By Lauren Spitz

After living my entire life in or around Philadelphia (and college in upstate New York), I got accepted to graduate school at UC Santa Cruz. I was excited to relive the epic tale of the forefathers of this country, “Go west!” I had no idea that California was going to be so different from Philadelphia. It’s the same country. We eat the same food and drive the same cars. We’re all Americans, right?! Yet I had no idea how far apart the east and west coasts of this country actually were until I drove the entire length last September. Read the rest of this entry »