<p>There are at least 3 thrift stores in Williamsburg. The closest is in the shopping center on Monticello Ave.</p>
<p>Grocery Stores: the closest is Bloom on Richmond Rd (10-15 minute walk, very short drive). There is also a Bloom on 199. There is a Ukrops in a shopping center (not the same on as the thrift store) off Monticello (bus goes here). There is also a Harris Teeter, but I’m not sure where that one is.</p>
<p>Target: there is a Target in the shopping center with the Ukrops (on the bus line). There is also a WalMart further away off 199 (~10 minute drive)</p>
<p>Farmers Market: is right across the street from the Wren building. Obviously, for most of the school year it isn’t open, but it is there at the beginning and end.</p>
<p>Public Transportation: as you said, buses are free to students. Students do take the bus to target. If they want groceries, they will usually go to the Bloom on Richmond Road, if they can’t get what they want in the Students Exchange (known as the ‘sex change’) in the bottom of the Sadler Center.</p>
<p>Airport shuttles: on breaks, especially fall break and spring break, you can reserve a spot on vans that run to the airports. They might not run during exams, as people leave at all different times.</p>
<p>Bikes: well… if you bike on the road, you are biking on the road. I biked to Jamestown from campus on Jamestown Road, and that was fine. A nice place to bike is the Colonial Parkway, which you can get to in about a 5 minute ride from campus. The Colonial Parkway is unmarked and 3 lanes wide, so there is plenty of room to pass. It’s a little rough though, so I don’t know if it would be road bike friendly. There is a cycling club that rides fairly seriously, and I never heard anything about them getting hit by cars. (A kid on my freshmen hall rode with them)</p>
<p>If you want academic advising, it will be there for you. You could talk to almost any professor. Alternatively, there is an academic advising office. I actually only know one person who went there, but they sat down with him first semester of freshmen year and mapped out a schedule for all 8 semesters for what he wanted to do. Personally, I never talked to anyone about advising, aside from getting a professor to sign off on my major declaration forms.</p>
<p>Money… you need money for what you want to do. How often are you going to eat off campus? Eating off campus twice a week costs more than never doing so? You can spend $0 during a week since all your meals, housing, etc is taken care of. Or, you can spend $ hundreds by going to the outlets.</p>
<p>Banks… you didn’t mention this, but there is a Wachovia on Richmond Road before you get to the Bloom, definitely walking distance (there is also one by the Ukrops/Target… not walking distance). There is a Sun Trust in Colonial Williamsburg, 5 minutes from the Wren Building. I think there is also a fairly close BB&T, but I don’t swear to that.</p>