<p>Are there communal kitchens for the residence halls (Stern in particular)? Like, equipped with stoves and fridges and freezers, and sinks? Or are we pretty much stuck with cal dining food?</p>
<p>I think that pretty much all the dorms have a communal kitchinette (like, in the units, it's on the bottom floor) There's an oven, small fridge, sink, stove...I haven't seen tooooo many students use it though, and if they do it's generally lilke baking with friends or something like that. You'll need all your own utensils, bowls, pots, etc.</p>
<p>Really? The mini-suite seemed to have some cooking ware, but it's possible that it wasn't university owned . . . <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>How easy is it to get time with the kitchen, and do the students generally keep the area clean? (Bowles in particular)</p>
<p>xxPIExx, a girl who likes to cook! Do you happen to have facebook? :]</p>
<p>Oh, I kind of lied, I realized. You can "rent" cooking ware and such from the security monitor booth, but that's only after 5pm. And plus, they're always missing the most basic things, and they're kind of not so great sometimes because those who borrow aren't always the best at washing them...</p>
<p>Are you certain the correct word is "rent?" According to the res halls, they have pots, pans etc to "loan out" to students to use. They require a deposit of some kind (like your ID card?) until you return them clean...</p>
<p>Im sure thats what sweetdreams meant.</p>
<p>TropicalTriceps, I mentioned in a thread a while back (you can search for it, I detailed it fairly extensively), that Bowles does not have a "kitchen," there's a fridge (that's dirty) and a sink and some cabinets. If you want to cook items, you'd have to use Foothill's kitchen(s).</p>
<p>
[quote]
How easy is it to get time with the kitchen,
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</p>
<p>Easy.</p>
<p>
[quote]
do the students generally keep the area clean?
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</p>
<p>As far as I've seen and heard, yes.</p>
<p>TropicalTriceps: Yeah, I have facebook...if you want I can message you my email. Although I should warn you first that even though I like cooking some things (like baking--with cake mix!), I'm definitely not chef-level yet. Haha.</p>
<p>Right now I'm debating whether or not to get a small hot pot, or if I should just use the kitchens. And if I use the kitchens, whether or not to lug my very own frying pan there...although I guess the services there are reasonable enough.</p>
<p>Yeah by rent, I mean borrow from the sm booth with your Cal ID card</p>
<p>Thanks sweetdreams87 and CA2006 for shedding some light on rentals.</p>
<p>ttgiang15, I remember now. Thanks for the info back then; I shouldn't have forgotten.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are there markets within walking distance of the residence halls?</p></li>
<li><p>Is move-in day the earliest we can change our mailing address?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>There's BearMarket at Unit 3, which has a lot of stuff but is very dorm-room oriented (i.e., not really any grocery produce items). Mostly stuff like frozen food (but good!), instant noodles, crackers, cookies, drinks, laundry detergent, etc. Takes mealpoints. Then there's also a sort of "farmer's market" outside the GBC on Mondays and Wednesdays I believe, where you can buy fruit, not sure about veggies. Also takes mealpoints. You can also place orders on CalClub (see CalDining.berkeley.edu for more details) and get some stuff in bulk. Again, takes mealpoints. </li>
</ol>
<p>If you are looking for more grocery store items, there's a Safeway on College Ave. that's a quick bus ride on the 51. There's another Safeway in North Berkeley, also an Adronico's, both of which you can reach by bus as well. There's a Trader Joe's in Emeryville, which will take awhile by bus to get to, but I love Trader Joe's so I go anyway. </p>
<ol>
<li>Not sure what you mean. You can't receive any mail at that address before move-in day, so don't send any packages in advance or anything like that...</li>
</ol>
<p>For returning students: Do you change your address to the dorm for your mail or have your parents (or whomever at home) mail it to you... seems like a hassel to change magazines now and change again in May and again in Aug... etc... same with banking stuff etc.</p>
<p>Also, how close is Emeryville to go to Trader Joe's and is there a Costco near?
Thanks</p>
<p>It looks like there is a Costco in Richmond (3-4 miles from campus), but it doesn't look accessible by public transportation. Find a dormmate with a car!</p>
<p>It may seem like a hassle to change your address, but it is worth it. Its more of a hassle for your parents to mail your mail every month or so. And at the end of spring semester, your mail gets forwarded to you house for the next few months. That way you have time to change your address on magazines and stuff. So i would change it.</p>
<p>And last year i had a car in the dorms, and someone on my floor had a costco card, so we took trips to costco every once in a while. It worked out great for both of us.</p>
<p>thanks for the info</p>
<p>Magazines are very very annoying because when you change the address, it takes FOREVER to process. So see when the subscription expiration date is and see if it's worth it. I got new subscriptions for a couple mags when I got to my dorm. But all my mail goes to my dorm during the school year (bank statements, friends, etc.) Bank stuff is better to get ASAP so don't go have it go to your parents</p>
<p>Emeryville...you take the 51, get off at Downtown BART (or just walk there) and then take the F line. See transit.511.org. It takes maybe 40 minutes?</p>