Four year ago , I moved to San Diego on a whim . While on a road trip through townsfolk , I became clamant best supporter with a barkeep at an Irish legal community that no longer exists in Pacific Beach . It ’s entirely potential that I was suffering from sunstroke after broil on the beach , or perchance it was all the booze she was feeding me , but a week later when she said , “ My roomie is out of town for a month , move in with me ! ” I said OK .
Call it synchronicity , call it fate , or call it plain dumb luck , but within a month of crouch at her house , I met the then - editor for Thrillist San Diego at a party . The rest is history . I ate and drank , photographed , and wrote my way of life across this town . But I could sense my time here was running its course . After four days of sunny San Diego , another city was calling to me ; which one , I did n’t yet have it off . But I knew that it was time for me to leave this paradise everyone accuses San Diego of being .
I jam my car with my stuff and road tripped ( a theme of mine ) across the country . When I drove into Nashville , Tennessee , there was a twofold rainbow over the highway – I take aim that as a hopeful sign . I did n’t impart .
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I ’ve been be there for almost three month now . I miss the sea more than I call up I would , but I ’ve eaten hot chicken , two - stepped , take heed to incredible live medicine , drank whiskey in smoky bars , and have met so many talented , motivated , originative young people who are beyond inspire . The nights are filled with the sound of cricket in the trees , the foliage are change with the time of year , and I can not wait to violate out my winter pelage for the first time in years .
The genuine Southern cordial reception of this city has been consuming . I ’ve heard the phrase “ Welcome to Nashville ! ” sky-high utter from every single individual who finds out that I just impress to town . I ’ve been taken in with assailable arms and have become completely enchanted by the metropolis ’s magical spell . Most significantly , I hold out in a house that has fundamental line conditioning .
But why exactly did I leave San Diego ? I ’ll collapse it down .
Fall in Nashville|KennStilger47/Shutterstock
My job was ruining my health
Writing about food for a life certainly has its perks , but fitness is not one of them . As a food writer , no chef take in you into their restaurant to smack the awful Modern salad they just put on the computer menu . My meals oftentimes include multi - course dinners full of rich , delicious foods envelop in bacon , covered in cream sauces , and packed with calories , and none was all over without smack the integral new cocktail program or receive a guile beer pairing with each path . This was n’t just a once in a while natural event . Sometimes this was several days a week and sometimes more than once in a day . The result was more system of weights gained than I ’ll ever intromit to and hangovers on more days than not . Even though I was work out regularly , my 30 - something physical structure just could n’t keep up with the gluttonous life-style I was forcing it to comply . I find unhealthy , lethargic , and physically completely pitiful . Something had to give and I did n’t require it to be the button on my drawers .
I missed the four seasons
endure in a never - stop summer sound like paradise , but if I had to ignite up to another perfect , sunny , cloudless twenty-four hours I was give way to freak out . I know , I know – spoken like a true graft . Sure , the intact calendar month of June is sort of gray-haired , but I enjoy the occasional gloomy day at other times of the class or having an good afternoon thunderstorm that does n’t cause complete chaos in the streets just because it ’s a short wet alfresco .
feel the crispness of the melodic phrase in fall and examine the leafage change colour is one of my favored thing in aliveness . In SoCal , the changing of seasons is much more abrupt . It seems like the leaves die and fall off of the trees overnight then suddenly , it ’s winter ( if you could even call it that ) . The 70 degree “ winter ” weather condition is not exactly conducive to wearing the intimate sweaters and coat that I lie with and have had to keep in repositing for the last 4 years . Sorry / not sorry , dame of PB , but shake Uggs and a scarf with a mini - chick and a army tank top does not measure up as wintertime article of clothing .
I need air conditioning
While we ’re on temperature , I will never realize why the people of San Diego cling to the idea that air conditioning is not a necessity . I am almost confirming that I came hazardously close to having a heat shot more than a few time while living here . There were days when I would sit down in the car in my own driveway with the A / C on blow just to get a little relief from the sweltering temps . The ocean child’s play might have been enough to cool the city off 30 + years ago , but here ’s the bad news SD : global warming is a real matter and it ’s only getting hot .
San Diego was a waste of time, literally
I get it . We go in a beach townspeople that perpetuate a vacation wit . If your biggest preferent peeve is being late ( like mine is ) , this laid - back mind-set is enough to take you insane . I was raise that promptness picture usual good manners and deference for other people and their time . Therefore , I am early or on time everywhere I go . If I ’m running late and have n’t called to let you recognise I ’m on my way , it ’s safe to assume that I ’m either in the hand brake way or lie in a ditch somewhere .
Being a minimum of 15 minute late or not present up at all is the average in SD . If you have plans with someone or a confluence scheduled and do n’t confirm with them the day of , chances are they wo n’t show up at all . If I had a dollar for every minute I wasted expect on people who were run late or who flaked on me altogether , I could have afforded to install central atmosphere conditioning in my house .
Finding true friends was tough
After spending almost four old age work in an industry where I encounter century of multitude , I can count my close San Diego friends on one hand . Nothing is more important to me in life than my friend and having true relationship , and I perfectly adore the protagonist I did make while I was here . But it was unmanageable to find friendships that went deep than the Earth’s surface . It seemed like people were more interested in what I could do for them than they were in actually getting to know me . I ca n’t exactly blame people for this though – in ecumenical , I rule the culture in SoCal to be insincere , flaky , and self - serving , and that mentality was ready me guarded and cynical . It just was n’t working for me anymore .
I was looking for greener pastures
I fly high on modification and new experiences . When I proceed to San Diego in 2012 , the food scene was growing speedily and there were unique and interesting new bars and restaurants opening all over township . The menus were becoming notably more advanced and lofty than the typical Cali burritos and fish tacos that the metropolis was known for . The cocktail programs were make a name for themselves and craft brewing was explode . It was an exciting time to be a part of the food for thought earthly concern in SD . I felt incredibly golden to be right-hand in the middle of it all and I enjoyed every last bite , but it was time to move on .
Now that I ’m in Nashville , I can feel that same excitement building around the solid food scene here like I did when I first travel to SD . The potency to receive the new flavors and mantrap of an entirely dissimilar and growing solid food cultivation – and on my own terms , not because a job dictates it – get my mouth urine . Hell , Anthony Bourdain just air a Nashville episode ofParts Unknown . As a traveller , writer , and a nutrient devotee , this metropolis is a plaza that is just begging to be explored .
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Beach in San Diego|Dancestrokes/Shutterstock
Courtesy of Husk
