Moving To The US - Is California Full of Dickheads?

[idontreallygiveashit]

Okay, so im considering transferring to the US for university and had my eyes on California, more specifically San Francisco, Long Beach or Los Angeles. There are good places to study there and for some reason i have always wanted to move to San Fransisco or Los Angeles because... i dont really know why, i just like big interesting cities. They seem progressive too, and as a British Asian i hoped wouldn't encounter shitloads of hostility.

However, it has come to my attention through research that all those places are reportedly full of, as the Americans say, "hipster douchebags". Like full of them. As in, everybody there has some incredibly sense of self-importance, think they are stupendously cool and and all the young people are just up their own arses. This has also been reinforced, now i think about it, by years of American media intake. While I still like the idea of moving to California because of its varied landscapes, size and large cities, i dont think i would gel well with my peers because im quite an introvert and would probably fail at being "cool". Im also intimidated by the "cool".

Is everything i have gathered true? If so, i am also considering Philadelphia because a) i have fam there and b) it is a big city but seems a lot more humble. Is it a "cool" place, not in the supposedly Californian "look how fucking great we are" way but in a real way with a busy city and lots to see and do?

If you want to give me some suggestions on where to live then please do so but don't say some shit like Maine. And i don't really want to live in New York, seems like a filthy place. but whatever , i have never been to these places so i am asking you for your opinions.

[kay]

Odd choice of topic given your username perhaps?

[idontreallygiveashit]

I didn't really give a shit about the user name. I really do give some shits about other things. At least three.

[knell]

Yes, those places you mentioned are hipster meccas, but it's no worse than any other big city, state or country for that matter, it just feels that way because there are so many more people. Any big city will have people crawling over each other trying hard to impress/stand out in one way or another.

If I were you I'd do Philly in the summer and LA for the winter if possible.

[idontreallygiveashit]

Yes, those places you mentioned are hipster meccas, but it's no worse than any other big city, state or country for that matter, it just feels that way because there are so many more people. Any big city will have people crawling over each other trying hard to impress/stand out in one way or another.

If I were you I'd do Philly in the summer and LA for the winter if possible.

Interesting. If its a weather thing, i actually prefer colder climates. When warmth rolls about in England i get so depressed, no joke.

Whereabouts do you live, if you dont me asking?

[knell]

los angeles, ca.

there are so many areas within each city you mentioned... things vary greatly over (relatively) short distances

[prisoner]

san fran is the one if you ask me.

the icee hot parties are worth moving there alone.

and it's a pretty small "big" city too.

[kay]

I would suggest that if you have the time (and money) you should visit the cities before picking. City selection is a very personal choice, and American cities are very different from UK and European cities. The layouts are completely different to what you'd expect a city to be like, and their character can vary by the block in some extremes.

[Suangi]

philly's a great city (I know, I used to live there) but it can get ungodly hot/humid in the summer, maybe cooler than LA though, not sure. if your looking for a place with a bass music scene, philly can leave a lot to be desired. if you hate your money enough to move to the US for university, then you should really base your decision on what university you really want to attend. it may be generally "more humble" than LA. I wouldnt worry too much about "hipster douchebags" either. thats just an ironic meaningless term that people decided it would be cool to start calling each other, and if you look for them, you will find them everywhere simply be the grace of the fact that youre looking. having fam close by is a plus, and if you wanna learn a lot about early Us history, you got the liberty bell, the constitution center, betsy ross's house, and much more just blocks away.

[jigglypuff]

lol i wouldn't care if cali was full of dick heads, sun, weed, space and beautiful women. def beats london for these

[idontreallygiveashit]

Hmmmmm...

This is getting increasingly difficult to decide but Philadelphia is becoming more and more attractive - not only are the fees cheaper (cheaper than if i were to re-apply to a UK university after the £9000 fee hike!) but the unis im looking at are better too (Penn State hopefully, not exactly in Philly but close). The ones in California are a little bit more expensive (all public though) but not as good - all the really good public schools there are fucking ridiculous in fees (UC - $30,000 average!) and i wouldn't get in either way.

And the whole bass scene, im actually looking for somewhere where there are things to do other than clubs and the like. not really my thing to be honest. Any down-tempo trip hop ambient bars like on brick lane lol.

Also, just be frank here - is London a better place to live than all of these? Because i could just move there, have all my fees sorted easily, and be less than two hours (i live in Birmingham unfortunately) away from my family in cases of emergency (not counted allllll my family in London). But the Unis i would end up would be crap because re-taking my a-levels isn't going to happen, and in London the universities are reallllly good (LSE, UCL, Kings) or reallllly shit. Taking the SAT could give me a great score reinforced by my old grades, first year results (should have mentioned im already in Uni here) and make getting into a decent US college more likely.

Argh. Difficult life choices.

Edit: Just saw Jigglypuff's ( ) post - you live in London, have you been to Cali? How does it compare?

[jigglypuff]

Hmmmmm...

This is getting increasingly difficult to decide but Philadelphia is becoming more and more attractive - not only are the fees cheaper (cheaper than if i were to re-apply to a UK university after the £9000 fee hike!) but the unis im looking at are better too (Penn State hopefully, not exactly in Philly but close). The ones in California are a little bit more expensive (all public though) but not as good - all the really good public schools there are fucking ridiculous in fees (UC - $30,000 average!) and i wouldn't get in either way.

And the whole bass scene, im actually looking for somewhere where there are things to do other than clubs and the like. not really my thing to be honest. Any down-tempo trip hop ambient bars like on brick lane lol.

Also, just be frank here - is London a better place to live than all of these? Because i could just move there, have all my fees sorted easily, and be less than two hours (i live in Birmingham unfortunately) away from my family in cases of emergency (not counted allllll my family in London). But the Unis i would end up would be crap because re-taking my a-levels isn't going to happen, and in London the universities are reallllly good (LSE, UCL, Kings) or reallllly shit. Taking the SAT could give me a great score reinforced by my old grades, first year results (should have mentioned im already in Uni here) and make getting into a decent US college more likely.

Argh. Difficult life choices.

Edit: Just saw Jigglypuff's ( ) post - you live in London, have you been to Cali? How does it compare?

to be fair i haven't lol... but from living in a tropical country before I choose sun over pretty much winter more than half the year in my opinion.. but i also think i have some sort of childish fantasy of sunny cali and loose women

[idontreallygiveashit]

Haha, that's pretty much it. Hippies, blunts and big ol' titties is the image. Also, Gang Warfare.

But to be fair, the media that got me attracted to California was Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. When i watch Curb i think "this place looks like a great place to retire" and when i watch Entourage im all "maybe if i go there i will be as cool as these people" lol

[jigglypuff]

hahaha yeah i do sometimes wonder if could be accepted into the 'entourage' but i don't know most american women i've met love english accents as long as its not northern

[ehbes]

What kind of thing are you looking to study? Not trying to sound biased but te northeast has some I the best universities in the country

[wubstep]

You don't want to hang around with hipsters but want to go to clubs like those on Brick Lane?

Wut?

[idontreallygiveashit]

What kind of thing are you looking to study? Not trying to sound biased but te northeast has some I the best universities in the country

Business and Marketing. What exactly does the "north east" entail - Philly, New York, Boston etc? I wouldn't mind moving there, just anywhere but those middle states, those sad looking places. You know, with all those small backwards towns like in Stand by Me? That film put me off visiting the US when i was a kid lol. Beautiful places but fuck, i like civilization.

You don't want to hang around with hipsters but want to go to clubs like those on Brick Lane?

Wut?

I was just kidding about that. Hence the "lol". i went to one of those places and got dirty looks right from the entrance. Guess i wasn't wearing a scarf or whatever.

[ehbes]

North east is rhode Island , connecticut , Massachusetts , new Hampshire , Maine, and Vermont

You should check out northeastern university, very good business school in Boston

Edit: Philly and new York arnt northeast

[alphacat]

I live in San Francisco.

Yes, there are scads of "hipster douchebags" walking around. There are also lots of friendly, normal people leading interesting lives that don't give a shit what the mustache-&-skinny-jeans faction does - in fact, SF loves to rip on hipsters more than almost anybody... there's a cottage industry of nothing but satire videos mocking them and their lemminglike stupidity.

We have lots of culture and diversity as well. In fact, some folks are gonna wanna be friends with you just because you have a British accent (but you can ignore them since they're obviously superficial.) Nobody's gonna corner you and take issue with your nationality though, unlike other parts of the country.

San Francisco is a serious money/finance town, for better or worse. More employment opportunities for the appropriately credentialed than most places, plus bigger salaries due to our outrageously high cost of living. Bear in mind that that's in SF proper though; you can find cheaper places to live outside the city and still be within ½ hour of downtown.

Finally, L.A. requires that you have a car. If you don't... you have no life. The San Francisco Bay Area on the other hand has a pretty extensive transit infrastructure so you can get around.

Don't get me wrong: SF isn't perfect. We're expensive and a little full of ourselves. But - there's a reason it's such a popular tourist destination for Europeans too...

PM me if you have any other questions.

[Shum]

What kind of thing are you looking to study? Not trying to sound biased but te northeast has some I the best universities in the country

Not forgetting that the west coast has The University of California system (LA, Irvine, Berkley, etc.), Caltech, and Stanford among others.