Northfield Residents: What is Your Oppinion of Carleton and St. Olaf Students (Duluth: sales, student loan)

[minnesotawoman]

I don't live there but have worked with grads from Carlton. Generally bright, but one was very neurotic and weird; almost nonfunctional in daily life.

[audadvnc]

That's a pointless observation. The Carleton grads I've known have been sociable, well grounded, happy people. Your comment is equivalent to saying, "I read a comment by a neurotic, weird Minnesota woman on the Internet, therefore the Internet is useless."

[morsan]

we lived in northfield for a year and a half and sure, the students are somewhat of a nuisance there just as they are anywhere. this was my first time living in a small college town however, and i must say for me and my family, having every hang out spot downtown be completely catered to the college students was a huge turnoff.
i think we're not the typical family with small children as we actually enjoy going out to coffee shops and such. not just applebee's on the outskirts of town. we never saw other families hanging out downtown, just college kids, and the occasional non-college person (or teacher?) and they act their age, obnoxiously loud. i don't mind people of any age, but when you go places that are packed with them, it gets kind of crazy. a lot of showing off, yelling etc.

but if you don't plan to hang out at downtown coffee shops, then you probably won't notice them.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by morsan

we lived in northfield for a year and a half and sure, the students are somewhat of a nuisance there just as they are anywhere. this was my first time living in a small college town however, and i must say for me and my family, having every hang out spot downtown be completely catered to the college students was a huge turnoff.
i think we're not the typical family with small children as we actually enjoy going out to coffee shops and such. not just applebee's on the outskirts of town. we never saw other families hanging out downtown, just college kids, and the occasional non-college person (or teacher?) and they act their age, obnoxiously loud. i don't mind people of any age, but when you go places that are packed with them, it gets kind of crazy. a lot of showing off, yelling etc.

but if you don't plan to hang out at downtown coffee shops, then you probably won't notice them.

Perhaps it was my cousin's crowd, but whenever I went to Northfield to visit him and we went downtown, it was hardly a rambunctious scene. Yeah, you're going to find a few of the restaurants packed with college kids...but I've seen that in a lot bigger towns too, even when it's outside the college area.

[Gibbous Moon]

Originally Posted by xandrex

Perhaps it was my cousin's crowd, but whenever I went to Northfield to visit him and we went downtown, it was hardly a rambunctious scene. Yeah, you're going to find a few of the restaurants packed with college kids...but I've seen that in a lot bigger towns too, even when it's outside the college area.

I agree.

Though they are certainly frequented by college students, I've never seen anything I'd call obnoxious behavior in the usual places the students go to get coffee-- The Tavern, Blue Monday, Hogan Brothers, The Ole Store.

[AGuyFromCleveland18]

I'm a college student myself, and I get annoyed by the loud obnoxious behavior of other students on weekends, in coffee shops etc. so I can definitely see how people from town can get annoyed. That being said I've had some less than pleasant run-ins with some people from town. For example, a group of young people in their 20s followed me and my friend to campus and tried to start a fight with us. So there is some animosity both ways it seems.

[audadvnc]

When I was a loud obnoxious college student I got annoyed by the stuck-up prissies that would plop their worthless behinds in the middle of a party and ruin our evening by insisting on library behavior in a coffeeshop. Why don't they go back to the library and do their homework there instead of showing off their holier-than-thou attitudes in front of people trying to socialize?

[AGuyFromCleveland18]

I'm not saying that people should be silent in a coffee shop, I'm just saying it's annoying when you ARE trying to find somewhere to work that college students will often be oblivious to the feelings of those around them and be yelling in loud voices when other people are clearly trying to get there work done. I've experienced this everywhere from the coffee shop to the library, to academic buildings. I have no problem with fun, but I do have a problem being unable to find a quiet place to work.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by AGuyFromCleveland18

I'm not saying that people should be silent in a coffee shop, I'm just saying it's annoying when you ARE trying to find somewhere to work that college students will often be oblivious to the feelings of those around them and be yelling in loud voices when other people are clearly trying to get there work done. I've experienced this everywhere from the coffee shop to the library, to academic buildings. I have no problem with fun, but I do have a problem being unable to find a quiet place to work.

Places like coffeeshops will never be quiet. And a lot of them, especially the independent ones I've seen in Northfield, really seem more like hippie hangouts that play music. It is sort of a thing to go to a coffeeshop to do homework or study or whatever, but I'd never go there expecting much...socialization is part of the coffeeshop aura.

[ocsid]

Northfield has a really odd vibe. A good friend of mine went to Olaf, and I went to a state school. When I'd go down to visit him, there was definitely a snotty aura among many of the students towards me. (oddly enough, another friend went to Mac, and that aura never existed). Fast forward a few years, and I married a girl from a nearby town. She and her parents never had much good to say about Northfield residents. Same thing - a really stuck up vibe. Fast forward another few years. I had a professional relationship with a guy who was a Northfield native. Seemed okay at first, but turned out to be a total phony jackass. Fast forward to this summer - I was involved in a local event in town, and some of the natives more or less treated us like garbage.

To say I don't think highly of Northfield is an understatement.