The Garden State

I thought I'd take a few minutes and reflect on the great state of New Jersey while my visit is fresh on my mind. The poor state seems to be getting quite a bad wrap thanks to a certain, extremely popular MTV show (which I love), and I can't help but notice that its residents feel the need to convince people that they aren't the Jersey stereotype. In fact, the comments I heard the most during my visit were; "see, we don't have big hair" and "ugh, Jersey Shore." And as far as I could tell, they're right. I didn't see any big hair, Guidos or any fist pumping. Granted, I didn't go to any clubs or bars, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

There were a few things I did notice however. Just driving down the freeway, New Jersey looks different than California. There aren't any sculptured, lush, green islands or banks along the sides of the freeway. Everything is brown. What I couldn't get over, oddly enough, were the trees. Along the streets and freeways, there are big open spaces that in California would be filled with rolling green hills, but in New Jersey, are filled with these bare, thin, stick-type trees. Hundreds of them. They look like mini forests on the side of the road. I wish I could have taken a picture. You'd think that a tree is a tree, but Jersey trees are very different from California trees.

The people are different. They speak differently. I don't mean they sound different (though they do), they just speak differently. Different mannerisms, different words, different inflections. I learned that at my last job when I spoke with dozens of East Coasters a day. They speak faster, are more abrupt. It's quite interesting to listen to.

A couple funny things happened during dinner my first night there. We went to an Italian restaurant and were offered a fixed menu. One of the girls I went with is on a low carb diet. There wasn't anything on the menu that didn't include pasta or rice, so she asked the waiter if they could make any of the dishes "low carb." He looked at her like she was speaking another language. Then, after an explanation of what she wanted, he looked at her like she was from another planet. In California, restaurants have entire low carb menus. In New Jersey, carbs are the most important part of the meal!

During dinner, I sat close to a native New Jersian (New Jerseyite?) who has lived in several places throughout the country during his professional career. He spent most of the meal explaining how great New Jersey is, though I did notice that he used the term "not that bad" quite a bit when describing the people, places and things of his beloved state. But when I asked him, of all the places he has lived, which was his favorite, he said..."California. And I would move back in a second if I had the opportunity."