04 Sep 5 ways you’re becoming San Franciscan…

I have now been living in San Francisco for almost a month, and each time I venture into the city I realize more and more how I have adapted since first arriving here. Here are 5 ways to tell if you too are becoming a true San Franciscan:

1)   Tourists

You have very little patience for slow-moving herds of tourists. Fisherman’s Wharf becomes one of your least favorite places to visit, because that’s where they congregate. So whenever you do decide to go and look at the bay, you’re immediately accepting that you are going to be surrounded by packs of slow walkers who you have to weave in and out of almost constantly. You dread getting on the number 28 bus at any stop by Presidio because there’s no doubt it’s crammed with clueless, personal space invading, sweaty tourists who are flocking to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, the irony of all this is that as a study abroad student, you kind of are a tourist here as well.

2)   Place names

You also notice that you’ve stopped referring to everywhere as ‘San Francisco’. You now acknowledge the fact that San Francisco’s various neighborhoods and districts are as diverse as the city’s culture. With this realization, you start to say that you’re heading to ‘the Mission’ or ‘the Castro’. You don’t just say ‘the city’ anymore, and you realize that North Beach and Downtown aren’t the same thing. These places don’t just merge into one; they are distinctly different to one another and you respect that by calling them by their own names.

3)   Facial hair

This may seem like an odd one, but you stop staring when you see men with facial hair like the guy on the Pringles can. In a similar way, you now consider it normal to see people walking around in harem pants that have Bob Marley’s face printed all over them. This is San Francisco, and different is pretty normal here. So what if someone decides to grow a full beard and plait their initials into it? And so what if that guy’s got a soul patch and he wears a straw trilby? Maybe he’s a big Jamiroquai fan?

4)   Public transport

Pretty basic, but as a novice San Franciscan, you now know the difference between MUNI and BART. Both are trains that operate underground. They also run through some of the same stations, but NO. They are not the same thing and they do not charge the same amounts and you cannot transfer your ticket across from one to the other. As a public transport God, you also know to board on the front carriage if you don’t have a ticket, and don’t make eye contact with the man who has his crackpipe out because he will talk to you.

5)   Use the word ‘hella’

Last, but most certainly not least, you start using the word ‘hella’. This is a NorCal term used in the place of ‘very’ or ‘really’. For example, rather than ‘that dress is really cute’, you say ‘that dress is hella cute’. I have been using the phrase ‘it’s hella warm outside’ at a pathetic 68°F, which is nothing special for the native Californians. I on the other hand think it’s a second summer.

And so I can only conclude that rather than being an English fraud simply trying to adopt NorCal culture, I am in fact embodying the spirit of a true San Franciscan, no matter how trivial my logic.

Forever fearing the man with the crackpipe,

Lucie.

P.S. – If you enjoyed this post, please go and have a look at my year abroad blog! It’s www.luciesyearabroad.tumblr.com