Things I've learned about my new home

Here's a list of what I've learned about SD and Cali in my short time here...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Just kidding, there's really no ugly, and not that much that's bad either, although (warning) I do have a couple of long-winded rants coming up. But mostly, things are pretty awesome here.

1) San Diego is a massive city, even if it doesn't quite measure up population-wise to NYC, LA, etc. From end-to-end, i.e. from where I live near the northern city limit to the southern city limit (which is at the Mexican border) it is over 35 miles. I don't even think NYC is 35 miles end-to-end. But unlike most Northeastern cities, it isn't continuous skyscrapers and rowhouses from one side to the other. Many parts of the city feel quite suburban (including where I live). Basically SD is not so much one big city as a loose combination of countless neighborhoods, separated by steep hills, canyons, freeways and bodies of water, and each with its own very distinct feel. Some are very suburban, some are very cosmopolitan, some are completely dominated by "beach culture", and some are all of the above. It makes exploring very interesting!

2) But on the flipside, it's a pain to get around...or at least a pain to get around if you don't have a car out here, which I don't have yet (though I will in September!) Getting to downtown from where I live, for instance, would be a 15 minute drive on the freeway, but it takes over an hour by bus. Yeah, so basically public transportation here is as bad or worse than in New Haven. Several weeks ago I bought a new bike though, which has made things somewhat easier (it's actually quicker to bike most places than take the bus). Consequently, I've been biking a lot...I just set a new record today by biking 55 miles! Woohoo...by the end of this summer I'm going to be almost as ripped as our Governator! Well...at least I can dream.

3) On that theme, just about everyone here looks perfect. Or at least 90% of the people between the ages of 18 and 30. Heck, even the 70-year old guys I see running on the beach have perfect abs and biceps. That can be awesome and terrifying at the same time...I've never been too self-conscious about my appearance, but being here makes me a lot more so. I'm not sure that's good for me psychologically, but I have established a pretty regular work-out routine for the first time in my life, so at least it may be good for me health-wise.

4) In the vein of confirming stereotypes, at least 50% of the girls in Southern California talk EXACTLY like Elle Woods. Pre-law school. I always thought that was a caricature of people in the region...like when I watched The Real Housewives of New Jersey and they found the most type-A, gossipy, overprotective women in the entire state to be on the show. But in this case, it's true. Case in point: the conversation I overheard today between two such young women in a cafe. After going on for about ten minutes about how nasty some mutual acquaintance's complexion was, and how gross she was without make-up, they changed the subject and said something like this:
Girl 1: "So my sister just signed a lease for an apartment."
Girl 2: "Oh my god. With who?"
Girl 1: "With Gil [her sister's new boyfriend] and his friend."
Girl 2: "Gil? His name is Gil? OH MY GOD. I can't believe his name is Gil. How could she live with him...I could never live with someone like that...I mean, what am I gonna call him for the rest of his life. Seriously...Gil?"

Not to say all SoCal girls talk like that...only the ones who talk the loudest...and therefore most of the conversations I overhear. Except for the grad students in my program, with whom my interactions always consist of high-minded discourse. Always.

5) The weather in San Diego isn't always perfect. Some days the sun isn't out all day, and it actually gets kind of overcast, which gets people around here pretty depressed. One night it actually rained! It was a pretty light rain that lasted all of like 15 minutes, but native SDans called it a downpour. Also, we do have heat waves (when it gets up to 80 along the coast) and cold spells (when it gets below 70 along the coast). What'll I do when January comes, and the highs are only, like, 65??? Better bring out the winter parka!

6) Drivers here are (generally) really polite. Like, pathologically so. This can actually get annoying for a native Northeasterner--as a pedestrian and cyclist, I have had drivers stop suddenly right in the middle of my path, and wave for me to go ahead of them, even though it would just be easier if they went first and got the hell out of my way. Oh well, things could be worse...

7) (Warning: RANT) One of my dearest true loves is good, quality, homemade ice cream from a cute, independent, mom-n-pop ice cream shop. NOT fro-yo, and NOT gelato, though there's a time and a place for both of those...I'm talking about real buttery, creamy, fatty authentic ice cream. In New Jersey (Princeton especially, and to a lesser extent the Jersey Shore) there are an abundance of places that provide this goodness, and though these places don't seem as abundant in Connecticut, Ashley's helped fill this void in my life the last 4 years. But now I figured that, moving to a place near the beach where the climate was warm year-round, I would be moving to an ice cream lovers' paradise.

Not entirely so. You see, the general health-consciousness of Southern Californians has led to an explosion of frozen yogurt places, that will allow SoCal peoplez trying to maintain perfect figures to enjoy sweet cold treats without the guilt of consuming all that fat. I will admit these places have an allure of their own: though the flavor selection is usually pretty limited, a wide array of toppings is provided to add flavor to your sweet treats. And prices for fro-yo are generally a dollar or two cheaper than for the same amount of ice cream.

So all that would be well and good, except that these fro-yo places (which are mostly chain stores) seem to have almost entirely wiped out independent ice cream stores. And no matter how many toppings you put on it or how creamy you make it, FRO-YO IS NOT ICE CREAM. No amount of toppings or hot fudge or caramel sauce can replace the rich taste that comes from having painstakingly prepared an ice cream flavor with the ingredients that added the flavor already in it. Vanilla fro-yo with Oreos on top is NOT cookies-'n-cream ice cream. It may have been plenty good enough in Commons, but when I actually have to pay for my sweet treats, I expect a little more. Along the route of my bike ride today I found on Yelp (if you haven't discovered it already, by the way, Yelp.com is your friend for finding tasty cheap eateries in your new neighborhoods) an independent ice cream place, cutely named Surfside Creamery, which seemed like it would be able to provide just what I desired. Except I arrived there, only to find that there was no trace of it...it had been recently replaced by...you guessed it...A BIG CHAIN FRO-YO PLACE. This is David and Goliath I tell you...and the Davids are losing. Oh, how brutal capitalism can be, when combined with healthy-eating obsessions!

(Note to all the fro-yo and gelato lovers out there: I don't actually hate fro-yo, and I actually have had some here that is quite good. And gelato is often amazingly tasty, and can be as appealing to me as the best ice cream, especially when there are well-made exotic flavors. But there is something to the simplicity and richness of ice cream that can not be replaced.)

8) On the plus side of eating in SoCal: the Mexican food is pretty damn good. And double-double animal style + animal style fries and a chocolate milkshake = best fast-food creation ever. :-)

9) Surfing really is THAT big a deal here. I've been going to the beach on the east coast my entire life, and surfers always seemed like a very small subset of beachgoers that were extremely hardcore, and just a little crazy. I didn't really know anyone who surfed growing up, and while you'd occasionally see surfing competitions on the beach, I thought of surfers as the people who were chasing 20-foot waves when hurricanes were making landfall, when everyone else was sane enough to be out of the water. But out here, just about everyone surfs. People teach their little kids to surf, and (like the little kids on the slopes at Ski Trip) those little kids can really make me look bad! The beach itself is divided into "swim" and "surf" zones, where at least half of the beach is specifically designated for surfers. Good thing I'm learning now (or at least trying)...better late than never!

10) Dear State of California, Please keep the paychecks coming. I know you're broke and all, though I don't know how that's possible when you would charge me $400 to register a vehicle in your state. Or when you deduct about 15% of my paycheck for taxes. Aren't taxes supposed to be the lowest for people who make barely enough to keep them above the poverty line? Maybe it's because direct democracy doesn't always work? Now don't get me wrong...I'm a big, big believer in democracy. It just occurs to me that certain things aren't best decided by ballot initiatives. Like who can marry whom, for example. Or how to balance a budget.
It occurred to me that maybe when you ask people whether they want to pay taxes on it or not, they might not want to, even if down the line those taxes could help provide much needed social services to their fellow state residents, even themselves. And if you enact a law effectively making it almost impossible to increase taxes, even when the state is broke, really screwy things could happen. Like shutting down state parks, or eliminating social services for those who most need it, or cutting LOTS of money from the best public university system in the country.

Now, where I'm from, we do things differently, you see. Oh sure, New Jersey politics isn't perfect, you see. Oh, what's that you say? Two mayors in towns right next to where my parents live arrested? Rabbis involved with black-market kidney trading? Yeah, it happens. I mean, everyone pretty much knows NJ government is corrupt, has been corrupt for a very long time, and probably will be corrupt for a very long time. And I'd rather have an honest government any day than a government practically run by the mob. But, one thing they do seem to know in New Jersey is how to do math. And even with all the money going into politicians' and contractors' bank accounts, there still usually seems to be enough for the rest of us. I guess all I'm saying is...I need you to keep paying me for the foreseeable future. I might even be willing to give up 20% of my paycheck rather than 15% to ensure that happens.

(End quasi-political rant)

11) To end on a positive note: Californians are REALLY environmentally- and resource-conscious. San Diego isn't particularly liberal by California standards...sure there's a few long-haired hippies around, but there's also a large military presence here (the Top Gun fighter pilot school used to be 3 miles from where I live, at least it was when the movie was filmed). Yet the one respect in which nearly everyone seems to be years ahead of East Coast people is reducing, reusing, recycling, etc. Every supermarket has cheap, often pretty-looking reusable bags, and has signs reminding shoppers to bring them when they shop. Reducing your water use is highly encouraged...of course that could also be due to the fact that we live next to a desert. Fuel efficient cars are everywhere, spurred on by the toughest emissions standards in the country (and by the fact that gas here is generally at least 30 cents a gallon more expensive than the rest of the country). In any event, the rest of the U.S. of A. could learn something from the tree-huggers out here.


OK...must go to bed, since I'm really really tired. I'd like to post pictures of me surfing, but I realized that will be really difficult because: 1) I've only caught a wave like 2 or 3 times ever, and that only for a couple seconds, and 2) Because when I do catch a wave, everyone else taking lessons is also in the water, and it seems somehow wrong/risky to entrust a strange bystander with my camera. But I'll get that photo eventually!

West Coast Affection to all. <3