"I've dropped a lot of California phraseology since being here," says Kellerman. "When I'm here I tend to drop `totally', `dude' and `rad.'"

Alexi O. Solit-McGruder '01 also says he notices a difference in language between Boston and his hometown of Berkeley, Calif.

"Speaking from an urban slang perspective, people talk differently on the East Coast than the West Coast," he says. Accustomed to the distinctly Californian "hella" and "saucy," he notes, "mainly on the East Coast people say `yo' before and after every sentence."

New York, New York

While residents of California are quick to distance themselves from the stereotypes of the West Coast, New Yorkers, who comprise about 15 percent of the College's students, readily affirm the images universally associated with their city and its people.

"I really feel like [New York] defines who I am," says Liz J. Taxin '99 of Manhattan. Describing herself as a focused person who walks "targetedly," Taxin admits she has been shaped by the New York mentality.

"I go after whatever I want. Sometimes people think I'm bitchy; I walk with a little bitchiness--I think it's from force of habit; it's like this facade, like a social code," she says.

Stefan G. Karpinski '00 also sees parts of his character as a reflection of growing up in New York City.

"I definitely have aggressiveness and lack of politeness at times that I attribute to New York," he says. "Suburban areas really bother me, I think that's definitely due to living in New York."

"There's definitely a certain difference of personality," adds Karpinski. "Somehow I think it has to do with the weather. People from places with better weather tend to have sunnier personalities."

But Taxin says that while she will readily admit she's from New York, she has had to modify her dress because the social code in Massachusetts is not entirely compatible with what she's used to.

"I have all these cool, funky clothes that are in the back of my wardrobe that I wouldn't pull out here," she says. "I did freshman year, `cause I didn't want to change. But Harvard did change me."

The Lone Star

But not everyone at Harvard falls into the East Coast-West Coast battle--especially the 4 percent of Harvard students who come from Texas. Nevertheless, Texans at Harvard say they too have had to adjust to living at Harvard and dealing with the stereotypes.

"A lot of people ask me if I have my boots with me," says Nick J. Stone '00 of Dallas, Texas who refrains from wearing the boots that sit in his closet, reminding him of his hometown.