myUface Blog

When researching U.S. universities, it’s a good idea to learn about activities that are available in the geographic area around the university’s campus.  These activities will serve as yet another key component of your U.S. experience, and every university will have vastly different activities available.

This is not about tourist sites.  We covered tourism activities in a previous post.  This is about things you can do together with the friends you’ll meet at your university – things like bowling, skiing, surfing, going to the beach, hiking, camping, waterskiing, etc.

Now, generally speaking, I don’t know of any one website that has great information on every city and town in the U.S. A decent job is done by Citysearch, although it does tend to focus on bars, restaurants, and that sort of thing.  I find the best way to find out about the local scene is to simply google the name of a city, and then look for websites associated with it.  If you’re looking for specific activities, you can also locate the city in google maps, and then use the “Search Nearby” feature to look for anything.

For example, here is a map of bowling alleys located around Harvard University, obtained by entering “Harvard University Boston, MA” in google maps, and then “searching nearby” for “bowling alleys.”

This is also an area where Facebook can be helpful.  Community groups on Facebook are an excellent source of information about activities nearby campus.

Finally, this is another subject which you can ask the university about.  Most universities will have information about activities in the surrounding area.  If they don’t, it may be because there isn’t much in the surrounding area.

Posts in this Series

1. Conclusion - How to Choose a U.S. University - 02 Jun
2. Activities Around a University Campus (This post)
3. Check Out U.S. Universities on iTunes U - 26 May
4. Extracurricular Activities - 25 May
5. Get to Know Your Potential Professors - 21 May
6. Don't Forget Your Life! - 20 May
7. What Do You Want to See in the U.S.? - 19 May
8. How Many International Students go to your Chosen University? - 18 May
9. The Problem with University Rankings - 17 May
10. Using Facebook to Research Universities - 14 May
11. Look at the Surrounding Neighborhoods When Looking at a U.S. University - 13 May
12. How Weather Should Factor Into Your Search for a U.S. University - 12 May
13. Looking for a University in the United States: Cost of Living - 11 May
14. Looking for a University in the United States - 10 May

Hello readers -

I apologize for the radio silence over the past few days.  I was traveling in Southeastern Europe, and was doing fine until I experienced a total laptop meltdown.  Back at home now and I’ll resume daily posting.  I’ll also work on getting a podcast out here in the near future.

Sorry for the inconvenience.