The same thing happens just by attending college, as education is also a divider. I tend to associate with people who have degrees, and have lost touch with friends from my past who graduated high school and work in stockrooms. We simply live in different worlds.

I think any time you try to migrate to a different group you wind up leaving things behind. Gain something, lose something.

Which, I don't know, seems OK to me. Accents, clothes, and pop culture references might be dear to people for whom culture is all they have. But to me they hold no value by themselves. I wouldn't, for example, avoid an education just so I can cling to the culture I am currently in.

Also, at least among the people I know, a lot of us come from very different backgrounds. Nobody hides their family and their hometown but none of us can relate to eachother's childhoods, so we just don't talk about it a whole lot. Which is OK too.

Anyway, migrating groups I think is always a surreal experience, as is visiting groups you don't belong to.