riverine

I don't think it's "game over" yet, but it certainly makes winning look less likely...okay, nevermind, that's too depressing. Maybe it means nothing! And congrats to those who found out they've won!!

Yeah, that's all I see when I log in, too. Hearing about the people who can see letters already makes me nervous...

Hi janusnori, I've lived in Madison for four and a half years, two and a half of those as a graduate student. Reading through this thread I'm amazed at all the negative comments Madison got! I *love* this town. Yeah, it's quirky, but I absolutely love it. It's small but big enough to be entertaining, it's cheap, and it's fun. As for good ethnic/asian restaurants, there are a few. Perhaps the most well-known is Himal Chuli on State St. It's sister restaurant, Chautara, is also Himalayan food and is owned by the same people. There are a number of decent Indian restaurants, including one just a few blocks from campus (Maharani, I think?). There are two Afghani restaurants that are decent, one Ethiopian that's okay (doesn't compare to the ones in Boston), and a number of Thai and Indonesian restaurants. We have a disproportionate number of ethnic restaurants for a city our size. As for rent, when I was a Master's student here I had a studio/one bedroom (it was one big room and one big eat-in kitchen) with all utilities included for $550/month. Coming from Boston, where I paid $550/month for my share of a hole in the wall, it seemed awesome. The apartment I have now is a nice two bedroom for $920/month (heat included) and the rent hasn't changed since 2005. Right now my boyfriend and I are both PhD students, but housing in the town is affordable enough that we are buying a house next week. Having lived all my life on the east coast, the idea of being able to afford a house while in grad school is somewhat outrageous to me, but I'm thrilled. But the people who move from rural Wisconsin to Madison think the housing is outrageously expensive (which it is, compared to the rural areas). Also, when you say UWM in your post, do you mean UW-Milwaukee? That's what we traditionally call UWM. The school in Madison is called UW-Madison. I have no idea who made that distinction or why...