<p>Well now that I've sold my soul to Oberlin,I just wanted to know what it's like.I can't visit(international student) so any general comments about the visual aesthetic would be great.I understand that Oberlin,Ohio is a non-entity,but is there at least something to do on the weekends?Also,what is the general condition of the dorms?I came across some pictures of Harkness and they left a lot to be desired.Lastly,is there public transportation to Cleveland should one need to escape,and is it affordable?thanks in advance.</p>
<p>All of these questions are answered in great detail on the blogs. Start here:</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> Blogs | Oberlin’s Campus](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/campus/index.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/campus/index.shtml)</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> Blogs | The Town of Oberlin](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/town/index.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/town/index.shtml)</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> Blogs | Dorms, Co-ops, & Other Housing](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/housing/index.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/housing/index.shtml)</p>
<p>Oberlin, Ohio is anything but a non-entity. It’s a small town. There’s a difference.</p>
<p>I visited Oberlin during while my sister visited colleges last summer. It was a lovely campus! Definitely not the school for me, but I would have loved visiting there. The town in charming and full of life. It has great bike accessibility and a lot of “green” buildings. In addition to all of that, their main park is full of unique albino squirrels! </p>
<p>The only downfalls may be the size of the town. Coming from a small town, I thought it was a nice size, but that’s merely my opinion. The only other is that the closest city is Cleveland…I hate that city. Beautiful gardens…boring every thing else.</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy it :)</p>
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<p>“Boring”? I’m not a fan of the city of Cleveland, but they do have all of the big league professional sports teams. So anyone who is a baseball, football, or basketball fan can attend. Fortunately, the teams aren’t very good, so getting a ticket might not be that difficult when your favorite team visits Cleveland. </p>
<p>Cleveland also has a bar and nightclub district and a waterfront. In other words it has pretty much everything any big city has to offer. Cleveland also boasts the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an amazing building with tons of stuff on multiple floors for fans of rock and roll, going back decades. </p>
<p>Scroll down the following page and feast your eyes on the pic of the building: <a href=“http://rockhall.com/[/url]”>http://rockhall.com/</a></p>
<p>For someone who admits she’s from a small town, I think it’s ridiculous for you to call Cleveland boring. I’d wager there is much more to do there than in your small town.</p>
<p>I think Oberlin is definitely cute. On campus itself there is a mixture of architectural styles, and while not all of them are that aesthetically fantastic (mostly certain dorms), there are many really unique buildings as well. There are a lot of nice little spots to sit around, from the benches beside Finney Chapel to the Asia house courtyard. I also appreciate all of the landscape design so there is lots of greenery (in summer at least), and Tappan Square is a great asset. The town is also pretty nice with a traditional main street feel to the main stretch. There’s a mix of housing areas, but many of the back streets have some really beautiful old houses.
The town itself doesn’t offer much of anything to do on weekends except going out to eat. Social life is dominated by college events, but there is a wide variety of these so you tend to find things you enjoy for the most part. Sometimes the options start getting repetitive, but it is also very nice to have everything so conveniently located and cheap!
Dorms are in varying conditions. Most have been renovated recently, but for those which haven’t been, they do feel lived in. Sometimes there are problems, but there’s nothing too awful. Harkness is probably known as being the grungiest, and though I’ve never been inside a room there, I’d guess that most other dorms are an improvement on it. I’d check out this site: [Oberlin</a> College | Resed Housing | Housing Options](<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/office/housing/housing-options/]Oberlin”>http://new.oberlin.edu/office/housing/housing-options/) and then on the left you’ll be able to go through the housing options and look at each dorm.</p>
<p>I took my daughter to a summer program at Oberlin. The campus is attractive with a good number of trees-- it’s surprising how many campuses lack trees and shade. The campus and town seem VERY bike accessible so you may want to have one to get around. The dorms seemed average (we have visited MANY colleges across the country) so I wouldn’t worry about that. The town itself did seem quite small and smaller than I thought, but there were still many places that seemed like good restaurants and cafes. Regarding Cleveland, though I don’t know much about it, we spent a couple of days there and there are lots of good restaurants and there is good shopping so… If that speaks to you, you are in good shape. (and there are several professional sports teams as already mentioned). It did not, however, seem that students would frequently go into Cleveland from Oberlin.</p>