Berkeley vs Cambridge (living, better, life, people)
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Both are college towns right next to a major metropolis with which they are intimately connected. As the site of prestigious institutions, they attract a diverse and talented lot and play host to many events. Berkeley has perhaps a more relaxed local life while Cambridge is associated with the refined (or stodgy, perhaps).
Of these two cities, which would you rather live in?
Now that I think about it, Evanston (Northwestern University; Chicagoland) and Pasadena (CalTech, Art Center; Southland) would have fit right in on this poll.
Excellent poll. I've always thought both cities were very similar. Telegraph ave and Central Sq have a very similar feel. Downtown Berkeley (is it Shuttuck Ave?) and Harvard Sq have a similar feel. UC Berkeley has a beautiful campus. More attractive than Harvard's I'd say. But Cambridge does have the Charles. I'll have to vote Cambridge. Very close though.
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Also, Cambridge's demographics seem to be a little more international than Berkeley's.
Although this poll is clearly trying to avoid it...I have to say this is basically a question of would I rather live next to San Francisco or Boston.
It's a close call (I've never been to Berkeley), but Cambridge was awesome and to an outsider is basically indistinguishable from Boston (I stayed a few blocks from Harvard and walked to the subway). I don't know if Berkely is as closely connected to San Fran as Cambridge is to Boston.
I'd rather live in the Bay Area than the Boston metro overall, but I definitely wouldn't be opposed to living in Boston at all, seems like a really cool city. Even though I've never been to Cambridge I think I would rather live there b/c I just flat out don't care much for Berkeley anymore. The hills are nice but I could care less about Telegraph Ave, Shattuck, or much of anything else in the flatlands. I used to like it as a teenager but can't stand Telegraph anymore. The homeless and activism there just get on my nerves. And do so many people really need to dress like a freakin hippie there? Never seen such a high concentration of upper middle class white kids with dreadlocks anywhere else.
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