After living in Hawaii for 13 years — my entire adult life — I decided to move to North Carolina in 2021 for my MBA. While in school, I met my husband, and together, we relocated to Atlanta to pursue our careers.
However, after spending so much time in Hawaii, moving to the mainland came with some surprises. Here are eight of the biggest culture shocks I’ve experienced.
On the mainland, I spend much more time in my car.
When I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii, I rarely had to drive more than 30 minutes at a time. Everything from work to the grocery store to the beach was just a short car ride away. A trip across the island felt like a journey.
So, it took me some time to adjust to the longer commutes in mainland cities. Rush-hour traffic is now a regular occurrence, rather than something I see in movies. And now, driving an hour to work or to visit friends is standard where I live.
Even though driving isn’t always my favorite activity, I love that I can get in my car and head to another state in just a few hours. It’s given my husband and me a lot of fun weekend road trips.
Daylight-saving time is new for me.
Hawaii doesn’t follow daylight-saving time, and instead stays on Hawaii Standard Time all year long. So when I first came to the mainland, the time changes twice a year really confused me.
I still have to look up when daylight-saving time begins and ends, especially when I’m referencing what time it is back in Hawaii. Thankfully, I keep a list of cities on my clock app to keep track of the time difference.
Experiencing four distinct seasons has changed how I observe time passing.
Moving to a place with seasons meant buying winter clothing and seeing the leaves bursting into bright oranges and reds in the fall.
This is different from the islands, where the seasons are largely the rainy season and dry season. I now look forward to seasonal transitions and the festivities that come with each one.
Air conditioning is much more common on the mainland.
Many homes in Hawaii, including the one where I lived, use the trade winds for cooling. My home had jalousie windows with horizontal glass slats that let the breeze pass through.
In contrast, buildings here in the Southeast are typically climate-controlled using air conditioning and heating units.
If I’m being honest, I still have to carry a sweater around to keep warm when the air conditioning is strong. However, dependable air conditioning is especially nice during hot, humid summers.
Locally grown fruit is now a summer staple.
In Hawaii, because the climate is pretty mild year-round, many fruits have multiple or continuous growing seasons. Plus, I always knew someone who was giving fruits away from their backyard.
Here in the Southeast, though, fresh fruits feel more seasonal. I now get excited for peach season and the long lines at local farmers markets.
On the mainland, the weather is harder to predict.
Where I lived in Hawaii, I’d look out over the ocean and be able to predict the next few hours of weather pretty accurately.
After years of living there, I understood the patterns of the clouds and wind, and could typically gauge the amount of time I needed to make it home from a run or the beach before the weather turned.
However, I have a much tougher time guessing what the weather will be like on the mainland. I now rely a lot more on weather forecasts to know what to expect.
The billboards took me by surprise.
Billboards aren’t allowed in Hawaii, so when I first moved to the Southeast, I couldn’t believe how many huge signs dotted the skylines.
Now I get a kick out of reading them and analyzing the marketing, but it’s always interesting returning to Hawaii and seeing how open the landscape is without them.
Fast-food restaurants on the mainland are missing Spam.
Chicken and burgers are staples of fast-food restaurants on the mainland, but Hawaii’s famous chains often feature rice and Spam.
Now, when I visit my favorite chains, I miss getting Spam musubi — Spam wrapped in rice and seaweed.
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