apwoh

I've been looking at http://www.rentnoho.com, in addition to Craig's List and the UMass housing site. One of the grad students I met told me about http://www.holtre.net and http://www.kaminsrealestate.com. Another grad student told me that the listings for fall really start opening up in May, so I'm hoping there are more options available then. I'm planning on moving in mid-August too. I hope I find a home for me and my kittens!

I'm following you everywhere! I just visited UMass, and their health insurance does cover spouses and dependents. It's apparently really good insurance too. The UMass grad student union is very strong.

I just visited there last week, and it's actually really nice. It's not scary AT ALL. It's really more like an hour from the airport, and it's surrounded by rolling bucolic farmlands, not scary woods. There are farm-stands, and places to buy local meat, dairy and produce, used book stores, beautiful brick buildings and other old stuff, pretentious coffee shops, arty movie theaters, an abundance of micro-breweries, and even a Trader Joe's. The Five Colleges in the Pioneer Valley, which doesn't include U Mass, offer lots of cultural opportunities and interesting things to do. I stayed mostly in Amherst and Northampton and they are both enclaves of liberal, highly-educated people, as far as I could tell. I don't think you'll be bored. Buy a good coat though. I'm from CA too, and was very glad to have my huge poofy down coat on my trip.