Culture Differences: Eastern vs Western US

Parents Forum
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<p>From my PacificNW- based friends’ accounts and my own Seattle trip this past summer…I can clearly see that. People definitely dress much more casually and at least in Seattle…that level of casualness reminded me very much of how students dressed at Oberlin(One Obie parent was quoted as saying “Students go out of their way to dress ugly here.” Reading between the lines…he/she’s probably really saying they dress far too casually for their East Coast/West Coast upper-middle class comfort(i.e. Not conforming with fashionista/formal corporate wear). </p>

<p>In contrast, students at Columbia dress much more formally…including a visible minority who seemingly don corporate wear(i.e. suits) to every class. Even with non-corporate clothes…students do seem to dress to impress more than students in the Boston area or moreso…students at Oberlin College when I attended in the '90s. Even so…there’s one school which beats them hands down in this department…NYU…and they do it with a bit of an attitude.</p>

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<p>According to several friends who drive in Boston and NYC…they’d definitely prefer driving in NYC. While they hate the traffic and aggressive drivers in both…they’d always say “At least New Yorkers KNOW how to drive.” One friend was especially adamant on this point after being rear-ended twice by clueless Boston drivers in situations where it was confirmed they were clearly at fault.</p>

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<p>No worries NHope, I agree on the traffic!! On a personal level, I can’t stand to drive in DC…tourist from all over the nation that may never have driven in a city are all of a sudden let loose. It can be miserable! I avoid it at all costs and take PTransit as much a possible. I’ve never been to Boston and have always taken PTransit in NYC. Atlanta is miserable because every darn road is named Peachtree!!</p>

<p>You’ll find a very refined form of passive aggressive behavior in the south. Sometimes you don’t even know it’s happening until a local points it out.</p>

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<p>Sure there are differences between east coast and west coast, just as there is between northern California and southern California. I grew up in Boston and moved to what I thought was the more liberal state of California. Well, don’t know if it was a local thing to the part of CA where I moved to but CA was much more conservative than where I was from. And besides that, they talked funny in CA, they actually pronounced their "r"s.</p>

<p>My daughter now goes to college at WPI in Worcester, MA. Mostly kids from the northeast there, but some from all over. She loves the small differences that everyone brings with them. She just had to get used to the language. She was asking where the “fountain” was when she needed a drink. Her friends pointed her to the big fountain outside until they realized what she was really looking for was the “bubbler”.</p>

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<p>The inexperience of tourists is not the main problem. the underlying problem that accounts for the stress of driving in DC is L’Enfant’s perpetual curse on the city - the spiderweb layout of the streets. Those crazy intersections where you’ve got six or seven streets converging are just horrible. Try to design a stoplight algorithm that will keep all that chaos flowing smoothly.</p>

<p>If instead of the spiderweb L’Enfant has bequeathed us a nice, simple rectangular grid design, say similar to Salt Lake City’s, driving in DC would be orders of magnitude easier.</p>

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<p>I concur with this observation by EmeraldKity. Understand that we were a 100% East family (from Boston to Baltimore, in many cities, colleges and small towns) until S-2 took up our dare. We told all our kids not to apply anywhere west of the Mississippi River unless they had a good reason. One B.A. degree later from a California college with specialty in filmmaking (doub major in Screenwriting & History) and we now have our bicoastal observer, a recent grad living and working at age 22 in downtown L.A. It’s particularly interesting to hear the two brothers talk, as the eldest is a working actor in NYC, recently married and living in Brooklyn.</p>

<p>Here’s what I hear most often, listening to them talk:</p>

<p>So. California sprawls, East Coast cities are built tightly together. Young son’s “baby” is his car; older son hopes to never have to own one. Staying in shape, westcoast, means weights & gym. On the east, walk or buy a bike to save subway fare (and BE CAREFUL!!) </p>

<p>So. Californians think it’s vaguely amusing or irrelevant if you are (any of these: Italian, Greek, Irish, Jewish, came over on the Mayflower, came through Ellis Island…). In the Northeast, ethnicity is still blood sport among some Boomers, but a topic of warm inquiry and curiosity at college age. And Easterners think “covered wagons” are old station wagons before seatbelts.</p>

<p>So.Cal women are much more high maintenance in the young adult dating world. They’ll comment if your belt buckle is designer and expect a quality restaurant dinner for first date. East Coast women still read books and don’t dismiss a guy for suggesting an ethnic diner for first date, as long as the food is GREAT. </p>

<p>9/11 proved the genuine “I’m There For You” direct quality of New York City folks. They are present, in-the-moment, often funny/creative/sarcastic in non-emergencies but never spacey when another human being is in real trouble. Being a misplaced tourist or h.s. student on Spring Break, trying to find the subway to Times Square, is not real trouble. You can ask for help, and you’ll get a quick point to the correct corner. Everyone’s trying to get home to their home life, so street walking feels like quite a rush to newcomers.</p>

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<p>I dunno. Maybe I always managed to hit it on Casual Fridays or something, but the times I’ve visited Columbia the kids seemed to dress just like college kids anywhere else. Like the kids in these campus shots:</p>

<p><a href=“I Photo New YorkI Photo New York”>I Photo New YorkI Photo New York;
<a href=“Forbrukslån Artikler | Beste Tips For Lån - Buffalopost”>http://buffalopost.net/wp-content/uploads/columbia.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.exploring-america.com/pics/columbia-university-main-campus.jpg[/url]”>http://www.exploring-america.com/pics/columbia-university-main-campus.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2011/12/19/207013-a-student-walks-across-the-campus-of-columbia-university-in-new-york.jpg[/url]”>http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2011/12/19/207013-a-student-walks-across-the-campus-of-columbia-university-in-new-york.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://tmora.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/P1030156-1024x768.jpg[/url]”>http://tmora.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/P1030156-1024x768.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>As far as college culture is concerned, and the level of comfort of a student from a different geographical region, consider the diversity of the student body and the extent of the campus “bubble.” Urban and rural settings can make a big difference, too. A California student attending Duke may get very little experience of Southern culture, whereas a student at East Carolina will be saturated. However, any Duke student should learn by the end of first semester what “barbecue” really means – pulled pork, preferably cooked in a big wood-fired smoker, with a vinegar-based sauce.</p>

<p>I’ve lived in various regions of the country, and one of the biggest cultural differences I’ve experienced is the initial information exchanged on introduction in a social setting. In the urban east (particularly Washington, D.C.), people tend to introduce themselves or others with job description, often as the first thing offered, ex: “She’s a legislative analyst for GM and her name is Julie.” Elsewhere in the country, this information isn’t as crucial. I now live in a small Midwestern town and I confess I have no idea how some of my neighbors earn their living, even those with whom I’ve shared dinner several times. People here don’t tend to talk about work as much or base their identities on it. More important to know if someone is a Spartan or Wolverine (most divide into one of the two camps regardless of whether they attended one of the schools, with the exception of the Notre Dame minority).</p>

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<p>It is hard to generalize California. Areas of California are very conservative and then there are Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Berkeley. As mentioned above, the directness typical of New Yorkers grows on you after a while and knowing where you stand is often appreciated. My daughter has applied to Sewanee and enjoyed her overnight visit there. It is probably her first choice, but I suspect that there will some serious adjustment from California to rural Tennessee. However, she has travelled quite a bit, gets along with lots of different types of people, and is easy going with everyone but her parental units, so I suspect that she will adjust well if she goes there.</p>

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<p>Glad to hear so many people talking about how it’s impossible to lump such a large geographic area together and say they are a certain way. Our families lives here in our small town in PA is much different then my BIL’s family in Manhattan. I think city people are generally different then those of us that live in small towns, and I don’t think that’s as much of a “coast” thing as it is a city thing.</p>

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<p>There is a very practical reason why colleges drawing from a national student body emphasize diversity and tolerance. Even among white upper middle class America, there is amazing diversity depending on region, whether rural or urban, interests, etc. That is before you reach race, religion, sexual orientation, political leanings, class, and other potentially more divisive characteristics. If you are only comfortable with your own kind, then secular university life may prove very challenging or unpleasant. Of course, tolerance can go too far, but having a large mass of teenagers and early twenties students who can handle differences is generally a good thing. The goal of diversity for major universities helps them reflect the diversity of the Country, which is also generally a good thing.</p>

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<p>*There is a very practical reason why colleges drawing from a national student body emphasize diversity and tolerance. *</p>

<p>Unless you stay in the bubble of your university- your daily life is going to be flavored by the area in which it is located.</p>

<p>I don’t have a problem with college students preferring a certain feel of an area over another.</p>

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<p>hahahaha…I spent the first 25 years in one of these and the subsequent 25 in another. Nothing comes close to the definition of ‘weird’ as do these three places. Berkeley and SC seem to have put ‘soap’ into the environmentally destructive category and large portions of the population avoids the product. And SF…well Herb Caen said it best many years ago…it’s a bowl of granola full of nuts, fruits and flakes…</p>

<p>But…go about 5 miles outside of these bubbles and it is a completely different world. You cross a border without having to show a passport :)</p>

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<p>My daughter, from the west coast, now attends school in the southeast. The culture is very different, and she has enjoyed the adjustment. The dress is more formal at her school. Girls wear dresses quite often. She did say that people are also much more formal in their way of talking and addressing one another. Most everyone knows their family lineage. She was quick to pick up on that. Tea, well just isn’t tea. You have to request unsweetened tea. BBQ is not an event in your backyard but a food category. The event you have in the backyard is a cookout. People will think you odd if you have never had sweet tea or grits, not that you have to like them, but to have never had them? Unthinkable! :slight_smile: Many students are from the northeast are also on campus, she said they tend to be very straight forward and less concerned about saying things softly. It was her intention to go to a school in a different geographical location so she expected the differences, although there was a learning curve.</p>

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<p>If you don’t have a car, or money for transportation, and if you are studying diligently and perhaps playing a sport or an instrument, there may be little opportunity to leave the university bubble unless one of your interests is volunteering for the community. I saw New York on my way to and from Yale, but never during the semester - I visited Boston for the Harvard / Yale game - the one game I saw per year. There was a lot to do on campus, and presumably as much or more in the way of campus activities now than back then.</p>

<p>Mommamocha, I am hoping that my daughter’s experience will mirror what you have described for your daughter. She has applied to several southern schools looking for academics and equestrian programs. My daughter intends to return to California, but wanted to leave the state for college for a different experience. The weather alone will be a significant adjustment. I am glad that things are going well for another west coaster trying out the southeast.</p>

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<p>From a joke about the class system in America:</p>

<p>On the East Coast, its “Where did you go to college?”</p>

<p>In the South, its “What does your daddy do?”</p>

<p>In the Midwest, its “What kind of job do you have?” and</p>

<p>In the West, its “What kind of car do you drive?”</p>

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<p>Too bad it is not “how do you do?” (said sincerely) everywhere! :)</p>

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<p>A college counselor once told me that students from CA don’t do well in non urban east coast and mid-west smaller colleges. Once the leaves fall off the trees and it gets dark early, depression sets in. Many opt to return to CA the next year.</p>

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<p>While a generality, not a truth, there is some merit to concern over Californian’s adjustment to darkness and cold in the winter time. My son had a very rough adjustment his first semester to a darker, colder clime in at Whitman in Wallla Walla, Washington. (Sorry, I love the alliteration.) However, he has rebounded well and that does not seem to be a problem anymore.</p>

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<p>Re posts #37/38, my old boss’s daughter (from Northern California) went to college in upstate NY and had a very hard time with how dark it was during the winter. There’s a reason so many California kids stay here.</p>

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<p>cbreeze, that reminds me of a funny family experience. I’m from New Mexico, and winter gets pretty chilly there. In my twenties I moved to San Francisco where I got married and had kids. </p>

<p>My SF family and I normally visited my extended NM family over the Christmas school break. As our youngest child grew up, there were repeated years when we made this annual Christmas trek, and he was thrilled to go play in snow and ski. One summer when he was about 6 we changed our routine, making a summer visit. I found my small son in my parent’s yard staring at the huge river Cottonwoods which were in full leaf. He turned to me and said, “they’re alive, I always thought all the trees were dead.” I guess his experience with deciduous trees was somewhat limited.</p>