"Where are you going to college?" was the question of the year for my peers and I in 1999. I remember sitting at an after-prom party, and the person next to me replied, "San Diego State." Everyone around me nodded with approval. Then, I was asked the same question. I stated, "Brandeis University." Instead of friendly replies, I received a bunch of blank stares. "Where is that?" "Boston," I responded. In return, someone remarked, "Well, I've never heard of it." Another person had a stern warning: "Man, you're gonna freeze your ass off there!"Imagine my frustration. While San Diego State is a perfectly respectable state school (but hardly seen as prestigious as its University of California counterparts), Brandeis was then ranked around #30 in the nation. Yet, the other student would be living it up by the beach, drinking at 18 over the border in Tijuana, while I had chosen to move to the tundra (I'm not exaggerating - that's what Boston weather was referred to by many a person in my hometown).

No, this is not a scene from that Colin Hanks/Jack Black flick, "Orange County." But, although I didn't find the film particularly enjoyable, in some ways I could relate to it, even though the protagonist's escape was Stanford, much closer to my home than New England. I wanted adventure. After 18 years of living in or near Santa Barbara, California, I felt that a small school in New England might be much more my speed than UCLA, which had been my intended university for a long time. So I made the leap - in fall 1999, I entered Brandeis University.

For someone who never even visited New England before the grand college circuit tour at age 17, I was in for a shock. I had no family ties to the area. I must have been the only Jew in the country without a single relative in the New York region. But, after moving to Waltham (which I soon learned was pronounced much more jarringly than I had originally believed), I became a good observer. I was now bi-coastal. And, to assist new California students and native Easterners alike to understand this unique situation, here is a Westerner's view on life in the East.

First, the disadvantages of living in the East: For one, flights home are usually more expensive than flights to London. And, summer storage of your personal items is a nightmare. Students from Montreal and Toronto get free summer storage at the university as international students, while people from California (and worse, Hawaii) are left to fend for themselves, even though Montreal is a six-hour drive from school, while California is a six-hour flight!

People's accents are often indecipherable. My first week at school, a local girl asked me if I wanted to go to a "potty." I replied, "Thanks, but I just used the bathroom." It took me awhile to learn that this was the kind of "potty" (party) with "beya" (beer). And once you finally get the Boston lingo down, you'll then have to learn the Long Island (a.k.a. Lawng Iland) version of English. Why can't everyone just speak like Dan Rather?

Eastern college students often have very different taste in music, clothing and accessories. Guster and the Dave Matthews Band reigns supreme over So-Cal punk. Here, the word "thong" refers only to underwear, while in California, "flip-flops" are also referred to as "thongs." And, to answer two age-old questions: "Billabong" is a clothing brand, not something you smoke weed with. And "Sex Wax" is hardly a lubricant -- it goes on your surfboard!

As an American Studies and History double major, I have taken a lot of historical courses at Brandeis. And, to my dismay, although California by itself ranks as the fifth largest economy in the world, it seems to have no place in academia, at least at Brandeis. The Gold Rush and wagon trains are ignored for the Concords and Lexingtons of the world, it seems mostly due to geographic proximity to the university. This limited perspective does make sense though, when you learn that most Brandeis students who are East Coast natives have never been West of Pittsburgh!

After coming to Boston, I finally learned why there are no freeways in Massachusetts. That's because hardly any major roads are free! Can't taxpayers fund their own highways? Why do poor motorists have to be dripping in quarters just to drive three or four miles?

Baseball season is sacred on the East Coast. Especially at Brandeis. Especially in the post-season, if the Yankees, the Mets, or the Red Sox are still in the contest. Personally, I prefer Kobe and Shaq any day. If I must choose, my favorite baseball team is the Dodgers, and my second favorite is every team besides the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, which is meant purely to alienate myself from 95 percent of the Brandeis student (and faculty) population.

For all the negative aspects about coming east for college, some positives do exist. For example, going home is a vacation in itself. When your East Coast friends are stuck where it is 90 degrees and humid in the summertime and below zero in the winter, Californians are living it up in a Mediterranean climate. Trust me, all your new East Coast friends will want to visit you on breaks!
Going to school in New England also means you can take time to discover the East Coast, which is very cool, especially since the states here don't take at least 14 to16 hours to drive across from north to south. Brandeis is a hop, skip, and an I-95 from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Even Canada is fairly accessible. In the summer, the water temperature in New Hampshire and Cape Cod is the same 65 degrees as in Malibu and Santa Barbara (but unfortunately without the great waves). Skiing here in the winter can also be great, although the "mountains" are more like 2,000 feet tall rather than the 10,000 feet seen at Tahoe or in the Rockies.

The phone is also your friend, much more than it is for your East Coast counterparts. West Coast parents can't make early Sunday morning phone calls -- after all, would they really want to call you when it is 4 a.m. their time? I think not (at least, my parents aren't that insane). Plus, you can put all those free night and weekend minutes on your cell phone to good use since it is three hours earlier at home.

As for television, it is quite cool to actually catch "Saturday Night Live" live for the first time . and the awards shows are all tailored to Eastern time and shown live here, even when they take place on the West Coast. Plus, you can preview "Friends" before your old friends back home. You do have to get used to later Superbowl parties though.

There have obviously been a lot of consequences to my decision to go East for college. But these have led to many more experiences than my San Diego State counterparts, and many more observations. I think that is a good thing. I've expanded my horizons much more than people who remained in their own region for college. And, I'm not the only observer of coastal differences. After a lifetime spent mostly on the East Coast, the Notorious B.I.G. felt he was, "Going back to Cali, strictly for the weather/ Women, and the weed." I am a straight woman who doesn't smoke weed, so those reasons don't quite fit for me. But, no matter how much I love New England, I think I'll always go back to Cali often, if not permanently, especially for the weather!

-- Jamie Freed '03 submits a column to the Justice