The 7 Stages of Living in San Diego

Duuuude . A metropolis with a world - class beer scene , oversupply of outdoor activities , and summers that look like something out of a Pacifico commercial message , San Diego is a SICK place to dwell . But if you design on move here from elsewhere , prepare yourself , man . Because as any transplantation will tell you , move to San Diego involves a prolonged adjustment process which always ask the follow seven stage :

Stage one: The “I am the luckiest person alive” phase

Where you ’re live : It ’s a range : your full cousin ’s couch , Mission Beach , or someplace that make no sense at all , like Mission Valley , because you did n’t experience any skillful . Where you ’re going out : Mostly beach bars full of tourists . Who are still wearing their bathing suit . Even though it ’s midnight . And November . Your mantra:“Heaven … I ’m in heaven … " Go - to activity : Instagramming photos of palm trees , feed In - N - Out , smiling .

If you were hit tomorrow by one of those VW bus you see in the Tourmaline parking peck , you would die glad . You have realize your lifelong pipe dream of living in California , and right now , nothing – NOTHING – can rain down on your parade ( only partially because there is no rain ) . Ahhhh , yes , it is perfect here . Your dreaming of becoming an excellent surfer are full forming in your creative thinker . You are standing on a beach in Encinitas , enquire how anyone ever goes to form in this paradise . Even pump gas seems more glamorous . Also , your seasonal affective upset , which you had a small of before you stimulate here , never stood a chance because it is gay and 75 degrees here every damn mean solar day . Welcome to San Diego , my champion . toast it in . It always goes down legato . ( Until it does n’t . )

Stage two: The Pacific Beach phase

Where you ’re living : PB.Where you ’re going out : Miller ’s Field . PB Shore Club . If you ’re implausibly sophisticated , PB Ale House . Your mantra:“California knows how toparty . “Go - to activity:$1 huitre night , avoiding your Craigslist roomy , drink , skateboard , and surfing ( although believably not all that well ) .

Living in PB is like how getting the chickenpox was back in the day : noteveryonegets them , but most people do . And since most people live in PB at some point , most mass have their PB firsts . Their first Red Bull vodka slushie . Their first Slomo sighting ( that guyis gain ground at life , by the way ) . The first time they learn that drivers in PB are vicious because a car almost hit them on their beach squad car . PB is a mixed dish . It ’s college kids , tourist , and breakers rats , and then it ’s families doing remodels on their two - million dollar homes . Thisstage , though , is " I ’m young , somewhat weaken , make new to San Diego , and doom to make refutable decision , " and though it ’s not the classiest stagecoach in your organic evolution of becoming a tangible San Diegan , it is a fun , and defy we say necessary , one .

Stage three: The “I am a kook” phase

Where you ’re living : PB , OB , or North Park . Where you ’re go out : You’re not . You need a break . Your mantra:“I will adjust , I will adjust , I will adjust … “Go - to natural process : SayingI-5 andI-8 alternatively ofthe5 andthe8 , getting stung by stingrays because you do n’t know to shuffle your feetsies , yell yourself to slumber .

At six months in , there ’s still a great deal you do n’t know , and this can be challenging . " That dude had so much focal ratio on that last gurgler , but all he did was wild leek out"soundslike gibber , but you know , with a sinking feeling , that it ’s a substantial condemnation . You do n’t know which is your favorite hot sauce between Cholula and Tapatío , and this is a HUGE deal , but you do n’t yet read why . In some agency , you have become more like a local , for instance , your parallel parking acquirement have improved , and you were miff when you could n’t happen a decent açaí bowl at the Newark aerodrome . But you ’re still a fledgeling . A kook . Essentially , a alien . But do n’t care , brah . Your kookhood ( Kookdom ? Kookage ? Kookiness ? ) wo n’t last incessantly .

Stage four: The transformation phase

Where you ’re living : North Park , Normal Heights , OB , or Encinitas . Where you ’re going out : Seven Grand , Park & Rec , Winstons , Sycamore Den , Union , sweet , sweet brewery . fundamentally wherever your hipster friend / kickball squad want to go . Your mantra:“Dude , I ’m down . “Go - to natural process : Going to beer / food / music festivals , making ally , exploring the city .

Like a cat transforming into a tanner , less punctual butterfly stroke , you are turning into a local . You have said good-bye to your boat shoe , North Faces , and Lacoste polos , and hola to ironical Hawaiian shirts , Rainbows , and Vans . At this stage , one year gone , you ’re more colonised . And sure . Maybe you ’re not thebestsurfer , for example , you toddle out at Windansea yesterday on a Wavestorm and were almost murdered by a ocean of aggro 14 - class - olds with acne and supporter to boot . But at least you ’re set yourself out there . And at this stage , that ’s basically your motto . You are actualise that San Diego is like a sandy , seawater - rich onion : it has a caboodle of layers . And you intend toslice it and start cryingmake the most of it .

Stage five: The calm before the storm phase

Where you ’re survive : All over . Normal Heights , Little Italy , South Park , something on the other side of the train tracks in Carlsbad or Leucadia … Where you ’re going out : Whatever cool spot that just open up . A handful of breweries . Your mantra:“Zonies go home . “Go - to bodily process : outside activities ( hiking , golf , lay on the beach doing nothing ) ; making trips to places like Palm Springs , Mammoth , Oaxaca , and Tahoe ; enjoying our beautiful weather .

If your lifespan were a surf news report , it would be 4 - 5 + , glassy , and , dude : so much fun . You ’re well-heeled here now . You love the city . And when you babble to friends and family from out - of - state , you keep differentiate them that , and this is important : you do n’t think you ’ll " ever be able to forget . " This verbiage hint at something of a phenomenon in San Diego . Something all of us will go through if / when we survive here long enough . You feel it when you ’re frustrated with the sport squad . Or when none of your friends knows what " NPR " fend for . It is feeling torn between want the benefit of a bigger , more fast - paced city , while at the same clip , wonder how you could ever leave this paradise . Fornow , though , three to four years in , you ’re not there yet . You are as felicitous as a clam that has yet to be dredged from the sea floor by Point Loma Seafoods . But like that dollar , your happiness may be fugitive , because soon you will go through …

Stage six: The “I need to get the hell out of here” phase

Where you ’re endure : Doesn’t count because in a month , you ’ll be live in Denver , Chicago , or San Francisco . Where you ’re going out : You’re not . You ’re pinch cent . Moving is expensive . Your mantra:“Get your s*&$ together , San Diego . “Go - to body process : learn on-line flat tours , packing , surfing while weeping a little . You ’re live on to neglect it .

Enough is enough . If you see one more " PB SD " tattoo … If you have to sit on the 805 in mind - numbing traffic one more metre … If you see one more person barefooted in a restaurant … You ’re going to terminate up with your arm enclose around your knees rocking to and fro in a corner somewhere , drooling and eating a measure of Sticky Bumps .

It was a buildup of things . It was the fact that you ’re starting to consider about buying a house , and the only thing you could afford is a trailer in Temecula . It was the fact that you have no zephyr conditioning , and it ’s been 100 degrees for four weeks straight inSeptemberwith lightning storm andhotrain in a vista that seem like something out ofApocalypse Now . It was the fact that , even though it would believably help our thriftiness staggeringly , California is still super - lame about weed ( it was mostly this ) . Whatever it was , that ’s it . You . Are . DONE . At this point , you might even you might even do the unthinkable . You might even move toLA . But then again , if you do n’t you ’ll attain …

San Diego Beach

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Stage seven: The appreciation phase

Where you ’re living : The places mention in Stages Three through Five . Or , a house you bought in Clairemont , Oceanside , or a suburb off the 15.Where you ’re plump out : The best spots . Plus , better - than - average beach legal community ( because this will just be a constant quantity in your life).Your mantra:“For well or for worse , in nausea and in wellness … " Go - to activeness : Becoming a adult , promising yourself that this will bethe yearthat you finally control surfing , judge the Spanish street names correctly , feel superbia when you hear a Blink-182 or Slightly Stoopid call .

Congratulations , brah ! If you have made it to this stage , you are officially a true San Diegan . come together in on a X here , you know that while San Diego is not a unadulterated city – hell , you were about to leave – it is a special one . From its beer and food scenes , to its artistic production , to its gorgeous beaches , Coyote State has so much to provide , and frankly , just seems to be getting better and good . San Diego is your dwelling now , and like , dude … there ’s like , nowhere else you ’d , like , rather be .

Mission Beach