I was born and raised in Northern California. I never thought I had to make that distinction until I moved to Southern California for school. When applying to colleges, I decided to stay in or near California - I had never really known anything else. I thought that by applying to schools in Southern California I would be living somewhere like home. What I didn’t realize was that Southern California might as well be in another country, let alone state, than NorCal.
I guess my first hint should have been the fact that the distinction between SoCal and NorCal even exists. No other state has a distinction like this - even Texas, which is far bigger than California. Anywhere else, you distinguish the different places by their city names. There is no “NorTex.” Growing up, this distinction was just part of the status quo. Do you live in LA? You live in SoCal. Sacramento? NorCal. It becomes apart of your identity, whether you realize it or not.
It's easy to understand why the distinction is made. The differences between the two areas are astronomical. Yet the differences weren’t palpable until I moved down here. Growing up, my only interactions with SoCal happened during family vacations. If we weren’t heading out of state, then we were going to SoCal - mainly Anaheim for Disneyland.
To me, that long excursion to SoCal equated ‘fun’ and ‘vacation.’ I don’t think it occurred to me that people actually lived near Disneyland until my mom told me she used to go to Disneyland twice a year, maybe more. It blew my mind because to me going to Disneyland meant a ten-hour drive and loads of planning. For her, it meant a two-hour drive and a nice spontaneous family outing.
The only other perception I had of SoCal was that that was where all the famous people lived - every single one of them. I thought every celebrity, movie star, and Grammy-winning artist lived right next to each other, in a giant neighborhood of stardom. And I was thinking suburbia, like George Clooney and Johnny Depp shared a picket fence and used the same mailbox.
Of course, I got older and a little more educated. But then, I thought that SoCal was just like NorCal, just in a different location. That was my mindset going into college. I applied to San Diego State University with the ease that I applied to Sac State. Granted, it was a bit further away home, but that was the only difference I was really considering. The culture shock didn’t really kick in until I officially moved down here. Now that I’m down here, the differences couldn’t be bigger.
It's honestly hard to explain. The entire vibe of SoCal is different than NorCal. Everyone down here is more chill, yet simultaneously everything moves three times as fast. Everything down here is bigger and better and there’s just more of it in general. The biggest thing for me is the freeways - there are like ten of them down here, and they all have twenty lanes. It's terrifying.
Plus, the sheer amount of people is staggering. Technically, SoCal is smaller than NorCal - yet it holds sixty percent of the population. I thought I knew what traffic was before I moved here, but I actually had no idea. Even the weather differences are weird - it could be freezing cold and raining back up home, yet be smoldering hot down here.
Moving down to San Diego, I thought that I would fit right in - I always thought I was a beach kinda person. Now I realize that enjoying the beach when I visit for a week is quite different than living there. I am always hot, which I thought I would enjoy (I do not). Conversely, I’m almost never cold here, unless I’m in my dorm room with the AC blasting.
I’m pretty sure there is a petition going around to have the state split in two - North and South Carolina did it, right? And now that I’ve lived down here for a couple months, I’m inclined to sign it. It's misleading to associate SoCal and NorCal together when they are so wildly different. I understand why people have to make the distinguishment between the two areas now - although people who live anywhere else won’t understand. But I sure do now.
