New York

You think Victoria is a big city? Think again. It's suburbs compared to New York. The first thing you notice is words. Lights and words. Then you notice that the temperature is the same inside as out. And I'm drenched in sweat, carrying 5 bags, waiting for the 99% of all cars in this city (the taxi) to slowly inch forwards to the front of a huge line. While waiting, I observed 4 near car crashes, and 6 pedestrians almost get killed by jay walking.
The taxi ride can only be described as a fair ride designed to make you feel tense. Then we got to our rented apartment for three nights.
The most remarkable thing is that traffic laws don't seem to exist here, even though we passed three emergency vehicles on the way to the apartment and there are police officers on every street corner. Bicyclists are as frequent here as in Victoria, but they never wear helmets, bike the wrong way in the middle of the street and seem to just randomly stop sometimes.
I don't think I'd want to live here, but we'll see. I haven't been here long yet.