Physics GRE Discussion Forums

True that. There are multiple hiking spots within a few-mile radius of my apartment, and the beach is always a good option. This is also a great place to live for running, since the weather's usually great and there's actually interesting terrain to explore. Plus you can, I don't know, watch movies (there's at least one theater that plays arthouse-type fare), go look at expensive things you can't afford in the fancy stores in Waikiki, catch the occasional concert, even if the selection is limited, and do plenty of other things. So yeah, not a bad city at all, at least compared to Houston.

Dorian_Mode wrote:True that. There are multiple hiking spots within a few-mile radius of my apartment, and the beach is always a good option. This is also a great place to live for running, since the weather's usually great and there's actually interesting terrain to explore. Plus you can, I don't know, watch movies (there's at least one theater that plays arthouse-type fare), go look at expensive things you can't afford in the fancy stores in Waikiki, catch the occasional concert, even if the selection is limited, and do plenty of other things. So yeah, not a bad city at all, at least compared to Houston.

Wait, what's terrible about Houston? (Serious question, possibly moving there.)

My favorite laser tag place closed down over 5 years ago as did my favorite mini golf place. So if you can't play laser tag and you can't play mini golf the next best thing is to hit the pubs.

Dorian_Mode wrote:True that. There are multiple hiking spots within a few-mile radius of my apartment, and the beach is always a good option. This is also a great place to live for running, since the weather's usually great and there's actually interesting terrain to explore. Plus you can, I don't know, watch movies (there's at least one theater that plays arthouse-type fare), go look at expensive things you can't afford in the fancy stores in Waikiki, catch the occasional concert, even if the selection is limited, and do plenty of other things. So yeah, not a bad city at all, at least compared to Houston.

hiking in hawaii is pretty cool.. if you don't mind getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. You guys have no idea how annoying it is having multiple mosquito bites on the floppy part of your elbow skin.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything extremely negative about Houston; in fact, I think it gets a bad rap from a lot of people. Unless you count Galveston, though (and I wouldn't), there's definitely not a good beach anywhere nearby, and the landscape is generally flat and uninteresting. The summers can also be unbearably hot and humid, so watch out for that. Houston does have a fairly interesting art scene, though, and there are a number of decent concert venues as well as a symphony, ballet, various theaters and a world-class opera. It also has some great (and often cheap) food options, which is a plus. Apart from that, Houston has basically all the things you would expect from a city of over 2 million people, good and bad.

Are you considering Rice? I know a decent amount about the school and its physics program, since I went there for undergrad.

ultraballer2000 wrote:

Dorian_Mode wrote:True that. There are multiple hiking spots within a few-mile radius of my apartment, and the beach is always a good option. This is also a great place to live for running, since the weather's usually great and there's actually interesting terrain to explore. Plus you can, I don't know, watch movies (there's at least one theater that plays arthouse-type fare), go look at expensive things you can't afford in the fancy stores in Waikiki, catch the occasional concert, even if the selection is limited, and do plenty of other things. So yeah, not a bad city at all, at least compared to Houston.

hiking in hawaii is pretty cool.. if you don't mind getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. You guys have no idea how annoying it is having multiple mosquito bites on the floppy part of your elbow skin.

Oh believe me, I have plenty of experience with hiking and mosquitoes in general. Compared to my home state, the mosquitoes in Hawaii are really not that bad, and the higher, drier trails around here have virtually none at all. Also, my girlfriend seems to attract mosquitoes more than I do (tastier blood, I guess), so as long as I bring her along I usually do alright.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Are you considering Rice? I know a decent amount about the school and its physics program, since I went there for undergrad.

Funnily enough, I also went to Rice! I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Houston, though--so many amazing food options, museums, and the park across the street. Yeah, summers sucked, but I wasn't there for most of them.

Hey, a fellow Owl! What college were you in? I guess this really is turning into a small-world thread.

Boo Owls. Go Cougars!

Ugh. Cougar High.

Lovett! You?

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, haha. I was in Martel, but I actually co-advised O-Week at Lovett one year and had a lot of good friends (and a girlfriend) over there.

Don't worry, I won't hold the fact that Martel's not a real college against you! (Now that we have the Rice-nerdiness out of the way, it's funny that we both did undergrad at Rice and are/will be at UH for grad school!)

Yeah, that is pretty cool. I don't think we have that many alums out here, haha.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything extremely negative about Houston; in fact, I think it gets a bad rap from a lot of people. Unless you count Galveston, though (and I wouldn't), there's definitely not a good beach anywhere nearby, and the landscape is generally flat and uninteresting. The summers can also be unbearably hot and humid, so watch out for that. Houston does have a fairly interesting art scene, though, and there are a number of decent concert venues as well as a symphony, ballet, various theaters and a world-class opera. It also has some great (and often cheap) food options, which is a plus. Apart from that, Houston has basically all the things you would expect from a city of over 2 million people, good and bad.

Are you considering Rice? I know a decent amount about the school and its physics program, since I went there for undergrad.

Yeah, I'm trying to decide between Rice applied physics and UMD. I already visited Rice and I really liked the school. I like the idea of living in a city, but the idea of living in Texas seems a little scary to me. (I'm living in New England now, so people cock there head and say "Texas?" when I talk about Rice)

Anyways if either you have any insights into the school, or Houston, that I might not have been able to pick up on during my two day visit, I would love to hear them.

The best thing about Houston is that it is an hour and a half from....

Compared to New England, you will find most people in Houston to be MUCH more conservative.
I spent the summer of 09 there. Houston in the summer is horrible! Imagine spending every afternoon in a sauna. Traffic is a nightmare and the air quality is very bad in some areas. It stinks!
It appeared to me that a lot of people tend to gain weight there due to being forced to stay in air conditioning most of the time. Maybe there is another reason for it ... I don't know ... but there are a lot of very large people. Maybe it is because there are a lot of really good restaurants.
A popular pastime is standing around grilling steaks and drinking beer. Just like on King of the Hill.

But this is just my opinion.

t2kburl wrote:Houston in the summer is horrible! Imagine spending every afternoon in a sauna. Traffic is a nightmare and the air quality is very bad in some areas. It stinks!
It appeared to me that a lot of people tend to gain weight there due to being forced to stay in air conditioning most of the time.

My parents spent their honeymoon in Houston. In the summer. In a motel without air conditioning. Kind of tells you how tough the WW2 generation was.

And what is NMT saying to you? It appears the place I'll be going isn't as rural, but it's close.

Don't let people in the northeast who have never been to Texas poison your opinion about it; it's a huge, diverse state with a lot to offer. I'm not sure where this idea that Houston is MUCH more conservative than other cities comes from, but it's entirely false. While smaller cities in Texas (like College Station, blah) are generally pretty conservative, Houston is a massive city with a thriving art scene and a lesbian mayor (who is also a Rice alumna). The only real negatives to Houston, in my opinion, are the summer heat and the lack of good public transportation.

CarlBrannen wrote:And what is NMT saying to you? It appears the place I'll be going isn't as rural, but it's close.

I still have not heard from NMT.

and I'm not from the northeast, but I've spent enough time both there and in Texas to know there are a lot more conservatives in Texas. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. They tend to be more libertarian than "religious right" types.

Generally yes, but that doesn't apply so much to the bigger cities.

Hi, How is it like to live in Ithaca ?

Kaumz wrote:Hi, How is it like to live in Ithaca ?

It isn't the town you should be worried about! It's the people who live there! -glares at grae- =]

-Riley

Kaumz wrote:Hi, How is it like to live in Ithaca ?

It sucks if you like to eat good food.

ultraballer2000 wrote:

Kaumz wrote:Hi, How is it like to live in Ithaca ?

It sucks if you like to eat good food.

Really? That's almost the one thing here that nobody complains about. I think the food here is great (except for Mexican and Chinese). Ithaca is a small town in the middle of nowhere but I don't think the restaurants show it, and for reference I grew up in the bay area.

Kaumz, if you like the big city environment and constantly doing new things and meeting new people, you're going to find it claustrophobic in Ithaca. If you like the outdoors and like being in a smaller community, you'll probably love it here. Ithaca is very liberal (think Berkeley feel), the people are very friendly, and it is amazingly beautiful. There are many great bars, tons of great restaurants, and everything else you'd expect from a college town. But again, it's not very big and it's also not very near to any good cities as NYC is about 4.5 hours away by car so you are quite isolated.

grae313 wrote: Really? That's almost the one thing here that nobody complains about. I think the food here is great (except for Mexican and Chinese). Ithaca is a small town in the middle of nowhere but I don't think the restaurants show it, and for reference I grew up in the bay area.

Kaumz, if you like the big city environment and constantly doing new things and meeting new people, you're going to find it claustrophobic in Ithaca. If you like the outdoors and like being in a smaller community, you'll probably love it here. Ithaca is very liberal (think Berkeley feel), the people are very friendly, and it is amazingly beautiful. There are many great bars, tons of great restaurants, and everything else you'd expect from a college town. But again, it's not very big and it's also not very near to any good cities as NYC is about 4.5 hours away by car so you are quite isolated.

@grae313: Thanks a lot ! Ithaca sounds awesome ! just my type I am a vegetarian though, I hope I wont starve .

Well you're in luck then, because the excellent (and vegetarian) Moosewood restaurant is in Ithaca.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Well you're in luck then, because the excellent (and vegetarian) Moosewood restaurant is in Ithaca.

Indeed. It and its associated series of cookbooks are fairly famous.

Kaumz wrote: I am a vegetarian though, I hope I wont starve

There will be plenty of trees to eat in Ithaca than in a city.

-Riley

grae313 wrote:

Dorian_Mode wrote:Well you're in luck then, because the excellent (and vegetarian) Moosewood restaurant is in Ithaca.

Indeed. It and its associated series of cookbooks are fairly famous.

Thanks

@Riley: true

oh, I suppose it should be fine if you're a vegetarian. Unfortunately, the food that I like the most is mexican (chipotle) and asian food. I would also say that there are no outstanding pizza places here, which was extremely disappointing. I literally drive every other week an hour and a half to go to Syracuse to eat chipotle because the burritos here suck so much.

Ithaca is pretty nice though, today was a particularly sunny day, and a couple days ago it snowed.

ultraballer2000 wrote:oh, I suppose it should be fine if you're a vegetarian. Unfortunately, the food that I like the most is mexican (chipotle) and asian food. I would also say that there are no outstanding pizza places here, which was extremely disappointing. I literally drive every other week an hour and a half to go to Syracuse to eat chipotle because the burritos here suck so much.

Ithaca is pretty nice though, today was a particularly sunny day, and a couple days ago it snowed.

Did you make a snow angel? Those are fun.

ultraballer2000 wrote:oh, I suppose it should be fine if you're a vegetarian. Unfortunately, the food that I like the most is mexican (chipotle) and asian food. I would also say that there are no outstanding pizza places here, which was extremely disappointing. I literally drive every other week an hour and a half to go to Syracuse to eat chipotle because the burritos here suck so much.

Well, I agree that there's no good Mexican food here but if you think chipotle is good Mexican food then I feel sorry for you . Thai, Laotian, Indian, Sushi/Japanese, Mediterranean, Spanish (tapas), Korean, Vietnamese, and American are all excellent to very good. I also love the Nines for pizza but can understand if it's not your pizza style. Oh and I forgot Italian, there's no good Italian food here

grae313 wrote: Oh and I forgot Italian, there's no good Italian food here

Youse kiddin' me? FUGGETABOUDIT!

Dorian_Mode wrote:True that. There are multiple hiking spots within a few-mile radius of my apartment, and the beach is always a good option. This is also a great place to live for running, since the weather's usually great and there's actually interesting terrain to explore. Plus you can, I don't know, watch movies (there's at least one theater that plays arthouse-type fare), go look at expensive things you can't afford in the fancy stores in Waikiki, catch the occasional concert, even if the selection is limited, and do plenty of other things. So yeah, not a bad city at all, at least compared to Houston.

what city are you talking about here?

Honolulu.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Honolulu.

Damn. You're lucky to be living there. I love Hawaii. Ever go to the Shorebird?

Yeah, it's a pretty sweet gig, haha. I haven't been to the shorebird, but I am a fan of RumFire, which is in an adjacent hotel. The beachfront bars down there are nice, but definitely a bit too pricey for me to visit often.

grae313 wrote: Well, I agree that there's no good Mexican food here but if you think chipotle is good Mexican food then I feel sorry for you . Thai, Laotian, Indian, Sushi/Japanese, Mediterranean, Spanish (tapas), Korean, Vietnamese, and American are all excellent to very good. I also love the Nines for pizza but can understand if it's not your pizza style. Oh and I forgot Italian, there's no good Italian food here

The Nines is not bad, but that's more of a preference thing than anything else. I was incredibly underwhelmed at how mediocre zaza's was. And ok, chipotle might not be the best mexican food, but they're the best at what they do.

tady wrote: Did you make a snow angel? Those are fun.

There wasn't enough snow on the ground for that, it would've been a mud/snow angel and I would look like I pooped myself and rubbed my whole back in it for the rest of the day.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Yeah, it's a pretty sweet gig, haha. I haven't been to the shorebird, but I am a fan of RumFire, which is in an adjacent hotel. The beachfront bars down there are nice, but definitely a bit too pricey for me to visit often.

Waikiki is a pretty nice area, at least by the beach. I like that place with the penguins, which doesn't really make that much sense.

Waikiki gets old pretty quickly, though, since there are much better beaches elsewhere on the island and it's flooded with tourists.

Yeah I can see that....I've been to Waikiki and a little bit of the North Shore. Where do the locals tend to hangout (or poor graduate students for that matter)?

Poor grad students hang out in their offices, haha. Locals hang out various places, depending on their preference, I guess. People who really want to surf head to the north shore, but there are good beaches on the windward side and elsewhere.

Dorian_Mode wrote:Poor grad students hang out in their offices, haha. Locals hang out various places, depending on their preference, I guess. People who really want to surf head to the north shore, but there are good beaches on the windward side and elsewhere.

Haha. Good point. I've heard from friends that diamondhead is pretty fun. Actually, now that I think of it, I remember going diving there once. I miss Hawaii, but Hawaii without money is probably not the same as Hawaii with money.

I'm enjoying it. Granted, I would like to have more money, but beaches are free, and there's really plenty to keep me busy.

Dorian_Mode wrote:I'm enjoying it. Granted, I would like to have more money, but beaches are free, and there's really plenty to keep me busy.

Yeah, and you're living in HAWAII. Most Americans pay $$ just to vacation there!

Does anyone know anything about living in Middletown, CT (costs, things to do, transportation, etc)?

WhoaNonstop wrote:I've thought about posting something similar to this as well. Anyways, I'm not going to give details about any of these places unless people ask, but I have substantial knowledge about these schools (either I've attended, visited them, or did summer research at them) and the communities surrounding them:

University of Florida
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Iowa State University
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Lehigh University

If you want to know more about one of these in specific, send me a personal message or ask on here.

-Riley

Info on Lehigh University would be great! Thanks in advance

I am going to UMBC next fall. school is located between Baltimore and Washington D.C. closer to Baltimore though. does anybody have any suggestion for housing that area? what do you think about the life there?

Thanks

desperatephysicist wrote:I am going to UMBC next fall. school is located between Baltimore and Washington D.C. closer to Baltimore though. does anybody have any suggestion for housing that area? what do you think about the life there?

Thanks

My guess would be that it's carbon based

desperatephysicist wrote:I am going to UMBC next fall. school is located between Baltimore and Washington D.C. closer to Baltimore though. does anybody have any suggestion for housing that area? what do you think about the life there?

Thanks

If you want any fun you'll try to live in the Baltimore harbor area. UMBC is pretty much a suburb; undergrads manufacture their fun (alcohol) but it wont be long before you'll want no part in that. In any case, it isn't that pricy to live in Baltimore, so you probably can afford a car, a nice addition to the east coast since Philly and DC are day trips, along with the beach (Ocean City, Annapolis, Rehoboth) and hiking (the Appalachian Trail).