[gypsystar]

I love Gainesville!

[The Floridian]

I'm born/raised in G'ville (AGH). I'm now 43 years old. I still own a home near GHFC. I am divorced, no kids and have my mom and pop there. But, BUT, I'll be completely honest here... If you are over 30 or worse, over 40 and no married and no kids, Gainesville is a horrible place to live. Now, I've lived in other areas of the world so I can compare. South Florida 6 months, Orlando 1 year, Los Anglels 5 years, Tennessee 1 year, Brazil 3 years, Colombia 2 years, CR 8 months and Spain 1 year. Gainesville is one strange town. Conservatives, greenpeace people, tree huggers, very humid in summers and very dead in summers. People are not so reliable and close minded. A lot of rednecks too. The city revolves around the University. I made a killing in real estate and I don't bar hop, nor do I belong to clubs. I don't go out much and like to stay home. My social life was zero! About the ladies? Forget it! Most men and women give up and just get fat. People are tired, no energy of any kind. You're land locked because the local airport sucks, because just last year Continental stopped all flights to Miami. I get really bad depression when I go back to Gainesville. By 6pm if I'm not in the Gym or heavily medicated I feel really down, almost to the point of sobbing.

I have zero experience with Tallahassee. Never been there, but I heard it's a little better than G'ville only because it's the capitol of Florida, more stuff going on, more clubs, more diversity, politics, etc.

I've since moved to So. Florida and feel a lot better. But still looking at other areas, not only the US.

My $0.02

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

I'm born/raised in G'ville (AGH). I'm now 43 years old. I still own a home near GHFC. I am divorced, no kids and have my mom and pop there. But, BUT, I'll be completely honest here... If you are over 30 or worse, over 40 and no married and no kids, Gainesville is a horrible place to live. Now, I've lived in other areas of the world so I can compare. South Florida 6 months, Orlando 1 year, Los Anglels 5 years, Tennessee 1 year, Brazil 3 years, Colombia 2 years, CR 8 months and Spain 1 year. Gainesville is one strange town. Conservatives, greenpeace people, tree huggers, very humid in summers and very dead in summers. People are not so reliable and close minded. A lot of rednecks too. The city revolves around the University. I made a killing in real estate and I don't bar hop, nor do I belong to clubs. I don't go out much and like to stay home. My social life was zero! About the ladies? Forget it! Most men and women give up and just get fat. People are tired, no energy of any kind. You're land locked because the local airport sucks, because just last year Continental stopped all flights to Miami. I get really bad depression when I go back to Gainesville. By 6pm if I'm not in the Gym or heavily medicated I feel really down, almost to the point of sobbing.

I have zero experience with Tallahassee. Never been there, but I heard it's a little better than G'ville only because it's the capitol of Florida, more stuff going on, more clubs, more diversity, politics, etc.

I've since moved to So. Florida and feel a lot better. But still looking at other areas, not only the US.

My $0.02

I'm not sure any true college town would be a good place for older singles.

[TallahasseeMan]

How can you even compare Gainesville to tallahassee. I mean seriosuly.. what is in gainesville besides run-down crap. We got way more than Gainesville and Seminoles....Gators SUCK

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by TallahasseeMan

How can you even compare Gainesville to tallahassee. I mean seriosuly.. what is in gainesville besides run-down crap. We got way more than Gainesville and Seminoles....Gators SUCK

Well smarter students and a better athletic program for starters......

[grapico]

Originally Posted by The Floridian

I'm born/raised in G'ville (AGH). I'm now 43 years old. I still own a home near GHFC. I am divorced, no kids and have my mom and pop there. But, BUT, I'll be completely honest here... If you are over 30 or worse, over 40 and no married and no kids, Gainesville is a horrible place to live. Now, I've lived in other areas of the world so I can compare. South Florida 6 months, Orlando 1 year, Los Anglels 5 years, Tennessee 1 year, Brazil 3 years, Colombia 2 years, CR 8 months and Spain 1 year. Gainesville is one strange town. Conservatives, greenpeace people, tree huggers, very humid in summers and very dead in summers. People are not so reliable and close minded. A lot of rednecks too. The city revolves around the University. I made a killing in real estate and I don't bar hop, nor do I belong to clubs. I don't go out much and like to stay home. My social life was zero! About the ladies? Forget it! Most men and women give up and just get fat. People are tired, no energy of any kind. You're land locked because the local airport sucks, because just last year Continental stopped all flights to Miami. I get really bad depression when I go back to Gainesville. By 6pm if I'm not in the Gym or heavily medicated I feel really down, almost to the point of sobbing.

I have zero experience with Tallahassee. Never been there, but I heard it's a little better than G'ville only because it's the capitol of Florida, more stuff going on, more clubs, more diversity, politics, etc.

I've since moved to So. Florida and feel a lot better. But still looking at other areas, not only the US.

My $0.02

I agree... both the cities... I'm almost 29 and most of my friends are in their 30s, 40s (from other parts of the country) ... same thing with my gf (no kids)... horrible places to be if you are in that situation
Sounds exactly like Tallahassee...but Tallahassee is even FARTHER from any decent city.

It was a nice idea coming here to be around my family who lives here and the university, but after 2 months here we knew we had to leave, ... Soon as the semester is over and save a bit of money we are out of here within a month and dropping out of the programs to go somewhere else. Yes its that bad to relocate to another state and wait a year to get in state tuition than be stuck here w/ life on pause.

[InsGadget]

Interesting little discussion here. I am 28 years old, born and raised in Tallahassee, but have lived in Gainesville on and off now for about 8 years. I've also lived and worked up and down the east coast of the US, including Miami; Orlando; Columbia, SC; Charlotte; Greenville, SC; Augusta, GA; Boston; and I've spent a lot of time in the mountains of Appalachia. I've dealt with the slickest of big city New Yorkers, and the twangiest of deep south hillbillies. The type of people I generally prefer fall somewhere in between: genial, a bit country, but educated and respectful.

Of course a lot of the posters on this thread have quite negative opinions of Tallahassee or Gainesville, but generally speaking, both cities are nice, depending on what you are looking for. Personally, I like this size town--I dislike big cities for a number of reasons. Driving around generally sucks, and the people are quite angry a lot of times on the road. This attitude can carry over into their daily life. Big city people also generally seem to have a snobby attitude to anyone who lives in a smaller city, which I find very unappealing. Tallahssee and Gainesville are a little different though. The people are a little nicer, although not quite as outgoing about it as a smaller town would have.

For me, coming back to Tallahassee, and to a lesser degree, Gainesville, does feel like home. I like a somewhat slower pace, but I also like certain modern amenities, and cities like Gainesville and Tallahassee fit the bill; also Greenville, SC, Asheville, NC, places like this.

So if you are looking for big city attractions, you generally won't find them in Gainesville or Tallahassee. They both have the Universities, and while UF is the older and slightly more respected school, both are fine institutions to earn a degree from. Gainesville is a more school-oriented town, due to its smaller overall size and slightly larger size of the school itself. When I'm in Gainesville, I never really feel that far away from the UF campus, but in Tallahassee, the entire east side of the city feels quite seperated from the university. Tallahassee feels like a town with a university added to it, whereas Gainesville feels more like a town built around the university.

I like the roads in Tallahassee better. They are generally in better shape (although Gainesville is not bad), and the winding, hilly roads are more appealing. Gainesville's roads are laid out in a more boring grid, which of course it the norm in south Florida due to the flat topography. The canopy roads in Tallahassee are very nice, and the town does seem to have more trees and shade than Gainesville, although not everywhere. Tallahassee just seems to have a bit more money to spend on roads when you drive around, but Gainesville is still nicer than a lot of other towns in the country. Gainesville also might have a higher percentage of roads with bike lanes, although not by much (this is important to me since I enjoy biking around a lot).

Both towns have their quirky, campy side, as well as their traditional, conservative side. The universities do add a little flavor, and both urban populations routinely vote to the left on most issues. Both cities have redneck areas in the surrounding counties, but Gainesville is closer to the population centers of Florida. The panhandle of Florida is generally quite redneck and remote (just look at a nighttime satellite image of the US: http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/13873/west-4096.png), but central Florida also certainly has its remote areas as well. Gainesville does seem to have a more apparent redneck element when driving around though. The downtown area has a few nice sections, but a lot of it is run down and seems more "small-town" to me. Tallahassee's downtown is nicer overall. It also has things like the Capitol building and Challenger center (with its Imax screen) to visit, but UF makes up for that a bit with its museums and whatnot.

Both towns and surrounding areas have excellent parks and trails. Tallahassee is a little better overall, due to its hillier nature, but Gainesville is not bad at all, and is catching up based on some of the new trails I've discovered recently. Both towns, in my opinion, have the nicest parks and trails in the state, considering the sizes of the towns. Hiking, running, and biking are top notch in both towns, but I'd still give the nod to Tallahassee overall just because it has more hills. If this is important to you, though, you can't go wrong with either town.

Anyways, when it comes down to it, I think Tallahassee is a little nicer, but I'm probably biased. Gainesville seems too much like flatland south Florida to me, but if that's what you prefer, then okay. I'd rather raise a family in Tallahassee, but really either town is fine for that. I don't know, why don't you just take a trip up to Tallahassee, drive around the roads (especially in the eastern and northern areas of the city and Leon County), walk around the downtown and a bit of the school, and see what you think. Either town has it's nice and poor sections, but Tallahassee seems to be just a little nicer to me overall.

[TallahasseeMan]

Overall , Tallahassee is a better city. If you want that "Atlanta" feeling Tallahassee is that Atlanta feeling in a smaller way. Our Biggest building are highrise that range from 16 stories to 24 storis in Tallahassee. Gainesville's biggest building is a low-rise 10 story seagle building , which is on the outskirts of this so called "Gainesville's Downtown". Last time I went to Gainesville the biggest building I seen that was STILL IN OPERATION was Shands Medical Hospital which is PRETTY sad , seeing its only 7 floors. Trust me , you are not going to get a big city feeling in Gainesville. I really dont see why University of Florida was put in Gainesville. Florida State University being put in Tallahassee was not a bad idea but , UF in Gainesville? Come on. Anyways , Tallahassee is your best bet.