Everyone has to adjust when they go off to college but this adjustment can be made even harder when you’re from out of state. Sometimes the little things you’re used to at home can make a big difference. I’m originally from a suburb of Central Florida so there are definitely a few changes to get used to when moving to Tuscaloosa, AL.
Florida weather is basically summed up in sweltering summers, rainy, humid springs, nonexistent falls, and warm winters with the rare cold snap of weather under seventy degrees. After being accustomed to the almost constant heat of Florida, getting used to the climate in Tuscaloosa is taking some time. I’d never actually experienced any temperature below 60 degrees before moving to Alabama, so once it gets any colder than that, I lose feeling in my fingers and toes.
Another big change for me is living without some of my go-to food options. When I first got to school, I routinely ate dining hall food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I eventually started craving some of the food I was used to at home. Tijuana Flats was something I’d grab on the way home after school at least once a week. A quick google search told me that there were absolutely no Tijuana Flats in the whole state of Alabama. I couldn’t believe it, but after asking friends from various other states and further research, I found that Tijuana Flats is more than six times more popular in Florida than it is in the rest of the nation. In Florida alone, there are 117 locations, and throughout the rest of the US, there are a total of 18. Taco Mama makes a good substitute but nothing says home sweet home to me like “Tijuana Tuesdaze.”
Another thing I really took for granted back home is that in Florida you’re never more than an hour away from a beach. I was raised on Saturday beach trips, which nurtured my love for nature and adventure. In high school, it became the norm to roll out of bed at 10 a.m., grab a group of friends to drive over to the so-called “Shark Bite Capital of the World” and play in the waves until the sun set.
I love Alabama for the hills, superior sweet tea, and wonderful higher education but I’ll always find it distressing to wake up on a Saturday and not have the option to take a quick day trip to the beach, grab a bite at T-Flats or sunbathe in a ninety degree November heat. I’ll forever be a Florida girl at heart and now I’ll definitely appreciate my hometown luxuries a lot more when I go home on breaks.