I’ve been accepted to the University of Oregon graduate program in Physics, and will be moving there somewhere around June 10th. What should I know in advance? Is Eugene bike and pedestrian friendly? Is there some sort of secret dance I need to know?
Also, if anyone knows of decent apartments in Eugene, let me know. It’s hard to look for someplace to live when you’ve never even visited the state.
Eugene is a hippie town, very bike- and pedestrian-friendly. Dreadlocks are mandatory.
Eugene is indeed a total hippville, but be aware that Springfield, right across the freeway (I-5) is a bastion of conservatism.
Don’t eat the yellow mushrooms.
I got a sore neck the last time I was in Eugene. Everyone kept saying “duck”.
Mcmenamins is your friend.
Forget everything you know about driving.
You have to keep moving, 24/7/365, or you risk moss growing on you. And not just on your north side.
Their college football teams use incompetent referees.
Good news! It only rained 25 days in April. But leave your umbrella at home, carrying an umbrella just makes you look like a dork or an out-of-stater.
Practice pronouncing Orygun, Orygun. Not OR-E-Gone, or you will get plastered with green Orygun stickers.
And please don’t feed the hippies.
You can get pretty much anywhere in Eugene by bike, with dedicated bike lanes everywhere. Look at in on Google Maps. The Willamette River runs through it, with wide walking/bike paths alongside it for miles and miles and miles. It’s a nice town. The Wikipedia article on it is pretty comprehensive.
You must learn to hate furry quadrupeds — specifically Cougars, Huskies, and (especially) Beavers.
If you drive (and as already noted, it’s not really necessary), stay in your car at the gas station.
Make that “out-of-region-er” — an umbrella gets you funny looks in Washington as well.
Great pot in Eugene.
It’s like Boulder, only cloudy all the time 
What I learned several years ago just driving through:
- They don’t let you pump your own gas.
- There’s no sales tax (at least in certain areas).
- Cars on the interstate have to yield to cars entering via on-ramps (someone may have to verify this…I might have misunderstood this).
It hit 56°F today and rainy and windy! Just like the last three years this time of year. We don’t get much hot weather, maybe a month’s worth in June, July and August, rest of the time it’s cool. 75º is considered a heat wave west of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
There’s no sales tax at all, not just certain areas.
If you like pot there’s tons of it here, it’s good, and cheap! 
There’s also meth here, also cheap 
On an unrelated note, you’re moving to the biggest grass seed exporter in the world.
Cars don’t have to yield to on-ramps, we just do it. However it is the law that you have to change lanes (if possible) if there’s a cop on the side of the road. Oregon and Washington have hands-free laws as well. No texting or talking on the phone while driving unless it’s a hands free unit. And no pumping your own gas. It’s weird the first few times someone pumps your gas for you, but you quickly get used to it.
Your new favorite college football team is the Ducks. Sorry if you had another, but that’s just how it is.
I hope you like high state income tax! Mine came to $3500 this year. My property taxes were $2700 for a 5000 sq ft plot, but I live in Portland.
We’re a nice enough people, and totally laid back, but I swear to god if you screw this up someone will stab you. If you want OR-E-Gone, go here.
If you can steal some experimental hop rhizomes for me I’ll love you forever!
This is a total mindfuck bro I’M going to Uo’O for grad school o.O
I applied for an apartment in Graduate Student Housing, but I don’t know when I’m supposed to hear back from them. If that falls through I expect I will be very eager to find somewhere to live by September.
I’m doing the Master’s Industrial Internship Program. What about you?