Prior to Arrival
You will need to secure a place to live over the summer. Information
to help you go about this is given below. It is
often advantageous to do this remotely, since most sublets are from
UVa students, who leave at the end of the school term. However, if you
prefer to secure housing after you arrive, the NRAO will reimburse you
for temporary accommodations at a local hotel, up to a maximum of $200.
You might consider staying at the Red Roof Inn or the Best
Western Cavalier Inn. Both are near the UVa campus. The Best Western
Cavalier Inn has a courtesy shuttle from the Charlottesville airport
(call 434-296-8111).
Housing
For your living arrangements, you will need to sublet a room for the
summer. You will most likely want to sublet a furnished apartment with
air conditioning, as summers in Charlottesville can get pretty warm.
As Charlottesville is a college town, there is no lack of rooms
available during the summer term. Precisely because of this fact, you
should realize that almost all sublets revolve around the academic
calendar of the University of Virginia (UVa). So most sublets will
begin in early June and go through the second week in August.
In Spring 2008 classes at UVa end April 30, final exams are
May 1 to May 7, and Graduation is May 18.
The Fall term orientation begins August 26.
Since each student's preferences and living priorities are unique, it
has not been possible to find one living option which satisfies all
participants. Using the UVa dorms has not been a popular option, since
the rooms are shared, generally cost more than a private room in a
sublet, and there is no flexibility in the start and end
dates. Instead, we have collected on-line resources to help you locate
an apartment to suit your preferences. These are tabulated below. This
includes links to local land barons, classified ads, and electronic
bulletin boards.
Average sublets in Charlottesville go for about $350-400/mo plus
utilities for a room in an apartment. Most places will require a
security deposit, and perhaps even the first month's rent. Please be
aware that these expenses are your responsibility.
From past experience, sublets advertised in March and April are more
expensive and have more stringent time constraints, while those
advertised in May and June include many bargains (utilities included,
extra weeks, etc). However, do not wait too long before trying to
sublet, as it is hard to contact students once they leave town. In other
words, your best bet is to try to sublet a place BEFORE you get here
(unless you come before the end of finals). Sources of sublet listings
are given below.
Many sublet ads mention proximity to
"The Corner"; this is
the region where most of the restaurants, bars, pool joints,
coffee shops, and record stores are. It is very close to the
the Red Roof Inn indicated on
this map or
No.14 on this map. Another popular area is just south of
grounds along Jefferson Park Avenue or "JPA". This is mostly graduate
student occupied housing. Quieter than the Corner, but a longer
walk to stores/restaurants, etc. A closer walk to NRAO.
Some listings also mention being close to
"The Downtown Mall."
This is not a big shopping complex, but a quaint, red-bricked
pedestrian mall. Lots of bookstores, restaurants, movie houses,
and coffee shops. Nice, but 2 miles away, so probably not what you
are looking for. Many areas are within walking distance or on the
route of the UVa bus service, which is free. The bus maps are
available on-line at:
http://www.virginia.edu/parking/bus/about.html.
If you find a place and need to see where it is with respect to the NRAO,
see
this map (which does not include the downtown area, but lies
about an inch to the right of the map down Main street).
Sources for Sublet Listings:
Here we list as many on-line resources for sublets/rentals/leases
as we could get our hands on. If you jumped right to this anchor,
please first look at the information given under the
"Housing" section directly above for maps,
bus routes, and considerations about where to live.
Local Bulletin Boards and Web search engines:
(The
Off-Grounds Housing Office website is probably the best resource
for local sublets.) You will need to register as a guest in order to
get access to this. Once you do, you can do a "quick search", entering
location and lease type=sublet. For location, the areas closest to
NRAO are "Rubgy Road/Corner" and "Jefferson Park Avenue Area"
(see previous section for links with descriptions of
these).
There used to be a good usenet group called
uva.want-ads for listings, but it says that this group is no
longer being archived. There is (or was in 2003) an old fashioned
(i.e., physical, as opposed to electronic) bulletin board at the UVa
student center, Newcomb Hall, with posting about summer sublets as
early as April. If you know someone at UVa, or live nearby, you might
want to check this out.
Local on-line classified ads:
Local Land Barons: There are some local land barons
that will do summer sublets. The rentals are a bit higher than the
student sublets. Most of the listing will be for long-term leases, but
there are sometimes a few sublets. Any sublets will, for the most
part, only rent from the first week in June through the second week in
August. If no UVa students sign up, it may be possible to stay longer,
but they will not promise that ahead of time. They frequently will not
rent to undergraduates.
Note that many of the sublets
listed in the on-line and print classifieds listed above will
be for apartments managed by these land barons. So if you find a sublet
listing in the above, you should be able to find a picture and/or map
of the property through one of the links below.
You might consider looking for a place with the other summer
students. (Shortly after you accept the position, we will be emailing
you the contact information for all Charlottesville summer
students.) You should email among yourselves to decide on the type of
place to get.
Starting Your Appointment
Official start dates for the program were given in your acceptance
letter, and are listed in the
general NRAO summer student documentation.
Your appointment will be for 10 to
12 weeks. You should arrange for your start and end
dates directly with your NRAO mentor (contact information will be in
your offer letter). If you cannot meet this schedule, please contact
your NRAO mentor for alternative arrangements.
You should report to the NRAO
Headquarters on Edgemont Road. For students working with any of our
engineering staff, you will likely work in a lab or office near your mentor
in our
NRAO Technology Center on Rt.250 (a.k.a. Ivy Road). Directions to
both are given above. Your mentor will
take you to our Human Resources Office, where you will
fill out any necessary paperwork and provide you with forms for
your travel reimbursement.
Summer Schedule
Shortly after your arrival, you will attend an
Orientation
with all the NRAO summer students. This will cover much of the
information presented on this page.
Your project mentor will have told you the topic of your research
prior to your arrival. You will spend the next 10-12 weeks
on this project. At the end of your appointment, you will give a short
(~15min) lunch talk to the scientific staff about your research, and
will write up a short project summary. Examples of previous years
projects are linked to from the general
summer student webpage.
If you obtain results that you
and your adviser think are worth presenting at the winter meeting of the
American Astronomical Society, then
the NRAO has some limited funds that you can apply for to pay for your
travel and stay. Please see
http://www.nrao.edu/students/NRAOstudents_aas.shtml
for instructions on how to apply for this support.
Charlottesville students also take a trip to the
NRAO site at Green Bank, West
Virginia, to tour the telescopes and facilities, and to interact with the
Green Bank summer students. The Green Bank summer students also make at
least one trip to Charlottesville.
Local Information
Charlottesville, at the heart of Jefferson Country, is a quaint
historic city, and we cannot extol all of its virtues here. Instead,
we point you to many local websites. Pertinent information is weather:
the summers here are hot and humid. Plan accordingly (you may want to
make sure that whatever housing you secure has air conditioning).
You can find on-line information about Charlottesville, and things to
do in the area, at the following websites:
Many areas are within walking distance or can be gotten to via the UVa
bus service, which is free. The bus maps are available on-line at:
http://www.virginia.edu/parking/bus/about.html.
