Living in Austin

I'm thinking of going to school there (UT at Austin.. .duhhh) what is the city for a young person? Nightlife, culture etc...

Oh, Kent...where are thou?

Jon.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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Oh, Kent...where are thou?

Jon.

I'll probably have to get rid of all my alligator watch straps...


this could be a problem. I can't put a reverso on rubber....

Can't speak about living there, I've been there enough to know:

1. Traffic is getting to be a problem.

2. Whole Foods Grocery is excellent.

3. You will not have a shortage of rock bands coming through town! SXSW also has a film festival and a bunch of tourists!

4. Plenty of options for bars and tattoos.

5. The women are outta this world!

Originally Posted by Violinist

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I'll probably have to get rid of all my alligator watch straps...


this could be a problem. I can't put a reverso on rubber....

Why not? JLC did it.



Jon.

It's the most liberal city in Texas, and really the only tolerable one. Austin bills itself as the live music capital of the world. Lots of indie rock shows, decent hip hop and electronic scenes. Night life is not as good as in Dallas or Houston, but they are much bigger cities. If you consider quality of night life per capita then Austin is definitely the best in Texas. Cost of living is fairly low. Weather gets pretty hot.

I graduated UT last December. I had an enjoyable time and I think I much prefer the broad diversity of classes offered by a large university (second largest in the nation).

Overall, I think there are only a handful of other cities in America that I'd rather live in: San Francisco, Seattle and NY. The cost of living in those cities are much higher though.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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Why not? JLC did it.

Jon.

On a grande date?

traffic is hell, I recommend you live within walking distance, or ride your bike

Originally Posted by Violinist

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On a grande date?

Might look interesting.

Jon.

Originally Posted by designprofessor

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Can't speak about living there, I've been there enough to know:

1. Traffic is getting to be a problem.

2. Whole Foods Grocery is excellent.

Hell, traffic is getting to be real problem around the Whole Foods. The thing is getting damn near impregnable.

Traffic is much better than Houston or Dallas.

Whole Foods is for yuppies. Central Market is for people that are serious about good food. There are two Central Markets in Austin which is a major reason why I am hesistant to move anywhere else.

I'll have to disagree with your CM v WF assessment. In the end, Central Market really is what it is: a rebranded HEB. Sure, they have a lot of oddities in the produce department, but they really could use some editing and I hate that they make you do all the work for them (packaging, labelling, weighing). The quality of the food is uniformly higher at WF and the prices are lower as well. I will admit, however, to having purchased a really excellent heritage turkey at CM a couple of thanksgivings ago.
The big problem with food in Texas is the primitive state of breadmaking. I suppose the availability of fresh Gulf shrimp may make up for that.
My wife spent much of her childhood in Austin. Her dad was an anthropologist at UT for most of his career. I've been visiting Austin for about 25 years now. It's still nice, but now it's so much bigger and really not the same at all. It used to be such a slow sleepy town, with hot afternoons practically begging bohemians to while away the hours at Les Amis. Slackers is a good snapshot of the tail end of this era. Now it's bustling and affluent and the suburbs stretch well into what was once the countryside.
What do you plan to study?

Originally Posted by pejsek

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I'll have to disagree with your CM v WF assessment. In the end, Central Market really is what it is: a rebranded HEB. Sure, they have a lot of oddities in the produce department, but they really could use some editing and I hate that they make you do all the work for them (packaging, labelling, weighing). The quality of the food is uniformly higher at WF and the prices are lower as well. I will admit, however, to having purchased a really excellent heritage turkey at CM a couple of thanksgivings ago.
Have you seen the seafood or butcher section at CM versus WF? The charcuterier is also better. Oh, the cheese selection is better. Have you read about the recent brouhaha over live lobsters at WF? Please name some products that WF carries that are superior to CM. The prices are definitely not cheaper. The only ones that come to mind is sometimes the fruits that WF have are better handled, especially when it comes to figs and peaches that are very susceptible to bruising. Overall, as a person that goes to CM three times a week and compared against WF on dozens of occasions I'd have to say that all your claims are just off-base.

a rebranded HEB isn't such a bad thing, HEB is by far the best-run conventional supermarket I've shopped at.

I want to study music... there's a top violin teacher that moved there a short while ago which is really the only reason I would want to be there. I do look forward though to never having to wear a ******* winter coat for 2 years, that is if I go there.

Are there lots of places near school? I checked out some prices.. you can get a "baller" loft for like 1000 a month. I couldn't get something near Lincoln Center or Columbia in NYC for anything near that.