After almost a year in sunny Los Angeles I can say that I have finally adapted to Californian lifestyle. Since I haven’t been to LA before I started my journey with Architect-US, all I knew about this city was from magazines, TV or movies where they usually interpret LA as a city of dreams, culture, good looking people, sports and wellness. That’s why I moved here with lots of expectations regarding my career and lifestyle.
Especially the weather and climate make such a big difference. Compared to rainy and cloudy Paris where I’ve lived before, sunny and warm LA is a completely new experience for me. I’ve noticed that it has a huge impact on everyone’s life and I find people here much happier and optimistic. Meeting strangers on the streets smiling at you and saying good morning is really sweet and I’m sure I will miss that once I move back to Europe.
Coming to the US as a vegetarian I was a little bit worried what is it going to be like here, since America is well known for its fast foods, hamburgers and other not very healthy food options. Being a vegetarian in France was pretty easy mostly because of all that delicious cheese and other tasty meatless products. I also found it not that expensive there.
Moving to Los Angeles, I was pretty shocked in the beginning because compared to France everything seemed to be quite expensive and the products were very different from what I used to eat in Europe. It took me some time to get used to the prices and find grocery stores and products that I like. For couple of months I have even started eating meat just to try what is it like to feel as a real American and taste some local food and burgers. However it didn’t last too long because in Los Angeles it’s actually pretty easy to be a vegetarian or vegan. There are so many options, not just in the grocery stores but also in the restaurants so you don’t have to feel limited in any way here.
For the past few months I’ve already tried so many different food restrictions and diets because there’s still something new that inspires me to become healthier. No meat, no sugar, no carbs, no dairy and most recently gluten free diet that is quite popular here as well and there’s so many gluten free products available in stores. However I find some of these products really expensive here in California so I’m not sure I’m going to stick to this lifestyle for a long time.
Another great thing about living in LA what makes your choice to pursue a healthy lifestyle is that there’s so many options and opportunities for sports here as well. Especially a plenty of hike trails in and around the city very convenient and accessible from almost every part of Los Angeles, beach sports, surfing, running and many more.
