Buckeye Bound for Columbia (Florence, Clemson: apartments, insurance, houses)

[bellasarah]

Hi all! I'm excited to be moving to Columbia to start grad school at USC in January. It seems like no matter how many times I return to my native Ohio, the South keeps dragging me back! :-) After living in Jackson, MS, Louisville and Prestonsburg, KY and Tyler, TX (well, TX isn't really the South, it's more of it's own country), it seems like I'm just not destined to stay in Yankee-land.

All these relocating threads have been really helpful, so thanks!

One question, though- where is USC's fraternity row? I'm apartment hunting and I don't want to fall in love with a place over the internet only to arrive and find it's in the middle of frat hell. Or maybe I'm worrying too much about it. Ohio State's Greek houses cover several blocks of a number of streets on campus, but it is a gi-freaking-normous university.

[Akhenaton06]

The university's fraternity row (I think they call is Greek Village) is between Blossom St. and the Olympia neighborhood and is pretty much its own self-contained neighborhood. It is depicted in this shot in the upper right adjacent to the open lawn parcels:


(shot courtesy of Firefox from UrbanPlanet)

[bellasarah]

Thanks!

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by bellasarah

One question, though- where is USC's fraternity row? I'm apartment hunting and I don't want to fall in love with a place over the internet only to arrive and find it's in the middle of frat hell. Or maybe I'm worrying too much about it. Ohio State's Greek houses cover several blocks of a number of streets on campus, but it is a gi-freaking-normous university.

Yeah, Ohio State has about 3 times as many students as South Carolina has here in Columbia. Coming from Ohio, when my friends/family back north ask what the city is like, I tell them it's basically a 'mini-Columbus'. They are both capitals, lots of state jobs, both have major health/insurance companies (Nationwide-Columbus, Blue Cross Blue Shield-Columbia), both have their state's flagship universities, and both have pretty stable economies despite the fact that each state overall has struggled through the recession more than most other states have. That's just a few of the similarities. One major difference as you know from living in the south before is of course the climate! Which I am totally down with, do not miss the long gray winters of Ohio! And of course Columbus has about 1.8 million people while Columbia is just over 700,000.

Seeing that you spent some time in Louisville, I would say that the University of Louisville is more comparable (size-wise) to Univ. of SC than Ohio State is. Actually, South Carolina is very similar to Kentucky in that it has 2 major universities and a lot of smaller ones beneath it - UL & UK vs. Clemson & USC.

[Ceezer]

Originally Posted by Buckeye in SC

Coming from Ohio, when my friends/family back north ask what the city is like, I tell them it's basically a 'mini-Columbus'.

So do I.

Go Bucks!

*Edit - The difference is, I've been around here for 13 years (various areas, 5-6 in the Midlands) so I dread the long, miserable Summers and miss the seasonal weather in Fall & Winter (yes, even the snow). 80 degrees on Christmas day actually sucks, in my opinion

[bellasarah]

Buckeye- thanks for the info. That's sort of what I gathered through my research and the time I spent down there for my audition at USC, but it's nice to know I wasn't completely off the wall.

Ceezer-
Having lived through Hurricaine Katrina while I was in Mississippi (and just generally dealing with the incredibly hot & humid weather down in the delta), I am well aware that everything has it's price.

I'd love it if I could have winter from like November 20 to January 5. Just enough time to get all snuggled in with the family for the holidays. I did love wearing sandals all winter long, though.

I'm so looking forward to that first glass of true sweet tea. And so dreading the giant giant roaches. I never knew they could fly until I went south, and the first time one dive-bombed me I screamed my freaking head off and couldn't stop shuddering.

[LynchburgLover]

If you go the South Carolina topic on Collegeconfidential.com, there is a thread about all the area apartments that cater to the students. It lists all the pros/cons of each. I'm sure you'll find out which are close to Greek Village.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by Ceezer

So do I.

Go Bucks!

*Edit - The difference is, I've been around here for 13 years (various areas, 5-6 in the Midlands) so I dread the long, miserable Summers and miss the seasonal weather in Fall & Winter (yes, even the snow). 80 degrees on Christmas day actually sucks, in my opinion

I think 80 degrees on Christmas is a bit of a stretch for Columbia! It's not even 80 degrees now and we're still 7 weeks away. Christmas is typically around 60 during the day, mid-30s at night. I'm willing to put up w/the heat & humidity of July & August for days like today in November when it's 70 & sunny here while it's topping out at 45 back in NE Ohio! To me, SC's weather beats Ohio's 10 out of the 12 months of the year. July & August in Ohio is much more bearable than here, but we also don't have days in January like I remember when it was 10 below w/a foot of snow on the ground.

[bellasarah]

Lynchburg- Thanks. I'm actually trying NOT to live in a building that caters to students. In my wildest dreams I'll find a 1 or 2 bedroom single family home for less than $600 that's less than a 15 minute drive from campus. I know it's far fetched, but I'll be happy with an apartment near but definitely not on campus.

I'd rather live in an artsier neighborhood, but it seems like rent's really high in Shandon. I think I'll journey down in two weeks or so to make an apartment-hunting trip. On-line is great, but pictures can be deceiving.

[LynchburgLover]

Oh, I knew that but if you know where the students live, you'll know which to avoid!

My daughter's in a sorority there and lives in Greek Villagewhich is right next to the Strom.

Good luck!