Leaving Cali? You’d Best Prepare

When one has grown up in California their whole life, one may find it difficult to imagine that people in other places do certain things differently. With summer starting and Berkeley undergrads leave campus to work, intern, study, volunteer, or relax, many may find themselves living outside of California for the first time. The culture shock can be jarring, so here are ten examples of what changes once you cross the California state line to ease the transition.

1. If you put on your coat, they will assume you’re about to leave. This rule comes from the fact that other parts of the country actually experience winter, meaning that for a few months out of the year everyone bundles up in puffy marshmallow jackets before heading outside. During these months people must take off their coats whenever they’re indoors or risk sweating buckets. This practice spills over into the summer months: last September I put on my cardigan after the air conditioning kicked in at a coffee shop in Chicago, and my acquaintance stopped mid-sentence and asked me where I was going. When you’re indoors in the Midwest, avoid the coat, avoid the awk.

2. If you jaywalk, you might actually get run over. In Berkeley, drivers patiently wait for you to stroll through an intersection even when the light displays an angry red hand and no part of your diagonal trajectory falls within the confines of a crosswalk, so it’s hard to believe this doesn’t fly in other parts of the country. I was shocked last year when a New Orleans cab driver flipped me off for entering the crosswalk a second too early, something that would have gone unnoticed by most Berkeley drivers. To avoid encounters with road rage, obey pedestrian laws this summer.

3. They think weed is bad. Maybe this doesn’t apply to residents of Washington state or Colorado, but people in other parts of the country don’t view weed the way we do. We understand smoking weed is not the healthiest activity (though the existence of medical dispensaries in California proves this isn’t always the case), but most people I know here would be much more distraught if I started smoking cigarettes than if I started smoking marijuana. In many parts of the country, the opposite is true, so if you plan on lighting up out of state this summer, it may pay to be discrete.

4. Berkeley time doesn’t exist. Though Berkeley time begins as a practical way to be able to take back-to-back classes, eventually it becomes a state of mind. Decals, club meetings, dinners with friends, and even some appointments with GSIs and professors all shift back ten minutes. In California as a whole, promptness is less valued than in other parts of the country, especially major east coast cities. If you’re interning on Wall Street, try inverting Berkeley time and show up ten minutes early.

5. They don’t say “hella.” Yes, we all know they don’t say it, but knowing something and experiencing it are two entirely different things. The day my NorCal friend moved to Boston, she told a barista she was “hella down” for a caramel latte. The barista looked at her with wide eyes and said, “You’re from NorCal? Good, don’t ever let them take that away from you. It’s too late for me, but you’ve still got hope.” I don’t know what a lack of “hella” in one’s life does to a person, but based on that reaction I don’t want to know. If you’re concerned about becoming like the Boston barista, try stocking up and dropping hella hella’s before leaving.

6. Boba isn’t a thing. In Berkeley, boba tea ranks among beverages from Jamba Juice and Peet’s Coffee as a way to treat oneself after class or go on a fun outing with friends. While boba does have a presence elsewhere in the United State, few cities have a higher concentration of boba places than the three blocks on Durant between Bowditch and Fulton. Even though people outside of California may be familiar with the concept of boba tea, it is so unincorporated into the culture that few can actually tell you what it is. Slurp up those tapioca pearls before jet-setting in a couple weeks – it may be your last chance for the summer.

7. They don’t wear pajamas in public. Attire for almost every occasion in almost every part of America outside California is more formal. You’ll need to class it up for work, dinner out, and even the grocery store. And unfortunately, as I learned through personal experience one sleepy August morning a couple years ago at a Starbucks in Rhode Island, there is never an occasion for pajamas outside the home on the East Coast. Double check your suitcase before you head out for the summer or you may be doing some serious shopping.

8. There aren’t four categories of trash. Although disposing of your lunch trash at Berkeley requires considerable thought as to which parts belong in the compost, mixed paper, landfill, and bottles and cans bins, most places just do “recyclable” and “everything else.” Or, if you find yourself attempting to conscientiously dispose of a soda can in Arkansas as my mom did last month, you may even be told they don’t recycle at all.

9. Public schools get a bad rap. The existence of the UC system means no one in California can reasonably talk smack about public schools, but it is difficult for residents of states with public university systems in disrepair to imagine a respectable public school. Brace yourself for the occasional offhand remark by a non-Californian about how they can’t imagine how anyone learns in those giant lecture halls over at University of Anystate.

10. This guy is a frat bro. In California, clothing like this makes a statement. Men may wear striped pants dotted with lobsters, but it’s viewed as hipster or flamboyant. Elsewhere, and in New England especially, the types of guys who wear these pants would not get along with their lobster-dotted Californian counterparts. These New England guys play lacrosse, apply to business school, and drink beer on motorboats off the coast of Nantucket on the weekends. If you strike up conversation with an east coast gentleman in preppy, colorful garb, it is a safer bet to ask him his favorite football team than what he thinks of the new album by Neutral Milk Hotel.