Chicago J1 2011

SA09

Hi just booking my J1 to Chicago for the summer 2011 through Go4Less... wanted to try get around being ripped off by these companies but I dont think there is any way around it.. anyway, was just wondering if anyone has any helpful info on jobs, accommodation, nightlife, etc for Chicago as this is my frst J1..

Cant wait to get out of this country for a few months!

cian.omathuna

I also booked with go4less, I am jetting into Chicago on 28th May, Leaving on a road trip to Vegas on 6th August, and flying home from LA on 25th August.

My flights will come to about €580, but overall i found go4less very cheap and reasonable!!

What are your dates like? I have been ringing Irish bars and they all say they don't know how busy it will be until the time, which means having a job before we go may be unlikely...

How many of ye are going?

SA09

Well.. were only in the early stages of booking so havent got our flights booked yet but were looking to fly out on the 20th of May...

Your flying home from LA? so you dont have to fly home from chicago?? Thats ok with go4less is it?

Theres about 5/6 lads confirmed at the min but id expect a few more to follow once we have ours booked etc.

What about yourself? Yeah i heard jobs arnt too hard to come by once youre
out there earlyish... Whereabouts is the best areas for accommodation have you heard?

cian.omathuna

Course! You book your flights with go4less online your self if it is return from the same airport, but coming back form a different city is just multi city travel.. If you sit down with the go4less flight price calculator on their homepage, and match up the various locations on the BA website, with the flight dates and times that are showing up cheaper on the go4less website, you are sorted!!

There will probably be only two of us... And in terms of places to live, i don't think there is a "best" place for living.. Alot of Irish J1ers will try and liv near Wrigleypark... We would rather that be a last resort, just to live amongst Americans instead of Irish people...given that we live in Ireland!!!

(PS, we are flying home on 24th, not 25th)

Hulk Hands

Heres what I wrote about Chicago on another thread...

Have to agree on the Chicago bit, went out for a couple of weeks holidays to friends on a J1 there last summer.

Its a lovely city, fairly easy to get around, one of the better cities for jobs. There's an area north of the city where J1's usually lives, area is safe, full of youth and decent nightlife. Loads of bars/nightclubs have offers on depending on the day of cheap drink. J1's will generally infest these places on whichever nights said offers are on. Weather is lovely too without being over warm. Plenty to do also for those not just heading out for the piss up.


We were planning on heading somewhere else this summer, but in the end laziness has gripped us and it looks as though we are going to Chicago, since we know the city to an extent after our little holiday and will probably have jobs set up going out.

As far as living goes, we will try to live near Wrigley Field alright, unless we get set up with GAA clubs which will mean living slightly further out. Basically all the youth of Chicago live in Wrigleyville and the surrounding areas, so its the best spot for nightlife and meeting people.

There are 4 of us (lads) heading out at the end of May. No idea who we're booking with yet, i'll have a look at goforless now. The plan is for a roadtrip as far as Orlando in our final week and Jet home from there. Hopefully a trip to Vegas too if we can afford it. Keep in touch

cian.omathuna

Great info, cheers!! If i get any decent job links or accommodation links i'll pop em up! 3 of us going now, so that 1 bed studio apartment is being divided 3 ways now!

youngb

Hey Guys.. Me and a few girls were thinking of going with Sayit, to be honest we havn't got a clue about it! What was yer total cost including the J1 fee and all that with goforless?

D'ye have much info on Chicago? Were just looking to have the craic, try and do it as cheap as possible and travel around for August!!

Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

Johnnio13

Did my two J1's there. It's a rocking city.
Lived on State and Division the first summer. 6 of us in a two bed. Had to rent furniture etc
2nd summer in Wrigleyville...

Ah them were days!

G-unit10

Johnnio13 wrote: »

Did my two J1's there. It's a rocking city.
Lived on State and Division the first summer. 6 of us in a two bed. Had to rent furniture etc
2nd summer in Wrigleyville...

Ah them were days!

Hi, im just wondering how you rented furniture, are there services like that over there?
Been looking and all rentals seem to come unfurnished.

McNuggy10

hey lads!!
Booked to go to chicago june the 1st!!! Unbelievably excited and using every opportunity to google randm stuff about it instead of college work! ha!
There's just 2 of us heading over but sure hoping to meet loads over there , shouldn't be a problem since I'd t alk a wall if it answered back ha!

Anyone got any good sites for looking for accomodation!?

McNuggy

neil.p.b

Did my j1 there last summer. Absolutely loved it, amazing city. As many have said live up near wriggleyville if possible, its where all the bars are. It's not really packed with irish as someone else said, bar maybe the weekends, during the week its fairly quiet, you'll only really be surrounded by irish on the cheap nights out, none of which are really in wirggleyville.

Just try live on the red line (their train transport) anywhere from the Fullerton stop (lincoln park area) up to the Addison stop (wriggleyville area). If you're not traveling at the end/start of the month you'll most likely have to get a hostel until then, all lettings over there usually begin at the start of the month. Look on craigslist. It's too early yet, start looking end of Aprilish. There's so many on their though so just be patient. If you don't find anywhere (as i didn't last year) just stay in a hostel for the first few days, once you're there it'll be easy to find accommodation.

Jobs can be a bit tricky to find, i was lucky enough to have one before i went. You're more than likely not going to get one in a bar. Go to tourist places on navy pier. They're all seasonal and will be looking for summer staff if you get there early.

Couple of other things - phone providers, Cricket are by far the cheapest, don't go to anyone else you'll burn through money (as i did with my first 2 over there!!!) they're located just outside the belmont redline cta stop. Get an american bank account asap and transfer your money into, bank of america are best, atms everywhere. It cost €2 every atm transaction if you're using your irish account.

Any other questions feel free to ask i could talk about the city all day!!!

09627685

im headin over with 4 lads at end of may..goin with go4less, ended up costing a grand hope its worth it! any idea what the story is with u-21s drinking? i hear its strict?

McNuggy10

neil.p.b wrote: »

Did my j1 there last summer. Absolutely loved it, amazing city. As many have said live up near wriggleyville if possible, its where all the bars are. It's not really packed with irish as someone else said, bar maybe the weekends, during the week its fairly quiet, you'll only really be surrounded by irish on the cheap nights out, none of which are really in wirggleyville.

Just try live on the red line (their train transport) anywhere from the Fullerton stop (lincoln park area) up to the Addison stop (wriggleyville area). If you're not traveling at the end/start of the month you'll most likely have to get a hostel until then, all lettings over there usually begin at the start of the month. Look on craigslist. It's too early yet, start looking end of Aprilish. There's so many on their though so just be patient. If you don't find anywhere (as i didn't last year) just stay in a hostel for the first few days, once you're there it'll be easy to find accommodation.

Jobs can be a bit tricky to find, i was lucky enough to have one before i went. You're more than likely not going to get one in a bar. Go to tourist places on navy pier. They're all seasonal and will be looking for summer staff if you get there early.

Couple of other things - phone providers, Cricket are by far the cheapest, don't go to anyone else you'll burn through money (as i did with my first 2 over there!!!) they're located just outside the belmont redline cta stop. Get an american bank account asap and transfer your money into, bank of america are best, atms everywhere. It cost €2 every atm transaction if you're using your irish account.

Any other questions feel free to ask i could talk about the city all day!!!

hey can i ask how you were living off a week over there ? is it expensive etc rent wise and living cost wise?

galsontour

hi cian, just wondering did go for less tell you how much your flight would be total before they charged you? because if you book normal flights to and from chicago they show you but if you want a stopover (chicago for 2 months) and then to fly home from LA they don't tell you???

B1977

cian.omathuna wrote: »

I also booked with go4less, I am jetting into Chicago on 28th May, Leaving on a road trip to Vegas on 6th August, and flying home from LA on 25th August.

My flights will come to about €580, but overall i found go4less very cheap and reasonable!!

What are your dates like? I have been ringing Irish bars and they all say they don't know how busy it will be until the time, which means having a job before we go may be unlikely...

How many of ye are going?

how much does the J1 in total cost,
can someone break it down

youngb

We went with sayit and paid like 300 for insurance and the embassey fee, the J1 itself was free and flights are working out about 600 to fly to Chi in May and home from NY in August..

neil.p.b

McNuggy10 wrote: »

hey can i ask how you were living off a week over there ? is it expensive etc rent wise and living cost wise?

Don't really know what you mean by how i was living off a week. Rents not too bad, we got fairly lucky, found a 4 bed apartment (upper level of a house) with like a back room which we turned into a room between 5 of us, that was $340 dollars each a month. 3 bed apartments go for around 800=1000 in the areas i mentioned.

Living costs are ok. Electricity was like $100 a month (inc. 2 air conditioners). I basically lived on dominos, subway and vodka for the summer. Large dominos was like $7 or something like that, apart from that food costs are a bit cheaper than here but not huge amount. Booze is however, which is!what really matters over there, 1.75litres of Smirnoff was $17. Other things like travel was about $20 for a weekly ticket. Mobile service with Cricket (cheapest) was.... $30 a month, inc free american calls and texts and free international texts.



@09627685, ID is strict enough, but most places will accept drivers licences though, but nothing less, towards the end of the summer they get a bit stricter, one place we went to every week let us in without id at the start, but as more and more irish went it became passport only

SA09

So what your saying is stay either in wrigleyville or lincoln park area..

And do you reckon jobs around navy pier are easy to come by? I presume with the red line it is easy to get to and from navy pier? How much money can you expect to make a week?

For those askin about prices to get over, I went with go4less and overall it cost me €1000.. however i booked mine before they reduced the fee to free.. sneaky feckers!! Direct flights cost €660 return from Chi-town!

neil.p.b

SA09 wrote: »

So what your saying is stay either in wrigleyville or lincoln park area..

And do you reckon jobs around navy pier are easy to come by? I presume with the red line it is easy to get to and from navy pier? How much money can you expect to make a week?

For those askin about prices to get over, I went with go4less and overall it cost me €1000.. however i booked mine before they reduced the fee to free.. sneaky feckers!! Direct flights cost €660 return from Chi-town!

Try go no further south than lincoln park and no further north than wriggleyville, anywhere in between. Further north towards wriggleyville the better.

Not easy to come by, but there are quite a few jobs going if you're there early enough. Other places to look for jobs - the zoo, oak street beachstro (where i worked, great place if you can get a job there) - it's on oak street beach. No one i know didn't find a job there, but dont be lazy about it when you get over there. If you dont have a job dont spend the first few days on the beach, just spend all doing looking for a job. Lifes so much easier when you have a job. Money wise depends on how much you work and what you do. I was a bar man and made like.... $3 an hour but made about $20 an hour on tips. All the servers pretty much didn get a wage but made a killing in tips. Some guy made $500 in ONE night.

galsontour

hey the total cost for me was €920

i went with go for less

€39 was my deposit
€220 was the next amount to be paid - includes insurance and embassy and sevis fee
€661 was flights

Marry

Hey guys,

I posted up a fairly desperate thread to do with this already in a couple of areas on this site.
My problem in a nutshell is that I am now going to Chicago by myself for the summer after the 2 guys I organised it with pulled out. So what i'm trying to find out is that if anyone on here is kind enough to allow me to join them in their festivities for the summer? I really don't wanna do this alone for 3 months, so if I can find some cool people to have the craic with for this time that'd be fantastic.
I don't really have time to be checking Boards all the time for replies, final year student with my dissertation due in 2 weeks amongst a heap of other ****, so feel free to contact me online here;

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1454232924
Email: alkl182@hotmail.com
smarr06@studentmail.dkit.ie

Feel free to add me on FB or send me an email for a chat about it or whatever!

Oh, my travel dates are from 13th June - 06 september.

Thanks!

col21

Hey everyone!

Three girls going to chicago in June looking for a place to stay for the summer. anybody got any info?? or anyone looking to share a place. it would be much appreciated.

Marry

Hey col21,

When in June are you going? If you're going round the same time as myself I'm sure we'd be able to organise something. I'm going over on the 13th June. I have to try and find a place for friends coming over in July too whilst I'm there.

FN9

neil.p.b wrote: »

Not easy to come by, but there are quite a few jobs going if you're there early enough.

How do you go about getting a job before you went over as most jobs seem to be walk in interview? Also how early do you think you'd need to be there to get decent job. Thanks

col21

we are going june 1st. we hear its easy to get jobs but not to sure about accommoation. any info is appreciated

youngb

If anyone is up for sharing a house give us a shout on aineaoifej1@gmail.com
or if ye wana organise a massive session over there! ha!
theres 5 of us heading over on the 24th May (all girls) Really looking forward to it!!

SA09

neil.p.b wrote: »

Try go no further south than lincoln park and no further north than wriggleyville, anywhere in between. Further north towards wriggleyville the better.

Not easy to come by, but there are quite a few jobs going if you're there early enough. Other places to look for jobs - the zoo, oak street beachstro (where i worked, great place if you can get a job there) - it's on oak street beach. No one i know didn't find a job there, but dont be lazy about it when you get over there. If you dont have a job dont spend the first few days on the beach, just spend all doing looking for a job. Lifes so much easier when you have a job. Money wise depends on how much you work and what you do. I was a bar man and made like.... $3 an hour but made about $20 an hour on tips. All the servers pretty much didn get a wage but made a killing in tips. Some guy made $500 in ONE night.

Been bogged down with college work the last few months so havent really had much of a chance to do much research on Chi-town. Been looking at a few apts in Wrigley.. dont seem too expensive but thats probably because were 8 lads moving in together. Cheers for the Oak Street Beachstro tip! sounds cool.. looked it up there.. pretty nice.. I know beggers cant be choosers but if i was to choose I'd probably prefer to work outside.. Do you know of any jobs on the water or was there any work going at the harbours (belmont or diversey)? Or even on the beach. I know when I get there I'll jump at the first thing I get but no harm in looking.

Guna be arriving on the 20th of May so do you reckon thats plenty of time to beat the rush before the influx of J1ers? Everybody seems to heading to Chicago this year!!!

Only 3 and half weeks for me now!!

Anyone else on here going to be in Chi-town earlish???

youngb

Were heading out the 24th Can't wait, gonna be serious craic, still nothing sorted with accommodation tho..
I emailed that oak beachstro place a while ago and they were waiting to here whether or not they would have a licence for this summer season...?!

SA09

Sounds good! hopefully we'll be sorted by the time you arrive over.. what area are you looking to stay in? Wont be long now!

Redzer1990

Hello every1,

ders 2 of us headin out to chicago on 26th may until august and we rly duno wher to live r antin!! Im planning on playin camogie over der wit St. Marys in the chicago ridge...i no its a bit out of town but i dnt mind dat if iv to travel. If any1 has any information id rly appreciate it.

:cool:

youngb

SA09 wrote: »

Sounds good! hopefully we'll be sorted by the time you arrive over.. what area are you looking to stay in? Wont be long now!

We might have a place about 15 mins walk from wriggleville sorted!! We'll know 2moro or Sat, cousin over there knew a lad who was renting out a place to J1ers so waiting to hear if we get that!! would be happy out, 4BR and rent isn't even $300 each a month!
the countdown is on, apparently the weekend after we land there's like an Irish Festival on! will be some buzz!

cookiemonst3r

Oh no everyone seems to be leaving so early. Not arriving til the 30th of May. LEAVE SOME JOBS FOR US

How are people looking for places to stay? Just online like? People seem to know people though. So annoying cos I've exams and not a lot of time to look up jobs and stuff now Also a lot of places I've been looking up seem quite pricey. Maybe I'm just not looking on the right sites?

RandolphEsq

I went last year and have to say that jobs were difficult to get to say the least. You need to sort out your social security card ASAP but begin looking for a job as soon as you move into your accommodation. Don't underestimate the golf clubs for jobs, even if it means travelling a bit to get there.

Chicago is quite a segregated city; the north (along the lake) is white middle class, southside is African American and west side is a mixture so do your research before venturing into a random area as shootings are so common in Chicago (in the bad areas which are easy to avoid in case you are worried). Don't read the Chicago newspapers! Don't go further south on the red line then the Sox stadium, it will probably be grand but you will literally be the only white people. We worked out of the city way south, but lived downtown so we rode the red line everyday to and from work south of Sox even though we were warned not to (two big lads though).

www.FornelliHall.com (this was where we stayed http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=41.883253,-87.62543&spn=0,0.005284&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.883254,-87.625531&panoid=5QVRhGNLMQxjmy6AMBfz-g&cbp=12,186.28,,0,-61.68) provide accommodation (haggle with them) in a student building on Washington and Michigan. This is quite possibly the most downtown you can get. Iconic streets and 30 seconds from Millenium park. Give them an email if you want accommodation there was 15 of us in 4 apartments on the one floor (12th floor; epic!) last year. Two highlights of staying here were; Obama visiting the Art Institute across the road (sick security everywhere) and the big Red Hawks Stanley Cup parade went up our street too. It was $1600 each for 12 weeks ($133 per week; can pay how you want to pay), all bills included (internet, air conditioning, electricity etc.) plus a refundable $500 deposit. Quite pricey but sensational location. Dunkin Donuts and Subway were our neighbours lol!

The beaches by the lake are a must when you aren't working. Chicago is scorching all summer because of the humidity and the lake is lovely for swimming and throwing a football around.

Supermarkets aren't as cheap as Tesco/Lidl etc. but Jewel Osco is a good place to shop. They have a mini 'deals catalogue' you can pick up when you go in to the store to find out the cheap stuff.

The city is unreal; lots to see and do, and the epic thunderstorms that come out of no where are an experience to cherish! Transformers was being filmed last summer so it was cool to see streets transformed into disaster sets (Batman might be filmed this year).

j1 student

hey,
im flying on the 2nd of june from heathrow to chicago. im flying out by myself and meeting up with friends out there. was wondering if anybody else is flying on the 2nd. let me know if you are

Redzer1990

Hey, does any1 know how many hours you need to be at the airport before our flight? Im flyin from dublin at half 12 and was wondering what time id need to be der?

RandolphEsq

Redzer1990 wrote: »

Hey, does any1 know how many hours you need to be at the airport before our flight? Im flyin from dublin at half 12 and was wondering what time id need to be der?

I was at the airport at 11am (having slept in late by 2 hours as I was out the previous night) and by 11:25am I was waiting for my 12:30pm flight. I wouldn't cut it that close though. Aim to be at the airport two to two and a half hours before your flight.

TuxedoGav

Hey all, Myself and a mate (two lads) are heading over to Chicago on a J1 in June and hoping to visit a few other places while there until September.
Planning on finding work in the city for the summer.

Is there anyone that's heading over to Chicago this summer that would like to house share?:)

chicago2011

TuxedoGav wrote: »

Hey all, Myself and a mate (two lads) are heading over to Chicago on a J1 in June and hoping to visit a few other places while there until September.
Planning on finding work in the city for the summer.

Is there anyone that's heading over to Chicago this summer that would like to house share?:)

hey, myself and my friend are also headin out in june..not long now..wer lookin for ppl to share with...altho we've bookd a hostel for the 1st week cuz we wer told that u usually find other j1'ers there who u can share with...

TuxedoGav

chicago2011 wrote: »

hey, myself and my friend are also headin out in june..not long now..wer lookin for ppl to share with...altho we've bookd a hostel for the 1st week cuz we wer told that u usually find other j1'ers there who u can share with...

Hey, yeah we were told the same thing. We still have to book the hostel, just looked at some and probably goona go for the Chicago Getaway Hostel or the H.I. Chicago Hostel.

neil.p.b

TuxedoGav wrote: »

Hey, yeah we were told the same thing. We still have to book the hostel, just looked at some and probably goona go for the Chicago Getaway Hostel or the H.I. Chicago Hostel.

DO NOT stay in the H.I., and DEFINITELY stay in the Getaway (if there's still any rooms available). H.I is in the center of the city and everything is dead at night, its just the business district. Getaway is further north where all the nightlife is and you'll most likely meet other j1'ers in the there.

cookiemonst3r

neil.p.b wrote: »

DO NOT stay in the H.I., and DEFINITELY stay in the Getaway (if there's still any rooms available). H.I is in the center of the city and everything is dead at night, its just the business district. Getaway is further north where all the nightlife is and you'll most likely meet other j1'ers in the there.

Would it not be slightly better to stay nearer the city for the first few days so it's easier to go looking for a job? We're staying in AWA pretty much for the location.

neil.p.b

cookiemonst3r wrote: »

Would it not be slightly better to stay nearer the city for the first few days so it's easier to go looking for a job? We're staying in AWA pretty much for the location.

Not really, H.I is still a 10 min walk to anywhere you'd be getting jobs in the city (retail area and navy pier). Getaway is only a 20 min train journey back into the center so it's not too out of the way. Plus they'll be places north of the city center to look for jobs too (the zoo, bars, restaurants, etc). Plus getaway has the added bonus of location in general and being able to meet other Irish if you're looking for people to houseshare with. I mean there's nothing wrong with staying in the city for the first few nights, i just think it'd be better staying further north.

And don't worry about not having accommodation, we didn't find a place before hand either despite looking for ages, second day there just hopped on the red line train up to belmont and addison (wriggleyville) and walked around. There was loads of places for rent, i cant imagine it being any different this year.

panagma

col21 wrote: »

we are going june 1st. we hear its easy to get jobs but not to sure about accommoation. any info is appreciated

I'm going out on June 1st too.. 5 girls, don't have a place to stay yet.. Are you going from Dublin at 7:30 by any chance?!

TuxedoGav

neil.p.b wrote: »

DO NOT stay in the H.I., and DEFINITELY stay in the Getaway (if there's still any rooms available). H.I is in the center of the city and everything is dead at night, its just the business district. Getaway is further north where all the nightlife is and you'll most likely meet other j1'ers in the there.

Cheers neil.p.b for the info, we've just booked 7 nights at the Getaway.

chicago2011

TuxedoGav wrote: »

Hey, yeah we were told the same thing. We still have to book the hostel, just looked at some and probably goona go for the Chicago Getaway Hostel or the H.I. Chicago Hostel.

yeh we're staying in the getaway hostel too for 6/7 days...probs see ues about

TuxedoGav

chicago2011 wrote: »

yeh we're staying in the getaway hostel too for 6/7 days...probs see ues about

Yeah sure, when are yous stayin there, we're there from the 13th of June

chicago2011

TuxedoGav wrote: »

Yeah sure, when are yous stayin there, we're there from the 13th of June

oo maybe not...were staying 6th-13th..

cookiemonst3r

neil.p.b wrote: »

And don't worry about not having accommodation, we didn't find a place before hand either despite looking for ages, second day there just hopped on the red line train up to belmont and addison (wriggleyville) and walked around. There was loads of places for rent, i cant imagine it being any different this year.

Did you just call lots of people? We've been calling tons of people and nobody does summer leases.

TuxedoGav

chicago2011 wrote: »

oo maybe not...were staying 6th-13th..

Oh ok, yeah well be there late on the 13th so probably wont see you there, have a good trip. If ya get a chance can you tell me what its like over there and give me a shout if yous find a place that could fit two more, it would make rent cheaper.

PomBear

hey guys, one lad, 21, from galway, looking to head over, will be over mid june, looking to share accom
has been to chicago before

PM me, if interested

chicago2011

TuxedoGav wrote: »

Oh ok, yeah well be there late on the 13th so probably wont see you there, have a good trip. If ya get a chance can you tell me what its like over there and give me a shout if yous find a place that could fit two more, it would make rent cheaper.

yup not a prob..il keep my eyes peeled for somewhere great and cheap.