<p>Hi There. So what is Salem like? We will be going up to Willamette for Spring preview, but our visit will be very short, with no time to explore the town. Is there really a problem with drugs? Will kids without cars be able to walk or take a city bus to a Target or similar for personal items? Are movie theaters nearby? And is it really cloudy/dreary even when it is not raining. Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences. I wish we could spend a few days up there, but it is not possible.</p>
<p>I grew up in sunny Southern California, and thought I might have trouble with the rain and more cloudy weather when I moved up here to Oregon. It turned out that I didn’t find it a problem at all. While it obviously rains here more than in southern California, the rain is normally very light and people here simply walk around in what is for the most part drizzles, and don’t even use umbrellas. Also there are normally dry parts of the day even when it is rainy. You will be fine without a car at Willamette. The school is just a couple blocks away from the main city bus station, and you can walk to the Salem mall, grocery stores, coffee shops, et cetera. The mall also has a movie theater. The school offers substance free housing where tobacco, alcohol and other substances are not allowed. Salem also has the ZIP cars which one can rent by the hour or day, for trips to Portland which is about 45-50 minutes away. (see [Car</a> Sharing, an alternative to car rental and car ownership – Zipcar](<a href=“http://www.zipcar.com%5DCar”>http://www.zipcar.com))</p>
<p>We didn’t really have time to walk around Salem, but we did drive around it. If you Google “Border’s Bookstore and Salem, OR” you’ll see there’s a Borders within a 20-minute walk from the campus. </p>
<p>Salem reminded me of Sacramento, CA in the 1960s. Wide streets, government buildings, not particularly exciting, but definitely not at all a scary, downtrodden place. I would feel safe walking from the campus to the mall and back.</p>