Is Lawrence better than Iowa City? (Cedar: condo, university, places to live)

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by svogel7

I'm definitely looking forward to being that close to Kansas City, that will probably be great for the weekends. Lawrence itself seems like it has tons going on too though, so I'd probably never be bored. Do you prefer living near KC than in Iowa?

Yeah, I grew up in a town of 5,000 then went to U of Illinois (100k+ metro) and then Chicago for work....finally the KC burbs. So I've seen a big range.

KC is IMO a perfect sized metro where you have enough to do without it being too big and too expensive and too congested to drive anywhere. Of course this is a personal opinion as KC is too small or too big for some.

I will likely have a few kids at KU while you are going there, not 100% yet.

Best of luck with your college experience.

Feel free to send me a private email if you want to discuss more.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by svogel7

Anyone else? I've been told that Lawrence has a more "urban" feel to it, like it's a mix between Seattle and Iowa City. I've also heard that Lawrence is way more of a hipster town than Iowa City? Anybody agree/disagree?

My guess would be "probably", but I've only been to Iowa City once. Downtown Larence feels somewhat urban. Sort of a quaint urban. But very lively and fun.

[eddie gein]

It sounds like you really want to go to KU. You are already familiar with Iowa City and the university there by living so close. KU sounds like a great option.

To me, KU and Lawrence are the only places (University town wise) in this part of the world that have a bit of New England charm to them.

[svogel7]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

It sounds like you really want to go to KU. You are already familiar with Iowa City and the university there by living so close. KU sounds like a great option.

To me, KU and Lawrence are the only places (University town wise) in this part of the world that have a bit of New England charm to them.

I'm really excited to start college there, it seems like the perfect little city. Coming from a town in rural Iowa of about 2000 people, I think moving to Lawrence will definitely be something different, but not too overwhelming so it sounds really perfect to me. I've never been to New England but I have heard other people compare it to Lawrence too. What's it like?

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by svogel7

Coming from a town in rural Iowa of about 2000 people, I think moving to Lawrence will definitely be something different, but not too overwhelming so it sounds really perfect to me.

You will meet plenty of peoople at KU who come from Kansas towns of about 2,000 people (or less). When I was there, I dated a guy who had 13 people in his high school graduating class.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

You will meet plenty of peoople at KU who come from Kansas towns of about 2,000 people (or less). When I was there, I dated a guy who had 13 people in his high school graduating class.

When I attended KU, I had good friends from small town KS, Kansas City area, NYC, Philly, LA, France... just a huge variety of people.

But I found it funny that a couple of my friends who were from small KS towns thought KC was a huge city and they were afraid to drive there.

[svogel7]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

You will meet plenty of peoople at KU who come from Kansas towns of about 2,000 people (or less). When I was there, I dated a guy who had 13 people in his high school graduating class.

Wow, there are about 80 in my graduating class but that's still a pretty small group.
One other thing I liked about Lawrence is that the driving seems pretty manageable there... Drive around in downtown Iowa City for 15 minutes and you'll have a line of people honking at you for everything or you'll somehow turn onto a one-way going the wrong direction without knowing. The bus systems in Lawrence are good too so I'll probably just take the bus anyway.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by svogel7

I'm really excited to start college there, it seems like the perfect little city. Coming from a town in rural Iowa of about 2000 people, I think moving to Lawrence will definitely be something different, but not too overwhelming so it sounds really perfect to me. I've never been to New England but I have heard other people compare it to Lawrence too. What's it like?

Lawrence was founded by New Englanders and it has just a touch of New England in terms of the architecture and the general vibe around the city. It's kind of hard to describe but Lawrence is just a bit different than the other Universities around the plains and lower midwest. Kind of a liberal bent in a dignified sort of way. Not so much in your face like a Boulder or maybe an Austin, but it is there.

College years are about as good as it gets. I think all us old folks on here are excited for you as you embark on this exciting part of your life.

[kcmo]

Lawrence is an awesome college town and the topography of Lawrence is great and not what people expect in Kansas. That combined with that fact that Lawrence is attached at the hip to a major metropolitan make this easy. Lawrence by quite bit.

[devati]

I wrote a little more about Lawrence here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/kansa...a-johnson.html

To all your questions, I would say Lawrence. I lived between the student ghetto and downtown and got to see the madness unfold around me when we won the NCAA, people screaming as they passed my house until the very wee hours of the mourning. We go crazy for basketball, an we have two rivalries that stir up quite a bit of passion with K-State and with Missouri. Our rivalry with the latter is strangely the more pronounced of the two, going back to Bushwhacker days where Missourians would come over and kill abolitionist Kansans (Lawrence was their stronghold). In Joplin, they still commemorate killing us with a Bushwhacker day parade and fair, and we just have yearly tours where we remember where Quantril and his men came and killed us all in our Jayhawk days (the term for Kansas abolitionists). It's more of a matter of pride if we lose to MU than K-State, but the k-state tailgates rolling into town and having drunken parties on top of RV's parked at 9th and Iowa are a sight to see, even if we lose. They are quite zealous about their rivalry. I recall the day we beat them at their sport, football, and the cheers were excessively loud and could be heard nearly everywhere, and then the fans stormed the stadium, tore down the goalpost and dragged them uphill to dump them in Potter lake (right next to a bomb sledding hill btw). When we lost the NCAA the next time around, downtown was still a pretty cool place, and just walking around the student ghetto nearly everyone was high-fiving me for a great season. It was still a fun charming atmosphere, complete with ice cream trucks and news helicopters.

At the end of one year, they added dishwashing soap to the Chi Omega fountain at the main roundabout on campus, and half naked frat brothers danced in the fountain for literally hours.

There is definitely a lot of fun to be had here. You made a good choice.

Also, you can use all the buses for free being a KU student, and we're one of the few bus system that will wait on transfer so you don't have to worry about your bus running late. For drinking, safe bus and safe ride will cover late night transportation, and safe ride will take you anywhere safe bus can't provided you are very persistent calling when it is busy and patient. If you're okay with using a bike sometimes, you should never need a car.

If noise is an issue, 12th-15th Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky are the student ghetto party zones. Indiana south of 9th can get bad, and stay away from frat and sorority houses. You can get cheap rent without the noise if you are careful, and not sacrifice on the location. Lawrence is a fun place to live and not a bad place to party. Also, the bars are smoking free .