Ohio to CA

Country Roads To City Traffic

I grew up in Geneva, Ohio. It is home to just under 6,000 people. I lived here for 18 years before moving to Fullerton in 2018. As you could assume, there’s a big difference between smalltown, rural Ohio and suburban Southern California. A lot of people have no clue what it even means to live in a rural area.

This is what it’s like.

Story and Photos by Shelby Stancliff Design by Michael Quintero

Slang

Here are some things that I apparently said wrong and had to change to fit in here in Fullerton.

Freeways.... I say 57 = the 57.

I said bookbag = got laughed at now I say backpack.

Ohio says pop = I was smart enough to start saying soda before I moved here.

Culture

Well for one, as you could assume, Ohio is primarily white so there’s not much diversity. “Geneva culture” consists of wineries and vineyards (which there are so many), an annual grape festival, covered bridges (which are just bridges with roofs that are apparently interesting to tourists), and something we call Geneva on the Lake, which is just a little strip of restaurants, bars, and arcades along Lake Erie. Just think Downtown Fullerton but it smells like fair food and there are way more drunk bikers.

Nature

Yes, Ohio has beaches. I grew up right along Lake Erie and yes we swim in it and yes there’s sand like any other beach. Ohio also has so many trees and just natural greenery.

California thinks planting palm trees makes everything more appealing but you’re not fooling anyone California, we know palm trees aren’t indegenous here. Also I’ve never seen a frog or deer in California?

Around my town, freeways are only two lanes wide. Speed limit is 70 and the max is 75, anything over that will get you pulled over. And guess what Southern Californians, y’all are the only people in the country that put the word “the” before the number of the freeway.

In Ohio, I only use two freeways, 90 and 2. There’s more but you have to drive farther out to get to them. In California? The 5, the 57, the 91, the 101. So confusing. Go Browns, and Lebron was ours first, sorry not sorry.

Industrialization

Geneva doesn’t have much when it comes to stores and restaurants. For example, it was 22 miles to the closest Starbucks and Target, 7 miles just to get to a Walmart, only one grocery store for the whole town, and Chipotle didn’t come to a close city until 2019 (either way it’s still 13 miles away). It’s 29 miles to the closest “real” mall.

Another was to put things into perspective.

From my town to Cleveland, it’s about an hour drive. That’s about 50 miles. From Fullerton to LA, it’s about an hour drive. That’s about 30 miles.

Politics

So Ohio has always been considered a swing state but unfortunately, for the past two elections, Ohio has been red. The people that live in my area were most likely born and raised there, meaning their world view is a bit limited. Not many of the adults in the area ever went to college.

Of course, many of the younger people are liberal but, there are those kids that let their parents influence their beliefs. But there is a lot of yeehaw county around there meaning, pretty much wherever you see green on this map, they’ll vote red.

Weather

Duh. This is the first thing people ask me about. Yes, it snows a shit-ton in Ohio. I’m talking feet of snow, negative temperatures, scraping ice off of your windshield, plow trucks and ice trucks driving around, and snow days off from school.

But, at least Ohio doesn’t have to worry about earthquakes that much, only the occasional tornado. One thing I do miss though is the thunderstorms.