Where we're living is probably about 100 feet from the sand of the beach. But to us it's not "beach weather". It's actually quite chilly, hanging out in the 60s all day and all night. The mornings are usually calm but at night it gets really windy and it's too cold to be outside comfortably.
I went out running on the beach at about 7AM on Wednesday. There's a nice paved bike path that goes probably 20 miles or more along the beach. When I was out, there were already surfers out in the (freezing cold!) water. The waves are really big here and they break very close into the shore. There's also a lot more sand between the water and the dunes, and the sand is different here than at home. It's a lot more coarse and has a lot more variance in color. (I'll take some pictures later.)
Overall, people seem pretty friendly here--much more friendly than Boston. Runners and bikers do acknowledge one another when they pass (it was weird for me in Boston when people seemed to pretend that I didn't exist!). The store clerks and restaurant staff, as well as all our coworkers, are all very nice. However, all that courtesy seems to disappear when inside a car. People are super-agressive drivers here, and we're not anywhere near the heart of the city. I've seen a lot of brave bikers riding in the bike lanes, but it'd make me very nervous to ride a bike on the road here. Also, here, motorcyclists are allowed to ride between lanes of traffic, which is terrifying.
We're southwest of the city, and the city is mostly obscured by smog (I'm guessing) when we're in view of it. Same for the mountains. Photos like this must be taken at super close range or in much different weather conditions, because we can only make out the shapes of the mountains against the horizon and maybe the shapes of some of the buildings.
Groceries here are less expensive in some ways and more expensive in others. First, at home, I shop at Aldi, which of course is a lot less expensive than anything else. There is no Aldi here, so obviously everything's more expensive. Our first grocery stop was at a standard grocery store called Ralph's, which is related to Kroger's. I'd say it was probably on par with a Bi-Lo back home. The next grocery stop we made was Trader Joe's, and I was surprised to find that a lot of things were cheaper there than the Ralph's, since TJ's back home is marginally more expensive than the regular grocery stores. But then, in our mailbox, I got a flyer for "Sprouts Farmer's Market", which I had thought would be more expensive just judging by its name. But actually looking at the salespaper it's much cheaper than both Ralph's and Trader Joe's. I know most of you probably think this whole discussion is boring, but I think it's interesting just because all these differences in prices must have to do with differences in the way food is grown and distributed here. Here, unlike in SC, the organic, farm based option really is cheaper or equivalent to the non-organic, imported option. I guess it's because a lot of things grow in California and because a lot of people and farmers feel that organic produce is important.
Now we have a three day weekend and we're not sure what to do with it. Some of our fellow interns are going to Hollywood today sometime but were calling it quits around 1pm to watch a soccer game, so we didn't think it was worth the drive. We might get dressed and ride bikes down to Venice Beach to see what's going on there. We hear it's a really nice area.
We'll keep you posted!
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