HorizonXP's moving to San Diego!

HorizonXP

Hey everyone,

So I've landed an internship in San Diego from September to December. I live in Toronto, ON, so this is a pretty big move. My parents are driving me to San Diego, because they want to do a road trip, and we're getting reimbursed.

I've got plenty of friends from my uni going down with me, and I have 4 roommates looking to share a pretty sweet 5 bedroom house. We just have to confirm details once we get there. Work visa, passport, and that stuff is all handled.

What things should I know about in San Diego? I assume I have to set up things like banking, any suggestions. We were also looking to rent 1 or 2 cars amongst the 5 of us... we're under 25 though (over 21). How easy is that going to be? What should I look out for?

Also, I want to have FUN while I'm there. Any and all suggestions are welcome for doing stuff, partying, and meeting people.

I was also thinking about taking a course at either UCSD or SDSU, to take an elective off my degree. Any preference for which college? Course? I'm thinking philosophy...

I'm big into volunteering, and was going to try to volunteer at a hospital. I've volunteered at one here in Canada several times. However, I'm not an American citizen, so would there be difficulties in securing a volunteer position?

Any thing else I've missed, please let me know. Too bad I won't be there for Comic-Con. Thanks guys!

OtakuD00D

UCSD is the higher-end of the two universities you listed, while the other is one of the higher-ranked party schools.

Hrrrm... Well, in terms of having fun, there's plenty to check out Downtown and across the bay in Coronado. There's a couple good malls in Mission and Fashion Valley, and Oceanside/Escondido/Carlsbad up in the norther half of the county have some nice sights.

Oh shit, right. There's Sea World and Belmont Park, which are both practically next to each other. Belmont Park's a beachside amusement center with a rollercoaster, arcade, etc. It's pretty cool. Not too far from there are Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, which have lots of cool shops around those areas. Small businesses, etc. There's also at least a couple bowling alleys here. Dad told me about one he found near a home depot yesterday. This makes me happy because a lot of them've been closing down over the past few years, and I really want to try that out.

As far as banks go, my parents are signed up to Bank of America and I use WaMu/Washington Mutual. As far as I can tell, both are pretty good services. The other two common-ish ones include Wells Fargo and San Diego County Credit Union.

One thing's for sure. You're damn lucky you have that many roomies to pay living expenses for. San Diego's pretty expensive.

Alpine

Gaslamp Quarter is a happening place for people your age, it was a blast when I went.

Sharp101

This is funny because I'm in TO and just the past couple days I've been thinking of moving to San Diego in a year or two....

rts

Well San Diego is a really big place. What part of San Diego are you moving to? I would probably suggest taking courses at UCSD versus SDSU just because its less of a pain in the ass to get to. Of course, that really depends on where in San Diego you are.

Anyways, San Diego is a really nice place and you will probably love it here.

It's also a great place for art if you are at all interested in that.

Nissl

As far as the volunteer position goes, the hospital websites I looked at in San Diego a while ago made it sound relatively difficult to get involved. I'd plan ahead if that's where you want to volunteer.

I go to grad school at UCSD. The campus is pleasant but it's a commuter school (freshmen on campus at scattered dorms) and there is jack shit to do in this area after the sun goes down. It would be great if I were 35 and married with kids. SDSU is explicitly in the next tier down of CA's school system, but may be equal or stronger in some areas. Think it's a little more college-feeling, it's also far out in the desert.

As far as classes, some of UCSD's strengths (i.e. top 5-10 nationally) are neuroscience, bioscience, and theater.

Social stereotypes:
Drinking with hippies and 40 year old alcoholics? Ocean Beach.
Drinking with 19 year olds on fake IDs? Pacific/Mission Beach.
Drinking watered down tequila with 18 year olds on real IDs and getting yelled at by hookers? Tijuana.
Drinking with 40 year old professionals? Banker Hill.
Drinking with upscale clubby 20-30somethings? Gaslamp. (Heard it was reasonably cool during comic-con week.)
Drinking with scenesters? North Park/Hillcrest.

There are some cool bars here and there in each of those locations, depending on what you want, but they are rare.

Meeting new friends:
Is hard if you don't have more connections in the community. Been here 4 years and haven't extended beyond the graduate student community at all. You might make friends with some neighbors if you're moving to PB or Hillcrest, or get lucky with hobbies/volunteering. DON'T move to UTC. I'm only here for the cheap student rent, otherwise I hate it.

The generic thing to take advantage of in San Diego is surfing. Also snorkeling (kelp forests offshore) and kayaking. And you're guaranteed the weather will be nice enough to engage in your chosen outdoor activity 119 of the 120 days you're here. No, I'm not exaggerating, it rains hard about twice a year and will be in the 50s and 60s in december.

Cultural stuff is going to seem subpar coming from Toronto. The zoo is pretty famous.

witch_ie

If you want to volunteer at a hospital, I recommend looking into the Sharp Hospitals. In my experience, they're the most open to volunteerism but will only give you a shift about once a week.

For college courses, in addition to SDSU and UCSD, there's also USD and a whole bunch of community colleges. The best two based I what I've heard are San Diego Mesa College and Grossmont College. You might want to check and see if the credits will transfer appropriately first, but they will be less expensive.

As far as renting a car...you're probably better off buying a cheap one - it will most likely be cheaper, even with having to get insurance (car $5000+ insurance $1000). You could then sell the car when you're leaving. In my experience, rentals cost anywhere from $50 to $150/day. You could also try rent-a-center. They would be set up more for your kinds of needs, but I'm not certain whether they rent cars.

variant

Hey hey hey, stop with the sharp crap. Pomerado Hospital needs volunteers during the school year, join us!

JAEF

Make sure you're living close to where you'll be doing most of your daily activites. Traffic here gets very very bad 7-9:30ish in the mornings and 3-6 in the afternoons most days if you're taking the freeways any good distance. I guess this is common sense though.

If there's anything I hate here it's the traffic.

HorizonXP

Well, the place we're looking at is in Mira Mesa, about 8.5 miles away from work. I personally want to bike ride it to work, but we're going to get a car to get around in the city anyway. My other roommates are probably going to drive to work each day. Apparently it's $400 a month, so split that 5 ways, and it's decent. I guess we're just going to have to deal with traffic.

The place is right next to I-15, the Escondido. The 56 is not too far north, we're pretty close to the interchange between the two.

I'll have to look into the volunteering. I'll e-mail them or something. I should get that course lined up too. I'll probably go with UCSD, it's probably more easily transferable back to Waterloo.

So hit up Gaslamp, the Zoo, surfing... Anything else? Anything else I should know? Suggestions?

nonplussed

Balboa Park is always beautiful, and it's close to the Zoo so you might be able to swing them both in a day. There's also the Reuben H. Fleet Space Science Center, which was fun when I last went, but that was almost 10 years ago so YMMV. There's also an IMAX there, but I think all it plays is the nature-y stuff.

Old Town is highly recommended, too. The shops may be too tourist-y a la Chinatown, but the historical places like the Junipero Serra Museum and the (supposedly) haunted Whaley House are great to check out. It, admittedly, has been a while since I've been to either, but I'm older now and I would probably appreciate the significance of such places a lot more than I did when I was 9.

Nissl

Ugh... Mira Mesa. Much of it is crappy 60's condos well out into the desert, the whole thing is rundown and grimy and there is little of interest, some cheap corner dives for marines and some 80's strip malls in the eastern part I guess. The western part has some more upscale strip malls and a ton of office buildings, with big suburban developments off the main drag. It's not particularly crime infested but I get bad vibes off the whole place. Maybe there's a nice part of it. Ugh... riding your bike to work in Mira Mesa. Any major road there is at least two lanes in each direction and about 45+ mph speed limit. And you're too far in for the coastal microclimate to really cool things off at all. Make sure you have a backup plan that involves some sort of access to a car until you see what your daily commute looks like.

The whole 56 has no points of interest, trust me I lived in carmel valley. Community parks and a couple of Barnes and Nobles and restaurants in strip malls is as close as it gets.

HorizonXP

So I'm kicking up this old thread.

I've arrived in the Diego, and am LOVING it so far! My house is great, the commute to work is fine, and we've already had a blast in the Gaslamp, and at the beaches.

I'm still trying to line up that course at UCSD. I'm trying to find one in the evening, and that will fulfill my degree back home.

Volunteering at the hospital has turned out to be harder than expected. They require 100 hours/6 months. I'm only here for 4.

I signed up for Volunteer San Diego, hopefully that'll turn out well.

Any other suggestions from people on things to do?

DeathPrawn

Everyone always tells you to go to the zoo, but go to the Wild Animal Park instead. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but it's run by the same zoological society and it's so much more incredible. On the way, stop at the Queen Califia garden (an awesome sculpture garden by Nikki de San Phalle).

If you're into theater, the Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse do top-notch stuff (both regularly send shows to Broadway). The Playhouse has a dirt-cheap student subscription plan - it works out to something like $12 a ticket. There's a lot of other great local theater, too, (Cygnet and Diversionary, to name a few off the top of my head) but the Playhouse and Globe are the two world-class Equity houses in town.

I'm sure it's been said, but it's worth repeating that the beach is a fantastic place year-round.