L.A. ne me manque pas.

Walking home last night from the metro I think I noticed the moon for the first time here. It was just a sliver peaking through the fog but when I saw it I realized I had yet to pay attention to the moon here. And it’s pretty silly, but it made me think how this is the same moon everyone’s seeing in California (except at a different time), and I realized that I guess I’m really not that far away.

We’ve definitely had conversations about what people miss from back home, I’ve realized that unlike the others here who miss things like restaurants or the beach or areas of L.A., I don’t really miss any places, only people (and dogs…). Except I do miss real Japanese food. I’ve found some pretty good yakitori here, but I miss all the special things we have at home… and I’m hesitant to try sushi here because I know it couldn’t compare. It’s also really odd to go to a Japanese restaurant where the staff is speaking French.

Another random thing is that being in Paris has made me realize how much I want to live in Northern California. Part of that could be because there are three people in the program from the Bay Area who talk about it a lot, but it’s also because being here has just confirmed how much I don’t really like L.A. I see even more now how specific the culture and attitude of L.A. is, and I don’t want to be around that forever. But I’m also realizing that I could never live permanently anywhere too far from my family. As much as I love it here, or even New York, it’s just not the same when you’re far from the people you care about.

And I’ve also decided I never want to drive again… wishful thinking I know. But at least if I lived somewhere like Berkeley or San Francisco I could walk more than I do in L.A., which would be never if you didn’t count walking to class.