<p>is there a mall or a movie theatre that’s like not too far away from campus? and what do we do on week-end and small vacations?</p>
<p>Visit the monuments? Stroll through Chinatown? There’s a theater in Chinatown. There’s shopping in Adams Morgan and Georgetown. I’m sure someone who lives in DC could give you better tips, but I’ve never had to think twice about what I’d be doing on the weekends!</p>
<p>There is a plethora of high end shopping as well as a movie theater in friendship heights, which is only one metro stop away from Tenleytown. Bethesda is two stops away and has two movie theaters and a very nice square with restaurants and shopping. If you want something more for younger people that is metro accessible, most of the clubs and bars that kids at AU regularly attend are in Dupont Circle(4 stops away), Adams Morgan(3 stops away), or U street which is a bit further away(you have to switch to the yellow/green to greenbelt. </p>
<p>Many students also venture to Georgetown for shopping/bars, but please note that this is not metro accessible and you will need to take one of the metro buses to get there if you don’t have a car. </p>
<p>For sporting events, the Nationals play in Southeast DC off of the Navy Yard metro stop. The Wizards and Capitals play at the Verizon Center off of Gallery Place/Chinatown. Gallery Place also has quite a few restaurants to choose from. </p>
<p>There is also a Target in DC off of the Columbia Heights metro. This can come in handy when you need general items. </p>
<p>If you want something very suburban that may remind you of home, Rockville presents some of your favorites(see P.F Changs, Chilis, a mall, etc.); however it is about 4-5 stops away on the metro and you should be ready to walk! </p>
<p>There is not too much to see in the general Tenleytown area. There is a dive bar called the dancing crab and a cheesy Mexican restaurant which turns into an AU club on Friday/Saturday nights called Guapos. There is also a Z-Burger and a Chipotle that students regularly go to. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>just add the metro time to the 20-30 min it takes for the shuttle to arrive and drop you off. don’t mind the approximate 10-15 min time on the web site. it’s incorrect</p>
<p>so to get to the closest movie theater, you’re looking at about 45 minutes to an hour. an actual mall in pentagon city? a little bit over an hour. this is from campus of course, and be reminded that past 12 on weekends the shuttles come once every hour despite the mis-information on the web site</p>
<p>also, “visit the monuments” is a rather generic response. honestly, i don’t know anyone who isn’t tired of them after 2 or 3 times.</p>
<p>good luck finding something to do in the most monotonous section of DC though. think of it is as a suburban area without any woods or parties. unless you’re a moderately attractive female or conformed to a frat, you won’t find any parties. the “selection process” that takes place at this school is ridiculous. women degenerate themselves by attempting to dress as sensual as possible, then they go out on the quad like sitting ducks just waiting for a fratboy to give them a ride to the nearest party. from that point, discretion is advised and i suggest that you shouldn’t leave your drink unattended</p>
<p>you can guess their intentions. i’m just warning you how the social atmosphere is at this school. my girlfriend and i weren’t permitted at a few parties unless we didn’t hold hands. yeah, that’s how ridiculous it is. some of the professors are decent and the campus can be nice on the few days the weather isn’t bad, but boredom is imminent. there’s a reason why a large portion of the students are reliant on hard drugs… the campus depresses them considerably</p>
<p>Ummm no.</p>
<p>Literally, the walk to Bathesda is 10 minutes at most. The thing people forget is that DC is TINY. All the stops are super close. </p>
<p>Me friends and I like walking to the movie theater in bathesda. But then there is always just stuff going on. Yeah the frat scene is weird and such, but that AU. You’ll make friends with people with appartments and you will chill there. We spend at lot of time in Adam’s Morgan because its really close on the metro and the scene is awesome there. </p>
<p>There is a CRAP load of stuff going on in DC on any given night, you just need to put out the effort to get there or just not be socially retarted and go to a frat party. </p>
<p>I don’t know what this guy is talking about, all you do is walk to the frat or get a ride. Sure, its super annoying your freshman year when you don’t really have it figured out. But now I do. i know who I need to talk to if I want to go to a frat party or what I need to do to make sure I can go into the city.</p>
<p>AU doesn’t really hold your hand. The city is right there, you just need to take advantage of it. I went to a dance party at the Hirshorn that was the most fun I’ve ever had. i went to a party out in Va with some military boys. I’ve walked to a frat. Walked to the movies. Spent my night doing nothing, or doing everything. </p>
<p>People are just lazy, yeah AU doesn’t have the down town location like GW, but it sure doesn’t have the danger either.</p>
<p>I will admit, the “sitting ducks” analogy made me laugh. It is true, the social initiation process for freshman at AU definitely needs to improve. I associate it mostly with the school’s insistence on a dry campus – it forces students to binge secretly and get involved in dangerous situations at fraternity parties. The problem is not the city, the problem is related to the naivete of many AU students concerning what DC has to offer. There are plenty of things to do, it just seems that most students who live on campus do not wish to go out and explore. </p>
<p>I think the development of students accelerates when they move into non-frat off campus housing. They are transformed into citizens of the city(and adults) rather than lost children running around the LA quad half naked and half aware at 2 AM on a Friday night.</p>
<p>bethesda 10 min away? maybe with a car, but check google maps. that is 4 miles away. and while the stops may be close to one another, the difficult thing is attempting to get from AU’s campus to the metro.</p>
<p>DC has some fun places but AU is in no man’s land. I was talking to a cabbie about this last week… they don’t bother going to AU because there is no business there. so you are relying on the shuttle here, which is driven by drivers who take a 10 min break after each 20 min drive to tenleytown and back. so, unless you time the two shuttles in existence perfectly, you will likely have to leave at 5:00 if you want to get to somewhere like bethesda or adams morgan by 7:00. you’ll get there eventually, but it’s going to take awhile and it’s not like there’s much in those areas anyways apart from some bars and some hookah bars.</p>
<p>maybe i was just used to nyc when i went to au. so don’t let that stop you if you’re used to the psuedo-city sort of feel</p>
<p>No, no, no. It does not take 45-60 minutes to get to a movie theater! There’s one at Friendship Heights which is one metro stop up – or better yet, take the N bus and you’ll be there in no time. The excellent Uptown 1 (one giant screen) is just a couple of stops down, at Cleveland Park.</p>
<p>BTW, I strongly recommend learning how to use the buses surrounding AU and Tenleytown! Makes life so much better, particularly getting around the northwest. So many students just default to the metro when they need to go somewhere, and it’s not always the best way.</p>
<p>For the current students, since I’ve seen some varying claims, I’m wondering, in your experience, how long does it take you to get downtown from the middle of campus, either to the Hill, Georgetown, or wherever else you go often. Also, does anyone ever go up to College Park? Just wondering how difficult that could be and getting around that campus from their metro stop if you have friends there.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if College Park has a bus between the campus and the metro or how far the metro stop is from the U of M, but the are around College Park is completely empty and very shady. I’d feel safer in other parts of DC. Just a warning if you’ve never been to College Park. It took us about twenty minutes to get from Greenbelt (one stop prior to CP) to the Smithsonian station. I’m imagining, then, that the metro ride would be about forty minutes and the bus ride would be an additional 10-15 on the AU side of things.</p>
<p>There is a UM shuttle. I’d guess it would be 10-15 minutes for the AU shuttle, then about 45 minutes from Tenleytown-AU to College Park, then however long the UM shuttle takes. Quite a journey.</p>
<p>Time to downtown – it varies. I’d say 30 minutes is about appropriate to get to most places downtown. If you can time an N bus right, you can get down to Dupont Circle in about 20 minutes – and the 30 buses are definitely the best way to get to Georgetown from Tenleytown.</p>
<p>if it’s an emergency you can take a 20 minute cab ride from Georgetown for about 15 dollars including tip</p>