J1...

upmeath

Hey I'm looking for advice on where to go on J1 in California next summer. We're a group of about 10 lads and girls in 2nd year here in UCD and we want to go to the West Coast. Half of UCD has been in San Diego so we want to be different and go somewhere that's going to be a good laugh and also have good work, living conditions, weather, pay and social scene. San Francisco's been mentioned, Berkeley, Santa Monica too... anybody got any advice on this?

gubbie

Don't go to Berkeley. My brother went there and then had to go somewhere else. Its a student town, because of the college, but once summer starts, there'll be no students and no work

Stabshauptmann

Most of the fun I had in San Diego was because so many Irish were there so you might not want to write it off completely

tintinr35

would u not consider east coast there is no reason to rule out new york, florida, new jearsy resorts, could be worth lookin into!! look at www.craigslist.com for jobs and accom in all the maor cities in the US, deadly all the yanks use it!!

upmeath

been to new york, far too fast-paced lifestyle for my liking. people very fake too... have a nice day my ass
florida is full of old people of hurricanes
i've done new england too, mass.,ri, nh and vermont all interesting but i dunno if id wanna spend a summer there! looking like SF or San Diego at the mo anyway, can't convince the lads to look at Austin TX, which seems to be great for socialising and working in, or anywhere around the Great Lakes.

GusherING

I just spent 3 months living in Berkeley. If there are ten of you going, you'll probably want to get some bunks in a frat house. They aren't exactly the nicest places to stay in so try looking for a house or two to rent. I went with 4 lads and we rented a savage 3 bedroom house with a garden and it was furnished. It was $2400 per month between the five of us and a 1500 dollar deposit, although we had so many people staying with us throughout the summer, there was usually about 8 of us in it!

Berkeley is a great place to live in, its safe and its nice. It is outside San Fran so if you wanna go into SF, you need to take the BART train in and that can take about 30 mins.

Word of warning about nights out in San Fran. Last BART leaves at about 11:30/12:00 at night and the next one is at 6am. Be prepared to party your ass off in the city or else you'll pay $40 for a taxi back to Berkeley.

I reccommend you guys buy a car for 1000 between you. Again look at craigslist.org. Your gonna need this site for everything for your J1.

If want to know anymore about Berkeley or the J1 in general, just PM me.

upmeath

SF/Berkeley sounds good. We're the sort of crowd who don't bother with taxis anyway, even here in Dublin we tend to walk home even from the far side of the city. Think the deposits are due down next week so we'll be making our decision pretty soon. Cheers for the advice lads

Stabshauptmann

I paid my deposit and fee for the J1 in april.

I worried a lot as deadlines approached and whizzed by but my friend assured me that we'd be alright paying at anytime before we flew out (more or less) and he was right. Though it might have been cheaper to do it earler depending on what deals are going

panda100

GusherING wrote:

I reccommend you guys buy a car for 1000 between you.

.

Definatly agree with this. Very handy cos then you can drive down to tijjuanna or up to seattle or over to Vegas.
San fran was my favourite place on the west coast but i dont think its the best for a j1.Id really reccomend Vancouver. Canada is really beautiful and there is loads of Irish over there in J1 so great craic. Then at the end you can just do a road trip down the west coast which only takes two weeks and you can get in san fran,la,vegas and everywhere.

tintinr35

agree BIG time with panda and GusherING

buy a car and ur summer will be even better u can go where u want when u want and u dont have to rely on public transport!!

random_banter

About the buying a car thing, i'm interested in doing that next summer, but whats the story with insurance/taxes etc?

Royale with Cheese

Do not book with go4less. They are the biggest joke of a company I've ever dealt with and will screw up absolutely everything you ask them to do.

GusherING

random_banter wrote:

About the buying a car thing, i'm interested in doing that next summer, but whats the story with insurance/taxes etc?

Pretty darn cheap. I think it was $300 dollars to get 5 of us insured on the same car for 3 months. That is like $60 per person, compared to Irish insurance costs, its feck all. Now we did have full licences but we were all aged between 19 and 23 so being young and male was not a problem!

singingstranger

If it's not too late to make a suggestion, 9 of my friends went to Maui in Hawaii last Summer and had an absolute blast, ended up with 18 people living in a 6-bed house and having the time of their lives. They're still going on about it - it might be worth a look into if you're not settled on anything already!

Stabshauptmann

18 in a 6 bed sounds comfortable. The average I found in San Diego was 12 in a 2 bed

panda100

GusherING wrote:

Pretty darn cheap. I think it was $300 dollars to get 5 of us insured on the same car for 3 months. That is like $60 per person, compared to Irish insurance costs, its feck all. Now we did have full licences but we were all aged between 19 and 23 so being young and male was not a problem!

Yeah tis really cheap.We brought a car in canada for $300. It was a grand car cept the windows didnt roll down so thats why it was so cheap and looked a bit of a wreck. All we had to do was buy the plates,which acts like your number plate and you just stick them onto your front and back window. I cant remember for sure but I think it was $500 dollars.That includes the insurance and everything. There was 3 of us and the car saved us a bomb cos flights and buses were really expensive. Also it saved on accomodation too cos we slept inthe car a few nights too.

Our hot wheels in all its $300 glory (sellotape to hold up the windows and the irish flag on the bonnet were not included in the price of the car..we addeed those ourselves )



Outside ceasers palace

Umaro

My God.. she's.. beautiful.

ElCapitano

If you're really serious about going on a J1, Usit are doing an offer at the moment where they pay for your programme fee and you save like €280.

Rumour has it though that this is the last week of the offer due to huge uptake.

tintinr35

pimper

mloc

j1s are great. I've done two. Preferred the first one, it was pretty different, lived in the east village on manhattan. good times.

Avoid Boston. It's boring, the people there are positively allergic to the craic.
New York is amazing if you can handle the super-city thing.
California has its ups and downs. Never been. Heard mixed reports. For a start, you'd defo want to be 21. Definately.
Heard loads of really great things about Maui. Tough to get started in but worth it by all reports. Try and get there early if you can.
Tampa was also a great place. Particularly if you're a guy. A single guy.
Myrtle beach is very irish-y, again tastes differ but never attracted me.
Chicago is amazing. Went there myself. Great big city/get to know people balance. People are good fun. Recommend trying to find somewhere in Wrigleyville.

And www.craigslist.org is the shizzle. It really is amazing. You'll find accomodation, stuff for your place for next to nothing, possibly even jobs on it.

Any other advice needed on a J1 let me know. Between me and one of my mates we have 5 J1s under our belt, got use to the system!

Stabshauptmann

I was 18 in San Diego, a lot of ppl I was friends with didnt turn 21 untill near the end of the summer.

You will have a great time in San Diego < 21 because A)There are so many other irish = beach and house parties.
Mexico is only a taxi away
But you will NOT get into ANY night clbs or bars no matter how old you look without ID.

However when I went to las vegas I gambled and got served, so did some of my friends, others got busted tho.