I didn’t appreciate Tallahassee enough when I moved here from Georgia
Pursuit for a better life is shared by people in both Georgia and Florida
On May. 14th, I arrived in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida to attend Florida State University’s summer undergraduate law program. For a long time, Florida to me was a wonderland. I couldn’t help but imagine a picture in which beautiful people wearing bathing suits laid out on the beach, enjoyed the cool wind blowing off the turquoise sea holding a glass of iced orange juice with a slice of lemon on top. With these thoughts, when my plane landed, I was so excited to feel the breath of Florida.
However, the reality of Tallahassee did not go well with my imagination. Tallahassee was a small city. The airport was so petite that it took me less than five minutes to go out of the airport from the plane’s landing position. The moment I stepped out of the airport air-conditioning, Tallahassee’s heat wave attacked me. I fully realized that I’d arrived in Florida – a place even hotter than Georgia.
On my way to Florida State University, I enjoyed the scenery. Tallahassee was less modernized and urbanized than Atlanta. There were barely any big and tall buildings. There were masses of grass and woods. Residential houses were sparse.
My mentor told me that traffic jams were rare because there were not many cars. Even though Tallahassee isn’t particularly advanced, it still had all kinds of necessary living amenities – malls, cinemas and museums. People here lived in an independent and cozy way.
At the beginning of the program, we went to the university’s reservation which consisted of a big lake and areas of forests surrounding it. Shades under trees were good spots to sit and chat with friends. I saw a family sitting under joint shades of two trees.
A father was playing with two kids who were running around their dad, trying to avoid their dad’s hug. The mother took food out of the bag and carefully put them on the white sheet on the grass. She then smiled at her husband and children and started to make sandwiches for them. She bowed her head, focusing on adding chicken, lettuces, tomato slices and mayonnaise on the bread. She then handed sandwiches to her kids, taught them how to grab and mildly told them not to run too fast to trip themselves over.
It was such a beautiful and warm-hearted picture.
I suddenly realized that I have undervalued Tallahassee. It is true – Tallahassee is not a big and modern city, but the people here are still earnestly striving for and creating a good life for themselves and their children. Fancy buildings and classy restaurants are not life necessities.
People’s attitude of taking care of their lives is the key to a delicate and wonderful existence.
I believe that people’s pursuit of a fine and enjoyable life is the common ground shared by people in both Georgia and Florida.