I've lived in the city of Los Angeles, California for over 18 years and after all that time, I never knew what a great thing I had until now.

After high school, I thought I've done everything there is to do in LA, like going to Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica, Universal Studios, etc. I was so bored and done with LA life that I was dead set on leaving home and not coming back except for the holidays to visit my family. After graduating high school, I flew straight to Connecticut to begin a fresh, new life at school and experience how life on the east coast is. During the first couple weeks, I was amazed and awed at all the new places I saw and excited to meet so many new people that were culturally different than where I'm from.

Whenever I told someone at school where I was from, they would just look at me with an expression of shock and confusion asking, "Why would you want to come all the way out here to Connecticut? All we get is bad weather, there's almost nothing to do here, and people are rude and reserved." I always responded with, "I wanted to try something different and have a new, fresh start in life to escape from the same old routine back home."

As the school year went by, I began to pick up on small differences between the people and places there, versus back home. For example, I noticed that the people on the east tend to be more reserved and keep to themselves, rather than being open and talkative, like myself or most people in California. Additionally, everything is very fast-paced in California, and everyone is always in a hurry to get somewhere or get something done that they don't have time for anything or anyone else. While I get things done on time, I always try to make time for others because we Californians are very "chill and open" when it comes to social life. And the environment was more open and green, as well, whereas back home it's all very clustered and urban. Not to mention, I got to see snow for the very first time being that we never get snow here down in LA!

It was somewhat difficult adjusting to this new reality, especially when I tried to get other people to be as open and talkative as I am. I couldn't accept the cultural differences at first, but later on, I got used to the people there and got accustomed to their culture, and accepted them for who they are, as they have accepted me for who I am.

Life on the east coast was fantastic, and still is, but at the time, I started to get homesick and wanted to go back home; especially during days when all I wanted was to go to the beach and see the palm trees, or grab a bite to eat at the local In-N-Out, but all I had near me was Five Guys.

Since returning home this summer, I've never appreciated my home of Los Angeles more than I do now.

Throughout this summer, I've been visiting all the places I used to take for granted and have been looking at them as if I were a first time visitor looking at the Hollywood walk of fame, the Santa Monica pier, Beverly Hills Plaza, or my very own hometown of San Pedro. Even this summer, I've stumbled upon new places and events I never even knew existed, such as Vidcon, the US Open of Surfing, and free concerts in the Hammer Museum featuring EDM artists like Tokimonsta.

You never really know what you have until you've gone a while without it. While I really do love my city now, I still love my life living on the east coast as well because of all the experiences I've made there and all the people I've made friends with have just made my life 10 times better than I ever could have asked for. I guess you can say, I get the best of both worlds.