When a city doesn’t fit the postcard

The expectation

The traveller arrives with a picture in mind. The city does not quite resemble it. Some things are striking. Some are tiring. She has not yet found a way to connect them.

A less honest account might hurry towards a verdict. A journal can allow the first impression to remain unfinished.

An unfinished verdict

Liking a place is not the only reason to write about it. Discomfort, surprise, and uncertainty can be useful when they are described precisely. The writer can say what happened without claiming to know what everyone else should feel.

Leave some room

By the time she leaves, the first impression has not vanished. It has acquired company: a useful conversation, a street she liked, an afternoon that felt less strange. The city is still complicated. Her account can be too.