Auto-Ethnography Autoethnography Auto-Ethnography: 'So LA'

Auto-Ethnography Autoethnography Auto-ethnography: 'So LA' "Dustin you're so LA." Sometimes, you never feel more 'yourself' than when you are living in another country. Before coming to Europe, during my everyday life in my home state and city, I just thought of myself as an individual. If someone asked me what my primary identity was, I would have just said that I am a student. I never thought of myself as a typical or untypical American. But interning in Europe, I came to realize that my perspective is very American.

In contrast to the more laid-back attitudes of the Europeans I encountered, I could see that my ambition, my love of a fast-paced world, and my driven personality was very much part of the U.S. mindset. I was always, according to my European colleagues, obsessed with the need to 'network' and be on top of the 'next new thing' as a future entrepreneur.

Although Europe has changed a great deal and grown much more 'American' as part of the globalization of world culture, there are still many small references and jokes that I did not understand while living there. Also, I particularly found that in comparison to people whom I encountered from nations with a very secure social support network, like France and Spain, there was still a tendency to prefer a longer lunch hour, to take a more flexible approach to time -- including arriving on time -- than in America.

Americans are not brought up to feel that they always have something or someone to fall back on. As Californian I appreciated the European love of fine cuisine and culture but because I was so eager to maximize the opportunities afforded to me by the internship, I was sometimes impatient with their attitudes. However, I also have an attitude of 'live and let live.' This stood in stark contrast to the New Yorkers interning in the same program.

In contrast with the other American students, I kept hearing myself categorized as 'so LA,' as fundamentally different because I was an Angelino. My tolerance springs from my rootedness in the Los Angeles media culture and my experience as an actor, in my off-beat sense of creativity, and in my sociability. These qualities stood in particular contrast to New Yorkers' abruptness, skepticism and more frequent use of sarcasm.

I came to realize that even simple things that I took for granted like my love of the beach, wide-open spaces, good tacos, and fast cars (well, when cars aren't backed upon the highway, of course in LA) all marked me as classically West Coast. Unlike my New York friends, the idea of spending most of my time on narrow city streets, breathing in fumes, or sitting in a tiny studio apartment is not my idea of a good life.

I was able to find beauty in Europe, staring at the monumental architectural structures from ages past. To strike another contrast between my perspective and some of the New Yorkers, I was not constantly comparing my life in the U.S. To the world I saw around me. I do not use New York -- or Los Angeles -- as the benchmark against which I measure the.