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Useful notes about California, since sometimes the stereotypes are played on me on the Internet. I'm sick of it.
* No, we do not use valley girl/surfer/Latino accents. If your accent doesn’t depend on your ethnicity, then you likely use either Northern Californian accent or what I’ve termed the “laid-back nobody-cares accent”. (Personally I use the laid-back nobody-cares accent with a very slight – slight if you listen closely – Korean accent. It’s barely noticeable.)
* We do not call it “Cali”. Anyone who uses that term is not a native. Also, “SoCal” and “NoCal” are only used when a distinction is needed.
* There is no sex in Orange County (at least from what I’ve heard, since I’m…15…). That’s in Los Angeles. (Once again, that’s what I’ve heard.)
* Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles is not a dangerous place to live in at all. (That is, as long as you’re not stupid enough to go down dark alleys at night.)
* Warm, sunny beaches? All a lie. The water is too cold to go in. You will spend at most once or twice a year going to the beach, and that will prolly be the pier. Near the ocean, it’s cold!
* It does rain in California. And if anyone tells you that there’s a schedule and it’s predictable, it’s a lie. We have no idea when it’s coming. I do give credit that when it does it usually varies between two days to a week (not much). But being May or August or February doesn’t influence the chances at all.
* If it has carbon dioxide and bubbles, it’s called “soda”.
* If someone’s really, really late, and you ask him/her to explain, and he/she says “traffic”, this is not an excuse, it’s perfectly viable.
* Legal age is at 18. Our lives depend on the DMV. The evil, evil DMV.
* I have been to Hollywood…prolly three times in my life. Given that I live in Los Angeles…
* There are a lot of Jewish people in Los Angeles and Asian people in Orange County.
* There are a lot of academically intense people.
* There is a Chinatown in Los Angeles, but it’s…really small and insignificant (Koreatown and Japanese-town, on the other hand…)
* Palm trees. The things are freaking everywhere. Even when you’re nowhere near a beach or desert.
* Summer: Tanktop and shorts. Winter: Jeans and a jacket.
* Schools are OPEN. As in, we do not go attend a big red brick building every day. We eat outside. We walk around outside. We spend our time panicked and attempting to run to the other side of the campus to get to our rooms outside.
* A bunch of clustered skyscrapers – that’s only in downtown Los Angeles and central San Francisco. Elsewhere, you can prolly see over the buildings.
* Yes, I've been to Disneyland, no, I don't go there often. ($70 for a ticket REALLY, DISNEY?)
* We. Do. Not. Live. In. A. Desert.
* No, we do not use valley girl/surfer/Latino accents. If your accent doesn’t depend on your ethnicity, then you likely use either Northern Californian accent or what I’ve termed the “laid-back nobody-cares accent”. (Personally I use the laid-back nobody-cares accent with a very slight – slight if you listen closely – Korean accent. It’s barely noticeable.)
* We do not call it “Cali”. Anyone who uses that term is not a native. Also, “SoCal” and “NoCal” are only used when a distinction is needed.
* There is no sex in Orange County (at least from what I’ve heard, since I’m…15…). That’s in Los Angeles. (Once again, that’s what I’ve heard.)
* Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles is not a dangerous place to live in at all. (That is, as long as you’re not stupid enough to go down dark alleys at night.)
* Warm, sunny beaches? All a lie. The water is too cold to go in. You will spend at most once or twice a year going to the beach, and that will prolly be the pier. Near the ocean, it’s cold!
* It does rain in California. And if anyone tells you that there’s a schedule and it’s predictable, it’s a lie. We have no idea when it’s coming. I do give credit that when it does it usually varies between two days to a week (not much). But being May or August or February doesn’t influence the chances at all.
* If it has carbon dioxide and bubbles, it’s called “soda”.
* If someone’s really, really late, and you ask him/her to explain, and he/she says “traffic”, this is not an excuse, it’s perfectly viable.
* Legal age is at 18. Our lives depend on the DMV. The evil, evil DMV.
* I have been to Hollywood…prolly three times in my life. Given that I live in Los Angeles…
* There are a lot of Jewish people in Los Angeles and Asian people in Orange County.
* There are a lot of academically intense people.
* There is a Chinatown in Los Angeles, but it’s…really small and insignificant (Koreatown and Japanese-town, on the other hand…)
* Palm trees. The things are freaking everywhere. Even when you’re nowhere near a beach or desert.
* Summer: Tanktop and shorts. Winter: Jeans and a jacket.
* Schools are OPEN. As in, we do not go attend a big red brick building every day. We eat outside. We walk around outside. We spend our time panicked and attempting to run to the other side of the campus to get to our rooms outside.
* A bunch of clustered skyscrapers – that’s only in downtown Los Angeles and central San Francisco. Elsewhere, you can prolly see over the buildings.
* Yes, I've been to Disneyland, no, I don't go there often. ($70 for a ticket REALLY, DISNEY?)
* We. Do. Not. Live. In. A. Desert.
