I took a trip to Colorado this summer and it was the first time in my life I ever really left the south. It just blew my fucking mind. I love where I'm from, but there's just so much fucked up shit that I just thought was how it was. I'm a white cishet, so I'm not vulnerable to the worst of the south, but it absolutely blew my mind seeing somewhere that you didn't just have a background level of distressing shit in view at all times. The most striking thing was how there weren't any ruins around. You get used to seeing overgrown, dilapidated buildings dotting the side of the road pretty much everywhere you go. It was wild to me how rare that was, comparatively, once you get to the other side of Texas. There's a million other things, but honestly I didn't spend enough time there to really know if all of them are the norm or if I'm just making shit up. As shitty as I feel saying it, it would also be nice to try dating somewhere there weren't quite so many ""country"" girls.
My only regret would be leaving behind all my friends and family. That's just such an insane leap to me, and I have no faith that I'd be able to find new friends elsewhere now that I'm out of college. I know I'm experiencing a massively cliche impulse and all that, and that there's lots of problems that will follow you wherever you move, but how do I know if I'm insane or not? Does anybody have advice for trying to find a job somewhere you don't live? I'm sick of all these damn pine trees.
I have some bad news about California
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Like someone else said, once you get rural, it gets bad. I love LA, maybe my favorite city. There's a real real real problem in East LA with violent white supremacists some of whom run the sheriff's department.
Outside of LA, the central valley is not a pleasant place because the people fucking suck.
San Diego is a city that sends chuds out to the desert to shoot migrants.
I love California, I grew up there. It's probably the best state in the US. But it's a neoliberal hell as well. Fucking Reagan was governor and came out of Orange county and the Panthers got started in Oakland. You'll find tons of good people in California but there are tons of bad ones too.
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Do you have dietary restrictions? Mobility restrictions? What do you like to do? How long will you be there and do you have a car?
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Lol no apologies necessary. You're basically on the West side which is very liberal. The West side is west of the 405 and UCLA is pretty much right there. I lived in Brentwood for 5 years. You're probably not going to run into much visible discrimination on the West side. Stay away from Beverly hills, the cops there are VERY racist. And Beverly hills sucks anyway unless you've got 50k to spend on a purse or whatever.
UCLA is pretty good but it's very college kid oriented. Venice is an Uber away (or a solid walk on the beach) and it was (probably still is) very...grimey. Homeless encampments are policed by the local cities and Santa Monica pushed it's homeless population to Venice for the most part. Santa Monica is very tourist but also, honestly, quite a nice time. The Culver hotel in Culver City is a good place to grab a drink, I can give you all the bar recommendations lol.
I would highly recommend Sawtelle Blvd if you like Asian food. Unfortunately I'm like the opposite of a vegetarian so most of my recommendations are going to be bad. But if you have a genre you prefer I can probably give you a place.
I love the Santa Monica mountains there's several entry points to do some hiking. Great views.
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Venice is good to visit though the grime is definitely part of the vibe and culture there. Santa Monica, 3rd Street is a great walk. It's a tourist trap for a reason.
If you like video games, Riot is a walkable destination.
Phorage and mama hongs are my Vietnamese recommendations :)
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