@catsalad it depends on a bunch of factors:

What kind of building are you in
What kind of soil is it on
How big the earthquake itself is
How far away you are from the epicenter
What kind of terrain is between you and the epicenter

I've experienced a wide range of all of the above factors. The closer you are, the sharper the movements are. Being on fill or a dry lakebed is the worst, because it tends to magnify the movement; being on bedrock reduces it. Being in a modern skyscraper on higher floors really magnifies things, and the shaking can go on for several minutes, but it's more gentle swaying, albeit large motions.

But there's something scary and disorienting about terra firma no longer being so firma, regardless of the factors. Those other factors can make it scarier, of course, particularly if the quake is very large.