When you're from up North, you see living in Florida like being on a permanent vacation. Then after getting moving all your stuff in and the months are going by, you realize that the snow isn’t coming. The perfect day to wear your favorite boots has passed. Umbrellas are part of the budget now and the winter puff coat needs to be donated to charity. Even after being in Florida for three years, there are some things that people from up north will never get used to.
Flip Flops become a permanent shoe
You have a closet full of shoes and the cute sandals and colorful flip-flops used to last for years. They never broke and the sole was still thick. When you're living in Michigan or New York, for example, there may be 100 days out of the year when you can break in your cute flip-flops. Not in Florida. You will notice that your boots will catch dust and the flip-flops will become a staple. There are 365 days out the year, and those flip-flops are your best friends for about 300 days of the year.
Air conditioning is everywhere
No matter where you go, there is always air conditioning. It is like people think it’s a health hazard if the air conditioning is not on and that they will die without it. Every building is cold, every classroom, and every dining hall is never above 69 degrees. You could probably use that puff coat for going inside the buildings instead.
Booty Shorts
The epidemic of booty shorts must be talked about. Every girl of any race and size wear booty shorts at least two times a week. When you see the campus tour guide with these on as well, you’re convinced. You will feel left out if you don’t wear at least one pair for a week straight. Most booty shorts are fine, but it makes Floridians seem as if they only wear short-shorts, flip-flops and go to the beach every day.
The creatures
When people think about Florida, it’s Disney, gators and Miami that come to mind. No one tells you that in the spring love bugs float around everywhere like pollen in the air. I won’t tell about the pollen that covers your car every spring. Frogs greet you in the late night by waiting at the doorway or on your car. The little geckos, which are what you will call them at first, will drive you crazy. They are actually called anoles. Having a chameleon feature, which seem really sneaky, that’s when you figure they are out to get you. Get a vacuum and it solves that problem.
Disney is not what you think
You always hear the wonderful stories of Disneyland and how you must not leave this earth until you have taken a picture with Mickey. Primetime television programs always had that one episode where the cast went to Disneyland and had the best time ever. Donald Duck is supposedly just walking around hugging people. They lied. You wait in a long line to take pictures with the characters and they have security guards that may stop you from taking a picture with your phone too. It is nothing like Cedar Point or Six Flags and the price is enough to feed you and put gas in your car for a week.
Publix
These are grocery stores. They have ready to eat hot and cold food that is cheaper than running through a drive through. They even have professional cooking classes. When they ask, do you want paper or plastic, then they ask to take your groceries to your car, it will shock you. Where do they find these employees because you probably never seen a grocery story where “Shopping is a pleasure.”
Beware
If you ever try to navigate through Florida there are so many dead spots, followed by areas where street lights don't exist. When the cell phone has lost its' signal, the only thing you see is the headlights and out of nowhere is a "Beware of Bears" sign. Realizing you may hit a huge animal on a dark road in Florida is just as traumatizing as the "Beware of Alligators" sign at your apartment complex.
100 Degree Rain
It rains in six different sections on the freeway. There's a law that you must have your lights on in the rain. That alone tells you that Florida knows that they have a rain problem. When It rains no one runs on the inside because they are happy to get a cool down. The most important investment you will have is rain boots unless, you want all the good shoes ruined.
Taxes
The number one shocker is getting that first check and realizing that there aren't any city or state taxes no matter where you live in Florida. Do your happy dance. This isn't the only state without those taxes, but it does add the icing on the cake when you are working hard for the man. Now maybe you can squeeze in a visit to DisneyLand.
Loving Florida is the inevitable outcome but dealing with a few hang-ups is a small consolation prize for 80-degree weather, 90 percent of the year. You end up never wanting to leave and trying to make everyone you know to move down here too.
What are some things that shocked you when you first came to campus?
