<p>So it turns out that I will be spending my freshman year at Brown at Perkins…and I have a simple question. Does anyone know how far away the nearest athletic facility (i.e. fitness center) is from Perkins? Someone told me that the hall is close to one of Brown’s new(er) gyms, and I also see that the Bear’s Lair (basement floor of Graduate Center E?) isn’t too far away from Perkins either…but I wish I had a more clear answer. Can anyone help?</p>
<p>Btw, do a lot of people living in Perkins invest in bikes, and do they find them useful?</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>The closest gym is going to be the Bear’s Lair in Grad Center. It’s two blocks away.</p>
<p>No need for a bike unless you enjoy biking places. People exaggerate about how far Perkins is from things - it’s really not a big deal. Just look out for 9 am classes near Pembroke, as that will be a 10 minute walk, and longer in the snow. As a music concentrator who lived in Pembroke my freshman year, I made that trek the other direction all the time to Orwig (next to Perkins), and I was fine.</p>
<p>Unless you really don’t like to walk, likely that you will spend as much time getting a bike out, then locked up at destination, as the time it will take you to walk to almost anywhere on campus. (Some econ and soc classes are on Pembroke side) but then you would have to keep unlocking and locking as you go to next destination etc. Most freshman don’t have bikes. (upper classmen commuting to further apartments, and some on campus ppl go to grocery etc regularly) Now if you enjoy biking around for exercise or pleasure, then sure. You may end up keeping it locked outside, esp since Perkins rooms tend to be small and I don’t know if there is a bike room in that dorm, so keep that in mind. If you are on a team that you will have to get to OMAC daily and back to dorm and not wanting the short run, that might be another bike reason. Also consider that biking in the rain or snow just doesn’t work too well.</p>