22 things an East Coast girl in a West Coast world now knows


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Nearly four years ago, I visited L.A. for the very first time and Emily Goldberg headshotdecided I would attend USC. I knew next to nothing about the West Coast besides the fact that it was much sunnier than where I grew up in Connecticut. I had never been to In-N-Out and had no idea what my neighbor in New/North meant when she said she was from the “Bay Area.”

Now, four years later, I’ve had more than my fair share of animal-style fries and am slightly obsessed with San Francisco. I’m still not sure if I’m staying on the West Coast next year or if I’m heading back East, but in the meantime, here are some things I’ve learned about the West Coast versus the East Coast over the past four years.

  1. People legitimately walk slower in L.A. than New York.
  2. That is, if they walk anywhere at all in L.A.
  3. L.A. taught me the meaning of a driving city (and urban sprawl).
  4. Saturday Night Live’s “Californians” skit about freeways is too real.
  5. Conquering my fear of a five-lane freeway was a serious accomplishment.
  6. Traffic. Sucks.
  7. But so does squeezing into a NYC subway car with so many people that you can smell what the guy next to you ate for breakfast.
  8. Either way, I’ve become nostalgic for convenient public transportation
  9. Angelenos get a bad rap — even though they’re more blonde and famous than New Yorkers, they’re way nicer. When people started talking to me while waiting in line in L.A. and it was to actually say something nice, I was seriously surprised.
  10. People smile when they walk from point A to point B in L.A.
  11. Never had I ever … heard the word “hella” before I got to the West Coast.
  12. Seth Cohen was right. Southern Californians actually melt in the rain.
  13. On the West Coast, BJ’s is a restaurant (with a dessert item called pizookies that may have changed my life), not a Costco-like wholesale supplier.
  14. New York wins, and will always win, when it comes to bagels and pizza.
  15. But the West Coast wins with Mexican food.
  16. Sunshine all the time is great, but it made me realize how much I love the seasons.
  17. Until my mom sent me a picture of a snowstorm that hit my town this week … yes, in March.
  18. L.A. takes “healthy lifestyle” to an unhealthy level.
  19. If L.A. could consume only one thing for the rest of its life, it would be juice.
  20. They weren’t kidding about the smog.
  21. The tap water here sucks.
  22. But avocados might just be the West Coast’s saving grace.

Emily Goldberg is a senior majoring in print and digital journalism. Her blog column, Diaries of a Second-Semester Senior, runs every Thursday.