You make it sound like “California” is just one place. In reality, California is as large, and as geographically and culturally diverse, as the Northeast. So there is no simple answer to your questions. It depends on what part of the state you are talking about.
What’s it like studying, living, or working in the Northeast? Is it all the same whether you are in Manhattan like NYU, or near Lake Ontario like URochester, or in the north woods like Dartmouth, or in the suburbs like Villanova? Probably not, right?
In the same way, it’s not going to be all the same if you are near Silicon Valley like Stanford, or in Westwood like UCLA, or with hippies and surfers like UC Santa Cruz, or near the farmlands of the Central Valley like UC Merced.