- Ilya Davydov was raised in England, Russia, and Switzerland and got here to the US for faculty in 2022.
- He stated the US’s automotive tradition makes for boring, sprawling cities which are unsafe for cyclists like him.
- He regrets transferring as a result of he is had a tough time making associates and getting round by bike.
This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Ilya Davydov, 20, about his remorse over transferring to the US from Switzerland. Davydov was raised in Europe and moved to College Park, Maryland, a university city about 10 miles outdoors of Washington, DC, to attend the University of Maryland in 2022. The dialog was edited for size and readability.
College Park is actually one fundamental arterial highway with a couple of bars round it, after which surrounding it’s principally single-family properties with large roads and fast automobiles, which does not really feel very welcoming as a pedestrian or bike owner — or anyone with no automotive, for that matter.
I like our campus. When I’m going within the streets, positive, I’ll see plenty of college students. But the second you need to enterprise outdoors of it, you are constrained considerably if you do not have a automotive or a motorbike.
I bike so much, and it is a very sketchy place to trip a motorbike. I’ve been hit by automobiles a number of occasions.
Reduced mobility does undoubtedly have an effect on me and contribute to social isolation. People on campus principally maintain to themselves. There aren’t that many locations to congregate.
I nonetheless have associates, however our collective mobility is decreased, so I’m not as in a position to go to locations that I wish to go to ideally. There aren’t that many cafés or live performance venues instantly surrounding, so both you keep inside, or it’s important to enterprise to DC.
Without a automotive, it is arduous for me to attach with individuals
I haven’t got a driver’s license, and the bus service is moderately unreliable right here. Since I acquired right into a automotive crash on my bike, I’m pressured to stroll round.
The roads are very loud. Its fundamental function is to maneuver automobiles, so you are not as welcome to go there.
Streets are locations in different international locations. Pedestrian streets, for instance, are a vacation spot in and of itself. You could stroll round, sit on the bench, and benefit from the climate.
Courtesy of Ilya Davydov.
If you could have decreased mobility, you’re much less social, so that you’re sad. Therefore, it impacts your whole areas of life, for me not less than.
It’s arduous for me to attach. In a typical afternoon, I’ve a couple of hours of free time. During that point in earlier locations I used to stay, I might meet up with associates and stroll to a espresso store after which simply stroll round, or we might go for an informal stroll within the park and simply talk about issues. Or we might go discover a brand new café on the town or possibly a brand new bar. This was in Zurich, in Moscow, and in England.
The bike tradition in Europe is manner higher than within the US
I used to be truly born within the US, however we went again to Europe after two years. I grew up in England and in Switzerland, then in Russia, after which we went again to Switzerland.
I did not need to stay in the identical place all through my 20s. I wished to strive one thing new.
I knew that the US had sure points, however total I used to be fairly optimistic. I feel that I underestimated the diploma to which the components that the US lacks can be vital to me and the way a lot I might find yourself lacking them ultimately.
Here, a bicycle is perceived extra in order a toy than a legit medium of transportation.
College Park, from what I perceive, is a reasonably normal faculty city. So it isn’t a selected grievance about this particular place, it is extra so about how US cities normally are constructed.
G Fiume/Getty Images
It’s like a manifestation of US city planning as an entire — principally planning round automobiles leading to low-density housing and all the things is unfold additional aside.
Switzerland does not have that good of a bicycle infrastructure, nevertheless it’s constructed considerably extra densely, so you may both stroll to locations or you may bike there.
The Netherlands has considerably extra bike trails and bike lanes, and on the identical time has decreased automotive dimension and decreased automotive speeds. Lots of people cycle there, so plenty of the drivers are additionally cyclists. So after they go you, they’ll view issues out of your perspective. They decelerate they usually go round you.
There are undoubtedly adjustments that may very well be made right here that may enhance issues. Reducing velocity and decreasing the throughput of automobiles. Proper bicycle infrastructure, not less than round campus, and widened sidewalks would undoubtedly enhance the scenario for me.
I do not assume College Park may be Zurich or London, however I do not assume it needs to be.
Two issues can coexist: You can concurrently be pleased about the chance and acknowledge how good an educational place may be whereas additionally being affected by the adverse features which are non-academic.
Even although it is a nice tutorial alternative, the hit to the social side of my life has made me remorse this choice total.