When I first decided to attend Florida State in 2018, people were quick to tell me all the things I just had to do. I had to take a dip in Westcott or Legacy fountain or both. I had to jump into the Recess pool at least once. I had to go to Pots for Happy Hour. Oh, and as soon as I was 21, I had to do a MadSo drinking challenge.
After settling into Tallahassee, I noticed there weren’t really things I had to go out of my way to make sure I did as much as it was things people could (and did) get done in a weekend’s time. Being that I was a transfer student and only had two years to experience what most people did in four years, what I really wanted was to know what campus-specific things I needed in my life.
After a year and a half at FSU, I have been able to compile a list of some of my favorite things at FSU that, surprisingly enough, not everyone knows about or cares to try. Here are six things you just have to experience at FSU before you graduate, all from a last semester senior.
Eat at the Global Cafe
Courtesy: FSU
The Center for Global Engagement is located in The Globe Building, a few steps from The DEN on campus. You might frequent this building for its spacious meeting rooms and banquet access. On select Fridays, though, The Globe takes its commitment to intercultural student engagement and mixes it with one of everyone’s favorite things: food! Global Cafe is an event featuring authentic foods from different parts of the world in the form of themed dining events. This semester, The Globe held four different Global Cafe’s featuring food from Haiti, China, Nigeria, and Poland.
Students pay between $8-$10 and walk through cafeteria-style lines to pick the foods you would like. Global Cafes start at 11:30AM and go until food runs out. For more details, you can check out The Globe site here! If you can’t make it to one of the Global Cafes before the food runs out, consider attending one of The Globe’s free International Coffee Hour events, which take place every Friday between 5PM-6:30PM and also feature refreshments and snacks from different cultures. Just make sure you make it out at least one Friday before you graduate for yummy food and good company!
Take advantage of ASLC’s advanced screenings
Courtesy: FSU
Right next to The Globe Building is the Askew Student Life Center (ASLC), featuring multiple theater auditoriums, a Cyber Cafe and a Coffee Shop. While the ASLC regularly hosts movie viewings for fairly new movies, and sometimes the classics, the advanced screenings are the true lowkey gems of the center. These events give students a chance to obtain tickets to watch new films before they’ve had a wide release in theaters and often feature giveaways, karaoke, and other fun extras! More than anything, it’s an opportunity for students to see movies early, for FREE, and have fun doing it! Recently, the center had advanced screenings for Queen and Slim and Waves a whole month and a half before either film had local showings. Check out the ASLC site for updated calendars and event information and enjoy an ~ FSU exclusive~ viewing of some major films before you achieve alum status!
Snap a picture with Garnet & Gold Guys
Courtesy: FSUBCM
We all know them, the two guys covered in glitter at absolutely every FSU Football home game. How do they get all that glitter off at the end of the night? Who knows! What we do know is that these two guys are a gameday staple, which makes getting a picture with them a must before we don’t get to frequent FSU Football games anymore (we’re not crying, you’re crying).
The Garnet and Gold Guys tradition started way back in 1998 at a home opener game against DUKE when two FSU fans and members of the Baptist College Ministry (BCM) wanted a way to rile up the crowd. The rest is history! Pigs will fly before the Garnet & Gold Guys miss a game, and they’ve become staple figures of FSU Football. In 2016, ESPN even featured them in a college football commercial. It might be hard to find the pair around Doak before games and finding them does not guarantee a picture, given they have so many fans waiting for pictures, but we promise a picture with the Garnet and Gold Guys will be one of your favorite memories to treasure after you’ve walked across that stage and received your congratulatory handshake from President Thrasher – if you can muster the patience to get one!
Go to the Flying High Circus
Courtesy: FSU
Fortunately for all us Seminoles, the FSU Flying High Circus is one of only two collegiate circuses in the United States right in our backyard! The circus was first established after the University became co-ed in 1947 as a way to integrate male and female students by participating in something jointly. While the regular performance season takes place in April of the spring semester, they also have shows during Family Weekend and Halloween-themed shows every October.
You can head over to the Circus’ website to see the spring 2020 performance schedule. There are a limited number of first come first serve student tickets available to each performance, otherwise box office tickets range in price from $14-$27 depending on seating section. Make sure to get in line early and you’ll be enjoying one of FSU’s most fun traditions for free!
If you want to take things a step further, the Flying High Circus offers an introductory one-credit course that teaches students about juggling, aerial ballet and walking the high wire! Auditions for the regular circus performance season take place at the beginning of every fall semester.
Study at the Heritage Museum in Dodd Hall
Courtesy: FSU
Sometimes studying on the quiet floors in Dirac and Strozier gets too routine and we need a change of scenery. Sure, we could go off campus to a coffee shop or something, but those might be even louder. Look no further for a new study spot than the Heritage Museum in Dodd Hall. Before Suwanee got renovated in the last few years, FSU had some serious Harry Potter vibes going on and the Heritage Museum is one of the only places on campus that has kept the magic alive at FSU.
The Werkmeister Reading Room has tall stain glass windows that show the evolution of FSU in pictures, tall arched ceilings and a few wooden tables and chairs where people can sit and do work among all the artifacts in the museum. Dodd Hall is located right next to the William Johnston Building and you can access the reading room directly through the University Way entrance and is open Monday-Thursday from 10AM-4PM during the regular semester. Take your schoolwork to the reading room in the Heritage Museum just once and I promise you’ll thank me later!
Check out FSU’s Museum of Fine Arts
Courtesy: FSU
The FSU Museum of Fine Arts was first established as the Fine Arts Gallery for the School of Visual Arts before moving to its current location on West Call Street. In 2003, the Museum even achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums and re-accreditation in 2012. It’s now home to work of artists like Andy Warhol, Judy Chicago and over 6,000 more pieces.
The Museum is currently closed for renovations until the spring semester, but it periodically hosts shows for the opening of different exhibitions. These shows are open to the public with a purchased ticket but on non-event days, the museum is free and open to the public. Check out the museum schedule as well as current and future exhibitions here. You won’t regret visiting the museum for its impressive art and interactive exhibitions. Plus, with such a convenient location, who could say no?
While FSU and the greater Tallahassee area have many must-see and must-do attractions, I’ve come to love the places on this list for the history they all encompass and the traditions they keep alive. As someone graduating in a few short months, I know I’ll be visiting these places at least one more time, and if you’re graduating too, you can’t miss the chance to experience all these things for free before you move your tassel from right to left!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest!