The College Bubble

College towns are like giant bubbles separating us from the "real" world, whatever that is. Most of them are a lot smaller than the places we grew up, definitely in my case. In Orlando, it took me 20 minutes to get to a Publix, and that's without getting into an accident on 436 with five lanes of traffic rocketing past you. Coming to Tallahassee was a huge difference.

Suddenly work, school, bars, and the mall were all within a 10 minute drive. Not only that, there's about 20 pools to choose from in the summer, something going on almost every night, and let's not forget football season. We float through our college days in a haze of hangovers, exams, and papers, gulping down cups of coffee and e-mailing professors for extensions. But even so, our days are pretty easy. Most of us moved away to live here. That means no more family commitments, no attachments, and your days are yours to spend doing homework or going to the movies, hanging out with friends or sitting in Strozier writing a pa... nope, no we just go there for the girls.

As great as it is, for most of us Tallahassee is still just a temporary home. We'll graduate and move home or get an internship somewhere. Others will go to grad school or go abroad for a while. But we'll always think back on how easy it is to survive here. Even the majority of us who pay our own bills and work on the weekends can honestly say that living broke in Tallahassee can still get you a lot of fun. So when we move to new places, how are they going to compare to Tally? Honestly, I'm probably not going to miss parking at school or Publix, but I will miss the nights of going out and knowing that I'll see two or three friends anywhere I go. Not to mention the low rent and wacky Wednesday every day.

By Danny, Florida State University