Incoming Public Humanities Students: Home

Incoming Public Humanities Students

Welcome to the public humanities program and the PH wiki! Please feel free to introduce yourself, chat with other incoming students, share information on housing, and more.

Hi there! For those of you looking for information on finding housing in Providence, here are some suggestions.

FINDING HOUSING IN PROVIDENCE

Most graduate students live off campus in rented apartments, either by themselves or in shared situations. Some students, coming from long distances or unfamiliar with U.S. rental markets, may want to consider housing options operated by the University including both dormitory rooms and rental apartments

Tips from current grad students:

• Begin looking about a month before your anticipated move-in date, if possible (although some students have had success when they had only a few days to find a place).
• If possible, give yourself a week or two to get oriented and familiar with Providence before classes start.
• While most landlords require a year-long lease, month-to-month leases (which are harder to find but sometimes available) will allow you to leave for the summer for a practicum, if you plan to get an MA in Public Humanities, without needing to sublet your apartment.
• Try to find an apartment where heat is included in the rent. New England winters are quite cold and heating bills can be high during the cold weather – surprisingly high for folks who aren’t used to this type of climate. If heat is not included, be sure to ask what the average electric and/or gas bills are for the winter months so that you can budget accordingly.

Providence Neighborhoods:

• Walking distance: Look for places that are listed as Wayland Square, Wickenden Street, East Side, Fox Point, and some in the Hope Street area.
• On a bus line: Federal Hill, The Armory District, Blackstone Boulevard, Oak Hill, Rochambeau, West Side, Downtown. Check out www.ripta.com for bus routes.
• Farther afield: Pawtucket, Cranston, Elmwood, Pawtuxet Village, East Providence, Johnston, and Seekonk are all within a 10-minute drive.

Web Resources (Some of the web links below need to be cut and pasted into your browser.)

• While most grad students live off campus, the Graduate School website also has a page about on-campus housing options: http://gradschool.brown.edu/go/housing
• Brown calls off-campus, privately rented housing, “auxiliary.” The Auxiliary Housing website has a guide to off-campus living (http://brown.edu/Administration/Auxiliary_Housing/guide/) and listings of rental properties, including listings for roommates http://brown.edu/Administration/Auxiliary_Housing/Listings/).
• You can also check listings on Craig’s List (www.craigslist.com), The Providence Journal (www.projo.com), rentprov.com and the Brown Daily Jolt (www.brown.dailyjolt.com/housing/).
• Once you have a Brown email address and a Brown network ID and password (which you’ll receive when you get to campus), you can check out the grad student wiki and subscribe to the grad student listservs, both of which can be found on the GSC Web site, which is currently under construction.

Posted at Apr 17/2009 01:00PM:
cgs: Our wonderful public humanities / AmCiv Ph.D. student Clarissa let us know about this apartment for rent:

As of May 31, I'm giving up my apartment in RI. It's a decent place in a safe, quiet, charming neighborhood and the landlords are lovely people.

Posting for (extremely nice) landlord. If interested, contact 401-277-8436 (H); 401-225-9183 (C); 6577PUMPKIN@gmail.com

1 bedroom apartment; private residence. $625/month includes all utilities.

Walking distance to Brown Univ., Whole Foods, Wayland Square. One block from bus line.

Available June 1, 2009. References required. No pets. First and last month rent required to secure.

Posted at Apr 17/2009 01:04PM:
cgs: Here is info on another available apartment from the lovely Rosie Branson Gill:

Hi there, I am graduating this May, and would love to pass along my great apartment to another graduate student. It is a third floor, all hard wood, amazingly light-filled 2 bedroom. There is laundry in the basement, for which you pay the first floor occupants about $10.month. The rent is $975, heat not included. There are very nice new windows, completely draft free. There is fine closet space, and a lot of basement storage. The landlord is also very very kind.

The real kicker, though, is not the low rent or the air-tight windows, but the large open format main room that gets morning and evening light. Being on the third floor and surrounded by trees means that the light is nicely dappled in the spring/summer/fall. And, just in time for winter when more light is appreciated, the leaves fall off and the light has free access to the apartment.

Off of the main room are the two bedrooms, and off of a hallway is a full bath.

For graduate students, the location is also nice. A bit removed from campus, but easily accessible on the #42 bus, the apartment is up close to the end of Blackstone Blvd off of Hope and Eighth St. Seven Stars Bakery, Not Just Snacks, Chez Pascale, and Hope Village are all within a 5 minute walk. Miriam Hospital is 3 minutes away on foot, a plus for medical students (but no siren noise, so don't worry about getting woken up at night).

Send Chelsea an e-mail if you have questions, and I will put you in touch with Rosie.

Posted at Apr 27/2009 02:25PM:
cgs: And another available apartment currently occupied by our dear Elizabeth Manekin:

I'm not sure if anyone is looking yet, but Liana and I will be moving out of our awesome, perfectly located apartment ending in June. Our landlord just posted it on craigslist (http://providence.craigslist.org/apa/1140752592.html) but thought I might pass it along (my landlord said it would be great to get more grad students). Please feel free to have ppl direct question to me if they're interested.

Send Chelsea an e-mail if you have questions, and I will put you in touch with Elizabeth.

Posted at Jul 15/2009 01:35PM:
cgs: Want to learn more about Providence?

Good local blogs for events listings: The Providence Daily Dose, http://providencedailydose.com/

Shop Downcity, http://www.shopdowncity.com/news/

Greater City Providence, http://www.gcpvd.org/

Indie Arts, http://indieartsri.org/

RISCA, http://www.arts.ri.gov/blogs/index.php

RISD Public Engagement, http://risdpublicengagement.blogspot.com/

Seed Providence, http://seedprovidence.com/

RICH on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111240330202&ref=ts

Most arts, culture + heritage events end up appearing on those lists but here are a couple of interesting local organizations:

AS220, http://www.as220.org/

Firehouse 13, http://www.firehouse13.org/calendar_new.php

The Steelyard, http://www.thesteelyard.org/

New Urban Arts, http://www.newurbanarts.org/index.html

Community MusicWorks, http://www.communitymusicworks.org/

Manton Avenue Project, http://www.mantonavenueproject.org/

Everett Dance, http://www.everettdancetheatre.org/Everett.html

Not About the Buildings, http://blog.notaboutthebuildings.com/

The Providence Athenaeum enews is also a great local round up. E-mail Christina (cbevilacqua@providenceathenaeum.org) with you name and e-mail address to sign up.

First Works, http://www.firstworksprov.org/

5 Traverse, http://web.mac.com/fivetraverse/5_Traverse/5_Traverse.html

And, of course, the Providence Phoenix is (the only) useful local print media.

Curious about neighborhoods? Check out profiles available through the Providence Plan, http://local.provplan.org/profiles/index.html.