The Commute: One and a half—the number of songs I can generally get through after getting in my car to head to work in the morning. One of the great conveniences of living in Tallahassee, Florida is the quick and painless access to most places. Couple that with a generous cost of living and you have a lot of options when it comes to where you rest between work. Personally, I live in what’s called the Midtown area, about six minutes away and near many restaurants and shops. However, regardless of which area of Tallahassee you’re in, most of us seem to be less than a 12 minute drive from the office. While this makes for painless commutes in the morning and evening, it also opens the doors for us to take advantage of the plentiful food options in the city
Lunch Spots: While some will bring lunch to work on a regular basis, ask anyone in Tallahassee and they’ll agree when I say that we have a great variety of lunch spots nearby! A few of the more common places include (but are certainly not limited to)—Food Glorious Food, Kool Beanz Café, Sage, Wells Brothers, and my personal favorite—4 Rivers. Regardless of what you’re in the mood for, there will be something here for you. Even to this day, I’m still finding out about, and trying, new places.
Dress Code: In addition to working in an intimate office (we have roughly 20-25 people working in our office on a regular basis), we also enjoy a more-casual-than-most dress code which translates to jeans and collared shirts for men and jeans/dress-slacks, blouses/casual shirts, or casual dresses for women. The casual dress code speaks to one of the things that I appreciate most about our office, which is how open everyone is. It’s great to work in an environment where everyone knows each other. Of course I can talk with the other junior staff (or step outside to kick the ball around), but even more than that, it’s great to be able to have regular interaction with my project managers, all the way up to the vice presidents.
Social Outings: Apart from being the capital of Florida, the city of Tallahassee is most well-known for housing 3 large schools—Tallahassee Community College, Florida A&M University, and of course, Florida State University. Because of this, there is no shortage of nightlife, whether you dare to venture near campus, or you prefer the more tame nightlife in Midtown. Additionally, Tallahassee has many outdoor activities including Maclay Gardens, St. Marks trail, and one of my favorites—the Rez, which is a reservation that offers swimming, canoeing, sailing, kayaking, picnicking, volleyball, and more. If you’re still struggling to find something you enjoy, it’s almost guaranteed that there are others that share your interests around Tallahassee. For me, a couple friends and I started a soccer group that gets together every week to play and we now have so many people showing up that we usually need to split up into multiple games!