One Month

Today marks the one month anniversary of when we arrived in California. The past month completely flew by but it's been amazing getting to know our new home. Most days I feel like we're on vacation and we'll be on a plane heading back to Brooklyn before we know it. I think it's going to take a while for it to feel like home.


Here are a few things I learned about California in my one month living here:
1 - (most) Californians are really into their cars. The most popular cars are Mercedes, BMWs and Prius' (see #2). Driving around in my car has been interesting because we have what you call a "Brooklyn Bumper" - meaning that anyone that has ever driven in Brooklyn has most likely hit my car. I think we scare away other drivers. Maybe it's time for a new car...or at least a little TLC.


2 - Californians are really green. ...which is awesome. We forgot to bring our Baggu bags with us once while grocery shopping...lesson learned.


3 - Californians are really nice. Brett and I have been completely blown away by how nice people are here. I don't know if it's all the sunshine or what but I like it. People will go out of their way to help you.


4 - Produce and wine is cheap(er). Gas is not. $7 for a bottle of Kendall Jackson. Yes, please! $4.45 - soon to be $5.00/gallon. No thanks. 


5 - There are crazy looking spiders here.




6 - The Governor of California is from our town. We kept seeing many undercover Feds when driving past this one street. After a little research, we found out why. 


7 - Less walking. More driving. This has been the biggest thing to get used to. Being from NYC, I'm used to walking everywhere. We have to drive everywhere here. I used to love driving while in high school but then stopped when I moved to NYC for college. I then grew a major phobia of driving. Luckily, being forced to drive, my phobia is now gone. Now if only I could stop driving like a NY taxi driver... which leads me to #8.



8 - If you see a pedestrian, STOP. One thing that I'm really not used to is having cars stop for you no matter where you are. I'm pretty used to risking my life just so I can cross the street. With that said, I really need to regain this reflex while driving...asap.


9 - The pace is much slower. Everyone always said that California is much slower than New York but I never believed it. It's refreshingly true. There would be days that I was walking (olympic style speed-walking) from my train to work and would look up and see how many other people were doing the same exact thing. I felt like I was a part of the race and I hated it. If you slowed down for 2 seconds you would have someone behind you cursing because you were slowing them down. Here I find myself having to slow myself down and it's nice.





10 - California = No more headaches. Literally. My family is seriously headache/migraine prone. I used to have to take Advil on a daily basis. I haven't had one headache since I've been here. Enough said.


So after a month being here I definitely feel this is one of the better decisions I've made in my life. Do I miss Brooklyn? Of course. But for now, I'm pretty darn content.