[lentzr]

I am just curious about something else. I was a graduate student at UF until 2005. Have there been any major changes to that city since I left? Is the population still growing? What's happened there thats noteworthy since I left?

[TD*]

I havent been by in a couple years, but Nothing major man.. I think its pretty much the same as when u left.

[UF_john]

Gainesville is a place to go to school, but not a great place to live. Everyone is from somewhere else (the town has a combination of a southern and a plastic feel to it). The town becomes dead during thanksgiving and most holidays. During December, it becomes a shopping hub for people allover northern florida. the traffic is absolutely terrible. and the most depressing point is that Gainesville has no good paying jobs. The town consists of a school and a hospital. UF is broke due to budget cuts and the hospital gets more than enough "volunteers" and "internship" labor that it's very difficult to make a livable wage. Most people I know who live in gainesville make under 15k a year. You can drink for cheap in the town (they have 'all u can drink' specials and $1 wells at many bars). To conclude, the only thing to do is go to gator sports, parties, and drink. There's nothing beyond that and there's no jobs.

The worst part is the traffic. The traffic in gainesville is a nightmare. The roads were all poorly designed and not made to hold the amount of traffic. Each year the traffic gets worse. The drivers are amongst the worst in the country as they don't use their turn signals and slam on the breaks for no apparent reason. The fakeness of the city is another downfall. You meet people who are moving out in a few months and there's no real tie to the area, which makes it awful for dating or accumulating friends for a long period of time.

Fraternities and sororities run the whole town. You'll see tons of them out sporting their bags. Almost every girl who goes to UF is in a sorority. This depletes the dating scene completely for any guy who does not belong to a UF fraternity.

If you want to get to Jacksonville, you have to drive through the worst speed traps in the country (waldo, starke, & lawtey). Tampa and Orlando is 2 and a half hours south.

The campus is one of the nicest campuses you'll find in the country. The O'Dome is nice for gator basketball, but there's hardly ever any other events in there like concerts, it just sits empty the whole time. When they built it, they said they were going to have all kinds of concerts in there and make it a huge deal and they rarely ever have anything going on there.

The downtown is just full of out-of-business bars. Ruebar thursday used to be huge, but now it's closed. Studio (Gotham) and Rehab are out of business. Boutique is out of business. UF now has higher restrictions to get in (less than a third who apply get accepted now), so while it's cheap to drink there are way fewer people going out to party.

Midtown still gets packed. The bars are very small. Gator City, Groghouse, and Cantina 101 are local favorites. Most midtown bars have great drink specials, especially for females (can you say free drinks?). Midtown is probably the most fun place to go if you're in the 18-28 age demographic.

The Oaks Mall is a decent smaller mall that gets packed during the holidays but is generally easy to walk around and do some simple shopping.

G'Ville has every fast-food chain you can think of from Zaxby's to Chik-Fil-A to Chipolte. G'Ville is big for sushi so if you like sushi you can have your way here with multiple options.

I do not recommend living in Gainesville other than going to school. Also, if you do go to UF, it's mandatory that you join a fraternity or sorority. If you do, you can have some great parties and activities. UF completely revolves around greek life. If you don't join, you'll be left in the shadow and wishing you did when you notice 3/4 of the people are involved.

If you are not involved with UF or Shands Hospital, do not live in Gainesville.

[gainesvilled]

UF John is giving a very accurate description. I read his post before moving to Gainesville 2 years ago and thought that he was just bitter. Amazingly enough, he was telling the truth. Can't wait to sell my house and move anywhere else. This place stinks.

[GatorGirly]

UF_John, your claim that "Almost every girl who goes to UF is in a sorority" is not even close to accurate. Less than 15% of UF undergraduate students are members of fraternities and sororities. You may just notice them more because they tend to overpopulate the Midtown scene, student government, Gator Growl/Homecoming staff, and many other organizations. I was never in a sorority, but that never negatively impacted my social or dating life.

I find it shameful that you would dating that joining the Greek life is mandatory. I would have joined one had I gone to UF from the start, because the friendships and future networking have really made an impact on some of my friends' lives, but I have a good job and great friends and turned out just fine.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by UF_john

Gainesville is a place to go to school, but not a great place to live. Everyone is from somewhere else (the town has a combination of a southern and a plastic feel to it). The town becomes dead during thanksgiving and most holidays. During December, it becomes a shopping hub for people allover northern florida. the traffic is absolutely terrible. and the most depressing point is that Gainesville has no good paying jobs. The town consists of a school and a hospital. UF is broke due to budget cuts and the hospital gets more than enough "volunteers" and "internship" labor that it's very difficult to make a livable wage. Most people I know who live in gainesville make under 15k a year. You can drink for cheap in the town (they have 'all u can drink' specials and $1 wells at many bars). To conclude, the only thing to do is go to gator sports, parties, and drink. There's nothing beyond that and there's no jobs.

The worst part is the traffic. The traffic in gainesville is a nightmare. The roads were all poorly designed and not made to hold the amount of traffic. Each year the traffic gets worse. The drivers are amongst the worst in the country as they don't use their turn signals and slam on the breaks for no apparent reason. The fakeness of the city is another downfall. You meet people who are moving out in a few months and there's no real tie to the area, which makes it awful for dating or accumulating friends for a long period of time.

Fraternities and sororities run the whole town. You'll see tons of them out sporting their bags. Almost every girl who goes to UF is in a sorority. This depletes the dating scene completely for any guy who does not belong to a UF fraternity.

If you want to get to Jacksonville, you have to drive through the worst speed traps in the country (waldo, starke, & lawtey). Tampa and Orlando is 2 and a half hours south.

The campus is one of the nicest campuses you'll find in the country. The O'Dome is nice for gator basketball, but there's hardly ever any other events in there like concerts, it just sits empty the whole time. When they built it, they said they were going to have all kinds of concerts in there and make it a huge deal and they rarely ever have anything going on there.

The downtown is just full of out-of-business bars. Ruebar thursday used to be huge, but now it's closed. Studio (Gotham) and Rehab are out of business. Boutique is out of business. UF now has higher restrictions to get in (less than a third who apply get accepted now), so while it's cheap to drink there are way fewer people going out to party.

Midtown still gets packed. The bars are very small. Gator City, Groghouse, and Cantina 101 are local favorites. Most midtown bars have great drink specials, especially for females (can you say free drinks?). Midtown is probably the most fun place to go if you're in the 18-28 age demographic.

The Oaks Mall is a decent smaller mall that gets packed during the holidays but is generally easy to walk around and do some simple shopping.

G'Ville has every fast-food chain you can think of from Zaxby's to Chik-Fil-A to Chipolte. G'Ville is big for sushi so if you like sushi you can have your way here with multiple options.

I do not recommend living in Gainesville other than going to school. Also, if you do go to UF, it's mandatory that you join a fraternity or sorority. If you do, you can have some great parties and activities. UF completely revolves around greek life. If you don't join, you'll be left in the shadow and wishing you did when you notice 3/4 of the people are involved.

If you are not involved with UF or Shands Hospital, do not live in Gainesville.

I think your summary is good for someone that is young, single and just graduated. Well despite your comments on Greek life which are way off statistically.

Gainesville has a lot to offer for families who have ties to UF.

[yamahastar]

Obviously, everyone has an opinion. For everyone who tells you they hate Gainesville, there will be someone like me who loves it. I think its a great place to live and we are an older couple. My son loves it and he's in the military, so go figure! It really depends upon what you want in a town. I think Gainesville has grown, but not really changed, if that makes sense to you. There are more businesses, but the town seems the same to me, just a bit bigger.

[Mary Cunningham]

My husband and I are thinking of moving to Gainesville - looking for an area with a university and access to cultural activities and well as an edcated/intellectual environment. What do you think?