Compare & Contrast Two City

Read the essay. Which city does the author prefer?

My Two Homes

Different or similar? I like these two places. One of them is New York City, and the other is Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. When you compare them, they seem like dramatically different places, but they have some things in common, and I love them both.

There are many similarities between these two cities. Both cities are striking and distinctive. For example, each has its own nickname. Everyone knows New York is "the Big Apple." Quetzaltenango is known as "Xela" (pronounced shey-Ia), which is a lot easier to say! Second, both cities have a "Central Park" where people like to go and walk. Although Central Park in Xela is smaller, its tropical flowers and colonial architecture mean it is just as beautiful as New York's. Furthermore, when you walk around Xela, you find many tourists and people from other countries, just like in New York. For me, this means conversations in Xela are just as interesting as conversations in New York.

Despite their similarities, these cities are different. Life in Xela is more colorful and the pace of life is slower. For this reason, whenever I return to Xela, it is like an escape. When I arrive, the first thing I notice is the color. In New York, many people wear black to be stylish, but in Xela stylish clothing is the rainbow-colored clothing of the indigenous people. And because Xela is smaller, the beautiful green mountains outside the city are always visible. The second thing I notice is the pace of life. They say New York never sleeps, and it must be true, because I always see people walking and cars on the streets, even late at night. In the evening, my Guatemalan city definitely sleeps. Some younger people go out dancing and some families take a walk in the city's Central Park, but by ten o'clock the streets are pretty deserted. On the other hand, New Yorkers are often in such a hurry, they don't even stop to eat. For breakfast they buy food on the street, and...