Hey! I gave this advice before! Perhaps, this might come in handy: if you don't want to stay on campus (which, btw, i think is a good call), you can book a hotel room for a day or two (or as much as you consider necessary), and check out the area. See what your choices are. If you need a tip on where to find decently-priced hotels near Storrs, I recommend this site - http://uconn.citires.ro/. I've taken a look at it and it's seems ok to me. But, it's up to you what you want to do. Anyway, hope my advice helps. Good luck!