LOL! Hi durasell! If you promise you can keep me from freaking out, maybe I'll try NYC some day. Actually, my husband's brother lives out there. Not in NYC, but close. He actually helped out after 9/11. So it's "very quiet" and "not much to do". Heck, that sounds like my place! If I ever went to NYC, I'd want to go see the sights. It sounds like such a scarey place (from my perspective) but maybe someday we'll make the trip and take it all in. I may not be able to survive NY, but I could die trying. :)
It's not what people think it is -- mostly it's about work. The city doesn't overwhelm because it's a collection of neighborhoods. Typically, you know the dry cleaner, the subway station guy and the supermarket people either by name or by sight. The major difference is the fact that for most New Yorkers the home isn't the focal point of their social life. They live a good portion of their lives in public. This is true for those with giant apartments as well as those with tiny studio apts.
In my experience, rural people are freaked out by the number of "strangers" they encounter in NYC. It will either cause unease or re-affirm faith in humankind that so many different kinds of people can live together without going at each other's throats more often.