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Old 01-30-2007, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Perrysburg, Ohio
11 posts, read 56,948 times
Reputation: 10

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Quote:
Originally Posted by bedebede View Post
This area doesn't get a lot of snow.

All in all, it is a nice place, but a little drab.
No snow! Think again..we've gotten a lot of snow lately and it's pretty typical to get a lot of snow each year. I wager that you haven't been in the area long enough. I can agree with the drab part though.
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Old 04-11-2007, 06:44 AM
 
Location: Illinois
36 posts, read 181,733 times
Reputation: 29
I lived in Bowling Green in 2000-2002 while attending grad school at BGSU. I see a lot of people had a problem with the topography, but I didn't, as I am from a very similar region in central Illinois. I found BG to be a perfectly adequate place to spend 2 years. It's true that there isn't a WHOLE lot going on, but if you're there to go to school, shouldn't you be devoting most of your time to that?

Let's see....good things about BG:

1. As echoed by a previous poster--the Grounds for Thought coffee shop/bookstore is awesome.
2. there's a fab video store 9and the name escape me right not, but it's right off the main street, not far from downtown). They even carry lots of great underground/cult/indie film.
3. Howard's--a great dive bar that occasionally got interesting bands.
4. SamB's restaurant
5. Japanese restaurant located out by the interstate 9and again, the name escapes me, but it was the only one in town)
6. Popular Culture Library at BGSU has some one of a kind collections...very cool.
7. Wood County Historical Center's museum--check out the exhibit at the "Lunatic House" (and not just because I had a hand in creating it!)
8. The Cla-Zel--a wonderful old one-screen movie theater that has been kept up really well on main st. Sure hope it's still open!
9. 24 hour greasy spoon diner on Main St.--can't remember the name, but my husband loved going there at all hours to study.
10. Myle's Pizza-- a true BG institution. I enjoyed the pizza occasionally, but find it a little heavy for my tastes (LOTS of cheese and sauce, and pretty thick crust, although it technically isn't stuffed style)
11. The old windmill near the college (which is an apartment, actually!)
12. Always heard good things about swimming opportunities at the quarry, but never went.
13. Great proximity to Ann Arbor--it usually only took us an hour to get there.
14. Also great proximity to a wonderful drive-in theater outside of Toledo (in Oregon), the Sundance Kid.
15. Great proximity to Cedar Point amusement park, the best in the US!
16. Pretty good (low) cost of living--the gas was always cheap (like 30 cents less per gallon than in Illinois), and I found groceries, rent, and utilities to be pretty affordable.

Bad things about BG:
1. Horribly hot in the summers (the 2 summers I was there anyways...one was awful--in the 90s nearly every day). The area used to be a swamp, and used to be drilled for oil, and when it gets that hot, the air gets a real swamp-gas kind of odor....
2. The town seemed to actually not care for the University much, in my experience. It seemed less like a real "college town" than a town "with a college".
3. Very, very few job opportunities. If you're a student and can get work study, than you may be ok. grad students might get screwed for the summer if their dept. doesn't support them.
4. No big movie multiplex--although there is a great one 20 minutes north in Maumee.
5. Not a lot of places to choose from to eat (but enough to do ok)
6. Totally draconian apartment rental practices!!!! We had a terrible time getting a place. We called around, and the landlords refused to actually SHOW us the apartments--they said just to go to the addresses and ask the tenants themselves to show us around. We'd never experienced this, and found that the tenants we not pleased for us to just barge in. We ended up renting a place at the last minute that totally sucked. The landlords were TERRIBLE....Greenbriar. They have a big monopoly on rental housing there. I could go on and on about our experiences with them, but I'll spare you the details.
7. Not a very liberal town. Not a lot of diversity to speak of. My husband taught undergrad classes and very rarely had african-american students. Most of the kids are from farms/small towns (as am I), and most were very conservative.
8. Not a lot of shopping opportunities, although they do have a 24-hour Meijer superstore!
9. Being close to Toledo is not much of an asset, I found, as it really lacked a lot of things you would expect such a large town to have. They do have a really cool mosque though.
10. The school is not very pretty, or architecturally interesting. That's not to say they don't have a few nice buildings or occasionally nice events, but overall, it's kind of an ugly 1960s concrete-y campus.
11. Meatheads. One of my fellow grad students was jumped while walking home one evening by some dudes in a truck, and beaten to a pulp and called a certain slur (and he wasn't gay, but had long hair). I don't know if this was done by locals or students, but there definitely was a meathead quotient in town that I observed.
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Old 04-11-2007, 07:40 AM
 
1,409 posts, read 4,849,315 times
Reputation: 486
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonicreducer View Post
7. Not a very liberal town...Most of the kids are from farms/small towns (as am I), and most were very conservative.
That would actually go on my list of GOOD things about the area!
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Old 04-11-2007, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Grafton, Ohio
286 posts, read 1,583,889 times
Reputation: 164
Default Another perspective...

I am a Michigan person who visits Ohio on a regular basis to see family. BG is a quite little town. As others have said, the whole of BG is based around BGSU.

Perrysburg is very close to BG and offers more for shopping and eating. Findlay is not that far south and also offers options.

As for the housing situation.... I have my own perspective on that. I have looked into renting on BG because my hubby and I have toyed with the idea of moving to Ohio. The rent is truly NOT that expensive! If you compare prices to other campus areas, it is fairly low; Ann Arbor / University of Michigan, you're lucky to get away at $600-700 per month on a 1 bedroom that could double as a closet, East Lansing, MI / Mich State Un you can't hardly shy away from $650/mth for a hole in the wall. Luckily for BGSU students, there are other areas. If you are willing to commute to class, you can rent in a surrounding community (Walbridge, parts of Toledo, Tontogany, etc - naming the ones I know off hand), and you can get away with very inexpensive rent.

As for the comment about STDS and dikes.... again, you have to look at perspective. This can be associated with ANY school and how you take part in the ongoing activities will determine how true this becomes for your experience at this school. My best suggestion is to take your own tour and let your own opinion form.

The educational program isn't bad. It is much better than what you see at Mich State Un and the class sizes are much more realistic. My sister in law is currently enrolled in the program and she seems to be doing well wth it. I can say that it is a better program than what my father went through at MSU (several years ago). I suggest, if this is the field you're looking into, to check out how it compares to other "top" schools.
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Old 04-11-2007, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Findlay, OH
656 posts, read 2,308,109 times
Reputation: 330
Default A little more information...

Quote:
Originally Posted by sonicreducer View Post
1. As echoed by a previous poster--the Grounds for Thought coffee shop/bookstore is awesome.
Here here!

Quote:
3. Howard's--a great dive bar that occasionally got interesting bands.
Yeah, it's a good dive bar. www.howardsclubh.com

Quote:
4. SamB's restaurant
Used to be spectacular 10 years ago, but I still go there for the Mediterranean Sampler.

Quote:
5. Japanese restaurant located out by the interstate 9and again, the name escapes me, but it was the only one in town)
URAKU rocks! One of the chef's came down to Findlay and was working at Asian Grill. Good stuff.

Quote:
8. The Cla-Zel--a wonderful old one-screen movie theater that has been kept up really well on main st. Sure hope it's still open!
Sorry, the Cla-Zel closed down about a year or two ago. No more showings of THE midnight movie.

Quote:
9. 24 hour greasy spoon diner on Main St.--can't remember the name, but my husband loved going there at all hours to study.
It's caddy corner to the Wood County Public Library. All I can remember is the word "CHILI" in flourescent blue on it's sign.

Quote:
10. Myle's Pizza-- a true BG institution. I enjoyed the pizza occasionally, but find it a little heavy for my tastes (LOTS of cheese and sauce, and pretty thick crust, although it technically isn't stuffed style)
Myle's may be good, but I can't remember how many times I've went to Pagliai's down on South Main Street. My family has been going there since it was a hole in the wall somewhere north of its current location.

Quote:
2. The town seemed to actually not care for the University much, in my experience. It seemed less like a real "college town" than a town "with a college".
My whole take on the local population is that BGSU was a necessary evil for income and job opportunities. They aren't too thrilled with the downsides of having a big state university in their community.

Quote:
4. No big movie multiplex--although there is a great one 20 minutes north in Maumee.
Are you thinking of Levi's Commons in Perrysbrurg? It's on the OH-25 exit south on I-475 after the I-75/I-475 split.

Quote:
7. Not a very liberal town. Not a lot of diversity to speak of. My husband taught undergrad classes and very rarely had african-american students. Most of the kids are from farms/small towns (as am I), and most were very conservative.
County, yes. City, eh well, maybe not. There's some liberal mindset in the town, but it's mostly university people. It certainly had enough to host a John F. Kerry campaign stop back in 2004. I'm sure his advisors knew that he'd get little or no traction in Findlay.

(Remainder % is the Indie vote)
Hancock County: Democrat 29.0% 10,343 Republican 70.5% 25,101
Wood County: Democrat 46.4% 29,401 Republican 53.0% 33,592

Quote:
9. Being close to Toledo is not much of an asset, I found, as it really lacked a lot of things you would expect such a large town to have. They do have a really cool mosque though.
That ties in quite well to the lament Rocket1 had yesterday.

Quote:
10. The school is not very pretty, or architecturally interesting. That's not to say they don't have a few nice buildings or occasionally nice events, but overall, it's kind of an ugly 1960s concrete-y campus.
With only the construction of the new student union a few years ago, the rest of it could use an overhaul. Kudos for the adjective "concrete-y".

Quote:
11. Meatheads. One of my fellow grad students was jumped while walking home one evening by some dudes in a truck, and beaten to a pulp and called a certain slur (and he wasn't gay, but had long hair). I don't know if this was done by locals or students, but there definitely was a meathead quotient in town that I observed.
If I had to wager, I'd say students. The student population really likes to drink more than its fair share of alcohol. Sounds like your collegue was caught in that "wrong place at the wrong time" scenario.

P.S. - Bubbagirl, I asked a few of my collegues around here and they think the unemployment rate in the Wood/Hancock area's a little less than the state average. It's more closer to the national average of 4.5%. I'm not sure if it helps, but it's what I could find.

Last edited by Art1979; 04-11-2007 at 10:17 AM.. Reason: Forgot to add in post script
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Old 04-11-2007, 05:34 PM
 
Location: Grafton, Ohio
286 posts, read 1,583,889 times
Reputation: 164
Default Thanks for the info, Art

I haven't taken the time to do my own research yet ...

Been a busy week.
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Old 04-11-2007, 05:45 PM
 
Location: Denver, CO
47 posts, read 246,249 times
Reputation: 31
It really depends on what you like, in order to tell if you'd like it there (I lived there for three years, and hated every second of it). Like lots of drinking? Lame meat-market bars? Frat-boy aesthetics? Apathetic students? A town with nothing to do except go to bars or a coffee shop? Then you'll love it there!

Coming from California would probably be even worse; I had just moved here from a slightly-less-awful city.

Oh, and you can definitely NOT rent anything in nearby Tontogany. The place has like 30 houses, total.
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Old 04-12-2007, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Grafton, Ohio
286 posts, read 1,583,889 times
Reputation: 164
I wouldn't have mentioned Tontogany if I didn't know of places to rent there... 3 weeks ago there were several houses up for rent.


So hmm.... please don't be rude.
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Old 04-12-2007, 01:56 PM
 
6 posts, read 26,294 times
Reputation: 10
Default Info about Bowling Green

My husband and I are moving from Texas to Bowling Green so that I can start my PhD. I'm trying to find a decent apartment that takes pets (we have 2 dogs). Can anyone help?
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Old 04-12-2007, 02:40 PM
 
Location: Findlay, OH
656 posts, read 2,308,109 times
Reputation: 330
Lightbulb A little bit of help...

Quote:
Originally Posted by vgarcia14 View Post
My husband and I are moving from Texas to Bowling Green so that I can start my PhD. I'm trying to find a decent apartment that takes pets (we have 2 dogs). Can anyone help?
Well, I've never tried to find apartments up there, but after a rudimentary online search I've dredged this up:

www.sentinel-tribune.com - Local paper that has apartment classifieds

Top Five Results from the Web:

http://www.apartmentcities.com/Ohio/...g_Green_OH.asp
http://www.meccabg.com/
http://www.rent.com/rentals/ohio/tol...bowling-green/
http://www.offcampusnetwork.com/Ohio/Bowling_Green.asp
http://www.toledo.com/bowlinggreen/index.php (broken link)

As for specific apartment complexes, that would be out of my realm of knowledge. I'm sure others on here might know of the specifics.
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