Isla Vista/ Santa Barbara J1 2014

Dee1993

Me and my friend plan on heading to Isla Vista this summer, I know its still early but just wondering if anyone has any info on where's best to stay and where's best to find people to share with cause its only the two of us we'd be looking to share to keep costs down and meet more people

oreos12

Myself and a friend were thinking of heading to Santa Barbara too, we emailed a a load of frats and a few replied saying they didn't rent out or they didn't lease to girls (wtf?). Otherwise I've been looking at apartments and it seems to be around 550 a month each... Seen some info on the internet about the irish having a bad rep over there so I'm a bit weary of that

Dee1993

We havent emailed anywhere tbh but that sounds really weird about the frat houses alright. Yeah I saw a couple of posts about that from a couple of years ago but me and my friend were talking to 2 girls who stayed in San Diego last year but stayed with friends all along the west coast and they said the only place that they thought was better than SD was Isla Vista and they never mentioned that their friends had any trouble

Anachrony

oreos12 wrote: »

we emailed a a load of frats and a few replied saying they didn't rent out or they didn't lease to girls (wtf?).

Why fraternities and not sororities then?

conormcc10

Having been there last year id say that once again this year the frats and sonorities wont be too welcoming towards the irish. That pretty much goes for isla vista and santa barbara in general. I know people who had much more luck in san Francisco. Much more welcoming to the irish and actually nicer in general with more to do. If you were considering santa barbara or isla vista id say look elsewhere if at all possible because you dont really want to spend a summer there

Eilis21

Dee1993 wrote: »

Me and my friend plan on heading to Isla Vista this summer, I know its still early but just wondering if anyone has any info on where's best to stay and where's best to find people to share with cause its only the two of us we'd be looking to share to keep costs down and meet more people

Hey Dee, 3 of my friends and I are thinking of going to Isla Vista too. We are four girls in third year in college. Maybe you'd be interested in sharing accommodation with us...cause we want to keeps costs down too.

Dee1993

Eilis21 wrote: »

Hey Dee, 3 of my friends and I are thinking of going to Isla Vista too. We are four girls in third year in college. Maybe you'd be interested in sharing accommodation with us...cause we want to keeps costs down too.

Hey, Yeah we def would, I think there's a few more of us now I booked mine today. You can add me on Facebook if you want so we can share stuff if we find any accommodation or other info https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.coleman.98

elizamcg92

Sorry to rain on your parade but I 100% would not recommend going to Isla Vista/ Santa Barbara on a J1. I spent almost 5 weeks of my summer their last year and was discriminated against because I was Irish and could not get a job because of it. Myself and 3 friends had arrived mid May and had accommodation booked and paid for and were moving in Mid June (when college ends for UCSB students) this means we had to stay in a hostel for the first month because it's IMPOSSIBLE to get accommodation in IV before that or else you're looking at staying in Goleta (at least an hour on the bus to Santa Barbara) and 40 min walk to the beach! There is no jobs to be found in Isla Vista as the Irish have such a bad reputation the second they hear you speak they turn you away. Next we tried Santa Barbara for jobs and we weren't much more successful there either mainly because they were reluctant to hire Irish and also because many jobs were already occupied by returning college students and as Santa Barabara is more of a "retirement aged" holiday town they don't exactly do a roaring summer trade and don't hire as many people as most J1 students expect! Of the people we met who had found jobs they were working in restaurants getting very little hours and being paid less than minimum wage of about $1 an hour plus pooled tips. They're also very reluctant to hire anyone who is currently living in a hostel and doesn't have a fixed address so if you do decide to go have accommodation sorted for when you arrive. As a result none of us were available to find jobs and after the end of the 5th week we decided to move down to Santa Monica where we all found jobs immediately despite the fact we arrived late in the season! However because we had already signed a lease on an apartment in Isla Vista we ended up having to forfeit our security deposit and pay 2 months rent. So to be honest Isla Vista was a time consuming and money wasting exercise, something I definitely wouldn't recommend.

ShaneM22

I would have to agree and tell you not to go to IV/SB if you can avoid it. Myself and 7 friends went out there last summer on May 20th. I had a job organised before I arrived so the only thing that worried me was getting accommodation and honestly I was right to be worried. They don't just discriminate the Irish in terms of jobs but also for accommodation, anywhere we looked they doubled the security deposit and increased the rent as soon as they realised we were Irish students and justified it by speaking of the awful encounters they'd had with Irish students in the years preceding us. As a result we ended up getting accommodation in Ventura about an hour and a half on the bus outside downtown SB. This was probably for the better due to the fact that of the 7 guys that had also travelled only one of them got jobs in SB which he ended up quitting anyway because of the lack of hours and horrific working conditions and pay. As a result I ended up taking the bus for an hour and a half each morning and evening to my job in SB while all my friends got jobs in Venture and LA! Also a word about the policing in IV, I'm pretty sure the police had strict quotas to fill with regards to arrests and fines I met several J1ers who had been arrested in IV for minor misdemeanours. If you really want to go to Cali I'd recommend going to Montauk/ The Hamptons making money and then going to Cali for 3 weeks at the end and flying home from there.

él statutorio

I've posted about the Irish in SB here a few times. I'm Irish btw and my wife is from SB.

Irish students have a terrible terrible reputation in SB and IV. It all stems from a load of J1's in around 2008-ish who went over and completely trashed the places they stayed in. THis was proper celtic tiger living off daddies credit card kinda stuff. Wrecked apartments, $1000's of damage. Human waste smeared on walls, all kinds of nasty. Unfortunately they runined it for any other Irish going out there on J1's.

Now on the other side of the coin, I know people who went out there in summer of 2010 and got work and were fine. It's sad that the attitude exists there but hopefully there will be a few Irish who'll head out there anyway and try and fly the flag so to speak.

Incidentally, they don't dislike Irish there, just the Irish students.

ann beirne

Hi would you have any contacts for accommodation in santa monica as there are a few girls out there at the moment and are finding it difficult to get any accommodation would appreciate any help you can give thanks ##

elizamcg92 wrote: »

Sorry to rain on your parade but I 100% would not recommend going to Isla Vista/ Santa Barbara on a J1. I spent almost 5 weeks of my summer their last year and was discriminated against because I was Irish and could not get a job because of it. Myself and 3 friends had arrived mid May and had accommodation booked and paid for and were moving in Mid June (when college ends for UCSB students) this means we had to stay in a hostel for the first month because it's IMPOSSIBLE to get accommodation in IV before that or else you're looking at staying in Goleta (at least an hour on the bus to Santa Barbara) and 40 min walk to the beach! There is no jobs to be found in Isla Vista as the Irish have such a bad reputation the second they hear you speak they turn you away. Next we tried Santa Barbara for jobs and we weren't much more successful there either mainly because they were reluctant to hire Irish and also because many jobs were already occupied by returning college students and as Santa Barabara is more of a "retirement aged" holiday town they don't exactly do a roaring summer trade and don't hire as many people as most J1 students expect! Of the people we met who had found jobs they were working in restaurants getting very little hours and being paid less than minimum wage of about $1 an hour plus pooled tips. They're also very reluctant to hire anyone who is currently living in a hostel and doesn't have a fixed address so if you do decide to go have accommodation sorted for when you arrive. As a result none of us were available to find jobs and after the end of the 5th week we decided to move down to Santa Monica where we all found jobs immediately despite the fact we arrived late in the season! However because we had already signed a lease on an apartment in Isla Vista we ended up having to forfeit our security deposit and pay 2 months rent. So to be honest Isla Vista was a time consuming and money wasting exercise, something I definitely wouldn't recommend.