2. Socal people use words like "bomb" and "sick" they abuse the words "dude" and "man." I got the strangest stares from a group of Bay Area kids when I said "Dude this food is freakin' bomb!"
3. When someone is really really ugly, norcal people say the word "hurt" instead of the socal term, "beat."
ex:
Socal native: "Dang, that girl is beat!"
Norcal native: "That girl is hella hurt!"
4. The weather. The air is so ridiculously fresh and clean in the santa cruz/monterey area that my nose burns every time I breathe the morning air. Seriously, I had to get candles, insense, and humidifier to pollute my room up a little. Norcal air is like guaranteed pneumonia for the socal native.
5. Santa Cruz people are WEIRD. Everyone is a freaking activist protesting "unjust" cause. Seriously, they will protest the death of you if you don't recycle.
6. Socal is a bit more stuck up, but I have to say, the people in socal have an attraction level several notches higher than norcal.
7. Socal = conservative, Yes on 8
Santa Cruz= liberal (x1000000) , NO on 8! (exclamation included)
let's just say that I've been seeing bumper stickers all over UCSC that says "Keep Santa Cruz Weird, Keep Santa Cruz Queer!"
8. Santa Cruzis a hike. Seriously, living in northern california made me realize how boonie it was. People here tend to do things like mountain bike, hike. walk trails, climb trees, and tie-dye shirts. Socal on the other hand has a wider range of things to do.
9. Norcal is very hilly. 17 freeway, NUFF said.
10. They have way more nude beaches in norcal and nudity is not as big of a deal as in socal. For example, Santa Cruz is known for the yearly First Rain Naked Run. And let me tell you, it really is what it sounds like. Socal on the other hand is known for things like Undie Runs... and even with the undie run, it's not allowed to be done unless for a reasonable cause. Socal's reasonable cause: clothes taken off prior to the undie run is donated to charity.
11. In Santa Cruz your friendly neighbors just happen to be a nice family of deers. As you take the hike to get to your class, you pass a deer eating less than 10 feet of you in the big redwood forest. At night, we're afraid to eat a sandwich by a pack of raccoons because there's a 75% chance you will get mugged.
12. Socal people tend to be more loud and obnoxious, whereas norcal people are more laid back and "chill." The bad thing about Santa Cruz is, though they are really open-minded, they are very awkward. Socal people on the other hand are much more likely to be more social.
13. The style up here is so different. People in socal dress 100xs better, but they worry about their looks too much. Norcal people are more for that "hippie" look with the dirty rasta look. Socal is more of clean-cut L.A. look with dark levi's (for guys) with a very groomed look.
14. Weed. Santa Cruz loves its weed. They scoff at socal kids when they talk about weed. Norcal is notorious for its leniency on its cannabis laws. Also, the weed in norcal is way stronger than the grass that they have in socal.
15. In socal you can get away with wearing short shorts and a tube top about 330 days out of the year. In Norcal, you can almost get away with wearing short shorts and a tubetop 15 days out of the year.
16. Everyone rides the freaking bus in Santa Cruz!!!
17. Socal has way more diverse people. For example, the korean population in norcal sucks. The Asians in norcal are generally Vietnamese (San Jose) or Chinese (San Francisco).
18. Norcal is the reason why Obama won his presidency.
Personally, I might be biased because Santa Cruz is really weird, but honestly, places a few miles north in the San Jose area are fairly similar to SoCal with a really nice crowd. But I still prefer socal, it's generally a more intimate place (excluding LA) and I'm a sucker for the beaches.
