California and Cambridge: Six Differences

This is Part II of Flyby’s two-part From Cali to Cambridge mini-series. Check out Part I!

“Yeah, this is the coldest weather I have ever been in in my life,” a dormmate from Sri Lanka said to me as we walked back from dinner. It was September 15. The vicious New England (summer? …winter?) wind ripped through his t-shirt and shorts and I felt incredibly concerned as I imagined him walking through campus in December.

I wondered who was experiencing greater culture shock: me, a born and bred Northern Californian, or him. Because let me tell you, sometimes I have felt like I’m in a foreign country.

While I’ve always lived in Palo Alto, California, I didn’t embrace everything about it. For example, sometimes I was irritated that all the food at my friend Sophie’s house had to contain a combination of flax seed, hemp hearts, or chia seed (preferably all three) or her family would refuse to eat it. Now, I find myself craving these foods (thanks for the soy crisp-spirulina hemp bar-flaxseed cracker-filled care package, Mom!!). I can munch on my organic, gluten-free goodies and try to pretend I’m still in California, but fundamental aspects of life are completely different here in Massachusetts.

1) Water. The first day, one of my roommates lugged five cases of Crystal Geyser water bottles into our room. “Look what we got, guys!” she announced excitedly. I forced myself to smile, “Great!” Yes, it was very nice of her to provide water for our room, and I was happy she was concerned about our hydration, but I couldn’t recall the last time I had seen so many plastic bottles in one place. I wondered what the effect on my carbon footprint would be. I remembered the time I had forgotten to bring my water bottle to spinning class and purchased a $28 glass one instead of a plastic bottle.

2) Food and Drink. The red-eye from San Francisco was rough. It was 5 a.m. when I got to Boston and I was desperate for Starbucks. I ran up and down the terminal in distress but all I could find was a Dunkin' Donuts. I needed caffeine but Dunkin' Donuts simply didn’t seem like a valid substitute. I decided to endure the fatigue, rather than support the business that was responsible for a lower concentration of Starbucks and artisan coffee shops in Boston. Even when I do find my favorite drinks here, I find there are few that understand the significance. Last week I ran up to a group of people, holding a jar of kombucha from the farmer’s market. “Kombucha on tap! This is great!!” I was greeted with many blank stares. “Kombucha?” someone finally responded, her voice filled with disgust. “It’s this amazing fermented tea drink. I promise you that you’ll like it if you try it.” I offered a sip. No one wanted to try.

3) Clothing. A friend came into my room one day. “Do you own any jeans?” he asked, “I only see you in leggings and yoga pants. Why is half your dresser filled with workout clothes?” Well it’s true that I’m more often than not in a pair of Lululemons, but you can’t blame me. Before coming here, it had been months since the last time I wore jeans. When I was home, I spent most of my time over the summer in workout clothes, because I spent most of my time with my friends, so I spent much of my time working out. Walking around Palo Alto red-faced and in sweaty exercise clothes was a truly great thing. It meant that you had just gone to yoga/spin/pilates/pure barre/boxing/TRX. I enjoyed putting together color-coordinated spandex workout outfits (so much more fun than any other kind of clothing) and spent a large percentage of my money buying exercise clothing and accessories.

4) Working out. Working out was always a social event. I feel most at home here when I’m in one of my exercise outfits, but still, the process of working out is very different. Here, people go to the gym. They go on the elliptical and the treadmill; they lift weights; they do abs. In California, you go to classes that are a combination of at least two types of exercise: power yoga, yogalates, spinning with weights, ballet and circuit training etc. Even better is an exercise class where the name tells you absolutely nothing about the content, for example: Grit, Bliss, Dailey Method.

5) Transportation. Yes, I drive a Prius (of course) but I often complained about the dangerous masses of bikers that took control of the streets of Palo Alto, forcing me to drive to school at five miles per hour. “I wish fewer people biked. I hate having to drive so slowly everywhere,” I once told a classmate. “No,” she told me, “You should feel bad about killing the environment by driving and the bikers should be rewarded for their service to humanity.” Here, bikers and pedestrians are certainly not rewarded. In fact, in practice, they don’t really have right of way. Yesterday, I was nearly hit by a cop car while crossing Mass. Ave.

6) Shopping. Given the large impact that they can have on one’s carbon footprint, plastic and paper shopping bags are an absolute no-no for Northern Californians. Here, however, cashiers don’t give you the evil eye when you forget to bring your own reusable bag. A friend of mine, another Palo Alto transplant studying in the Northeast, called me the other day and related the following story. “The cashier at Gourmet Heaven was surprised when I decided to walk out of the store struggling to carry five kombuchas back to my dorm room rather than accept the free plastic bag she was offering me. Little does she know that not only are plastic bags banned where I’m from in Northern California, there is a tax on paper bags!”