UGA/Athens Review

[Steve Butabi]

hey. I spent thursday night and friday morning in Athens checking out UGA. I started off by walking around the town. its pretty much set up with four or five main streets creating a downtown area of maybe 8 square blocks. the main streets were college av, washington, clayton, and some other ones i cant really remember. there were several restaraunts and boutique shops, as well as a couple good record stores and some charming coffee houses and stuff. it reminded me a lot of NYC's east village. the general vibe i got was that athens is a chatty, friendly place for sure. next, i walked around campus.

campus was pretty, and a lot like UNC's (my alma mater), although the buildings were all closer together and it seemed a bit easier to walk around without losing too much time. i looked at the student union, the bookstore, stuff like that. it was pretty cool, and about what you would expect.

next, i decided to go check out some grocery stores and the local mall. both were severely dissapointing. perhaps im spoiled, but i live around several organic groceries as well as a gourmet food operation a la dean & deluca called a southern season, which is one of my all time favorite places to shop. I drove around and asked people and was bummed to learn that nothing like this really existed in athens. i checked out Publix (crappier than i thought it would be based on hearsay) and ingles (made me want to kill myself). I know it's weird, but I care a lot about where i do my grocery shopping, so take that for what its worth.

the mall was also atrocious. four of the stores were US army recruiting stations, and all the clothing stores were full of enyce, ecko, stuff i wouldnt be caught dead wearing, so the mall sucks, boo hoo.

that night after a long soak in the lovely holiday inn whirlpool, i decided to go out on the town and see what athens nightlife was all about. i was expecting college bars and a preppy college southern crowd, and i was right for the most part. i hit up some dinner at a place called copper creek that brews their own beer. i devoured a buffalo burger whilst sipping on some of their tasty brew. I asked the bartender what the dilly yo yo was on bars, and he said that the bars on the west end of town were more geared to older folks and the eastern bars were very undergraduate. I asked him about apartments and where to live and he was very helpful and friendly. the woman next to me overheard and told me she was in fact a LawDawg. we talked about the school and she did not have enough nice things to say about the professors and the student body. Her friend, some fat indian dude in overalls also talked my ear off about how being a lawyer is great because you can know the governor and then be really powerful. he was clearly wasted and it was funny. I got the impression that there are a lot of town characters like this, which pleased me.

so after dinner i went back to the hotel, watched some tv, got cleaned up and then hit the bars. started off at this place called allgoods, it was great, the bartender was very nice and told me a lot about the town and the people. she had moved a couple years ago from new orleans and said she never wanted to leave. After a few drinks i went to another bar that looked busy, and met up with some ladies who i bought drinks and talked to for a while. everyone i met was super receptive, except for this one girl who thought I was trying to pick her up. here was how the exchange went:

girl: hey are you here alone?
me: yeah, i sure am. I'm visiting the school here, im from north carolina.
girl: you dont look like a high school senior.
me: oh, yeah, i just graduated last year from unc. i'm looking at the law school.
girl: is that some kind of pick-up line?
me: what?

so that was weird. at some point after that I blacked out, met some people on the street and partied with them late night, spraining my foot in the process. i missed my wake up call the next morning and was almost super late to my tour of the school.

the school is split into two buildings, an old one and a new one. the new one is very nice and is where the mock trial courtroom is as well as some board rooms and some classrooms. the older building is kind of depressing, but it is in a great location on campus, literally steps from the arch, which is a gateway that seperates the campus from the downtown.

the library was kind of blech. dusty, musty, and crusty. everone in there seemed stressed out to the gills. I can see why they dont include pics of the law library on the website. pics of wustl's library look awesome, uga's not so much. oh well though

pics of my trip can be seen on my facebook, pm me for the name and school if you wanna see them.

overall, I give athens an 8, and UGA a 7. very positive experience and I could see myself enjoying 3 years at georgia.

[mdawg23]

I go to UGA for undergrad, and your review is pretty accurate.  Yes, the mall does suck, but the Mall of Georgia (which is gigantic) is about 40 minutes away, and Atlanta's just a little over an hour.  There's also a decent outlet mall in Commerce, about 25 minutes in the opposite direction from Atlanta.

As far as grocery stores go, there is a big Kroger, with a very decent selection of organic/vegetarian/health foods on the West side of town.  It's on the corner of Baxter and Alps, kind of across from Border's and not far from the undergrad dorms.

There's also a very nice organic grocery store called EarthFare in the Five Points neighborhood (corner of Milledge and Lumpkin).  It's a little expensive, but that's to be expected of organic food.

There are also quite a few restaurants that cater to vegetarians, if that's your thing.
I'm a vegetarian/health nut and have never run out of options as far as food and grocery stores in my four years here.  In fact, I'd say that that's one of Athens strong points.

And Ingles??  Haha, I've been in Athens for 4 years, and I NEVER knew there was an Ingles here!

[Steve Butabi]

I go to UGA for undergrad, and your review is pretty accurate.  Yes, the mall does suck, but the Mall of Georgia (which is gigantic) is about 40 minutes away, and Atlanta's just a little over an hour.  There's also a decent outlet mall in Commerce, about 25 minutes in the opposite direction from Atlanta.

As far as grocery stores go, there is a big Kroger, with a very decent selection of organic/vegetarian/health foods on the West side of town.  It's on the corner of Baxter and Alps, kind of across from Border's and not far from the undergrad dorms.

There's also a very nice organic grocery store called EarthFare in the Five Points neighborhood (corner of Milledge and Lumpkin).  It's a little expensive, but that's to be expected of organic food.

There are also quite a few restaurants that cater to vegetarians, if that's your thing.
I'm a vegetarian/health nut and have never run out of options as far as food and grocery stores in my four years here.  In fact, I'd say that that's one of Athens strong points.

And Ingles??  Haha, I've been in Athens for 4 years, and I NEVER knew there was an Ingles here!

thats good to hear about earthfare, I love earthfare. i must have just asked thwe wrong people! thanks.

[mdawg23]

No prob!  Let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you.

[Steve Butabi]

I was wondering about a few thigns I didnt get to check out on my trip.


1. video rentals. I am a big dvd renter. Are there places around town to rent videos at that arent blockbuster? i go to a place right now that has a giant selection of foreign and independent movies as well as all new releases and tv shows. if there isnt, no big deal I'll just get netflix, but would rather go to a real store.

2. is it possible to get a parking space near the law school and how much would it cost?

3. the ramsey center. it seems very far from town and the arch. is it possible to walk/jog there regularly? should I take a bus? or should I join another gym entirely and pay extra money? at unc, the workout centre would get so crowded it was almost impossible to work out there, and i would up joining another gym which i like a lot better. would this be a better route to go? recommendations?

4. there are some downtown loft apartments in the village idiot building and around there that looked promising. I heard that these are very small. can you verify that? I'm looking for a bigger place when i move, right now i live in a tiny studio.

thanks in advance

[mdawg23]

I'll try to answer those as best as I can:

1. There is one independent video store called Vision Video.  It's in a pretty run-down looking building on Broad St not too far from downtown.  Despite it's appearance from the outside, it has a pretty good independent and foreign selection and is popular among students.

2. Yes, there are lots of parking areas within a short walking distance of the law school.  The easiest is the North Campus Deck, which is less than a 5 minute walk from the law school.  It's on Jackson St, which runs next to the Main Library, if you remember where that is.  The decks are the most expensive areas to park on campus at $30 a month.  If you're looking for something cheaper, there's a big surface lot behind Lumpkin St that's $10 a month and is about a 5-10 minute walk from the law school.  You can see a PDF map of all the parking lots/decks and price zones at www.parking.uga.edu.  The North Campus Deck is N06 on that map, and the surface lot I was talking about is W04.

3. Unfortunately, Ramsey is pretty far out on the fringes of campus.  As far as walking/jogging, it's probably about 2 miles from the downtown/North Campus area to Ramsey. The University has been making a huge effort to integrate the Ramsey/East Campus area into the main campus more by building student apartments and huge new dining hall over there, and there are buses that will take you there from the law school area/North Campus.  The bus schedules might kind of limit you though if you want to go late at night or on the weekends.  I usually drive to Ramsey, and the lot and parking deck there are free to park in after 4pm.  Ramsey can also get pretty crowded, especially around this time of year, when everyone's trying to get ready for Spring Break.  I don't know much about other gyms in the area because I'm cheap and have always just used Ramsey, which actually is an excellent facility despite it's location.

4.  I don't know much about the downtown apartments, as not too many undergrad students seem to live there.  There are several popular apartment complexes very close (walking distance) to downtown, though.  Whistleberry and The Lodge are a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

[BlackFrancis]

Just wanted to jump in here and thank you both for the input.  UGa is among my top choices as well (along with UNC, Steve -- I live in Durham currently), so this info has been particularly helpful, even though I've actually been to Athens a few times in the past.

A few additional questions --

How affordable would it be to rent/buy a house or townhouse within a short drive or possibly a bike ride of the Law School?

How safe/affordable is it to live downtown (near campus)?

Is Guthrie's, home of the Chicken Finger Box, still in business down there?

Thanks again, guys.  And Steve, I'd love to take a look at those pics, if you don't mind sending me a link....

[ChrisDMB41]

Yes, Guthries is in buisness.  Delicious.

[mdawg23]

Is it really still open?  I could have sworn last time I drove down Baxter it was closed and boarded up.   I could very well be wrong, though...I've never paid much attention because I don't eat meat 

[ChrisDMB41]

Could be wrong.  The reason I said it was open is because I was in Athens a couple of weeks ago looking at buying a house and I actually had a short conversation with the realtor about Guthries which is why I assumed it was open....I have never actually been to the one in Athens, so it might not be.