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J1 Visa Alone
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22-11-2013 10:22pm#1
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thisisadamh wrote: »I'm planning on going on the J1 in 2015. Trying to decide between Miami and SF. Would love to hear your experience.
Ok, so I went out there this year (summer 2013). I've no idea of Miami but this is what I can tell you about SF...
Accommodation:
First off; with San Francisco, there's the actual city itself and then there's East Bay (Berkeley). I stayed in Berkeley so I'll tell you about that first. About 50/50 choose Berkeley and SF, and it's really swings and roundabouts (if you get a frat house in Berkeley). With Berkeley, the "city" (I'd call it a town) has UC Berkeley, one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, so there are Fraternities. They rent out their houses for the summer to Irish kids, and at ridiculously cheap prices (I paid $550 deposit included for 12 weeks). It's not for the faint hearted (I got my mattress off the street as did everyone else in the house, and the kitchen is unusable) but considering what you pay, it's fair. N.B. YOU WILL NOT GET INTO A FRAT HOUSE IF YOU ARE AN IRISH LAD! Irish guys have acted the bo*****ks in frat for years previous so they've f****d it up for every forthcoming year for other Irish lads (I'm a guy but I got in because I had an Irish name that could sound like a girl's name to an American who knows no different). Girls will get in no problem though. http://www.calgreeks.com/ifc/ifc-chapter-directory/ contact the frats in this list around March and they'll let you know what's happening. They tend to be very poor on responding so pester them until you get a response...
If you don't a frat house, you can book into a hostel and then go to an estate agency (tonnes of flyers/adverts all over the place about them) and they'll get you sorted. Just lie about how many will be in the house, because rent in the SF Bay area even beats New York; most expensive in the nation. Then of course if you want to have it sorted before you get out there, you can use craigslist, but BE CAREFUL, that site is a goldmine for scammers so be weary of the ads, do your homework and DO NOT TRANSFER MONEY BY WESTERN UNION!
In San Francisco, it's basically the same except ignore the frats; there aren't any (renting to Irish anyways). Same thing, check out craigslist/hostel+estate agents. The main Irish area in SF would be the west coast of the city - The Sunset District. Again, to drive down rent costs, LIE about how many are staying in your apt, then cram all your friends, buy a mattress in Goodwill/Salvation Army, and you're away with it (a 1bed apt in SF is $2500/m and they come unfurnished). Other places for accommodation slightly cheaper would be The Mission, but be weary, it's a little edgy of an area (will explain more later).
Jobs:
Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf. That's all that has to be said there. It's on the north coast of the city, tacky touristy area but it's a job who cares. There's restaurants/bike rentals/t-shirt stalls so apply there. Last Year, Applebee's open their flagship store there, they took a tonne of Irish and I'd say they'll do the same again. Also, if that area doesn't work, go down to Union Square. It's the equivalent of Grafton St/Henry St/Dundrum. Also, minimum wage in SF is fantastic - $10.55/hr, and if you get a restaurant job, add tips to that (SF is the only city where you get minimum wage AND tips in serving positions, usually tips are your only wage but it's both in SF). Jobs in Berkeley don't really exist, there may be 100 in total, so you have to be out really early to get it. But Berkeley has a lower minimum wage so I personally would bother. Last thing about jobs; GET OUT AS EARLY AS YOU CAN. I can't stress that enough! I was out there May 30th, that was too late; jobless for a month. So try and be out there before May 20th would be main advice on the jobs front.
General:
Weather- About 20-25C for most of the summer. The fog in the bay really makes it the coldest part of California but it was fine by me because I'm ginger. If you want warmer weather, live in Berkeley, can get up to 30C but you'll wake up to the dullest mornings imaginable.
Things to do - First Friday of every month there's a street party in Oakland. Be careful there, Oakland has the highest rate of homicide in the whole country (especially East Oakland). Last Weekend in June is pride weekend. My advice would be ditch the trashy and underwhelming parade on the Sunday. Instead, go all day on the Saturday; afternoon in Civic Center for drinks/djs/weirdest things you'll see in your life, and then Saturday night in The Castro; the pink party (9 blocks closed off to make a massive outdoor nightclub essentially). Gay or not, it's a fantastic night out (no over 21 stuff there). If you're a minor (under 21), there's a club in SoMa called EPR; on Wednesday nights they do under 18's. Fantastic club, they have underground up and coming djs playing sets there so I'd highly recommend it. Give The Mission a visit. It's the Latino area of the city, so there's authentic Mexican foods, you can get anything knock off there on the cheap too. Also, visit Dolores park; mass hill overlooking the city; smoke a spliff, have a drink, it's all fine there. Just be weary there (Mission that is) because the white Irish will stand out a mile and a mugging wouldn't be a shocker in that case. On that note, AVOID THE TENDERLOIN. It's next to Union Square, and if you walk into it, it won't be by accident, I promise you, the difference is ridiculous. It's full of crack heads, prostitutes, psychotic homeless, hoes etc. I was nearly robbed there (crackhead pulled the headphones off my ears and pushed me against the wall, trying to nab anything from me whilst I walking through there) so don't go to The Tenderloin! Then there's Chinatown. I wasn't impressed by it but different strokes I suppose. You'll see plenty of Asian people and their culture across the city (highest percentage of Asian people in any city across the states) so Chinatown becomes uninteresting as a result. Also, go to a Giants game (baseball). It's like 3-4hrs of anything but baseball with all the bizarre interludes/games/competitions/kisscam/singalongs. They were terrible last year so if they're the same this coming year, you can get cheap tickets for as little as $15 on StubHub.
If you decide to take a trip somewhere you have a nice few options; Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (underwhelming and disgusting, avoid), San Diego. Book a flight with Southwest airlines- pretty cheap.
That's all that's coming to me right now but if any of you have specific queries, ask away, I'm only glad to help
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Ok, so I went out there this year (summer 2013). I've no idea of Miami but this is what I can tell you about SF...
Accommodation:
First off; with San Francisco, there's the actual city itself and then there's East Bay (Berkeley). I stayed in Berkeley so I'll tell you about that first. About 50/50 choose Berkeley and SF, and it's really swings and roundabouts (if you get a frat house in Berkeley). With Berkeley, the "city" (I'd call it a town) has UC Berkeley, one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, so there are Fraternities. They rent out their houses for the summer to Irish kids, and at ridiculously cheap prices (I paid $550 deposit included for 12 weeks). It's not for the faint hearted (I got my mattress off the street as did everyone else in the house, and the kitchen is unusable) but considering what you pay, it's fair. N.B. YOU WILL NOT GET INTO A FRAT HOUSE IF YOU ARE AN IRISH LAD! Irish guys have acted the bo*****ks in frat for years previous so they've f****d it up for every forthcoming year for other Irish lads (I'm a guy but I got in because I had an Irish name that could sound like a girl's name to an American who knows no different). Girls will get in no problem though. http://www.calgreeks.com/ifc/ifc-chapter-directory/ contact the frats in this list around March and they'll let you know what's happening. They tend to be very poor on responding so pester them until you get a response...
If you don't a frat house, you can book into a hostel and then go to an estate agency (tonnes of flyers/adverts all over the place about them) and they'll get you sorted. Just lie about how many will be in the house, because rent in the SF Bay area even beats New York; most expensive in the nation. Then of course if you want to have it sorted before you get out there, you can use craigslist, but BE CAREFUL, that site is a goldmine for scammers so be weary of the ads, do your homework and DO NOT TRANSFER MONEY BY WESTERN UNION!
In San Francisco, it's basically the same except ignore the frats; there aren't any (renting to Irish anyways). Same thing, check out craigslist/hostel+estate agents. The main Irish area in SF would be the west coast of the city - The Sunset District. Again, to drive down rent costs, LIE about how many are staying in your apt, then cram all your friends, buy a mattress in Goodwill/Salvation Army, and you're away with it (a 1bed apt in SF is $2500/m and they come unfurnished). Other places for accommodation slightly cheaper would be The Mission, but be weary, it's a little edgy of an area (will explain more later).
Jobs:
Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf. That's all that has to be said there. It's on the north coast of the city, tacky touristy area but it's a job who cares. There's restaurants/bike rentals/t-shirt stalls so apply there. Last Year, Applebee's open their flagship store there, they took a tonne of Irish and I'd say they'll do the same again. Also, if that area doesn't work, go down to Union Square. It's the equivalent of Grafton St/Henry St/Dundrum. Also, minimum wage in SF is fantastic - $10.55/hr, and if you get a restaurant job, add tips to that (SF is the only city where you get minimum wage AND tips in serving positions, usually tips are your only wage but it's both in SF). Jobs in Berkeley don't really exist, there may be 100 in total, so you have to be out really early to get it. But Berkeley has a lower minimum wage so I personally would bother. Last thing about jobs; GET OUT AS EARLY AS YOU CAN. I can't stress that enough! I was out there May 30th, that was too late; jobless for a month. So try and be out there before May 20th would be main advice on the jobs front.
General:
Weather- About 20-25C for most of the summer. The fog in the bay really makes it the coldest part of California but it was fine by me because I'm ginger. If you want warmer weather, live in Berkeley, can get up to 30C but you'll wake up to the dullest mornings imaginable.
Things to do - First Friday of every month there's a street party in Oakland. Be careful there, Oakland has the highest rate of homicide in the whole country (especially East Oakland). Last Weekend in June is pride weekend. My advice would be ditch the trashy and underwhelming parade on the Sunday. Instead, go all day on the Saturday; afternoon in Civic Center for drinks/djs/weirdest things you'll see in your life, and then Saturday night in The Castro; the pink party (9 blocks closed off to make a massive outdoor nightclub essentially). Gay or not, it's a fantastic night out (no over 21 stuff there). If you're a minor (under 21), there's a club in SoMa called EPR; on Wednesday nights they do under 18's. Fantastic club, they have underground up and coming djs playing sets there so I'd highly recommend it. Give The Mission a visit. It's the Latino area of the city, so there's authentic Mexican foods, you can get anything knock off there on the cheap too. Also, visit Dolores park; mass hill overlooking the city; smoke a spliff, have a drink, it's all fine there. Just be weary there (Mission that is) because the white Irish will stand out a mile and a mugging wouldn't be a shocker in that case. On that note, AVOID THE TENDERLOIN. It's next to Union Square, and if you walk into it, it won't be by accident, I promise you, the difference is ridiculous. It's full of crack heads, prostitutes, psychotic homeless, hoes etc. I was nearly robbed there (crackhead pulled the headphones off my ears and pushed me against the wall, trying to nab anything from me whilst I walking through there) so don't go to The Tenderloin! Then there's Chinatown. I wasn't impressed by it but different strokes I suppose. You'll see plenty of Asian people and their culture across the city (highest percentage of Asian people in any city across the states) so Chinatown becomes uninteresting as a result. Also, go to a Giants game (baseball). It's like 3-4hrs of anything but baseball with all the bizarre interludes/games/competitions/kisscam/singalongs. They were terrible last year so if they're the same this coming year, you can get cheap tickets for as little as $15 on StubHub.
If you decide to take a trip somewhere you have a nice few options; Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (underwhelming and disgusting, avoid), San Diego. Book a flight with Southwest airlines- pretty cheap.
That's all that's coming to me right now but if any of you have specific queries, ask away, I'm only glad to help
Thanks very much! Probably leaning towards SF now. The other people I have been talking to about going are thinking CA too.0 -
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I went to Hawaii in 2010 and booked it on my own, none of my friends wanted to save up to go haha! I posted on j1 forum and ended up meeting two other people who wanted to go but didn't want to go alone. We had a blast and are still all friends today! I think it depends on the kind of person you are. I love making new friends 0
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hi all hope things are great...so basically me and my brother have changed our plan to do nyc with the j1 visa this summer to go in Miami instead!!!
i have been hearing a lot of positive things about there in paticular...job wise and accommodation the usit have all avail and it seems really decent and trustworthy price wise its great too... and i was thinking with the job and accommodation sorted before going would be a wise decision to do
....anyways what i would like to know is has anyone had experience in Miami with the j1 before and also if there is any helpful advice you would recommend i would greatly appreciate it......thank you 0 -
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