J1 2012 New York anyone :)?

_EmmaMc

Hi! Two Irish girls going on a J1 to NY this summer. We have jobs set up already and we were advised by our boss to look for accommodation in the Woodside / MacLean Avenue areas. We would be up for sharing with other Irish students out there for the summer. If anyone is looking for people to share with or has any advise for us on how to go about getting accommodation we'd really appreciate it!

Dave2k10

_EmmaMc wrote: »

Hi! Two Irish girls going on a J1 to NY this summer. We have jobs set up already and we were advised by our boss to look for accommodation in the Woodside / MacLean Avenue areas. We would be up for sharing with other Irish students out there for the summer. If anyone is looking for people to share with or has any advise for us on how to go about getting accommodation we'd really appreciate it!

Are you sure its Woodside and not Woodlawn your boss told you to look for accommodation in? MacLean ave. is in Woodlawn, Woodside is in Queens, about an hour or more away by subway...

Do you mind me asking what you will be working as? Is it in a chain of bars which has locations in both Woodlawn and Woodside, because that would make sense in what you are saying...

HavingCrack

_EmmaMc wrote: »

Hi! Two Irish girls going on a J1 to NY this summer. We have jobs set up already and we were advised by our boss to look for accommodation in the Woodside / MacLean Avenue areas. We would be up for sharing with other Irish students out there for the summer. If anyone is looking for people to share with or has any advise for us on how to go about getting accommodation we'd really appreciate it!

If you want to find accomodation Craigslist is your best bet. You have to watch out for the scammers etc. but on the whole it's pretty good at what it does. Your best bet for short term leases is to try to find a sub let off someone rather than renting directly from a landlord (avoids credit checks etc.).

I'm really not getting the whole obsession with Woodlawn of all places. Why go all the way to New York to live in what's effectively a little Ireland.

_EmmaMc

Dave2k10 - Ya sorry it was Woodlawn he said, not Woodside.

HavingCrack - Thanks for the tip about Craigslist. We're going to Woodlawn as it's near where we have gotten jobs and heard it's an Irish area and as there's only two of us going we want to share with other Irish students.

ryanmul

Hey, I am heading over to New York with a friend of mine this summer on a J1 visa, I am leaving on the 28th of May, would anyone be interested in sharing an apt or a house if they arrive around the same time as me. I won't be heading near woodlawn or the heavily Irish parts, as that kinda defeats the purpose of going to America, if you just hang out and live in an Irish area while over there,

Knex*

Hey guys,

Said I'd throw a post in here in case anyone heading to New York has some questions I can answer.

I'm working in midtown Manhattan on a 6 month internship through my college course and have been here 6 weeks, so hopefully I have some knowledge of the place by now.

There's 8 of us in total, 5 in Queens and myself and two others are living out in New Jersey, near Hoboken. One of my housemates is working in Jersey City for the 6 months so we had to choose a place close to both in case anyone is wondering!

Any questions just ask here or send me a pm, whatever is easiest

Adrianno28

Ill be heading to Wisconsin June 5th if ye are ever up that way! !

WoollyRedHat

Hey Knex, just wondering could you reccomend any good places to look for an apartment, for arounder 1,800 dollars? Also, can you advise about general tips for living in New York, things you've picked up during your time spent there? Thanks

HBeary

Me n two of my mates are headin over aswell. Also lookin to stall in woodlawn. Been told its a class spot for J1ers

kmart6

It's so stereotypical Irish though...why move to America to be surrounded by other Irish people...to me it makes it pointless!

HBeary

@kmart where do you think a good place to stay would be?

Knex*

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Hey Knex, just wondering could you reccomend any good places to look for an apartment, for arounder 1,800 dollars? Also, can you advise about general tips for living in New York, things you've picked up during your time spent there? Thanks

Hey! Only seeing this now and I'm just finishing up work. I'll get together something and send you a pm or post some general stuff here pretty soon. Sorry about the delay

Knex*

Actually, I'll just quickly post some general questions so I can get a better dea of what areas to direct you towards.

Firstly I would say, rule out living in Manhattan itself unless its above 100th St, as in Harlem area. For 1800 you won't find anything unfortunately, and if you did, it would be tiny.

Areas to look, a general answer would be buroughs such as Brooklyn, Queens and then areas areas in New Jersey such as Jersey City.

The cheapest places, as far as I've found, tend to be the most diverse areas. By this I mean, they're heavily Hispanic or Chinese areas and so on. If you don't mind living in this sort of area (and it suits me for work as I posted above) then I can send you a few areas to look.

If your looking for something more similar to home then maybe Woodlawn area or somthing similar might be the best.

Another thing, getting an apartment sorted while in Ireland is quite difficult and we certainly couldn't manage it. I'd reccoment booking a hostel for the first week and then go about your search when you are here. If your in an Irish area, start with the barmen, usually they are quite helpfull. If not, like myself, go to estate agents although be prepared for the agency fee (usually a months rent).

No harm trying Craigslist though as often you can get some good contacts/apartments from that.

As I said, I have more info on this I just gotta make sure what I'm posting is correct so I'll have more to put up over the weekend.

Anything else you can think of post here or pm and I'll add it to my next response.

HavingCrack

Knex. wrote: »

Actually, I'll just quickly post some general questions so I can get a better dea of what areas to direct you towards.

Firstly I would say, rule out living in Manhattan itself unless its above 100th St, as in Harlem area. For 1800 you won't find anything unfortunately, and if you did, it would be tiny.

I posted earlier in this thread to say definately have a look at Hamilton Heights (137-145th Streets) on the west side of Manhattan (Broadway surrounds) if anyone wants to live on the island itself. While 'midtowners' consider it to be Harlem it's not, it's a neighbourhood in it's own right. However it is heavily Dominican and to a lesser extent Korean which does put some people off. You will stand out as a 'white' person though, think the neighbourhood is only 7% 'white' or something. However, honestly a great area to live in in my opinion. The only problem was the massive lack of supermarkets for some reason which is a bit of a pain for shopping.

Harlem proper is a different proposition though, some parts are fine but other parts are still pretty bad, particularly over towards the east side.


Edit: Just thought I'd add for anyone reading that a lot of 'Irish-American' communities in the US are pretty "conservative" for lack of a better word. If you're into coffee shops, indie music, cool parks, weird and random bars, comedy gigs, record stores (basically everything that makes New York brilliant in my opinion ) the likes of Woodlawn do not provide this at all.

thomasjad

Hey two Irish guys here 20 and 21 are heading over on the 4th of June, we have jobs set up and are looking to share an apartment with people if anyone's looking for the same.