<p>As a cross-migrant between the city-state of Singapore and ruralistic middle-of-nowhere Maine, one thing I was looking forward to was a chance to move back into a huge city again. But alas, academic excellence over geography. :p Still, over the course of their potential four years at UVA, how often would they get to travel to the big cities? </p>
<p>I was also hoping to escape my state's terrible attempts at making Chinese/Malay cuisine. Do I have any hope of having more-than-decent ethnic food?</p>
<p>The opportunity is there to hit up big cities, whether it’s NY, DC, whatever. I have a good friend who travels to NYC a couple times a semester by any means, train, bus, car, plane. </p>
<p>There are many ethnic restaurants around, some better than others, but I certainly feel that a majority of restaurants near grounds and even a bit further from grounds are of the non steak-and-burger cuisine type, thankfully. While there isn’t a huge number of different cuisines, you will certainly find quality Thai, Japanese, Korean and Indian, as well as Mexican and Mediterranean (also I believe there is a good French place or two downtown). Not much else is coming to mind at the moment. We are lacking good Chinese, Afghan/Kabob, Vietnamese, and others that you might find in suburbia or a big city, but it has been better than I anticipated.</p>
<p>When students travel outside on relatively large distances (15 miles or more), do they generally go in groups (e.g. vehicle pooling of some sort?) </p>
<p>I come from a rather low-income background so I don’t have my own car (I actually plan to receive my driver’s licence after I get into college), and even with generous financial aid I’ll be less inclined to take expensive transportation. Will I do fine leeching off the transport of friends?</p>
<p>(Basically, can I continue do what I’ve been doing throughout my high school career, at least regarding transport?)</p>
<p>So. Washington DC is right next to Northern VA and there are quite a few students from Northern Virginia (NoVa for short.) Many of them have parents that come to drop off food or students go home to do laundry and see their family because it’s only about 2.5-3 hours away from UVa. There’s always a good chance that you can leech a ride with them to DC or the nearest Metro station since the Metro serves DC, Maryland, and NoVa. (The Metro is like the subway system of DC.) from the Metro station, you can easily take the metro into the city. Also, the University has buses that go back and forth from NoVa and UVa.</p>
<p>this is a bus service that goes from UVA to NoVa (specifically Vienna which is ~30 min from DC), Hampton , and Richmond.
And I completely forgot about Richmond! Again, the same concept applies to Richmond as NoVa. There are many students from that area so you can leech a ride/place to stay from them. </p>
<p>And DC has great Chinese. There’s a Chinatown for God’s sake! If you really wanted to have an adventure, you should take a bus to DC’s Chinatown and then there is a direct bus from DC’s Chinatown that goes to NYC’s Chinatown. Now there’s a weekend.</p>
<p>This is one of the best features of the Metro website. You tell it where you are and where you want to go, and the trip planner will tell you how to get there taking Metro or get to a Metro station via a Metro bus.</p>
<p>This is the map of the Metro stations. If you look all the way to the left on the orange line, the last station is Vienna/Fairfax-GMU. I’m willing to bet that the bus drops you off somewhere near the Metro station b/c many of the students coming from UVa don’t live in Vienna and so they would need a way to get home. </p>
<p>So, let’s say your destination was Chinatown. All the Metro trains are called the Red Line, Orange Line, [insert color] Line, etc. Your trip would be relatively simple. You would ride the Orange Line to Metro Center, get off there and then take the Red line (towards Glenmont) for one stop and voila! you’re in Chinatown. The whole trip would take about 40 minutes and would cost about $2.50 one way. (you heard me correctly) Once in DC, just walk. And most people in DC just walk from place to place; it honestly is a beautiful city and offers quite a bit of history/sightseeing.</p>
<p>Yup, I know how to do that – I’m a Singaporean! $2.50 is wonderful – though I am slightly cringing at a 53 dollar bus trip though it is supposedly a “good deal”.</p>
<p>Also, I kind of marred my OP a bit – I was re-editing my post’s diction but forgot to clarify that “they” == UVA students.</p>
<p>A bunch of friends and I went from DC to NY over winter break for $35 round trip on Grey Hound. Not sketchy. Super fun. There is also a Grey Hound stop in Charlottesville (within walking distance – it’s actually on my running route).</p>
<p>There are quite a few students who do decide to bring their cars with them to UVa. If one of them is going home for the weekend (and lives near DC or another city), they are usually willing to give you a ride; some will do it for free while others will ask you to pay for half the gas or something. First years, however, are not allowed to bring cars on campus so your going to need to find someone older. Many of your friends will know people who are going home that are willing to give you a ride; you just need to ask. So you could potentially pay just $5 in Metro fare for the whole trip if you have the right connections. ;)</p>
<p>Also, I think there’s a way for students to say they’re going home and wouldn’t mind giving someone else a ride (as in there’s a system set up for this). I heard this from my friend’s mom so I have no idea if this is actually true. (my friend goes to UVa.) Someone who is currently at UVa will have to clear this up.</p>
<p>Meh, for ethnic cuisine you might have an issue if you have a discerning palate. As I’ve lived in Taiwan for 15 years nothing in C’ville or nearby is really authentic for me – but I’m an extreme case.</p>
<p>Well, something better than general “American Chinese cuisine” with atrocious spring rolls. It can be curry with an American influence – I like fusion food too!</p>
<p>Although on the other hand, it is possible to obtain ethnic ingredients, right? I can buy curry powder and spices and make stuff myself?</p>
<p>I am curious though, db123: (this is actually a question general to a lot of schools) for the students rich enough to fly, when they bring their cars over, does it come in a truck or something? :D</p>
<p>they can easily have their cars sent coast to coast. you can ship a car via boat, truck, or train. or even better, they can just drive their car down to their college on the first trip and then fly back and forth between home. generally, the students rich enough to fly back and forth don’t choose to bring their cars; by having a car, it makes going home/long distances more convenient. For local things and destinations on campus, there’s generally a bus or transportation provided by the college.</p>
<p>edit: and yes, you can buy curry powder and other spices at the local Indian store in c-ville. “Quick Pik” on Angus Road is about 1 mile away from campus and a new store called Indian Bazar just opened up next to the Papa John’s on Rio Rd. If you can’t find what you need, then you can always pick it up during your city jaunts. :)</p>
Now there’s a weekend.</p>
(Or is it 30 minutes via metro?)</p>