I have spent most of my life in Toledo as well. People are just too pessimistic about the city and give it a bad reputation. Okay, Toledo is no San Francisco or New York City, but it's not like medical students have loads of free time to go out. There is plenty to keep us entertained here. And if you get bored, take some friends up to Ann Arbor for dinner and drinks – it's only 40 minutes away. People say Toledo has a ton of ghetto, but I don't know where that comes from. Downtown isn't the safest place in the world, but you will find that to be the case in any decent size city. There is a fairly large population of blue-collar workers, and you will find neighborhoods that reflect that, but I would hardly call it "ghetto." Besides, a lot of the students live west of the university about 10-15 minutes, closer to the nice, very safe suburbs like Holland and Sylvania.
After a test, my class meets at a bar to celebrate. We are usually joined by a good number of MS2s and we fill the place up. One bar has karaoke Tuesdays, and I have seen a lot of my friends get up on the stage and lose their inhibitions. If you're not big into the sports bar scene, there are some more upscale bars with nice wine/martini menus. If you want to go to tastings, try the Andersons, Churchill's, Vino 100, or Diva's. Take an occasional cooking class at Williams-Sonoma in the newly renovated mall. Toledoans like to eat, and we have a ton of restaurants. Some of my classmates just created a Restaurant Club, and they have started to rotate around the city to try out a bunch of the places. We may not have the almighty Red Sox, but Mud Hens games are fun and the crowd loves their team. A bunch of my friends go to the UT football games. UTCOM students have been regularly playing ultimate frisbee and soccer since August. One of the professors (and the guy has got to be in his 70s) played soccer with the group a bunch of times. Medical students have access to the rec centers on both the health science campus and main campus, in addition to the YMCAs around town. My friends have participated in marathons, some take spinning class in the mornings, yoga is offered on campus Wednesday afternoons. I am planning to go to the opera in a few weeks. The university gave out discounted tickets to some traveling cirque de soleil kind of thing. Joshua Bell (famous violinist) is coming here in January. If you like techno, Armin van Buuren and Benni Benassi are playing in Detroit. I went apple-picking with some girls in the class. People are going to the pumpkin carving, hay ride, corn maze farms just outside the city to celebrate the fall. The tall ships do their annual tour of the Great Lakes and dock in Toledo. You get the point.
If you NEED the constant action of a big city to be happy, you will find this is not the place for you. But if you are a normal medical student who studies most of the time and just wants to have a bit of fun on the weekend (even if it isn't Broadway), you will be perfectly happy in Toledo.
