In August, I will be celebrating my two-year anniversary of living in LA. Time really does fly by! Here’s are 7 dead giveaways I’m not from Los Angeles:

1. I don’t know how to pronounce any of the streets.

Sepulveda? Wilshire? Alhambra? You might as well be speaking a foreign language to me. In fact, Alhambra might not actually be a street… maybe it is?

2. I have no idea how long it will take to get from one place to another.

It took me months to realize I should schedule at least a 30 minute buffer between when I expect to arrive and when I’ll actually arrive. Traffic is a whole other story.

3. I am still surprised when I go to a restaurant and learn it’ll be an hour  + wait for a table.

When did the 15-20 minute wait get out of fashion? I’ve gone to so many restaurants here with long waits for seating, and everyone here seems to find this completely normal.

4. I have no idea where any of the neighborhoods are, or adjacent cities for that matter.

Seriously, how far is Santa Barbara from LA? Is Westchester in LA? What about Compton? Legoland? Anaheim is considered a suburb, right? Where the heck is Big Bear?

5. The freeways scare me.

Every time I go on the freeway, I think about that scene in Clueless where Dionne accidentally gets on the highway and freaks out.

I feel like almost every highway here has 4-6 lanes at any given time. And, of course, I’m always in the leftmost lane when my GPS tells me I have to exit – leaving me to cross 5 lanes of traffic to exit right. Additionally, the highways always seem to be merging – such a headache!

6. I take public transportation.

This fact raises the  most eyebrows whenever I talk to any Los Angeles native. “You took the bus here?!” “How long was your Metro ride?!” I think it’s funny how many people here are adverse to public transportation. Yeah, it can be sketchy at times, but, hey, I grew up with the CTA and that had its janky moments too. Honestly, public transportation in LA isn’t that bad, and at $1.75 a ride, it definitely beats sitting in traffic!

7. The biggest giveaway I’m not from LA?  I still upload posts on Instagram like this:

And this:

Yep, I’m still a newbie.