I’ve been in southern California for almost a week now so here are some of my comments on things:

1. Most of the people I’ve interacted with have been super friendly! This is not necessarily surprising or anything, but it’s really stuck out to me.

2. The air can be hard to breathe sometimes, and some mornings there’s a bunch of visible smog that reduces visibility (I wish I could enjoy the mountains but you can barely see them!).

3. Very interesting variation in temperatures - yesterday when I was over the mountains and in the Mojave it was around 105 (40-41C), but today in Costa Mesa where I’m staying it’s in the 70s (23-24C) (which is also cooler than where I’m from would be).

4. Certain things are very expensive, but some things cost the same. Gas is of course pricey, always at least over a dollar more per gallon than back home. I have seen gas in the $7-8 range in downtown LA as well. General groceries at say Walmart haven’t been noticeably higher, but when eating out food and drinks have been all over the place price wise.

5. There are so many people and LA (proper and metropolitan) is so big. I knew this of course going in, but it’s something else to actually witness it in person. I’m not a city person so it’s kinda like my idea of a big city magnified by 100, it’s bizarre to try to imagine this as normal for millions of people. The traffic isn’t quite as bad as I was imagining, but I also was mostly on LA roads on the weekend and there are still always people who drive crazy.

I’m sure there’s a lot more but I can’t think of anything else major at the moment. I can definitely say I understand the enchantment of the American West a bit more now.