Lexington, KY

[Ralphie]

I've accepted a place at the University of Kentucky (yesss!!!). But I don't know anything about Lexington, and I'd be really grateful if anyone who knows anything about the place could share something about it -- good parts, bad parts, anything!. Thank you.

[meridionale]

Ah, this could get ugly.

I see you are from England, so I must warn you that Lexington, KY is not NYC or LA. So, if people come in here trying to put a negative tone on it, you have to factor in what sort of city they enjoy living in. If it's NYC, they'd hate Lexington. I know some people who go to UKy (I was accepted there as well), so I will link them here to give you a good point of view. One good thing about large universities that basicly have a town built around them is that they are cattered to college students and have a very big "community" aspect to it.

[Ralphie]

Well, thank you! Any insight is very welcome. I don't know what I'm expecting Lexington to be like, but I suppose something more like the "real America" (whatever that might look like! lol) rather than an NY or LA as you say. The statistics obviously don't give any idea of the atmosphere of the place -- so anyone who could give me some idea, that would be great. Having said that, I would equally love living in the tiniest backwoods town in the middle of let's say Texas, as I would living in the middle of Manhattan. It's America! It's all good . Hopefully. I'm just hoping that there are a lot of pick up trucks and Mustangs around to fit in with my idealized image of the US! Thanks again.

[thomasf]

There is no real America.

Even limiting my point to strictly geography, there are at least 5 Americas, every one nearly completely different from every other one except for McDonalds and English. And the English varies.

Addendum: I recommend you chose your America wisely. Personally I believe there is something of value in every single one, but depending on your personality/value system there are a lot of things to dislike.

[Ralphie]

I appreciate that -- maybe I should have said a real America, but even then you're absolutely right. England is an awful lot smaller than most States, and I wouldn't be comfortable trying to point to the "real Bristol", let alone the "real England". All I was trying to say was that I don't have some Hollywood image that America = New York = skyscrapers + bagels + the Yankees.

[Guest colvica]

Well, Lexington is a long way from England, but it's not so bad. My mom lives in Lexington now, though I have never lived there, and I know a ton of people at UK. Lexington itself has a lot of good and bad qualities, like any city I know of. It kind of has a small-town feel, so there are a lot of unique shops and restaurants, but you still have the chain atmosphere if you go to certain places in town. The only really awful thing about Lexington is the traffic. The population has exceeded the space available, so it takes a while to get just about anywhere in town. But, there's a lot of beauty. And the horse races at Keeneland are wonderful!

Good luck at UK. Kentucky certainly has its flaws, but I've always enjoyed it. What field are you in? I'm sure you're going to love it, and we Kentuckians tend to love British accents, so I'm sure you'll be loved as well!

[Guest SHELLY]

Hi! My best friend lives about half an hour from lexington, so i can say that there are certainly some "backwoods" places around. such as hazard, ky.

My boyfriend is a kentuckian. his sister had a friend from england come visit and the friend had a UK t-shirt on (as in United Kingdom) and their dad thought it meant he was a UK (as in University of Kentucky) fan. haha! you'll fit in either way.

good luck.

[Ralphie]

Thank you, "Kentuckians"... that's something I've learned. I like it . So, following the logic of your friend's t-shirt, I've been a UK student for the past 3 years already. And by the way, I'm a geographer. Since you mention accents (although why anyone would like an 'English' accent, I have no idea!), what's the Kentucky accent like? -- sort of "southern"? I had a vague idea that Lexington was known for horse racing -- that's pretty much all there's pictures of on the tourism websites. How nightmarish is the traffic? I mean, at some point I want to get a Mustang! Is it a really anti-car city (I mean can you park alright?), or is it just the congestion that's the problem? I wonder if it can be worse than Bristol on a wet monday morning. Thanks!

[shellybe]

actually, one of my friends has a very strong kentuckian accent. one of my german friends actually thought she was from england! i had a dream a couple of weeks ago that kentuckian was a separate language.

it's very twangy. for instance "single" is said "saaaangle". fun stuff like that. "icecream" can sound like "asscream"

i'm making fun, but i really do like the accent. it's beautiful, in a way. but i'm still glad that my boyfriend's accent isn't so strong. his parents on the other hand...wow! but i certainly don't mean to offend anyone! i lived in kentucky for a little while and i always think i sound kentuckian on voice mail. and people from farther north probably think i do too.

[Ralphie]

Sounds awesome... so should I be expecting to hear people saying "y'all" (I mean, seriously, rather than nobody bought my last record, so arm goin back to ma country rowts yall)?

[shellybe]

Sounds awesome... so should I be expecting to hear people saying "y'all" (I mean, seriously, rather than nobody bought my last record, so arm goin back to ma country rowts yall)?

definitely!

[meridionale]

Sounds awesome... so should I be expecting to hear people saying "y'all" (I mean, seriously, rather than nobody bought my last record, so arm goin back to ma country rowts yall)?

Y'all isn't that redneck. I say "y'all" instead of "you guys," but I don't sound like that! Haahaha. But then again, I'm not from Kentucky. I'm from the deep south. There isn't anything as hard to understand though as a backwoods cajun accent.

[Guest colvica]

Lexington is not at all a bad place to have a car; in fact, I'd recommend having one. You can get around downtown (which is where campus and lots of fun stuff to do is) fairly easily without a car, but if you want to go to the bigger shopping areas you'll want a car. Lexington is a pretty spread out town. I've heard that they have a surprisingly reliable and affordable city transit system, but I can't vouch for that from personal experience. As for the accent, it depends. Some people have deep drawls and say unnaturally long "i"s. But there are some (and more, I'd say, especially in Lexington) who speak completely normally with just a hint of twang. You'll probably get a kick out of all of the drawl when you first get here, and we'll understand as long as you understand why so many girls' jaws drop as they hear your accent. It's a fair trade I think:)

[Ralphie]

Thank you! Any amount of twang is good, trust me . I could probably find the answer to this somewhere else, but... you say that Lexington is quite spread out -- is the campus near to the downtown, or is it more of a bus [or after about 2 weeks -- Mustang lol] ride away?

[dinosaurfight]

I've spent the last four years in Lexington (for my undergrad) and I love it. To be in Kentucky it's actually a very progressive place with lots of people with agricultural and environmental concerns. Really fun in the summer; low key, weather is temperate, good food and beautiful outside. Larger cities are fairly close, 1 hour to Cincinnati, & Louisville, about 6 hours from Chicago.

I've found it to be really affordable too. With a roommate you'll be looking at around $300-450 per month for rent and utilities if you live walking distance to campus. About $450-550 if you live alone and $300-450 if you live alone driving distance to campus. Great place for bicycling to and from places but public transport isn't great. Great if you like outdoor sports, rock climbing, etc.

As for bad parts? If you rent walking distance to campus you should be fine. I can't say I've ever really seen a 'bad' part of Lexington.

Good Luck!

'

[hh725]

I lived in the Lexington area for 4 years and have since relocated. I actually prefer larger cities with grungier neighborhoods (just my style), but I have good memories from living in Lex. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:

1. The city of Lexington is actually pretty charming -- parts of it are quite spread out, so you see a lot of green grass as you drive around (compared to lots of cement in my current location).

2. Low(er) cost of living. You should be able to find a nice place to live for a pretty decent price.

3. UK basketball. The excitement over UK basketball is fun and pretty contagious, so be prepared to start cheering for the Wildcats.

Cons:

1. Ice storms -- usually at least once a winter, the area gets a really bad ice storm. I grew up in the north and can handle myself in snow, but ice basically paralyzes the whole city, regardless of your driving expertise.

2. I think someone mentioned traffic earlier. Lexington traffic can be annoying during rush hour and UK basketball games, but overall, it's not as bad as a much larger city -- D.C., for example, is MUCH worse.

Unless you're looking for a booming city with skyscrapers, "hoods", and no grass, I'd say Lexington is a great place to go. Also, note that you'll probably want to have a car or friends with cars to get around -- unless you plan on sticking pretty close to campus while you're there.

Be sure to take a trip to Louisville for "Thunder over Louisville" (great firework display) while you're in the area.

[lalala1]

you're dead-on about the ice storms! i live in southwest indiana (my sister lives in lexington), and the ice was something i was never prepared for when i first moved here. we had SNOW... not ice. it is very difficult to get around in!

another thing to check out in lexington... if you are at all into bargain shopping, they have an awesome goodwill and salvation army! i have found TONS of cute stuff there.

[abluedude]

Lexington is a beautiful city with traffic issues. You'll find it congested, and you'll most certainly need an automobile to get around, as public transit leaves much to be desired. Plus, you'll want to get out of Lex and see the countryside, wineries, horse farms, etc. There are plenty of opportunities around the Lex area to work in academia: Georgetown, Kentucky Community Technical College System (KCTCS), Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), and others hire adjuncts/single teaching classes all the time. Living in Lexington can be pretty cheap ($600 for a 2-bedroom apt is normal), or you can commute from Winchester or Richmond, where you'll find one bedrooms for as low as $350 a month. Interstate 75 takes you to just about wherever you want to go outside the Lex area, but if you're just looking for groceries, malls, or other shopping, you will not need to leave Lex at all. Several malls, Lexington Green, Hamburg Pavilion, ect. provide all the shopping a person can handle. In Lexington Green, there's Joseph Beth Bookstore, which is magnificent. Also a great comedy club there. There's an interesting underground right off campus, including Sqecial, a "head shop" that's very popular. UK's campus is navigatable by foot, bike, public transit; exploring Lex requires a car. Gas right now is $1.98, gallon of milk is $2.99. A great, great place to live is South Broadway Park or thereabouts; within walking distance to campus and transit. Not as cool as Louisville, but Lex has its charm for sure. The Equestrian Games are coming in a few years, so the city is renovating all of the downtown area, which should drastically improve ease of mobility and grocery shopping for campus/near-campus students. Lots of local music, publications, newspapers. Opportunities to work on farms, wineries, at greenhouses/landscaping in summer. These last few years' winters have been crazy with ice storms this year, but typically, it's not terribly bad and certainly livable to anyone from anywhere. Snow storms are few and manageable. In short, Lex is great. If you're from a big city, you'll find traffic okay; from a smaller city, you'll think traffic sucks. People are friendly. Stay in Lex for homofriendly; outside of Lex (Richmond and Winchester, for ex.) are homophobic, racist, but Lex is like an oasis from this. Good luck.

[psi*psi]

Lex is a pretty nice place to live. It's shockingly progressive for a city in KY, the cost of living is extremely low, and most areas are very safe. Beware of traffic and bad drivers--a light turning green generally means you need to wait a few seconds in case someone else is running the red. Avoid Nicholasville Rd between 4 and 6 PM if at all possible, because you won't go anywhere very quickly. Also avoid most campus areas on days of football games, and downtown areas during basketball games. (Word to the wise: don't root for Louisville, Duke or UNC--you'll upset some of the locals.) You will probably want a car, because it's a bit sprawly and the bus system isn't great. Parking is only a problem near campus most of the time. Be forewarned--if a sign says you will be towed, it isn't lying. (Exception: although the city's parking authority has claimed they're stepping up enforcement, this is an empty threat so far. It's rare to see someone towed from a "permit only" residential street, excepting a few weeks early in the semester.) While there are many new bike lanes around town, motorists are generally oblivious to cyclists here except in the campus areas. You may not encounter too much in the way of KY accents--Lexington, like Lousiville, is basically a midwestern city and doesn't have too much in the way of a quirky dialect. However, people do move here from other parts of the state. Ice storms are not as much a concern as one other person on this thread seemed to imply--we may get a minor storm every to every other winter, but the bad ones come about every 5-6 years. (2003's ice storm was several times worse than 2009's, by the way.) There isn't too much snow in winter, since the weather is finicky. (Beware, though: no one here can drive in rain or snow.) We frequently see 70 degree days in December and March, but temperature swings of 40 degrees overnight aren't unheard of. Summer is pretty uniformly hot and humid. It has also brought us some serious droughts in the past few years.

If you want to check out some of the more local businesses/restaurants, the campus area is a good place to start exploring (please keep them open, they rock!). I disagree with a previous poster's characterization of Sqecial as a head shop--it's more an independent bookstore. (Paisley Peacock, which was downstairs for many years but is now closed, was the head shop.) The coffee at Coffea is highly recommended, as is the ambiance. Marikka's is an awesome little bar, if you're a beer drinker, and it mostly caters to a grad-student-age crowd. If you'd rather patronize large chain stores, Fayette Mall and/or Hamburg are full of them. (Hamburg is a labyrinth. Good luck finding your way around.) There is a smoking ban in restaurants/bars/most public places here. If you have kids, some of the public schools are pretty good.

[Strangefox]

Ok, so if I don't have a car I can still live around the UK campus in an appartment for $500 with utilities and be fine, right? The city is a sprawl and public transportation is not perfect but it is still not as terrible as in Atlanta, right?

[Kaeira]

Wow! I have to say, I am pretty surprised to see that Lexington was in here.

It doesn't seem like these posts are very new though... Are there any grad students who are currently in Lexington still? I'm having a hard time finding things to do there. I basically have no social life and am desperately trying to find a graduate student group or some kind of organization I can join to meet other graduate students and make friends.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[cosmicdebris]

I'm about to move to Lexington form California to start a Post-Doc fellowship in March. I'll hang out....

[Kaeira]

Awesome! Definitely message me when you get into town. I would love to hang out!

[JPhoenix]

What are some of the major businesses in Lexington for shopping?

[antoine]

Hello i am going to be moving to Lexington, KY and i am very excited but nervous at the sametime. I am trying to find an apartment close to UK and i am running into problems because i dont knw the area. So if anybody can tell me what are the bad areas i should avoid renting in, and if anybody know of any apartment buildings that are resonable and that have avalibility for 1 Apr i would greatly appreciate it. And if you give me your honest opinion of Lexington and what i can expect. Thank you for your responses.