Varangian

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It can be expensive, more expensive than almost anywhere else in Spain. I would recommend staying in a hostel until you find appropriate accommodation. Paying a week at a time for a bed in a hostel while you do your program/search for a place is the best way to search for rooms. I would suggest idealista.com. segundamando is also a great resource, and loquo.es is also good. Be very careful with your personal belongings - your wallet in particular. Spain and Barcelona in particular has a very high rate of pickpocket theft. Almost everyone I know there has been pickpocketed at least once, so watch your handbag, if you're a girl, always carry your purse in front, don't put anything valuable in front pockets and if you're a guy, keep your wallet in your side pockets not the back.

I've lived with gay guys, straight guys and straight women. (I'm a female.) It's really going to depend on your personalities. Make some ground rules when you move in so that both parties know what they're responsible for. Be respectful. Try not to leave a messy kitchen messy for long and things should work themselves out.

I like this one http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f1ed/ as it additionally combines a fandom.

I am looking to live either downtown or in West Haven. I was accepted to UNH's PhD program and their campus is in West Haven. It's to bad the Hill neighborhood is so bad (I've heard). But yes, downtown or West Haven. West Haven has some nice areas and cheaper rent. I plan to go up there in July to apartment hunt.

Have you been up there yet to get a feel for the area/where you want to live?

I think it comes down to how much do you want to put up with another person's bullshit. I am at a time/age where I just don't want to deal with roommates anymore. I want to feel like the space that I am inhabiting is really mine - that I'm not just moving into a room. I don't want to deal with the potential of someone who is messy/disorganized/doesn't clean or has a significant other over all the time. I don't want to worry about disturbing someone if they are trying to sleep or being disturbed by them. But that comes with the trade off of paying more for rent and utilities. Which one you are willing to consider more is going to depend on where you're going. If it's somewhere like New York, unless you want to live 1 hour or more away from your campus, you will likely need a roommate just to cover basic expenses because the stipend won't be enough. If it's somewhere like the Midwest, you are more likely to be able to afford your own space.

Is anyone else moving up to New Haven/West Haven area in the fall to start grad or PhD studies?

Your best bet would be to arrive in July, stay somewhere cheap and apartment hunt then. Apartments and real estate move very quickly here and the only ones that last are either the really terrible or the supremely expensive.

Your ability to patronize is really limitless, isn't it? I've made a total of two posts in this thread. This will be the third. A number far fewer than your own. But I do like how you proclaim my "preachiness" as a way to de-emphasize the validity of my argument. Whereas your contributions are full of such wisdom. You've never said an unkind word to a fat person? Why, congratulations. Did you want a medal? You also don't seem to understand what concern trolling means.

I'm not sure if you're a transplant or not but like I mentioned, I've lived in Brooklyn my whole life (minus some traveling time) and I used to go to school with lots of kids from Bushwick, Bed Sty, Sunset and Flatbush. These neighborhoods were THE ghetto. Some still are. Up until the late 90s, I would say, no one wanted to live in these areas because they were full of crime, drugs and (shock! black people and hispanics). It wasn't until the end of crazy Guiliani's term and big business Bloomberg that lots of Manhattan started changing. Manhattan grew exponentially more expensive at an alarming rate, pushing all your young white students and young professionals out and over the bridges. With more and more white people moving into these areas and landlords upping the rents, it's pushing a lot of people in poverty out. Williamsburg was also a big ghetto. But now it's "trendy" - doesn't change the fact that the rent is crazy there, subway transportation is lacking, and that one only has to walk a few blocks to get to the worse off streets. The best bits about Williamsburg used to be the availability of big and cheap loft space. Now...not so cheap. Though now because of that wide amount of space and the influx of young whites, there's now big bars, big restaurants and art spaces. And the landlords get to charge crazy prices for those spaces, which all get past down to the people their in the exorbitant cost of restaurant food and rent. The same is going forward in Sunset and Crown Heights (the other side of the park) and parts of Bushwick. But one only needs to scratch the surface to get underneath all that gentrification and into the poverty and crime. Bushwick is basically a slum. But if you want to live there, no one's going to stop you. Looking at the crime map - yes midtown has a lot of crime - mostly theft related. Not surprising considering all the tourists.

That is the most convoluted interpretation of an argument I've seen in quite some time. Poverty and health are inversely correlated. This has been proven in study after study. It's not just my argument, it has been scientifically validated. Your athlete example is so ridiculous because not only are you stereotyping where all athletes are coming from and who they are, but assuming a lot of factors that you know absolutely nothing about. There is more to athletes than just football or basketball (which is what I imagine you're thinking of when you think athletes). Even your use of the word "hood" tells me a little more about your stereotypes. But to answer your most ridiculous example question, I'll propose another one on the same level of ridiculousness. Why, if there are so many criminals and drug dealers in "the hood", isn't everyone in "the hood" a criminal or drug dealer? When you extrapolate ridiculous and invalidated claims, you can expect such in return. Please note that I in no way "correlate" the Fat Acceptance Movement with Feminism. What I do say is that like Feminism, the Fat Acceptance Movement is this radical notion that fat people are....people, just like women are...people. Deserving of equal rights and opportunities just like anyone else. "It is the belief that a fat person should not have to be okay with discrimination in the job market, bullying, harassment, or threats." You have no idea, individual to individual what makes a person fat, obese, or morbidly obese. You don't know what their lifestyle choices are. You don't know what medical conditions they may or may not have, or what medications they are on, or if they've had a physical injury that has kept them from being mobile. You don't know what their mental state of being is. You say relating it to feminism is a blanket dismissal of the issue but then proceed to make a blanket dismissal of the causes of obesity assuming that all factors in obesity are factors that can be managed when you have no variables, no facts and no information on the lives of those individuals. I won't deny that that yes, for many people, diet and exercise will be the answer, but making the blanket statement that is is the only thing needed, or they are obese ONLY because they've let go of factors that can be managed is an ill informed mindset. You make too many presumptions. The OP may well have read through some of the initial posts on this topic, found it not to her liking and moved on. I'm not really sure why people presume why if someone makes a handful of forum posts and disappears, the person was fake. This happens on forums all the time. People sign up, post a few times and disappear for a wide variety of reasons. Where to start? That type of condescension is only going to get you so far in America once the newness of you being European wears off on your campus. I used to live in Spain, and I love my Spaniard friends - none of them were academics but I never once heard a single statement of condescension from them. Actually the only time I did was from an academic studying my program originally from Barcelona. Not really sure where I'm going with that anecdote and I'm probably stereotyping a little bit about my favorite people but really , your posts are very ill informed. Europe is great, and yes people are thinner over there but Europeans also have completely different lifestyle from Americans. The cities are much more compact, the reliance on cars is vastly diminished, the public transportation is far superior, the freshness of the food is very different, the treatment of the food itself is also very different. You'll see for yourself when you come here. And you will gain weight here even eating the same exact way you do there. I say this from experience and from every single one of my American and European friends who travel back and fourth between Europe and America. All the Americans lose weight after being in Europe and all the Europeans gain weight when they come to America. Your anecdote is kind of pointless. The person talking obviously knows what the root cause of their weight problem is. Someone who does, says it and is fine with that is one matter. They might be content with that - in which case, so? If they want to lose that weight, then they already know what they have to do and just haven't done it yet. You can chalk that up to whatever is going on with that person - maybe their lazy, maybe their busy, maybe they're just content don't really care so much. Point is, you don't really know - and someone like that won't change unless they want to. Much like Mr. Gnome up there. His functional alcoholism doesn't prevent him from continuing his work and as a result, hasn't stopped drinking. The second point is - that you can't assume this is true for every overweight person. You have absolutely no idea what other variables are at work. OP's original issue of health and disability is a concern - but she in fact asked about fat-friendly campuses. Not to be concern trolled about getting healthy. It is simply not anyone's business but hers to choose how/when/if she wants/can/is able to get healthy and/or reduce her size.

Generally, vegan is a complete dietary choice that doesn't include any animal products. Her diet does, which is why I ask. How can you both "eat vegan" and "eat lean meat"? I'm seriously curious.

This thread was terribly disappointing. I started reading it believing that at least, the majority of the scholarly soon-to-be academics here would be able to have an intelligent discussion on issues like campus disability services and discussion on health/disabilities, (I mean there are how many threads on people gaining weight on this forum and how to stay fit?) and what do I find? The last bastion of safe discrimination and the Megatron of concern trolling. Fat people know they're fat, ok? They don't need the constant reminders from people. How many individuals do you think say *per day* to your average overweight or obese person "Well, if you just eat healthy foods, exercise and consume less calories than you use, you can be thinner!" Why thank you, concern troll, I had no idea and this is the very first time someone has ever suggested such a thing before. You are my hero. And seeing as how most concern trolls are not doctors nor have they ever studied the intricacies of the human body, nutrition, kinesiology, or genetics, or even economics but rather would secretly (or not so secretly) just like to not look at fat people ever, the majority of people who hear this on a regular basis would like to take all that fake concern and offer you a nice big helping of STFU. I know this may come as a big shocker to some people, but is actually possible for some people, appearance wise, to be externally fat but internally (according to all physical examinations and tests by doctors) to be as fit and functional as a healthy person. The opposite can also be true for thin people. There are plenty of naturally thin people who consume nothing but junk and are not internally healthy. Some individuals here seem to be under the impression that accepting fat people/the fat acceptance movement/plus size phenomenon or whatever you want to call it is PC or coddling or some form of accepting "bad" behavior. Because of course anyone who is fat is absolutely to blame for all of it. Lets just throw a white sheet over everyone and call it a day. Just like Fox News says anyone who is living in poverty is there as a result of their own poor behavior or bad choices. I think I can see what kind of environment some of these individuals were raised in. The fat acceptance movement is none of these things. Hold on for a second now because I might just make a radical claim here: Like Feminism is the general belief and movement that women are fundamentally people and deserving of the equal rights and opportunities of men, the Fat Acceptance Movement is so too the general belief that fat individuals are fundamentally people and deserving of the equal rights and opportunities of anyone else. It is the belief that a fat person should not have to be okay with discrimination in the job market, bullying, harassment, or threats. Here are a few screen shots from a tumblr I occasionally peruse from people who actually do deal with discrimination, misdiagnoses and harassment just for being fat : These were all recent posts. The fact of the matter is, yes, health is important. But you know what else is important? The fact that fat people are still PEOPLE. And they deserve just as much respect as anyone else. There is also a big correlation between poverty and health. There are areas of our country where people are so fundamentally disadvantaged that finding healthy food is one of their lowest priorities. There are places in America called food deserts. A food desert is defined as an area without access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods due to a lack of supermarkets, farmers markets and other healthy food providers. Many individuals in these areas may not have cars with which to drive to an area where such things are accessible or may not be able to afford the gas. http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defines-food-deserts <- what is a food desert. http://newsone.com/1540235/americas-worst-9-urban-food-deserts/ <- Top 9 urban food deserts. So that covers food. What about exercise? Not only are there people so economically disadvantaged that they can't get to good supermarkets, who of these people do you think are going to get to a gym? Go outside and run, you say? In temperatures that can get below freezing, you say? Or how about above 85 and humid? Above 95? It is it okay to exercise outside in adverse weather conditions? What about in unsafe neighborhoods? Who honestly thinks that anyone who can't even afford gas money is going to be living in super safe neighborhood? I won't even bother addressing the low wage workers who work 10 or 12+ hour days and can't access basic things like clean water and healthy supermarkets (in America!). For a forum all about higher education, this thread was sorely lacking it. http://books.google.com/books?id=mILfIjh356sC&lpg=PA201&ots=0T_5klWQvd&dq=food%20deserts%20in%20america&lr&pg=PA201#v=onepage&q=food%20deserts%20in%20america&f=false <- more on food deserts http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1549-0831.2009.tb00387.x/abstract;jsessionid=14E99F2ED815CBE471D72D7A2CC1CB01.f03t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false <- article on the lack on available healthy food correlates to increased BMI

As I grew up in Brooklyn and will be moving to New Haven for school come August, I will be leasing out a room in a nicely sized apartment in Bensonhurst. Very close to the D train and lots of buses, very safe and comfortable neighborhood. It's close to a lovely park, lots of shops, restaurants, take-out places, gyms and supermarkets, there is a very nice bar scene about 10 minutes ride by bus during non-rush hour (obviously during rush hour traffic it would take a bit longer). Room and apartment are fully furnished. The room would include a twin bed and mattress (new), desk, closet and possibly additional dresser. Rent includes all utilities, cable tv and internet. The room gets great heat in summer and has a built in AC. The apartment faces east, so the morning light fills the living room, while the setting sun hits the bedrooms and fills them with natural light. $700. Feel free to pm me with questions. Person must be cat friendly. I would not recommend Bushwick. It still pretty much a slum and where many of Brooklyn's murders happen (Bushwick, Crown Heights, Flatbush and The Flatlands are all neighborhoods I would not recommend). Sunset Park used to be like this a few years ago but is slowly gentrifying. It's a heavily Latino neighborhood (so there's great food and discotecqs) but some streets are still questionable. For most New Yorkers average time to work is anything from 40 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes. This is normal. If you want to live right next to your university, I wish you the best but you will be paying all your stipend for rent with nothing left over. If anyone wants, if they know what school they are attending, I can give a rough ETA from the apartment's location.

When I lost 30lbs a few years ago I only went down 1 dress size. My hips seem to be the last area I lose weight from. So it's definitely difficult to imagine other frames where dropping 10lbs is the equivalent for some to go down a full size. How are you eating vegan but eating lean meat?

OP mentioned having a desktop already. A Chromebook is barely a laptop. If the point is lightweight functionality, for bringing it to school or showing a presentation, a tablet is a better option. If the point is the functionality of a desktop with portability, then a laptop is the better option. Either way, PC and android related devices will serve OPs needs at half the price of Mac with the same or better customizable functions.

If you strictly want something that is light weight to carry around, I would suggest a surface. http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/pdp/en_US/Surface-2/productID.286867200 It's built for functionally, has office pre-installed and loads of ports for you to attach any hardware. You also don't have worry about purchasing an additional usb keyboard as with most tablets because it comes with. Students also get 10% off.

Whenever I have to be out of the house that early I am always surprised by the number of people out and around at that time. In my head I just keep saying, "This is a time for SLEEP!"

Is your position your choice or was it assigned to you that way?

Assuming I TA next year I prefer the Yoda philosophy.

Procedural TV shows (NCIS/CSI/Rissoli & Isles/Castle etc.) Mayonnaise People who carry dogs in purses The Office

I felt more like an adult when I lived overseas. I had no support system and I was just concerned with getting work/or more work, paying rent, buying food and everything that was left over I could do with what I wanted. For the first time I didn't have anyone telling me where I could go or when, what to do with my money, I had no school responsibilities and it became the most freeing kind of experience. Coming back home I feel less like a matured individual. I can't find a job, I hated my cohort in my master's program, I am perpetually without money, I can't pay my own bills and I have people asking me all the time where I'm going/what I'm doing/when I'm going to be back/reminding to me to x, y and z 50 times. I don't meet anyone my age because most of the friends I had have moved away, and I'm too broke to go out to bars/clubs/other activities. I still haven't felt the urge to want to get married or have kids, even though I'm at that age where it's happening a lot. But then I look at the 18 year olds and wonder how they can all be so stupid. I couldn't possibly have been that stupid.