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.
Compared to expectations (not to London, or Paris), seedier, dirtier, uglier. Even the well-presented areas (I was around Beverly Hills/Bel Air for much of my stay) had a perpetual shallowness and blandness to them. The UCLA campus was great, however.
You do realize that Southern California invented blandness right?
Probably both. Had some who were kind of mean (bus driver telling us off, rude postal worker, man who cheated me out of $20), and some who were very kind and helpful (a girl I asked directions, man in the LA subway). A couple in DC just spoke to me, out of the blue, but I didn't really understand one man. He kept asking 'how do you espouse yourself?' I'm like, 'um, I don't know.'...yeah I know what the word means, but I don't know what you're asking lol...In Vegas there was a black couple who were very extroverted who were just talking to everyone on the bus, even strangers as they boarded, as if they were old friends. It just felt different to here in Australia, but felt quite comfortable and not awkward. I like how some black people have that manner about them, I guess their culture tends to be a bit more extroverted? Of course many blacks didn't SEEM to fit the stereotypes, as I'm sure a lot do, but coming from Australia, hardly ever meeting any African Americans, it was good to broaden my experience.
But yeah, it's a small sample, not enough to judge from. I didn't have any positive interactions with Hispanics, but I obviously say they are all bad since I only met perhaps a dozen or so. But of the ones I met, none seemed particularly friendly, to my surprise. At the risk of sounding racist it seemed white folk were outwardly the most friendly.
As a kid... there were just way more theme parks and amusement parks, restaurants with employees wearing costumes of cartoon characters, etc. They had all of this stuff way before we had it at home (if at all), and often in way smaller communities than in the places where I lived.
People were in general more boisterous, exuberant and gregarious. Everything was just more "over the top".
It seemed like Canadians (or at least Ontarians, or maybe Canadians in much of the country anyway) sometimes had trouble letting their hair down and having fun, lest they be viewed as being "tacky" - the latter being something to be obsessively avoided at all costs.
Then I discovered Quebec. But that's a whole other story.
As a kid... there were just way more theme parks and amusement parks, restaurants with employees wearing costumes of cartoon characters, etc. They had all of this stuff way before we had it at home (if at all), and often in way smaller communities than in the places where I lived.
People were in general more boisterous, exuberant and gregarious. Everything was just more "over the top".
It seemed like Canadians (or at least Ontarians, or maybe Canadians in much of the country anyway) sometimes had trouble letting their hair down and having fun, lest they be viewed as being "tacky" - the latter being something to be obsessively avoided at all costs.
Then I discovered Quebec. But that's a whole other story.
Ontario is a big place... Hard to believe anyone would have more fun in Rochester, Syracuse or Buffalo over Toronto.. Oddly enough the largest theme park and fair in Canada are both in Toronto Ontario.
Ontario is a big place... Hard to believe anyone would have more fun in Rochester, Syracuse or Buffalo over Toronto.. Oddly enough the largest theme park and fair in Canada are both in Toronto Ontario.
These were the 1970s.
Today there is more stuff in Ontario (including more "fun" stuff), but people are still more exuberant stateside in my view.
I don't get city people and the need for sourness.
I watch some shows with city people and they just look so cold and emotionless. What is the need?
You only live once so why be so rude? I don't think I could cope living in a city like that. I think i'd lose my patience.
East Coast cities are especially known for that; New York being number one but Boston and Philly are supposed to be not far behind. Los Angeles is different. It's rather friendly for a large city. People in San Diego are wary of strangers but once they get to know you, you can make friends. San Francisco people are often rather distant. Seattle is friendly but it can be hard to make actual friends. Each city seems to have it's own collective personality.
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.
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.
