<p>Help! My daughter just called me and is frantic, since she pulled the short straw in the housing lottery and all she could get was either a dorm on 2nd Street or Lafayette. She will be a junior in the fall, so had a low priority housing number. She is upset due to the distance from the NYU main campus and is worried it will be difficult to get back and forth in time for classes and also will be far from the library, gym, and grocery stores. Does anyone have anything positive to say about this dorm? It would set my mind at ease and I could tell her reasons to look on the bright side. From what I've seen online, there seem to be pluses and minuses to this address. Over 1,000 students live there, so they are all in the same boat in terms of distance from campus. The website says there is an exercise room in the building. Is this true? </p>
<p>The good news is that she will be living with two friends, so she is glad about that. She is just disappointed that she had so few choices this time around. I'm looking for some positives here that I can relay to her. Anyone??</p>
<p>She’s right in the Chinatown/Little Italy area so she has plenty of good selections regarding good food…especially considering some of it can be quite inexpensive. </p>
<p>The Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park, City Hall, Wall Street, and the Lower East Side are also a stroll away. Good for internships, change of scenery, and nightlife.</p>
<p>Admittedly, it is a long stroll up to NYU…but that distance wouldn’t have bothered me personally. However, I’m not a good reference point considering I’ve had no problems walking from Battery Park all the way up to Columbia University…with one occasion carrying 20 pounds worth of laptops/accessories on a hot July day.</p>
<p>Thanks cobrat. I think she will calm down once she’s had a chance to take a look at the area. Currently, she lives at Palladium Hall on E. 14th Street, so she has full access to all kinds of shops and grocery stores, plus it’s just a short walk to class. Hopefully she will be able to acclimate easily to her new surroundings and will find the area’s positive side. It’s fear of the unknown, I guess.</p>
<p>Back when I went to college at B.U., if you lived on campus you had a regular dorm room and ate your meals in the cafeteria. At NYU the upperclassment tend to live in apartment style dorms and cook most of their meals. Now that she’ll be far away from campus, we’ll have to figure out the best idea in terms of signing her up for a food plan. Maybe for lunches daily and that’s it. We’ll see. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if this dorm really has an exercise room?</p>
<p>If I was in her shoes, I’d opt to eat most of my meals in Chinatown…especially considering I know a few great restaurants where delicious meals could be had for less than $5. </p>
<p>Then again…that’s assuming she really loves Chinese food. I’ll also admit that I am Chinese-American…so I definitely have a bias. :D</p>
<p>Also, most people would want a greater variety in their diet…so this is a YMMV. Out of curiosity, how good is the dining hall food at NYU nowadays? </p>
<p>Back when my friends attended in the '90s…heard the food left so much to be desired that most of them did their best to get off the meal plan ASAP.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I am quite familiar with the BU campus as I knew several friends who attended and lived within a few T-stops away.</p>
<p>It may not be the dorm she wanted but Lafayette isn’t really far from campus. I’m surprised that she would feel it was too great a distance if she’s been living in the city for two years! It shouldn’t be more than a 15 or 20 minute walk. Tribeca is a great area of the city. Yes, it does have an exercise room.</p>
<p>There’s a bus that runs from Lafayette to 715 Broadway, just outside Gallatin and Tisch. I don’t know when it runs - twice or thrice an hour throughout the day? It takes time and it’s not going to be like Palladium, rolling out of bed 20 minutes before class and still getting there on time, but lots of students take the bus. It runs at set times so you can get into a routine.</p>
<p>On the other hand, 2nd Street is seven minutes to Tisch, door to door. I lived in 2nd Street last semester and quite liked it - about as close to campus as upperclassmen are going to get, two blocks from Whole Foods (she’s been spoilt by Palladium and Trader Joe’s, I know). However, with the size of the rooms in 2nd Street - especially low-cost housing - I tend to think that if she has any doubts about getting along with her roommate, she shouldn’t do it. Or, if she does a lot of serious cooking, I’d take Laf without a second thought; the kitchens are MUCH bigger. Actually, Laf rooms are much bigger, full stop. Laf low-cost housing feels three times bigger than 2nd Street low-cost.</p>
<p>I don’t know if there’s an exercise room in Laf. Lots of dorms have “facilities” that nobody actually uses, so their existence is somewhat mythical - sighted, but veracity never quite confirmed…</p>
<p>Edited to add: groceries are generally cheap around Chinatown if she knows where to look. And if she’s rooming with two friends, I think Laf could be quite a blast.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I think she became spoiled by the great location of Palladium right there in Union Square. From what everyone is saying, it’s all going to be fine. </p>
<p>alwaysamom: I’m glad to hear it has an exercise room. She was worried about that. Although she’s been in the city for the past two years, she hasn’t had a ton of experience getting around on her own. She’s generally with friends or her boyfriend when taking the subway. This dorm’s location may end up being a blessing in disguise, since it will give her more of a true taste of life in the city beyond the main campus’s immediate vicinity. </p>
<p>cobrat: I’m with you regarding the Chinese food Since my daughter is a vegetarian, her options are more limited, but I’m sure Chinatown has some yummy veggie dishes she could try. I suppose she’ll learn how to expand her cooking skills in the fall. She says the NYU food service is ok. She eats a lot of the pasta dishes, pizza, and Indian food for the most part. If she weren’t vegetarian, she’d be able to sample more options. </p>
<p>pellicularities: For some reason she was reluctant to choose 2nd Street. I think she heard there were a coupld of homeless shelters nearby and she got nervous about this. She is still getting used to city life. At only 4’10" she needs to put on her city face in order not to be an easy mark!</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone for your encouraging words!</p>
Yes, it does have an exercise room.</p>