I was living in a small, relatively well off town, it was a bubble both economically and culturally.
My foreign friends and I travelled extensively when they were visiting and we stayed in Detroit multiple times, visited Gary and Flint, stay in random despondent rural trailer parks (my local friend was from there).
We visited many local cultural locations. There was a funny situation in a small rural museum where the bored receptionist was like “Oh wow, you are from Ukraine/[another country]. You know what, there are no other visitors, I will give you a private tour on a complementary basis.” She was really excited. I was polite and was asking questions and telling her about Eastern Europe and topics related to the museum content. She loved that we were visiting.
Also did some DIY tourism. Climbed over the fence to explore abandoned buildings with interesting graffiti. Took photos of random stuff in the ghetto. We had locals come up to us and ask if we were students doing research. I answered that I am a student at a regional university, but we are here not on university projects. It was crazy to see the number of young children hanging out seemingly alone during school time no less.
The trailer park home I was staying at was via a guy who burned down part of their school (he was good friends with one of my local university friends who invited to me to this town). One of his friends was buying drugs through a contact from the school burning guy’s father’s girlfriend. The father demanded a cut of the drugs (not financial comp). Stayed at another house in a completely rural area. The family would be considered poor by local standards, but their house was huge. At one point they converted it into a strange (by my standards) conservative church.
I was shocked how empty downtown Detroit felt outside of sport games and events. Even the major museums felt empty. I remember going to this nightclub that was on the top storey of a beautiful art deco skyscraper.
Also there was no rail access to Detroit, only busses which are not as comfortable or convenient. One of the students in my dorm wrote low quality article about how building a railway line would be bad thing. He was likely right due to the lack of feeder infrastructure, but his argument was more polemical. Cars equal = freedom. Cars are of course nice and convenient. But from my perspective you have much more freedom and independence when you have an expansive, convenient and “on time” railway system while having the option to use a car. In a way, it requires more personal responsibility to build such a society (not to mention the CCP’s massive success in building out national railway infrastructure).
Gary honestly felt a lot less interesting than Detroit or some other places. Even the downtown did not have anything distinctive. Just liquor stories, paydown loan places and mini marts. Jackson family home was tiny. I was expecting a gigantic museum considering how well know Michael Jackson is around the world. I would strongly recommend staying in Detroit over Gary.
I have positive memories about all these trips. This felt more real and satisfying than the small town I was living in. It felt fake with a lot cognitive dissonance. There was a funny situation were I wasn’t allowed in a fraternity party (even though I was invited by a junior member) likey because I didn’t look like a member of athlete fraternity community that hanged out exclusively with the blond sorority community. I lived in a major metropolis and we went to both underground rave events at high-end night clubs, so this was a funny situation.
I was living in a small, relatively well off town, it was a bubble both economically and culturally.
My foreign friends and I travelled extensively when they were visiting and we stayed in Detroit multiple times, visited Gary and Flint, stay in random despondent rural trailer parks (my local friend was from there).
We visited many local cultural locations. There was a funny situation in a small rural museum where the bored receptionist was like “Oh wow, you are from Ukraine/[another country]. You know what, there are no other visitors, I will give you a private tour on a complementary basis.” She was really excited. I was polite and was asking questions and telling her about Eastern Europe and topics related to the museum content. She loved that we were visiting.
Also did some DIY tourism. Climbed over the fence to explore abandoned buildings with interesting graffiti. Took photos of random stuff in the ghetto. We had locals come up to us and ask if we were students doing research. I answered that I am a student at a regional university, but we are here not on university projects. It was crazy to see the number of young children hanging out seemingly alone during school time no less.
The trailer park home I was staying at was via a guy who burned down part of their school (he was good friends with one of my local university friends who invited to me to this town). One of his friends was buying drugs through a contact from the school burning guy’s father’s girlfriend. The father demanded a cut of the drugs (not financial comp). Stayed at another house in a completely rural area. The family would be considered poor by local standards, but their house was huge. At one point they converted it into a strange (by my standards) conservative church.
I was shocked how empty downtown Detroit felt outside of sport games and events. Even the major museums felt empty. I remember going to this nightclub that was on the top storey of a beautiful art deco skyscraper.
Also there was no rail access to Detroit, only busses which are not as comfortable or convenient. One of the students in my dorm wrote low quality article about how building a railway line would be bad thing. He was likely right due to the lack of feeder infrastructure, but his argument was more polemical. Cars equal = freedom. Cars are of course nice and convenient. But from my perspective you have much more freedom and independence when you have an expansive, convenient and “on time” railway system while having the option to use a car. In a way, it requires more personal responsibility to build such a society (not to mention the CCP’s massive success in building out national railway infrastructure).
Gary honestly felt a lot less interesting than Detroit or some other places. Even the downtown did not have anything distinctive. Just liquor stories, paydown loan places and mini marts. Jackson family home was tiny. I was expecting a gigantic museum considering how well know Michael Jackson is around the world. I would strongly recommend staying in Detroit over Gary.
I have positive memories about all these trips. This felt more real and satisfying than the small town I was living in. It felt fake with a lot cognitive dissonance. There was a funny situation were I wasn’t allowed in a fraternity party (even though I was invited by a junior member) likey because I didn’t look like a member of athlete fraternity community that hanged out exclusively with the blond sorority community. I lived in a major metropolis and we went to both underground rave events at high-end night clubs, so this was a funny situation.