Student moving from Norway to Bay Area, Please Help !! (much needed=) (San Francisco: apartment complexes, for rent)

[CalStateStudent]

Hi

I will be moving from Norway to the Bay Area in two weeks time as I am attending California State University, East Bay in Hayward.

I need some help/tips regarding where to live. I will be getting a car, so commuting won't be any problem, as I will only be attending the school a few days a week.

My budget is max 1600 $ (we are 2).

My first question would be: Where do Cal State East Bay students often live? I've heard downtown Hayward is not so good.

Second, and most important :-) where can you recommend me to live?

My noted places so far are: Emeryville(safe?), Dublin (boring?), Pleasanton(boring?), Hayward(unsafe?), Fremont(worth considering?), San Mateo(worth considering?).

I would greatly appreciate information regarding these places. My focus would be: How the safety there is and if there is anything to do (shopping,restaurants,bars, student life etc).

Please help me, I am totally blank on this, and would like a great stay in the Bay Area :-)

[lmk1707]

Downtown Hayward's not so great, but the area around CSUEB is okay, it's on a big hill so a lot of places have nice views. Really poor restaurant scene, though.

I don't know where CSUEB students usually live, it's not really a "college town" like other college towns are - more spread out, more distance learners / night class learners.

Emeryville is nice, cute downtown, maybe a tad on the bland side (lots of chain stores), waterfront/peninsula places are very nice though. It's a bit of a commute to Hayward as the "Macarthur Maze" (580/980/80/24 interchange) tends to be jam packed most times of day.

Dublin/Pleasanton are very boring, IMO. Downtown Pleasanton is cute, but not a big cultural element. San Mateo is too far, and you'd have to cross the bridge ($4 toll and a pain in the butt).

I'd actually suggest Oakland, Rockridge/Grand Lake/Piedmont Ave. areas (or even Jack London Square), if walkable's your thing - they are full of shops and restaurants, and Oakland is much more accessible to Hayward than most of the places you named. Oakland is also a lot more culturally diverse. The student population in those neighborhoods is mostly UC Berkeley students though, so you wouldn't get the CSUEB networking thing so much, but Rockridge in particular is full of bars and students.

Good luck!

[CalStateStudent]

Thank you for your reply =)

So, Emeryville and Rockridge are the places I'm now considering. The commute should be ok, as we are taking night classes, and won't be too stressed when driving anyways. It's only 2 days a week.

Archstone Emeryville is a complex we are looking at:
6401 Shellmound St., Emeryville, CA 94608

Does this look okey? I'm really concerned about safety though..are both emeryville and rockridge considered very safe? Which is the "safest" of the two ? =) It is not too far from Oakland which has a bad reputation :-/

Both Emeryville and Rockridge has great proximity to San Francisco also, which is good =)

Thank you for any further help, it is greatly appreciated.

[fizbin]

If you can swing it, Rockridge is a great place to live. When I went to Cal State Hayward I lived in Alameda, another excellent option.

[stillfresh]

are you a woman i hear norweigan women are hot

anyway emeryville is too far u should consider san lorenzo, hayward (the few, very few good areas) and definitely Union City as well. even fremont is a better option than emeryville because u'd only be a few exits away.

[CalStateStudent]

Norwegian ladies are the best ! :-)

So, no one with personal experience regarding Emeryville? Safety etc? Pleasanton are also high on our list, but as the other poster pointed out, were afraid there is nothing to do for people our age ? :-/

Cannot find any good apartment complexes in Rockridge.

We've dropped Hayward, too many bad inputs, and not so much luck on the apartment front either..

More inputs are very much appreciated =))

[stillfresh]

emeryville is too far of a commute. hayward is a dump. try fremont its like 10-15 min away from hayward. Union city and castro valley is a lot closer also, its between hayward and pleasanton.

[travelsurfer]

if u r thinking emeryville, u might better off staying in Berkely, since it's more a college-town and lots of happenings..

[CalStateStudent]

More views on pleasanton?

[kvwheeler]

Hi - I work at CSUEB so I hope I can help you out...

I think Pleasanton is too suburb - lots of families, etc... for a college student. You'll have to drive everywhere and it's far from the center of things.

Archstone Emeryville is in a great location with lots of shops, IKEA, near BART ,etc... Archstone apartments are known to be nice but very pricy. If you can afford to live at this complex, then I suggest starting out here then driving around the area and seeing what you like. It is safe for women. There is a lot of traffic during rush hours to/from Hayward but you can always take BART (subway) to the Hayward station then take a free bus #92 to campus.

If you want to live in a smaller area with a concentrated downtown, check out Alameda. I don't believe there is an Archstone but check out Craig's list:
east bay area apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

Good luck and see you on campus!