With a population of about 30 people, Birney, Mont, is quite different from Cambridge, Mass. The town's public school is for grades one through eight and has an enrollment of 12. The nearest high school is about two-and-a-half hours away. About 10 miles outside of Birney is a ranch where Jake Carson '99-'00 grew up.

Having lived in Birney for his entire life, Carson recalls many aspects of growing up in such a small town--spending lots of time with his family, knowing few people his own age, but most of all, experiencing a great amount of privacy.

"No one is there to intrude upon the way you live," Carson says. "If I want to walk around my yard without any clothes on, it's my right."

Harvard prides itself on attracting students from every state, becoming a cultural and geographical microcosm of the U.S., a melting pot. (Or is it now a salad bowl to the savvy anthropologist?) But when 18-year-olds from across the country gather in Cambridge, how do their backgrounds affect their Harvard experiences?

Although Carson says the anonymity of living in a city offers its own sense of privacy, the transition to Cambridge was a change for him.

But according to students from areas as densely populated and urban as Cambridge, one does not have to be from Harvard's less-represented states like Montana to require some adjustment. New Yorkers, Californians, Texans and yes, even Cantabrigians, describe having to adjust in light of the quirks and stereotypes from home that shaped their childhoods.

California Dreamin'

Although about 10 percent of Harvard students are from California, denizens say they often feel singled out because of the stereotypes surrounding their state.

"People have this notion of California as kind of flaky and moronic," says Jesse O. Kellerman '01, who is originally from Los Angeles. "Sometimes I'll play into it, `cause I get sick of explaining to people that I'm not a drug addict or that I don't go to breakfast with movie stars, that I didn't go to school with Dylan."

Sara A. Yellen '00 says she too does not fit the California stereotype.

"I'm not part of the whole beach culture," says Yellen. "A lot of people are like that, wearing sundresses and bikini tops. I don't identify with that at all."

"I feel like back home is a lot more relaxed," Yellen says of her San Diego upbringing. Yellen classifies herself as "intense and driven," traits she sees as more typical of East Coast residents.

"The way I act normally contradicts their stereotypes," she says.

However, Yellen says that her speech patterns normally give her away as a West-Coast native.

Kellerman agrees that certain phrases can often clue in fellow Harvard students to his California heritage. Because of this, Kellerman says he has stopped using many words.