good choice, I spent most of my life in LA proper, not good. Moved out to a small little mountain town in riverside county and love it. people are AWESOME here, everything is a bit of a drive but that just makes you anticipate the destination more.
We used to hit the beach almost every day in LA, 5 miles off the coast, but out here you really have to make it a day trip, its not just a casual thing anymore.
Riverside county is most definitely NOT "california" in the general sense of attitude and stuff. maybe in the actual CITY of riverside and corona. Like I said, I'm in a small mountain town community closer to lake elsinore. I wouldn't want to live inside an urban city anymore.
You will need a car, the bus system is awful unless where you happen to be going perfectly aligns with the bus routes and timetable.
You will probably need a motorcycle, because you can split lanes and get around traffic. and there is LOTS of traffic here... the 15, 60, 91, and 215 freeways become parking lots in mornings and evenings, taking streets around them isn't really an option if you're trying to get somewhere.
weed is legal on a state level, very easy to get a card and buy it and smoke it at home, its so casual, literally almost EVERYONE does it but cops love to hassle you if your a minority. I don't smoke anymore but if you do youll love it here.
cops. most cops here are on a power trip and will harrass you if you rub them the wrong way. sad to say but race does seem to have something in it, as much as we wish it didn't. Being white helps, not looking thuggish helps. Don't drive a ratted out tuner car, they will follow you everywhere. lol. These are my personal experiences, I have just seen a lot of crap, not that I've been harassed myself, but I've seen it happen to friends and family all the time and I see trends.
Jobs. Work is hard to find, everyone wants you to have years of prior experience but is unwilling to hire to GIVE you that experience. going to college and finding work through it may be a good option.
and even when you DO find a quick part time job, there are so many laws and regulations on employers that they will have a team of 70 people to run a restaurant and give them all really low hours so they can avoid paying them health insurance and stuff like that. so it will LOOK like employment is high but really, everyones broke cuz they don't get enough hours in. If you're not coming here with any money saved up or a source of income already planned out, you will be living very poorly for the first year or so. I've seen that with many friends who came from other states.
It's worth staying here though, I did choose it after having the option to move to arizona or nevada. Stuck with Cali.
have a good trip and hit me up if you ever wanna go offroading or dirtbiking. always good to meet new people.
actually, that brings up something.
meeting new people is hard here... Everyone is so standoffish in the cities, people create their social circle in highschool/college and are very unwilling to accept new people in it. It's hard to make friends and meet people, they just have no interest. everyone thinks you're trying to sell them something or run some kind of scam. sad attitude. thats the majority, not every single person for sure.