J1 In Austin Texas

LimerickLad89

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has gone to Austin Texas on a J1. My friend and I are thinking of heading there in the summer..Would you recommend it? Easy to get a job? Thanks in advance

Corrimbla

Cant help you with Austin but a cousin of mine has been working in Houston for the past 4 months. She was back for x-mas and said that she only met one other irish person in that period, and the "irish" bars had no irish connection except the name over the door. Dont know if this is something you are/are-not looking for. Weather was great but she said the reason it isnt looked at by many j1ers is because all the unskilled jobs which j1 students look for during the summer are the jobs that many illegal mexicans are already doing for very little money!

justcallmemoses

group of us also looking to go to Austin for the summer months. Any information on getting jobs and stuff would be great if any one has some insight. Thanks

M5

Austin is quite a small city, honestly the best nightlife i have experienced in the US though. 6th street on the weekend is complete mayhem! Its not a bad base though, your only a stones throw from Dallas, San Antonio, Huston so it would provide plenty of opportunity to travel.

HavingCrack

M5 wrote: »

Austin is quite a small city, honestly the best nightlife i have experienced in the US though. 6th street on the weekend is complete mayhem! Its not a bad base though, your only a stones throw from Dallas, San Antonio, Huston so it would provide plenty of opportunity to travel.

To be fair I doubt anyone would put any Texan city (bar Austin) on a list of places to visit. Houston/Dallas/San Antonio-seriously nothing worth visiting there at all.

CopperPipe

LimerickLad89 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has gone to Austin Texas on a J1. My friend and I are thinking of heading there in the summer..Would you recommend it? Easy to get a job? Thanks in advance

I'm living in California at the minute and went to Austin for 4th of July last year. It's a great city, very small but the night life is brilliant. The summer months can be a bit quieter because Austin is mainly a college city but it's still really good.

I could imagine it being a small bit boring is the only thing, like during the day there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to do....

There's a good chance you'll be the only Irish lads in town so that does have it's distinct advantages, especially on nights out. It would be a completely different J1 experience from your standard San Diego or San Fran thing so if that's something your looking for I'd recommend it.

M5

HavingCrack wrote: »

To be fair I doubt anyone would put any Texan city (bar Austin) on a list of places to visit. Houston/Dallas/San Antonio-seriously nothing worth visiting there at all.

Thats your opinion! Cant vouch for Houston or San Antonio but Dallas was alright, few interesting things to see there! Dealy plaza, 6 Flags, Fort Worth downtown/stockyards

Have heard decent reports of San Antonio too!

Besides, if your in Austin your gona want to move about

Sagesilver4

Being from Texas myself, I can definitely vouch that Houston and San Antonio are definitely not worth your time. Not much to really see (the Riverwalk in San Antonio excluded, or the Alamo, if you're into that sort of thing) and the people are not very friendly at all (moreso in Houston). Austin is by far the best place to be in all of Texas. Friendly folk, easygoing do-what-you-want atmosphere.. nothing like anywhere else in Texas.

avalon68

One thing to watch out for is if you go away from the traditional J1 destinations then employers wont be familiar with the J1 visa system. My friends and I bucked the trend of myrtle beach etc and we had huge problems - firstly, getting the social security number - not as expediated as in areas where they were familiar with the J1 system, and secondly - employers didnt really know much about the J1 and were reluctant to take us on. It all worked out eventually, but every time we had to call the company we traveled with for help with the social security number they just kept advising us to move to somewhere like myrtle beach .....

gaaboy

Hi... For all of you thinking of Myrtle Beach Summer 2012.. I am currently looking into the possibility of opening a 100% Irish dedicated budget accommodation centre for J-1 Students. I have had first hand exp in the late 90,s as a student. I also witnessed the same difficulties Irish students have, during a spell in Myrtle Beach last summer. Deposits not being returned, Horrendous conditions, high rent and landlords who take advantage. This often puts a bad taste on the place for students when they leave. I am also hoping to put together a comprehensive guide to the Myrtle Beach, incl, jobs info, cost of living, transport, social scene etc..All I can say is that I had 2 great summers as a student and the place had the same buzz when i returned last year. 50 miles of beach...what can i say... send me a mail for more info.. conorkeane@hotmail.com

spikeyfish

Just wondering, did any of ye end up going to Austin on the j1? How did it work out? We're thinking of going there this summer

Trippie

spikeyfish wrote: »

Just wondering, did any of ye end up going to Austin on the j1? How did it work out? We're thinking of going there this summer

I live in Dallas and play a lot of rugby in Austin. it's a great place to spend time at.

MarkJD

I spent nearly 3 weeks in Austin in April 2013. Iv traveled around the US a good bit been East Coast / West Coast to a load of the major cities and Austin is without a doubt my favorite place in the US. Im in the process of trying to move there with work but if your not a fan of huge huge cities Austin is a great happy medium. You can still happily drive into the heart of the city park and walk around / do stuff during of peak hours.

Even though i stayed in Ausitn while i was there i would be looking to base myself out of Roundrock which is about 20-25 mins drive from Austin city centre so if your looking to get a car and get accomodation at decent prices in a busy enough suburban city Roundrock might be something worth checking out, but in saying that dont rule out renting a place in the city as well as that would be its own experience.

I cant comment on Jobs as im trying to do a transfer from Ireland but if either of you have any experience in IT or IT Sales i would imagine you could pickup a decent job like that if you have the experience, only thing that might go against you is that you would be on a 1yr Visa. There was loads of staff wanted signs in most bars, retail outlets etc while we were there so id say you would get something like that handy enough.

Nightlife as mentioned is fantastic. 6th is mental and great fun whit loads of good drink promotions and live music. You also have to make sure you make it to Rainey St (About 5 mins in a taxi from 6th st) which is an old street that had a load of abandoned houses that have been revamped and turned into a street of a load of bars so each place is like going to a house party with an inside and outside. I had concerns about Texas as whole as it has a name for being big, loud and conservative but Austin is considered the complete opposite of the rest of Texas.

When we went we didnt want to treat it like a holiday so we stayed in some short term lodging that was in a fantastic location right beside i35. We rented a car and id reccomend the same for at least a week to get a feel for the place. Get yourself a Sat Nav and download the US Maps or just buy one in Walmart when you get over there probably a must being honest. That was place was - http://www.orangewoodsuites.com/ We contacted them directly and got a good price of $800 for 7 nights for a 2 bed loft with kitchen / internet / 2 double beds and it was cleaned daily so that was a plus. Also has Dry cleaning facilities. It would be a handy base to get started imo while you guys figure out the place.

f you want to know anything else ill be happy to help out where i can.

spikeyfish

Thanks a million for all the info, rainey street looks great! We'll be looking for work in the retail or restaurant/bar industry so that's encouraging to hear