<p>Through the glory of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (a Summer research exchange between 8 LACs with good Astronomy programs - Vassar, Wellesley[where I’m from], Middlebury, Swathmore, Colgate, Haverford, Wesleyan and Williams), I have a summer research job at Vassar’s Class of '51 Observatory (which looks absolutely awesome- Vassar has a 32 INCH!). Anyway, I’ll be living in the dorms for about 10 weeks in the summer and I have a few questions about what to bring/ what I need to know about the area that hopefully the Vassar students can answer.</p>
<li> How many of these places are within a 30 minute walk of the campus?
Post office
Grocery Store
Library/Bookstore
Drugstore
Train station
Video store/Cd store
bank What branches of banks are there? Citizen’s Bank? Are there “SUM” network atms?</li>
<li> Would you recommend bringing a bike?</li>
<li> How necessary is a car? How would you describe the traffic around Vassar and in Poughkeepsie in general?</li>
<li> How far are the dorms from the '51 obs? Would you feel safe walking to and from the obs at 3am or any other hour of the night? </li>
<li> How well are the dorms set up for cooking? Are there kitchens on individual floors or in the basement? Would I have acess to a microwave, a stovetop or an oven. </li>
<li> (For people who have lived here in the summer) Would I get a single? Could I request one? (I’m going to be working nights and sleeping days so no one would want to live with me anyway).</li>
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<p>i can only give you my input on the bike thing...when i visited the campus, many people had bikes. the campus even seems safe enough to leave the bikes unchained pretty much anywhere.</p>
<p>Hey,
I used to go to Vassar. I'll try to answer some of your questions.</p>
<p>. How many of these places are within a 30 minute walk of the campus?
Post office- on campus
Grocery Store- 30 min walk, have to walk along a main road/highway for a bit, will prolly want a car if you are going to the grocery store often
Library/Bookstore- on campus. amazing library fairly good bookstore
Drugstore- on campus there is a small one, the next closest one is next to the grocery store ( I think).
Train station you can get a taxi for $5 or so.
Video store/Cd store- blockbuster near the grocery store but the vassar library has a pretty good video and dvd collection
bank What branches of banks are there? Citizen's Bank? Are there "SUM" network atms? atm on campus- HSBC
2. Would you recommend bringing a bike? up to you, do you like to ride a bike a lot?? campus is fairly small, only takes about 10-15 min to walk from one extreme to the other
3. How necessary is a car? How would you describe the traffic around Vassar and in Poughkeepsie in general? traffic isn't too bad
4. How far are the dorms from the '51 obs? Would you feel safe walking to and from the obs at 3am or any other hour of the night? i don't know where the obs is. but i think its quite far. there is security which would pick you up if it is late at night. i think. the campusis fairly to vary safe.
5. How well are the dorms set up for cooking? Are there kitchens on individual floors or in the basement? Would I have acess to a microwave, a stovetop or an oven. only one dorm has a kitchen that you would actually want to cook in, that is Jewitt. you will have access to a microwave. if you are going to use it alot tho i suggest bringing your own mirco and fridge. </p>
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<li>(For people who have lived here in the summer) Would I get a single? Could I request one? (I'm going to be working nights and sleeping days so no one would want to live with me anyway). sorry, no idea. you can write that on your info sheet and they will prolly give you a single. or call the res life office.</li>
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<p>hope this helps. and i hope you have fun this summer!!!</p>
<p>Actually this summer I've heard (don't quote me) that everyone is living in the town houses, which are kind of not great (though newly renovated) houses kind of off campus. They are right across the street. So if this is the case you'll have your own room in a house with 5 bedrooms (total), two bathrooms and a kitchen and living room. You might need a car to buy groceries, though I am sure you can figure it out with others and your housemates. This could be different though because you are doing a summer program. So really don't quote me on it. Usually though it's hard to get a single for summer though you can always request. Bikes are nice especially in the summer. The observatory is gonna be fairly far from the town houses (and by far I mean maybe a 15-20 min walk).</p>
<p>There is an HSBC atm on campus, a post office on campus (and an actual HSBC bank and another bank and a real postoffice off campus like 5 minute walk, 10 at the most).</p>