Musashi450 said:
So I finally got housing and toured carbondale. I ended up getting a two bedroom with a fricking HUGE garage (I work on my car and its attatched and insulated so this pretty much made my decision for me) Its right on the outskirts of carterville on the west side very close to Route 13. Its actually really nice because its next to Logan Community College and the bus goes over there so I might just take the bus to school most days. I considered even looking for a job at the college TA'ing in a biology night class or something. The best part about it though is its $600 so between me and my girlfriend I pay $300. I dont think I could have found a better deal anywhere. Literally 2 blocks from Crab Lake too which is nice and about 10 min away from campus. For those of you still searching, might I recommend the classifieds of local papers (
www.thesouthern.com or
www.dailyegyptian.com).
Your place sounds nice! I used to live off of Reed Station Road, between C'dale and Carterville. It's nicer out of the city IMO. In addition to Crab Orchard, there's Little Grassy Lake and Devil's Kitchen Lake all in the same area. There's pretty good fishing and some beaches around, too. You'll find a lot of the undergrads will go up to the spillway of Kincaid lake on the other side of Murphysboro. You can pretty much stop anyone on campus and ask about it
😉. The bus system is pretty nice, especially since it also has stops at most of the popular businesses in C'dale like Walmart, the mall, etc.
The Daily Egyptian also keeps a list online of popular rentals :
http://www.dailyegyptian.com/dawghouse.html
Just a little FYI for the other SDNers who are still looking.
Musashi450 said:
I have also figured out some about parking for those that might be interested. Their are two passes blue and red that most lots are designated. Blue is faculty/staff and red is us (includes junior and sophomore undergrads) and costs $117 for a year long pass. (aug-aug) While there I also checked out Lindergren Hall. I got to say that thing is pretty ran down. Idk it could just have been because it was raining and gray everywhere but it looked depressing as hell. Its good that we do small group work because if we were by our lonesome in this place, we would go nuts. It might be worth mentioning though that the couple med students I saw in the hallways were smiling. At worst though, its only 10 months.
Wow - I think the parking pass when I was at SIU for undergrad and grad school was $40. Sheesh!
And Lindegren is the epitome of a 50's-60's type building but they have everything you need. I think the inside looks ok, but then again, it's been a while since I've been inside it!
Musashi450 said:
I also checked out the student center while I was there. For those of you farmiliar with UIUC its the equivelent of SIU's union or any other student hub building. This was actually a pretty nice place. When you walk in on the left door and go up the escalator (!!) you see this really cool art piece that is a rod with solar panels attached and a neon light overhead. It appeared that the panels were getting power from the light, and it caused the whole piece to turn like one would imagine a satalite turning. I thought it was pretty cool. The building has got the bookstore in it, and for those of you who need coffee, its got a starbucks. It's also got a bowling alley (w/ cosmic bowling, THE central illinois pastime...) lots of places to eat, and several nice lounges to study in. Their is even a place to get laptops with your card. However at the same time, I couldn't find a computer lab (?!?!) so the letter wasn't kidding when it said a laptop is highly recommended.
The student center is pretty nice, and it's right across from the football field. Important when you are tailgaiting and have to go potty
😉. It also has a nice billiards area next to the bowling alley, and a nice lunch buffett upstairs.
Don't worry about the computers - there is a computer lab in Lindegren, and there are labs pretty much in every academic building as well. But it definitely helps to have your own. And, it's been so long since I've been a student that wi-fi was just a dream
😉.
I get all excited for you guys reading your posts. I'm not even applying until next year, but believe it or not, SIU is my #1 choice. And since I spent 5 years down there already for my B.S. and M.S. degrees I can hopefully also answer any questions you might have about anything down there - stuff to do, places to go (and avoid), etc.