<p>* My son right now is hanging out with Slippy 2000’s kid on his break in New Orleans staying at his house with his other roommates as well. *</p>
<p>There you go! That Southern Hospitality coming thru! (just don’t let Slippy slip any purple stuff in the suitcases. 
)</p>
<p>Riprorin: I think you are off base with that comment and it might make prospective students/parents wary. Are you saying that you have encountered that attitude in the south? I have NEVER encountered that type of attitude anywhere, period. I grew up in New York City and now live in the suburbs, I have traveled throughout the world and NEVER had anyone act derogatorily towards me because I am a New Yorker.</p>
<p>robotbldmom, no, my comments are based on my experience moving to a small town in central WI. </p>
<p>If you read up a few posts, I commented on a very positive experience I had in the deep south. My experience is that southerners are more accepting than northerners.</p>
<p>Generally, people in small, rural towns are a little distrustful of people from large cities. I thinks that’s true everywhere.</p>
<p>I have nothing against NYC, I even lived there for a while, but it has nothing to do with the rest of NY which is more mid-western than east coast. And I think that you are deluding yourself if you don’t think there are some negative perceptions about people from the Big Apple.</p>
<p>Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Our recruiter thinks we will be done by 2:30 so I think we are okay to catch the flight, what kind of things should we try to see Thursday night that we might not have time to do on Friday? Haven’t I read that the Honors College has something we will go to in the spring too? Hopefully we can visit again and spend more time, wish I hadn’t booked the tickets already, should have come in earlier on Thursday. I hope the drive from airport isn’t bad with traffic etc. Any suggestions where to stay Thursday night? Thanks to you all!!!</p>
<p>FYI: We went for orientation on a Friday as well. We flew in on a Thurs. late afternoon and caught the flight back on Sat. around 3:00. We wished we would of stayed another day! So much to see!! We usually stay at the Microtel on 15th. It’s pretty close to the university. The Hampton right off McFarland is even closer and great as well. My D’s favorite restaurant in T-town is Mugshots, and we love Full Moon BBQ as well!! Have a blast!</p>
<p>Rip: That is why I was confused about your comment… you did mention a very positive southern experience and then went on to make that comment about NY’ers…thus my confusion. So you are saying then, that it’s you who always makes the distinction that you are not from NYC, because you don’t want to be confused with those of us from here. There is a big difference between someone who has a certain perception about NY’ers and those who think of us derogatorily. So I have to wonder who really has the problem with NY’ers? Just my opinion.</p>
<p>I love New York and if upstate NY wasn’t so economically depressed, I might still be there. When you tell non-New Yorkers that you are from New York generally people automatically assume that you are from New York City. Most people have pride in where they are from and I’m no exception. I am from New York, but I am not from New York City, and I point that out to people.</p>
<p>Let’s get real here. I think most people are prejudiced to some degree about something. The fact of the matter is that when you tell your friends in New York City that you are sending your child to Alabama, they are very likely going to look at you funny. In the end, I guess that’s good for open minded people like us because we’ll be benefiting while those other folks are missing out.</p>
<p>Rip: you are right, I am a proud NY’er and a proud University of Alabama Mom. I don’t think we are at a crossroads here, and I apologize if I seemed brusque (guess that is my NY side haha). I do understand what you are saying and perhaps I am extremely lucky not to have had the same experiences that you have had. I guess I just didn’t want anyone to misconstrued and think that NY’ers were viewed badly at the university. That is not true.</p>
<p>NY, NJ, CT and other NE states are very welcome and accepted at UA. The OOS rates for the freshmen class keeps rising each year. Perhaps it seems strange at first when you tell people that your S/D is a student at the University of Alabama, but when you point out all the opportunities and scholarships, they wonder why they didn’t know about UA sooner.</p>
<p>Anyway, lets not derail this thread. NY’ers are encouraged to apply to the university and will be very welcomed. :)</p>
<p>robotbldmom, yes, I have a friend who has three kids in college and he couldn’t believe the generous scholarship programs. I had to send him links to prove it.</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out the best way to visit UA. I can drive 45 minutes to my local airport and pay $470/rt, or drive 4 hrs to Chicago and pay $200/rt. But then I have to pay $20/day for parking, or take a $29/rt bus from Madison, which is 2 hrs away. Ugh. It would be easier living in/near a major metro area.</p>
<p>What is your local airport, we have some professed travel expects who might be able to help find you a cheaper alternate route. When are you planning on visiting?</p>
<p>UA is fine for northerners. It is the progressive school in Alabama and far more cosmopolitan than its rival Auburn. Lot of out of state and some international.</p>
<p>One can get parking at ORD for less than $20.00 per day. A quick search shows Park N Jet Chicago as charging $9.00+ taxes (~$12 total) per day. A Park and Fly package at a nearby hotel may also be a good idea. Some people fly into Atlanta rather than Birmingham, but car rental rates and taxes are usually more expensive and there isn’t much to do between Atlanta and Birmingham apart from Talladega Superspeedway.</p>
<p>While not as easy to get to from the airport as say UNLV or Georgia Tech, Tuscaloosa is relatively close to BHM (1 hour, $30-$90 per person each way on a shuttle or taxi) compared to other schools. BHM is historically an inexpensive airport to fly into as Southwest has had service into BHM for over 20 years and other airlines usually meet or beat its prices.</p>
<p>riprorin - if you want to fly out of O’Hare, depending on timing you may be able to take the Metra into and out of O’Hare, leaving your car at the Metra station for less than $2 per day. </p>
<p>If you fly out of Midway, you can park in the lot across the street for about $8 a day with a coupon.</p>
<p>I dont imagine my son wearing his NY Yankee/NY Jets apparrel down south can be anymore dangerous than wearing it in the New England area (Boston Red Sox / Patriots territory) LOL. I have either lived (80%) or worked (100%) of my life in NYC and never experienced or witnessed any southern/northern bias or hostility. Having 25 years of NYC law enforcement experience I believe i would have seen it at some point if it existed. I have dealt with hundreds of southerners in my line of work both positive and negative but the one thing that all my interactions ended with was that the southerners were ALWAYS respectful. Cant say the same for my northerner interactions. Just my experience/opinion…</p>
<p>On a side note my son isnt the least bit concerned about the possibility that a northern bias may or may not exist. Everyone he has spoken to who either attends or attended UA had nothing but great things to say about the people, the area and particularly the attentive staff at UA.</p>
<p>You are so right about the NY/NE thing, believe it or not we are pretty big Pats fans (I am actually from NE originally). If the threads on CC are any indication I am really confident that he will experience a greater community there than he would in many other places (upstate NY included). May end up being one of the significant advantages actually, I hope he can start forming some relationships early on through the facebook groups etc., he will likely play intramural football or rugby and hopefully join some kind of academic club, be involved in whatever honors offers, I think the first semester will be key for him. I need a tranquilizer :)…</p>