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Before I get to the main topic, I just want to explain my point of view of Key West in general.
I had just moved here not too long ago. Reason being is because I wanted to get out of the state I lived in and go to college somewhere else for a little while.
For me to be perfectly honest, this was one of the worst decisions I have ever made, if not the worst. Especially since I am only 20 years old, there is NOTHING at all for me to do here. I currently go to a community college here that has dorms and I already am disliking it in the first week of me living here. Nobody does anything but sit around in their dorm rooms being introverts or simply go fishing, neither of those I have never liked doing.
I honestly believe that Miami and Palm Beach are more convenient places for me to live in than this island. I have actually gone to both those places to get away from Key West for a little while and I actually found it to be more enjoyable all around. Mainly because I grew up in big cities such as L.A. and Houston.
At first I thought that I would have a fun time here, but only to find out that stuff such as Jet-Skiing, going on Boats and other activities are way too expensive for me to do. On top of that, there is nothing to do on Duval street because I am a year away from being 21 and all of my fellow college students do when they go to Duval street is go party and get drunk. Those are the ones who are 21-22 years old. *sigh*
Now don't get me wrong here, it's not like I didn't hate Key West the first two days of me living here. I actually tried to like and enjoy Key West, but after finding out that there really isn't anything to do for those residing on the island, I began to think of ways to get out of this island and apply for a job somewhere in Miami or something along the lines of that!
To the main topic:
Now I am not sure what the point of view of Key West is for Florida residents, namely the ones who have been living in the state for a long time and also Florida residents who used to live in Key West as well as Floridans who still do.
Either way I would really like to know. Because if I could get some answers from anyone who has been living in Florida for awhile, then I can at least know if my point of view of Key West is a common point of view or not.
I also would like to know if anyone agrees or disagrees with the situation that I have with college down here.
So if there is anyone who can answer my question, please do. I would greatly appreciate it!
It is sad that you did so little research to find a place for an education that you will build the rest of your life, social- and employment- networking, and career on. In that way, sorry to say, you fit right in to Key West - it is full of people who do very little research before moving, just because they assume it would be a fun place.
I can't imagine that you went to Key West for school all the way from California for any other reason than to party. It's a community college, not a university. It's not like it's known for the best education. If you went there to learn about marine life, one would think you would be thrilled, because marine life does abound there and there is still plenty of that to do for students, sponsored by the school.
It is totally irrelevant what other people in the state of Florida think of Key West. The state is enormous, and most people in Florida - even in Miami - know almost nothing about the Keys. People in the Northern part of the state are a full 8-hr drive from Key West, minimum (some 500 miles away). You might as well ask someone from Texas what they think. More than any other island in the Keys chain, Key West is known as an expensive party town. There is no way you did any research about Key West and did not know it is a huge drinking town for adults, with a tourist-town level of expense, without really any educational focus at all. If you looked at a map, you knew it was extremely isolated - the most remote and distant island in the entire mainland US. You also likely knew from even reading the first website or book that people go to Key West to escape mainland life, to get away from civilization. No one ever confused Key West with a metropolitan area with easy access to the kinds of things to do found in a major city. It is a small island more than 100 miles off the coast, for godssake! What did you think you would be spending your time doing as an underage student in a community college, in a community you're not even from? (I'm sure there was a community college right near where you're from that had the same level of education or better, for less money, near all of the types of activities you like to do.)
It's admirable that you're not trying to drink and break the law, given that you are underage and it's illegal. If you stay and decide to engage in Key West life as an over-21 adult, you will be on the fast track to alcoholism and bankruptcy - it's really not a lifestyle that is a good way to start out your life. A lot of depressed older people move there to drink their problems away - it's not at all a place for a young modern trendy person looking to start out their career.
It could just be that you are having that first-week college cold feet that is common to a lot of freshmen. Try to remember what it is that brought you here. Are you studying sea life? Is there a reason that you moved to Key West to study something you'll have better access to than you would in another location? If so, you may decide you really like it there once you give yourself time to make some friends and settle into your classes.
If you had no plan and all at just picked Key West randomly off a map of community colleges because you thought it would be fun, but you do like SFL, then consider trying to transfer to Miami or Broward, where there are plenty of colleges and universities that are at least slightly better-known and with better educations (if not considered great schools) and that are within civilization.
You are an adult now, and you need to take responsibility for your own choices, and not look to other people for their opinions about your life. It doesn't matter what other people in FL think of Key West - it matters what YOU think of Key West. Trust your own opinion, and next time do some research (the thing you're supposed to do in college) before making a major life decision.
Great place to visit for a long weekend; horrible place to live because the cost of living is insane compared to local wages.
As for island life, it will suit some people but not others.
That's about the size of it in the opinion of this long-time Florida resident.
It's certainly a unique and interesting place to visit, but IMO living there is waaaay too expensive to even consider, and I'd find the traffic and crowds during peak visiting times ( that'd be any time during snowbird season, most weekends and holidays) would get old after a while. Most of the folks I've met working in Key West either have several jobs to make ends meet, and/or live north of Key West in places like Big Pine Key which as I understand is somewhat cheaper than living in Key West.
But at least from my experience from having to visit there several times a year for my job ( from which I retired several years ago), the people who live/work there are the nicest you will ever meet.
Key West is a dump. The cost of living is very high and there are a large number of service oriented jobs that only pay minimum wage. Apartments under a 1,000 dollars a month are few and there are many one bedroom apartments the size of a shoe box that are 4,000 a month! Insurance rates for homes can be tens of thousands of dollars a year. Medical service is lacking and many people in the Keys travel to Miami for medical care. You have to remember that US-1 is mostly two lanes and congested with tourists driving at 10 miles below the speed limit to take pictures of everything. Key West is neither a family oriented town. Duval Street is littered with tattoo shops, t-shirt shops, bars, homosexual places and drag queens; not the environment for children to be exposed to.
It is a very laid back and live, let live type of a town. People are for the most part friendly too.
It is sad that you did so little research to find a place for an education that you will build the rest of your life, social- and employment- networking, and career on. In that way, sorry to say, you fit right in to Key West - it is full of people who do very little research before moving, just because they assume it would be a fun place.
I can't imagine that you went to Key West for school all the way from California for any other reason than to party. It's a community college, not a university. It's not like it's known for the best education. If you went there to learn about marine life, one would think you would be thrilled, because marine life does abound there and there is still plenty of that to do for students, sponsored by the school.
It is totally irrelevant what other people in the state of Florida think of Key West. The state is enormous, and most people in Florida - even in Miami - know almost nothing about the Keys. People in the Northern part of the state are a full 8-hr drive from Key West, minimum (some 500 miles away). You might as well ask someone from Texas what they think. More than any other island in the Keys chain, Key West is known as an expensive party town. There is no way you did any research about Key West and did not know it is a huge drinking town for adults, with a tourist-town level of expense, without really any educational focus at all. If you looked at a map, you knew it was extremely isolated - the most remote and distant island in the entire mainland US. You also likely knew from even reading the first website or book that people go to Key West to escape mainland life, to get away from civilization. No one ever confused Key West with a metropolitan area with easy access to the kinds of things to do found in a major city. It is a small island more than 100 miles off the coast, for godssake! What did you think you would be spending your time doing as an underage student in a community college, in a community you're not even from? (I'm sure there was a community college right near where you're from that had the same level of education or better, for less money, near all of the types of activities you like to do.)
It's admirable that you're not trying to drink and break the law, given that you are underage and it's illegal. If you stay and decide to engage in Key West life as an over-21 adult, you will be on the fast track to alcoholism and bankruptcy - it's really not a lifestyle that is a good way to start out your life. A lot of depressed older people move there to drink their problems away - it's not at all a place for a young modern trendy person looking to start out their career.
It could just be that you are having that first-week college cold feet that is common to a lot of freshmen. Try to remember what it is that brought you here. Are you studying sea life? Is there a reason that you moved to Key West to study something you'll have better access to than you would in another location? If so, you may decide you really like it there once you give yourself time to make some friends and settle into your classes.
If you had no plan and all at just picked Key West randomly off a map of community colleges because you thought it would be fun, but you do like SFL, then consider trying to transfer to Miami or Broward, where there are plenty of colleges and universities that are at least slightly better-known and with better educations (if not considered great schools) and that are within civilization.
You are an adult now, and you need to take responsibility for your own choices, and not look to other people for their opinions about your life. It doesn't matter what other people in FL think of Key West - it matters what YOU think of Key West. Trust your own opinion, and next time do some research (the thing you're supposed to do in college) before making a major life decision.
You have valid points everywhere. But to the point, I went to Key West to get a lot of my acedemics out of the way and to escape a lot of crap that I had to deal with back in California.
I visited Key West twice before and found it to be nice, but that was probably because I was a tourist and on vacation myself back then. Now upon going to a community college here, it truly is a total sh*thole! It's good for people who like to party as you said, but not for people who are serious about education.
Unfortunately, I did not know from even reading the first website or book that people go to Key West to escape mainland life, to get away from civilization. Because I didn't do such research.. That was my fault!
You are right about another thing, I do like south Florida, so I think that I will try to get a part time job in Miami and take some online summer classes there as well. I also like Northern California however. Even more so than South Florida. So that being said, I might go back to California, namely San Francisco rather Eureka (which was a pretty remote town itself.)
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Especially since I am only 20 years old, there is NOTHING at all for me to do here. 
I currently go to a community college here that has dorms and I already am disliking it in the first week of me living here. 
Nobody does anything but sit around in their dorm rooms being introverts or simply go fishing, neither of those I have never liked doing. 
