Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Oakland is awesome. Glad I got exposed to it by friends who were from there when in college. San Francisco is cool too, but wow how different those two are in feel despite just being a bridge apart. I guess it's the way I feel about East LA vs West LA as well.
Having that said, I'm also very much a fan of Southern California, from Torrance to DTLA to Long Beach to Temecula to San Diego...I'm glad to call this place home, despite the negatives (yes, the car culture is the main one for me.) BTW in none of those places I mentioned will you find the stuck up snobs with a valley accent...if anything it is definitely contained within West LA and parts of coastal OC. Outside of those areas, southern Californians are some of the warmest, chill back people you will meet on this planet.
More importantly, what links the state as a whole is our love for our geography, the wilderness and diversity of people. This is why there is saying for LA "In LA nobody walks, but everyone hikes." It's true, we are addicted to our cars, but we don't mind forgetting about them for a weekend (or longer) while we enjoy the Big Bear, Lake Mammoth, Tahoe, Big Sur, the redwoods, Joshua Tree, Mojave, Yosemite etc etc.
From those who have lived in France, does it share a love for nature and its geography the way Californians do? When I think of nature loving people in Europe, I think of Germany and Scandinavia first...not France.
Good points. About 40% of California's land is public land whether it be a national or state park, national monument or national forest. We love our outdoors. This actually unites the entire west coast.
France (42° to 51°) is much colder than California (32° to 42°), some people here seem to forget that. If they imagine that -save for some locations in the extreme south of the country along the Med coast-they are going such a sunny, privileged climate as in California, they are in for a big deception. They apparently don't know what a winter in North eastern France feels like, it's more akin to Siberia !
France is not that empty, for it has about 4 times the average density of the US (120 people per sq km versus 30 people per sq km), and about the same density as several other European countries : Portugal, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Denmark. France is slightly more densely populated than Spain, Ukraine and Ireland, and much more than Scotland, all of Scadinavia and the Baltic countries, and of course Russia.
right, but US density is very low.
Some parts of France are actually pretty empty (Limousin, Champagne, southern Alpes...)
Some others are very dense though (Paris, Nord-Pas-de-Calais)
I loved France for the two days I was there and want to get back before too long here My girlfriend wants to see Europe, so maybe later...
But I love, love, love CA... lived there for a third of my life. I have a ton of friends plus some close family there. I love the topography, the lifestyle, the food... even though France is amazing, I'd probably choose CA because of these things.
Well, if you want to be a bit sneaky about it, France technically includes a lot of places outside of Europe and I wouldn't be surprised if the cost-of-living in at least one of those places is substantially cheaper than the mainland.
Well, if you want to be a bit sneaky about it, France technically includes a lot of places outside of Europe and I wouldn't be surprised if the cost-of-living in at least one of those places is substantially cheaper than the mainland.
Very true. Although both places have an archipelago called the Channel Islands.
Very true. Although both places have an archipelago called the Channel Islands.
I know about the Californian Channel Islands, but wonder what you are referring to when you mention the French ones?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.