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The Wanderer

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  1. The Wanderer

    New York, NY

    Wow, this thread is more contentious than it ought to be. I think one of the main criteria the OP suggested is being overlooked though: nightlife. If nightlife is important to you, the Bronx is *not* the place to be. At all. There are a few bars in Belmont that are borderline tolerable, but they're nothing special and have a tendency to be overrun by undergrads. The only other parts of the Bronx that have anything resembling a nightlife are Woodlawn (Katonah Ave. is Irish pub central) and Riverdale (The Bronx Ale House is technically in Kingsbridge, but it's my favorite Bronx bar, and An Beal Bocht in Riverdale proper is another fun Irish pub). Neither of these areas is particularly convenient though unless you live in them. If you're Irish, Woodlawn might be worth looking into; back when I was searching for a place I found several 1brs in the $1000 range, so a 2br for $800 apiece is probably doable. Of course you don't have to be Irish to live there, but it remains one of the main ports of entry for Irish immigrants, so the neighborhood has a unique feel. Riverdale is more expensive and not remotely convenient to Fordham. I used to live there...45 minutes on the Bx9 bus. Yikes. Also, some might argue that the nightlife in Manhattan is just a subway trip away no matter where in the Bronx you live, but you have to remember that you'll be walking *back* from the subway to your apartment in the Bronx after you've had your fun in the city. For some reason, most of the subway stops in the Bronx are located in not-so-savory areas, so you're almost always stuck with a walk through a scuzzy neighborhood after midnight. I don't recommend that kind of action if you can help it. All that said, the way most Fordham grad students do it goes like this: live close to campus for a semester or two (usually Belmont), get used to the city, and then move off to someplace more your speed. Because public transit is so extensive, grad students here live in all five boroughs, Westchester County, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. You can only figure out which one will be best for you by getting your feet on the pavement and checking places out. Since you won't have time to explore the whole area before you start school, it's best to view your first apartment here as a starting point. Just make sure you see and explore the neighborhood where you're moving before you move in there. NEVER take someone's word about property in NYC. Agents in particular are notorious for tricking out-of-towners into renting property in crummy neighborhoods. They'll tell you it's a charming pre-war in Riverdale when it's really a sixth-floor walk-up in Kingsbridge Heights with crack dealers on the front stoop. Bottom line: check things out in person and trust your gut. And if push comes to shove, Belmont is always a trusty first option for Fordham folks. Good luck and welcome to Fordham!
  2. All the things you love, Austin is known for. Sounds like a perfect fit! There are too many live music venues to name in one post, but you'll find no shortage of country, alt-country, and folk music in Austin. One of my favorite low-key places for that kind of stuff when I lived there was The Saxon Pub. But like I said, Austin is well-known for good music and boasts a variety of clubs and musical styles. I would, however, advise you *not* to visit Sixth Street. Though it's historically famous, it's about the least interesting place to go in the whole city unless you like college bars with bad music and cheap, lousy well drinks. For an interesting bar scene, you might visit Rainey Street, south of downtown instead. Lots of little houses converted into theme bars. As for sports and outdoors stuff, again the city is known for both. My favorite outdoorsy area was the Barton Creek Greenbelt...great for biking, hiking, and rock climbing and pretty close to the heart of the city. The Hill Country features lots of outdoorsy places though...far too many for one visit. My final two cents (and this goes for all the people with any concerns about going to UT) is that Austin is flatly one of the best cities in the United States. Everyone I know who used to live there wants to move back. Everyone I know who has visited, loved their time there and were amazed at such a hip city in the heart of Texas (though Texas as a whole is far more interesting than people give it credit for!). Whenever I tell people I did my undergrad at UT-Austin, 99% of the time the next words out of their mouths are "Austin is a great city!" And for those of you who are worried about living in a city in Texas, ease your minds. Austin is about the weirdest, easy-goingest, most heterogeneous, and most interesting city you'll find. Great food, great music, beautiful weather 75% of the year, and a really good university to boot! For those of you who choose UT, you'll have a fantastic experience in Austin, no doubt about it.
  3. The Wanderer

    New York, NY

    It's not easy, but it can definitely be done. Depending on what NYC school you'll be attending, you'll want to look for housing in the outer boroughs that are most convenient to your campus. I personally live in the Bronx and pay something like $900 a month for a small one-bedroom in a good neighborhood with exceptional subway access. As I'm sure you know, you can't find anything in Manhattan in that price range unless you're willing to take on a roommate or two. Brooklyn and Queens will also be more expensive but nothing like Manhattan (but might be more convenient to your campus and certainly much "hipper" than the Bronx!). In any case, if it's at all convenient to you, I would strongly consider at least taking a look at the Bronx. People are scared of the name, but the nice areas of the borough are quite safe and money goes a long way here. As for the money you'll have left over after rent, there won't be much, but it'll be enough to eat and go out for the occasional grad student bender. You'll need to budget about $100 a month for a MetroCard, but that completely takes care of your transportation costs in the city. Just like anyplace else, the key is finding ways to stretch your dollar, i.e. cheapish grocery stores, lunch specials, drink specials, free entertainment. The one thing I would absolutely recommend against is pushing yourself to the top of your rent range. I know lots of people who insisted on living in Manhattan and now pay far too much for rent and are constantly broke. What good is a cool apartment in the city if you never leave it because you have no money?
  4. I did my undergraduate degree at UT-Austin and my masters degree at UT-Knoxville, so I might be of some help here. Admittedly, I'm biased because I *loved* Austin (and still do). I don't think you'll ever find a city with all the same quirks and charms, so don't get your hopes up too high in that regard. But Knoxville is a pretty cool city too, in my experience. As far as scale and pace, I'd say it's very, very similar to Austin. Even the layout of the town is somewhat similar (a campus that's bordered by a main "strip/drag" on one side and a really cool, clean, and walkable downtown area on another, the huge football stadiums and football culture that turn the whole town a shade of orange on game days, and a nice, scenic river/lake bordering the downtown area). When I first moved to Knoxville I was struck by how similar it was to Austin in that respect. If you're interested in walkability, I would definitely suggest living close to campus though. Knoxville is a driving city on the whole. But the campus/downtown areas are quite pretty and definitely walkable, if you're not averse to lots of hills. Affordability is off the charts in Knoxville too. Much cheaper even than Austin. Granted, I lived pretty far west of campus, but I had a three-bedroom rental house that cost less that $600 a month. Seriously. On the other hand, if you're looking for diversity and "progressive culture," I'm not sure Knoxville could be even in the same conversation as Austin. UTK is a flagship university, so there is a bit of international diversity around campus, but nothing like Austin, and the rest of the city is what I would consider pretty solidly southern. It's not a bad thing at all, because it's an extremely friendly city with all the southern charms you might expect, but some of my academic colleagues (and professors!) were uncomfortable with how homogeneous the city is. In any case, I would say it's a place worth checking out if you can afford the visit (it's about a three-hour drive from Nashville, so you could ostensibly check out both cities in one trip). I was instantly sold on how green and hilly the place is and by how relaxed the pace was and how kind the people were, both at UTK and in Knoxville in general. Good luck!
  5. I've lived in Knoxville for a little while now, and I've used public transportation off and on. The good news is that you can buy a student bus pass for about $50 per semester. If you plan to use the buses regularly, it's a good deal. Further, the buses run to pretty much every corner of the city. I live well west of campus but still have access to one of the lines. The buses aren't anything special and can be crowded at certain times of the day, but they're usually on time and will get you where you need to go. In my experience, don't expect to see many UT students riding the city buses though. It seems most people who live off campus commute in their own vehicles. Doing so is a viable option, as there are almost always open metered spaces on the west side of campus ($.25 = 1 hr and 40 mins). As for biking, depending on where you end up living, it can be a real challenge. Knoxville is a city of hills! If you consider yourself a very strong rider, it shouldn't be a problem, but if you're a hack (like me), it's difficult to get anywhere that isn't relatively nearby. Also, while parts of the city are extremely bike-friendly, others are not at all. If you live west of campus, you'll find few sidewalks, fewer bike lanes, and even fewer secondary streets that will get you very far. It's pretty much Kingston Pike or bust, and riding a bike on the Pike is a suicide mission. But the weather is extremely moderate here (although it does seem to rain a lot), so being out of doors is pleasant for a good part of the year. All in all, I would guess that using a combination of the bus and your bike would work most of the time. It was my plan to do exactly that when I moved here, but the combination of cheap metered parking on campus and the intimidating hills/traffic has led to me using my car most of the time.
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