Eugene, OR

[Guest guest]

I was wondering if anyone has experience in Eugene?

[enoksrd]

Yes. I have been an undergraduate at the University of Oregon for five years. What do you want to know?

I'll just throw out a few things that I would wonder about.

It is a pretty good town for bikes. There are a lot of bike lanes and bike shops. You can live hear without a car without any trouble. In fact, two years ago I had a room mate that always drove to school. He had to leave 45 minutes early so he could drive around looking for a parking space, and I would leave 15 minutes before class and bike or ride the bus with no trouble. I don't really ride the bus enough to say if it is a good way to get around, but you do ride free with your student ID.

There are some really good natural food stores that stock a bunch of vegetarian and vegan food, organic produce, and bulk food in bins. Also, there is farmer's market that is open more than half of the year, which is conveniently located down town.

I think rent is pretty reasonable. Right now I live about 3 blocks from (the closest part, about 5-6 blocks from where I actually have classes) of campus and pay $365/month in a three bedroom apartment. I think it is not hard to find a place for $300 if you are a little farther from campus and have a room mate or two. I am not really sure what it costs to live alone, since the only year I lived alone I was in the dorms.

The weather is okay. It doesn't get really cold or hot, but it seems to rain quite a bit.

A block from campus there is a little strip of restaurants which includes Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Pizza, Healthy Eclectic (I don't know what to call it; pasta, burritos, omelets, etc, but with a lot of fresh ingredients), Bagels, Subs, and a Bakery. This is mostly $5-7.

[cahaba]

Saturday Market is a lot of fun too.

[JLK520]

Is there any area that grad students specifically tend to live in, would you say?

[pjizz]

well since UO is my best offer so far, i'm becoming more and more intrigued about eugene. there are several good looking listings over at craigslist, although most will be gone before i need one...still, it gives you an idea.

good to know that life w/o car is doable...its a good 38 hour drive from home, so i may just fly up with some luggage in transit.

could anyone speak to the cultural opportunities of the area, such as music festivals, venues with frequent concerts, what type of music seems to be coming out of the bars, art festivals, indie theaters????

also, it's obvious that eugene is a natural mecca...anyone have any specific stories/humorous anecdotes concerning eugene and the wild?

[VaclavHavel]

I'm a native Eugenian, so I'll take a crack at this. I left Eugene a while ago; I tried to keep current, but who knows what may have changed:

music festivals: This depends on what kind of music your interested in. Eugene is pretty well known for the Oregon Bach Festival each summer, which I believe is one of the premier Bach events worldwide. For pop/rock/folk, in the direct Eugene area the best thing going on is the Oregon Country Fair, where aging and not-so-aging hippies converge for a drug-addled weekend of folk crafts and jam bands (this was never really my scene, though it's an interesting event for anyone). A day's drive to the north at the Gorge Amphitheatre, there's the Sasquatch Festival each summer. This usually has an excellent lineup if you're more interested in indie pop and rock. There's also the Eugene Celebration, but I always found this pretty boring. Local groups also play frequently at the Saturday Market.

venues with frequent concerts: Again, it depends. The Hult Center for the Performing Arts is where all the classical and a lot of the jazz happens. For rock'n'roll, try John Henry's, the WOW Hall, Sam Bond's, Indigo District, with larger stuff happening at the McDonald Theatre. The Shedd and the Cuthbert Amphitheatre also have stuff going on.

what type of music seems to be coming out of the bars: This one I can't answer. Been away too long.

art festivals: This is hard to say...When I left Eugene I was not necessarily a big connoisseur of the visual arts, though Art and the Vineyard was the one people talked about the most. There are also rotating exhibits at the Hult Center, an art museum at the University, and numerous independent galleries (though remember Eugene is not a major city).

indie theaters: Movies or live theatre? For movies, it's unfortunately pretty much limited to the Bijou, which doesn't usually get first-run independent movies. This situation may have changed in recent years, though I'm not sure. Check EugeneWeekly.com to see if there's any special events hosted by coffee shops, bars, etc.

[pjizz]

thanks for all those pointers...eugene sounds like a fun not too big not too small college town. and at only two hours from portland, i'm sure most anything can be found if one looks hard enuff

[MAN]

Anyone have any updated information on Eugene/Uni of Oregon?

[pjizz]

i chose oregon and have been in eugene since august of last year so i can try and help you out.

generally, there are plenty of neat restaurants and shops scattered around a few hubs, one of which is campus. there are more bars/clubs/music spots toward downtown, but that isn't too far of a walk from campus. biking is a must if you live far from campus and don't bring a car, though students get free pass on the bus...but i find biking to be more convenient, and eugene is fairly bike friendly.

there is a world of difference between north of the river, where you will find your big chain stores and restaurants, and south, which is dominated by local, independent, or otherwise small businesses. weather might be a concern, as i'm pretty sure the sun stopped coming out back in october. however, i'm convinced that the horror stories of constant rain are northwest myths designed to scare tourists. the rain doesn't ever seem to last more than 20 minutes, and we usually go days, sometimes weeks between rains. overall, i've enjoyed eugene. it's a good size.

of course, if you are going to be a grad student, the only thing that really matters is how big the window is in your office, because that is what you will be looking at for the next few years. just kidding!

[yinyangwriter]

of course, if you are going to be a grad student, the only thing that really matters is how big the window is in your office, because that is what you will be looking at for the next few years. just kidding!

Lol. Sooo, right. That is why I'm considering living in one of two places that I don't particularly love but that are home to more prestigious institutions. Here is a question for pjizz or anyone else in Eugene, How is the social life for a single person?

[rtrgwnd]

Does anyone have any information on finding housing in Eugene? I'm also trying to get a sense of what the neighborhoods there are like. I'm hoping to find a small house, relatively close to campus, but not in an overly student-poplated area. Too old for that. Any ideas?

[poco_puffs]

I'm going through the same hunt. If you want close to campus, you'll want south or west of it, and I *think* that the area to the south gets less "woohoo college!" sooner/closer than the area to the west, where the party atmosphere extends six or seven blocks past campus in several places. Craigslist and Forrent.com have both been recommended to me as fairly reliable for the area, especially since you can find independently owned properties instead of the big companies. Expect to pay $500-600 for your average one bedroom, and $700+ for a two bedroom. If the price is much cheaper than either of those fields, double check to make sure the address is not one of the Eugene bedroom communities or some neighborhood that is very far away--- both of those cases will drop your rent, but make commuting more complicated.

If you are just moving by yourself and without pets, have you considered the grad student housing? They sent us a packet a while back, but there should be information on the school website under "housing" or some such.

Also, there is some more information on Eugene in the forum category for cities on Gradcafe. It's older, but not entirely dated in terms of the advice it provides.

Edit: That pricing I quoted was for apartments, sorry. Houses are going to start around 1k/month at the very low end.

Edited May 26, 2010 by poco_puffs

[rtrgwnd]

I appreciate the help. Thank you.

[hajimemashite]

I appreciate the help. Thank you.

For more information on Housing in Eugene, check out these websites:

www.stewardshipproperties.com

http://asuorental.uoregon.edu.

http://vonkleinrentals.com/

www.bell-realty.com

www.eugenerentals.com

www.principlepropertymanagement.net

www.chinookproperties.net

Now my question to all that can help me out is: I am an international student, and will be making my travels to the US of A in august... meeting up with a college friend from Minnesota and then moving to Eugene by late august (prolly the last week)... Would it be too late to be able to find a 2 bedroom apartment @ that time?

Edited June 18, 2010 by hajimemashite

[poco_puffs]

For future applicants looking in Eugene, this is a helpful interactive map provided by a local news outlet that shows police calls pinpointed on Google maps for every 24 hour period in the last month. You can check out your potential neighborhoods ahead of time to see if it is an active crime area, or what sorts of crimes (noise complaints, theft, disorderly conduct etc) tend to happen in which neighborhoods.

Eugene Police Call Map

[grifter]

Need to bump this--I am curious about graduate housing. I plan on visiting, but in the meantime, can anyone tell me some specific areas to avoid (as in, loud, wild undergrady-feeling)? Any recommendations or cautions against living in, say, Springfield or another outlying area?

Thanks

[babyology]

Hi all,

I'll be moving to Eugene at the end of this summer to start my phd program (developmental psych) in the fall. I've been reading up a bit on housing, and it sounds like one can get a really lovely space for very cheap by sharing a house with a couple other people. I was hoping maybe someone here might be interested; I'd much rather room with another grad student than find random people on craigslist and end up with a bunch of crazy undergrads. I don't have any particular properties in mind yet (I think it might be a bit too early still), but if you're looking for something along these lines, let me know and we can message back and forth a bit to see if we want to look for somewhere together.

[LWaldrop]

I am looking for people to split a house with as well! I will be attending UO in the Fall for Chinese Lit, and need a place to live with other grad students! Let me know if you are interested in looking more into it.

[lblancha]

LWaldrop, babyology,

I am also looking for graduate housemates for the coming academic year. I will be moving out to Eugene sometime in August to start an MFA in creative writing. Perhaps if either of you come across some good info, you could post it in the forum, and I will do the same. Not sure what else to say.... I'm a dedicated student, like to exercise, go out occasionally, etc. Also, I think it would be nice to live with people studying in fields different from my own, if you can call creative writing a field. Anyway, I'm interested and such.

[lblancha]

Some mention has been made about cars, and bikes and buses, and I just wanted to get a few more opinions on the issue of transportation, i.e. whether or not I should get a car. It sounds like Eugene is a good bike town, and I have a bike, but what about the weather? Do folks just bike in the rain in Eugene? Also, are grocery stores easily accessed, or does Eugene have patches of food desert? In other words, without a car would food shopping be a pain? Thanks, thanks, thanks.

[BrendaNavarro]

Hey all,

I applied to U of Oregon for the Fall of 2012. I won't find out till January if I got accepted or not but I'd like more information about what "rural" towns surround Eugene and what the chances are of commuting into Eugene during the week. I'm a graduate Foreign Language and Literature student looking to relocate with a partner and two dogs. Mostly, I'd like more information about surrounding rural communities with decently priced land for sale. Thanks so much.

[LCBucky]

Hey all,

I applied to U of Oregon for the Fall of 2012. I won't find out till January if I got accepted or not but I'd like more information about what "rural" towns surround Eugene and what the chances are of commuting into Eugene during the week. I'm a graduate Foreign Language and Literature student looking to relocate with a partner and two dogs. Mostly, I'd like more information about surrounding rural communities with decently priced land for sale. Thanks so much.

Have you found out if you've been accepted or not?

I also applied to U of Oregon and should hear (hopefully) within a month. Definitely a top choice, so I am interested in learning more about Eugene.

[humankoko]

UO grad student here. I don't frequent this thread but PM me with any questions!

[Julianne Pigoon]

I applied to UOregon for English PhD Fall 2012, and wherever I go I'll be moving with my partner, two children and two cats. I come from New England, so I pay RIDICULOUS money for rent. In comparison, Eugene looks more than affordable to me. Being from Providence, also, has inculcated an aversion to developments and new housing, and there are some absolutely gorgeous turn‒of‒the‒century and mid‒century homes that are architecturally interesting with beautiful yards. Three bedrooms are around 875‒1300 from what I've been seeing, most of them falling in the 900s range. Oregon is my last hold‒out for PhD, and if I get in, I'm going to cry. I think I'd love it there.

[princesspi]

Hey, I currently live in desert and I am moving to Eugene soon for graduate school.

Any recommendations for raincoats and rain shoes?