There is a cultural undercurrent to loneliness too
In my previous job (with others from India) at a North European company which ran out of one of their towns. The loneliness of a beautiful North European town (100% conservative white population with a sprinkling of chinese immigrants, we were the first brown people to be seen there) (during short biz visits) was a striking contrast to our lives in India. So much so that in weekends, we rushed to get up and catch morning trains to the nearest city, just to be around a crowd of people (even in the city, we could find what we needed only in their excellent railway stations cum malls)
The same experience in San Jose, US but worse still as you practically good as dead without your own car. We (a female colleague and I) tried the fledgling (2001) train service there and ended up wishing we were wiser. Public transport in US West seemed to be used only by the socially discarded. I had to coax our hosts to get a car rented by a US colleague with me as a secondary driver (due to my foreign car license!) and then only it was FREEDOM! :-)
New York on the other hand, I felt at home. Get down from your hotel and you are into a sea of walking people Yay!
So an additional point can be being in a place with substantial amount of people, even if they are strangers gives you a relief from loneliness.
Very interesting! I'm from one of those beautiful frozen North European towns and I have the opposite problem when I visit places like China or Japan :) I do think it's easier to get used to living in crowded places than the other way around though. What town/country did you live in if I may ask?
In my previous job (with others from India) at a North European company which ran out of one of their towns. The loneliness of a beautiful North European town (100% conservative white population with a sprinkling of chinese immigrants, we were the first brown people to be seen there) (during short biz visits) was a striking contrast to our lives in India. So much so that in weekends, we rushed to get up and catch morning trains to the nearest city, just to be around a crowd of people (even in the city, we could find what we needed only in their excellent railway stations cum malls)
The same experience in San Jose, US but worse still as you practically good as dead without your own car. We (a female colleague and I) tried the fledgling (2001) train service there and ended up wishing we were wiser. Public transport in US West seemed to be used only by the socially discarded. I had to coax our hosts to get a car rented by a US colleague with me as a secondary driver (due to my foreign car license!) and then only it was FREEDOM! :-)
New York on the other hand, I felt at home. Get down from your hotel and you are into a sea of walking people Yay!
So an additional point can be being in a place with substantial amount of people, even if they are strangers gives you a relief from loneliness.