Alas, the major update has finally arrived…four months into the journey! As most of you already know, I am yet another east-to-west-coast convert. If you couldn’t tell from the ridiculously hilarious yet very real road sign, I’m in America’s Finest City — San Diego, CA! And that’s no exaggeration, it actually is nicknamed that and completely lives up to it. Don’t let the fleeing Mexicans fool you. 
In fact, being so close to the border is one of the best perks of San Diego.
Most everyone only knows of San Diego as a city with fantastic weather all year-round, but that is only the tip of the sunshine (no mentioning of icebergs, or anything cold for the matter, allowed in my blog!). A major misconception (especially by east coasters) is that everyone thinks you can just hop over from San Diego to San Francisco to L.A. Fact #1: California is HUGE! I guess it’s the same kind of misconception where when I tell west coast people I’m from NY, they immediately get all wide-eyed and fascinated that I’m from the “big city.” I go on to tell them I’m from UPSTATE NY and they think Westchester. *sigh* It’s no use, so I just go with it sometimes. 
For my east coasters back home, here’s a little crash course of San Diego:
- the most Southwesterly major city before crossing into Tijuana, Mexico (hello, underage drinking)
- for frame of reference, SD is also ~2.5 hrs from LA, ~5 hrs from Vegas, ~8 hrs from SF
- we don’t say “hella” here — that’s a NorCal thang; although “right on” is fairly common
- a California burrito contains french fries; fish tacos are also a regular menu item; Cholula or Tapatio is the Red Hot of the west coast and also my new best friend
- a carne asada plate *MIGHT* be comparable to a Nick Tahou’s garbage plate after a long night of drinking and partying
- the average speed limit adopted by San Diegans is 80 mph
- the male population is almost entirely in the military or working in a defense-related field
- au contraire to my statement above regarding people not knowing the geography of NY, there is actually a very large amount of east coast transplants like myself; come to think of it…hardly anyone is ORIGINALLY from San Diego!
- surfing out here is as common as playing hockey back at RIT — it’s serious business!
- for my fellow YuengLing addicts, sad news but you won’t be able to find anything even remotely close to it out here…but there are plenty of local microbreweries to make up for it! Karl Strauss, Ballast Point, and Gordon Biersch just to name a few
- on the topic of alcohol, we can purchase all the way up until midnight! no blue laws apply
- San Diego is a major stop for many tours and shows (who doesn’t want to stop in SD?!) whether it’s ComicCon, Red Bull Air Races, U.S. Open Sand Castle Competition, or famous celebrities performing free shows/autograph signings
So there’s no doubt about it…I’m enjoying life, but that’s nothing new! Getting to this point hasn’t been easy though, from not having a single person in CA to put down as an emergency contact (quite a depressing thought) to making my first friend: an 84-year old woman. You may wonder why it has taken four months to finally get this post out, other than the fact that I’ve become SUPER lazy after graduating from college! I can tell you that moving coast-to-coast has a lot of unforeseen overhead. Dealing with different laws and updating all your information. Getting set up with insurance for everything…renter’s, car insurance, health insurance..etc, etc, etc. But once it’s all cleared and finished, I can’t even begin to describe the rewarding feeling of independence. Picking out my apartment of choice and furnishing it the way I want has been a long dream of mine and it is finally done! (Pictures coming soon in Flickr.) Stepping into my own apartment and just looking around knowing that everything in there is a product of my own labor is an incredible feeling.
I’ve been on my own completely before during my internships, but moving permanently to a new city is quite different. It’s now my new home, so I no longer feel the need to jam-pack my time with sightseeing everything possible before the summer is over. The touristy stuff will still be there.
There’s still much, much more to learn about living on my own. Aside from the San Diego updates, I’m hoping to revamp the blog a bit and also shine some light on some interesting work that I’m doing for BAE Systems. As always, stay tuned and…
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