a few words about pittsburgh

i like pittsburgh. a lot. i never expected i would, coming from a similarly-situated rust belt town (buffalo - well, a suburb of it), but pittsburgh is pretty fabulous. lots of diversity. interesting shopping districts with independent shops (and larger plazas with all the chain retailers you could ever need). tons of interesting architecture, even in little apartment buildings such as my own. i passed a decrepit abandoned building today - it looked like maybe a small apartment building or a series of rowhouses) - broken, boarded windows, overgrown lawns, the works - but it was a beautifu building all the same. dark brick, porches, big bay windows, dormers, gables - gables, like you see in amsterdam and bruges. i wanted to buy and renovate. too bad i am merely a poor student with no plans to Settle Down in the near future.

but pittsburgh is culturally and intellectually alive, incredibly beautiful - hills and rivers and parks all over the place - cheap to live in, has a reasonably friendly population and blissfully little traffic (i moved here from Our Nation's Capital, a sinkhole of mean aggressive drivers with huge gas guzzling vehicles).

it is a Nice Place to Visit, and i might even want to live here (once i finish school, that is).