Holy Culture Shock Batman!!

Anger. Anger was the most prominent emotion I felt when the Coast Guard moved us away from what was so familiar to me. Change is scary. I am one of those people who can handle change if it is given in small increments. When handed a cross country move away from everything I ever knew, I admit it...I freaked out a bit.
However, Concord, California had a whole lot more than grocery store scares to offer me. New music, fashion, languages, 6 to 8 lane highways, and ethnic food were just a few things that bombarded and overwhelmed me. I guess living in the boonies my whole life had sheltered me from "the real world" quite a bit. I can tell you that the fashion I was use to seeing certainly didn't involve winter boots (UGGS) with mini skirts and belly shirts. One, because it was too cold, and two, because we were practical. We only wore boots because they were necessary to stay warm when trudging around in the snow, not to make a fashion statement.
I will never forget the day we decided to venture out to the Sun Valley Mall. The UGG boots and mini skirts were the first thing I noticed. I looked down at my plain-jane sneakers I was wearing with my boot cut jeans and began to worry if I would even blend in here, much less fit in. To me it was obvious I was an outsider. Someone who wasn't born and raised in the sunny fashionista land of California.
I think Michigan did shelter me. From pretty much everything. I wasn't prepared for the crazy highways, or the trillion different languages that sounded like mumbled garble and were so apparently foreign to me. OH! And the food! Nowhere Up North (Michigan) can you get authentic Mexican food, or Indian food, or real Thai! My taste buds were on fire with new flavors, or maybe that was all the hot sauce and peppers that they put on everything, either way it was so different!
Fellow military spouses: you DO NOT need to go around the world for a culture shock. Just move to California. :)

Although I hadn't realized it at that point, I was learning things about myself. I learned how to drive on said highways. I adjusted to the culture and learned some simple phrases in a few languages. My most favorite still being "Dos margaritas por favor!" I also learned how to be self sufficient in a new, unfamiliar place.