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I've decided on Indiana! It was between IU and Wisconsin for me, two very different departments. The people at Indiana seem great and I really liked Bloomington.

I'm thinking about purchasing a condo, and I've found some really good prices for very small 1 bedroom condos near Lake Monroe. There seem to be a lot of condos in that area. Does anyone have any information about the properties there, or about living so far from campus? This would obviously require me to commute, which doesn't seem that bad now, but might get old after X years. My grandparents actually live a stone's throw from the lake across 37 in little ol' Harrodsburg, IN, so I sort of know how long it would take to commute since I'm used to "going into town" as they say, i.e., driving to Bloomington. Any advice/comments would be much appreciated.

I guess I can add to this post based on the cities that I have lived in as a student. Miami, FL - Attended the UMiami and did not have a car at the time. The public transportation in Miami is pretty poor. I managed to get around for the few years I was there, but not having a car really limited me in terms of what I could do on the weekends and the places I could go (the Metro line/buses do not go out to certain places). Fortunately, I lived right next door to a grocery store, so walked there and bought as much as I could carry. My commute to school from Kendall was like an hour one way. Austin, TX - Went to UT and did have a car at the time. I lived so close to school that I walked every day. I think I probably only took the bus a couple of times in the two years I was there, but I hear that it is pretty good especially if you commute within the university and downtown areas. For going to the grocery store having a car is super convenient, although there was a bus terminal right outside of the store I used to frequent. For going out, taking a cab downtown is the easiest way to get there. There are always tons of cabs going and coming from downtown. Madison, WI - A student at UW now and do have a car. The public transportation in Madison is amazing though. I take it to school just about every day. The way the city is laid out (on an isthmus) means that it is pretty compact and so the public transportation can take you virtually everywhere. For going out, there aren't as many cabs as there are in Austin just waiting for passengers and the buses don't run super late, which means that most people drive downtown. Overall though, Madison is probably the best place for public transportation among the place I have lived.

I lived in West Campus as a grad student, and although it was great in terms of proximity (it took 5 minutes to walk to my first class of the day!), it was often very noisy and full of undergrads. There wasn't much space to do anything either (very high density). My car also got broken into while sitting in my parking lot and my stereo got stolen. Not fun.

hgou - this is not a strange question! I would really like to know this as well. I would love to know if Bloomington has any good Asian stores/restaurants (particularly Japanese and/or Thai). I'd also like to know what minority communities have a presence in Bloomington. I will probably start looking for apartments fairly soon as I'm about 90% decided on IU! I was wondering if anyone knew of specific streets or neighborhoods to avoid in Bloomington. I'd also like to avoid traditionally undergrad areas as I will be a grad student in my late 20s and have been there and done that already. Any places close to the University where there is a high concentration of grad students?