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I live in the DC Metro amongst many MD grads, you can't fool me about CP & PG. I'm aware that college park can be quite nice.. until the sun goes down.
As for your definition of a good college town, you're correct, it shouldn't be quaint or quiet. It should be devoted to the university community as a whole. While the "town" of College Park may seem to fit that definition in your limited world view, I would suggest that College Park is actually just the campus, with a few straggling bars and restaurants to the sides.
Morgantown is anything but quiet, and we most certainly don't consider "Mud wrassling" as a pastime. The University community of 28,000 most certainly has a great many activities to choose from, ranging from the typical outdoorsy park sort of stuff to awesome bars, clubs, live music, massive house parties, excellent basketball and football (tonight's game notwithstanding.. ). As I stated before, the town itself is consistently ranked one of the top small cities in the nation, and we also don't have to carry weapons to protect ourselves. As I said, you may be bitter about a football game in morgantown or something else, but your biased statements hold no water. Lock up tight tonight, you're in PG!
Oh so you're one of the ones that perpetuates the baseless negative sterotypes of PG County. I don't care where in the DC Metro you live and who your friends are, because you apparently don't have a clue about College Park, and whatever my "limited world views" are I know more about CP than you judging by your definition of "a town with straggling bars and restaurants" to the sides. The mud-wrassling thing was obviously a joke, and rivalry biases aside you're kidding yourself if you think there's more to do in Morgantown than in College Park or DC which is 15min away on the Metro lol. Maybe you're talking about their ranking by the Princeton Review as the #1 Party school a few years ago (UMD was also in the top 5). I have friends that go/went to WVU and the only thing they did on the weekend was get plastered, or go to a football game. When football season ends the place is as boring as hell.
Nearly every "crime" in College Park has to do with ignorant or naive students who virtually set themselves up. Things like walking alone half drunk at 3am, leaving the windows open over Christmas break, or lending a stranger your cellphone are many of the dumb things that lead to crime. The worst crimes you'll see in College Park are sexual assault and assault. Shootings are extremely rare, and I don't think there's ever been a murder in the town (or at least not for the past few decades IIRC). Also, the FDA research center, the only IKEA in the region, the College Park Airport (the oldest in the world), the hq of the American Physics Society, the National Archives HQ, are a few things you can add to your list of businesses in College Park behind "a few straggling bars and restaurants."
In all honesty College Park isn't the best college town, and probably isn't even in the top 20, but there are still many great things about it and I love it, and it isn't some washed up "ghetto in PG County" as you portray it to be. Besides rural campuses should be compared to rural campuses, and urban/surburban campuses should be compared to urban/suburban campuses.
Ithaca is a true college town. Ithaca is a small city of about 30,000 and in that city they have two famous universities. Cornell and Ithaca college. Cornell has more enrolled alone. There must be somewhere between 45 and 55,000 college students in a city of only 30,000. Entire metro area of Ithaca is only 100, 000. Not counting college students.
Ithaca is a true college town. Their economy thrives on it and I have witnessed over the years the growth of that community which would not have seen any growth if it weren't for the colleges and the money they bring in.
Bloomington, Indiana needs to be mentioned a lot more!
Along with Austin, Boulder, Berkeley, and Madison, it's one of the "weirdest" and funnest college towns in the country!
Fantastic and beautiful scenery (IU and it's surrounding hills), great variety of local eateries (both Ethnic and American), local owned businesses dispersed all over downtown, two microbreweries, two wineries, great nightlife (over 15 different bars in it's small downtown), great music scene, and friendly atmosphere. It also has the fifth highest per capita population of same sex couples in the country.
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