Blog 9: In your experience, do U.S. cities tend to be fairly clean or relatively dirty?

In my experience, U.S. cities are a mix of both, being both fairly clean and relatively dirty. I think the cleanliness of a city is based off of a person’s perception of the city. For me, New York City is relatively dirty, but Philadelphia is fairly clean. Both cities have their faults. They both deal with homelessness, pollution/littering, and unclean streets. It is my perception that Philly is cleaner than NYC because I have spent more time in Philly, since it is closer to home for me (not even 45 minutes away). I think that my perception on Philly is different because of the time I have spent there with friends and family. I have associated certain areas to specific memories. This association blocks out anything I may have deemed uncleanly, whether it was there or not. There is no missing the smells of the cities or the trash lying in the streets, in either Philly or NYC. My first experience in NYC was during the summer. I was sweating, the smells were intensified, and I overall felt gross. This plays a way on how I perceived NYC. NYC is not a city that I feel 100% comfortable in. It is a large city with a lot of people, and even though Philly is a large city, it isn’t as big as NYC. My comfort in Philly comes from the times I was able to walk around and enjoy it with friends and family. I think another part of my comfort comes from the fact that my dad grew up in Philly, and he attended Drexel University. He is able to explain different areas to me, lessening the unknown to me. So in my experience, U.S. cities are both fairly clean and relatively dirty, it is all based on your perception.