center. It is visited by over a quarter million people every year, including people who have never ice skated before, people who are skilled, and others who simply enjoy it. Or take, Madison Square Garden, known as “The World’s Most Famous Arena” and home of the hockey team the New York Rangers and the basketball team, the New York Knicks. Millions of fans who love and support these teams visit this arena to cheer on their favorite players!
All in all, from my experiences living in New York City, it is a breathtaking, beautiful, and wondrous city. You should definitely visit and experience it for yourself! Even with the inconveniences of traveling, New York City is worth visiting because of its countless attractions, which may provide you with a different perspective or leave you with some memorable experiences!
Discussion Questions:
Is New York City different from what you expected?
Have you ever visited New York City? If so, what was your impression of it?
What are the pros and cons of where you live?
Vocabulary
Tourist Destination: a place that is often visited by people visiting
Annually: every year
Attractions: a place which draws visitors by providing something of interest or pleasure
Perspective: a point of view, outlook, viewpoint
Luxurious: very expensive, beautiful, and comfortable
Notion: an idea, belief, or opinion
Beacon: a person, idea etc that guides or encourages you
Diversity: the fact of including many different types of people or things
Mere: used to emphasize that something which is small or not extreme has a big effect or is important
Stroll: to walk somewhere in a slow relaxed way
Converse: to have a conversation with someone
Abundant: something that is abundant exists or is available in large quantities so that there is more than enough
Hassle: something that is annoying, because it causes problems or is difficult to do
Con: disadvantage
Resort: when you must use or depend on something because nothing better is available
Traffic: the vehicles moving along a road or street
Public Transportation: buses, trains etc that are available for everyone to use
Convenient: useful to you because it saves you time, or does not spoil your plans or cause you problems
Schedule: a plan of what someone is going to do and when they are going to do it
Advantage: a good or useful feature that something has
Bored: tired and impatient because you do not think something is interesting, or because you have nothing to do
Interest: an activity that you enjoy doing or a subject that you enjoy studying
Skilled: someone who is skilled has the training and experience that is needed to do something well
Support: to like a particular sports team and go to watch the games they play
Cheer on: to shout encouragement at a person or team to help them do well in a race or competition
Breathtaking: very impressive, exciting, or surprising
