/werd. I went to visit a buddy in Detroit last year for 3 days. Wow, talk about urban decay. Sorry Detroit dopers, I might of missed the good parts of Detroit but damn I saw all the bad parts for sure.
Many parts of Detroit are indeed unsafe after dark. And before dark. Be aware of panhandlers, carry your purse or bookbag securely, don’t put your wallet in your back pocket. Seriously, it’s not a nice place to be walking alone after dusk.
I see that you have free housing in the city, if you were looking for a place to stay I would suggest a suburb rather than the actual city.
That said, we do spend a fair amount of time there. Sporting events, concerts, the DIA, the Detroit Derby Girls. There’s lots of cool stuff to do, but it’s best done with at least one other person.
You’re likely to be shocked at the amount of abandoned and decaying stores and homes.
What kind of food do you like? We have great Middle Eastern restaraunts here!
Roller Derby. Sort of sums up Detroit:
http://www.detroitrollerderby.com/teams.html
“From the midst of automoile factories, abandoned buildings and the Ambassador Bridge come the newest breed of Detroit muscle. That’s right, its your local Detroit Derby Girls, back and ready for action. Growing up on the streets of Detroit has made these girls tough, guarded and smart. Detroit is notorius for its dark and menacing nature, and these girls love every grimy inch of it.”
U of D is not near a lot of restaurants–there are too many commuter students to keep many good restaurants open near campus. On the other hand, the restaurants you will find around the campus (if they are not college bars) will tend to be small family places that serve “American” cuisine. (Of course, since I said that, you will probably discover that there has been some sort of restaurant renaissance on McNichols or Livernois with Soul Food and Rib joints fighting for space with Thai and Mongolian places. 
)
Sales tax is 6% on (pretty much) everything except food and prescription drugs. Food purchased in packages to take home is not taxed. Meals in restaurants, diners, or cart vendors are taxed. Tax prices are not included in listed prices (except for gasoline), so you will need to get in the habit of calculating the tax in your head before you buy.
Back when the tax was 4%, they used a scaled rate, (ostensibly to prevent merchants going broke when enough small sales caused items to be sold with too little tax charged to cover the gross receipts on which the merchant was expected to pay). So, (using the “scaled” 4%, one cent was charged on 13 cents (instead of on 25 cents), two cents were charged on 32 cents, three cents were charged on 57 cents, and four cents was charged on 82 cents. (I could be off on my exact tip points–I haven’t lived there in 27 years.) I do not know whether they kept the same sort of scaling under the 6% plan. (I pay it when I visit family, but I am never there long enough to figure out the details.)
You may, indeed, need a car. The two streets that provide the “corner” on which UoD sits, McNichols and Livernois (pronounced liver noy) will have regular bus service, but connections away from those streets might not ever get you where you need to go. Depending on your finances, it might be better to buy a “beater,” (an older model used car), or lease. However, be aware that there are significant financial penalties, by the mile, for exceeding the mileage in the lease agreement, and distances in the U.S., tend to swallow miles like they are candy. try to figure out just how much drivcing you are really going to have to do before deciding to lease or buy. (And check with local students to see whether you might actually be able to stick to busses.)
McNichols is six miles North* of downtown Detroit and about one and a half miles away from Woodward Avenue, which angles East-Southeast into the center of the city, so just going downtown to visit the clubs or sports arenas is a 16 mile round trip. (The Pistons play basketball 25 miles straight North from the city, with no single road going there.) The Lions (American football) and Tigers (baseball) and Red Wings (hockey) play downtown. There are at least three professional hockey teams in the area, but I do not know the exact location of the two minor league teams’ arenas.
- In fact, following the odd custom prevalent in many Michigan metropolitan areas, McNichols is called Six Mile Road further out of town. Eight Mile Road is the Northern border of the city. While the central city is canted at an angle so that the roads are parallel to or perpendicular to the Detroit River (that runs East Northeast to West Southwest at the city center, the farther you go go to the North and West, the more likely the streets will run directly East-West or North-South. The land is pretty flat until you get out to the glacial moraines that run past the region about twenty-five miles out of town.
There are quite a few Metro Detroit dopers, so you should be able to find a bit of support finding your way around.
Despite all the negative press that Detorit gets, (or maybe because of it), in one way you are lucky: Detroit is one of the more reasonable places to live in the U.S., financially. Winter heating costs can be brutal–or not, depending on the winter–but food and housing are a lot cheaper than many other areas. Summers are hot and humid. Spring lasts about four and a half days. Winters vary between cold and snowy, cold without much snow, and not quite as cold and rainy. Fall is glorious and actually is composed of two seasons: the color change period at the end of summer and the gray period between leaf-fall and actual winter. (Many folks don’t like the second period, but I always enjoy both). North America has around three times the number of tree species as Europe and Michigan has all but a few varieties that are limited to the hot South or West, so when the leaves begin to turn color, it can be amazing. (Of course, Detroit, itself, was planted heavily in only elms in the early 20th century and they were denuded by the imported Dutch Elm’s Disease, so you need to get out of the city to see quite the myriad colors I’ve been describing. Now our ash trees are being destroyed by another European immigrant bug.)
Detroit is a driver’s town and people tend to go fast, especially on the limited access highways. The drivers are not nuts in the manner of Montral, Boston, or Atlanta, however. Be sure to signal your lane changes and turns (and let people change lanes who have their signals going in front of you) and you should not have any trouble. (A signal in Detroit is a declaration of intent, not a request for permission.)
Lived in Metro Detroit 50 years. Race relations are sometimes difficult but there are good people everywhere. That’s important to remember, because we quietly outnumber the troublemakers. Hook up with someone who’s been around the city awhile, you’ll be delighted with the array of ethnic cuisines and a terrific music scene. Detroit is still a vibrant city, but you have to look under a couple layers of decay to see it. There are very safe and very dangerous places in the city. Learn which is which. Detroiters as a group are a warm bunch, and we’ll be glad to make you one of our own. Potato chips are a staple food here. Dunno why that is, but I’m happy about it. Like most large cities, we have our treasures. Seek them! Most of all, don’t let the people who don’t live here tell you it’s a crappy place. I think you’ll find it fascinating in it’s culture, history & contrast.
Nice job, tom!
Well, first things first, find out where you’ll be living, exactly. I’m doubting any hosting professor will actually live near the uni, so finding out which suburban town will give us more to go on. Following that, I’m guessing you’re not likely to be their first host student, and if that’s the case they’ll probably have things like transportation somewhat figured out for you already. Get some information on that and we locals can be a lot more helpful.
Secondly, yes every large American city has parts that are very unsafe after dark, or even in broad daylight. Sadly, most of those large cities have lots and lots of good parts, we’re a bit shorter on those types. Isn’t that part of why Detroit is a good candidate for studying welfare programs? More poverty and unemployment here than in, say New York or Chicago, hence more social welfare issues.
Third, once we know some details about dates and such, we’ll begin organizing a Dopefest. You’ve got people here!
There are definitely places to avoid. However, your fellow students or faculty should be able to tell you where they are. Yeah, Detroit has a murder rate of 42 per 100,000, but the majority of those people are either relatives, or business associates of people dealing drugs. (This is not a claim that there are no innocent victims, only that the majority of violent deaths are not attacks on strangers.)
I have friends who have been living in Detroit throughout the entire period of its decline who have never been robbed or assaulted or had anything similar happen to their neighbors. One of my classmates lives just about a mile from UoD and another lives over on the far East side. It is a BIG city (geographically) based on European standards and the good parts and bad parts are scattered all around a quite large area. I would expect that police patrols around UoD and its sister campus, Mercy College, just down the street are pretty frequent.
Well, I can’t add a whole lot more than what’s already been said. There are a number of Detroit Dopers, and apparently more seem to be coming out of the woodwork.
If there are any more specific things, please feel free to ask.
If you can cross over to Canada, pop down to Point Pelee during the spring bird migration. It’s good for the soul.
I know very little about Detroit, but there seems to be some confusion over the exact university the OP will be visiting. Is it UD (OP) or Wayne State (post #17)?
This tells you what the big problem is in Detroit. They can’t afford to rip down the abandoned buildings. Detroit has some large bad spots. I love the architecture of the city, if only they could have preserved these beautiful buildings.
I grew up 3 blocks from UofD, and my mom was on the staff there. In fact, my father and all of my uncles and many of my friends graduated from there! Tomndebb, we always called it “6 mile”, not McNichols, although we all knew that was the other name.
The University District is a beautiful neighborhood, and I hear it is still pretty safe. Wayne State - not so much. (although a sister and brother both got their degrees there.)
Yes, you will need a car - public transportation in Detroit still reeks, I hear.
Queen Tonya - our area used to be full of UofD profs - I’ll bet plenty still live there.
My biggest problem with living there was that it had very little green space - but the UofD campus isn’t too bad.
Try to use some of your time to get out into Michigan-it truly is a beautiful state (no mountains), with lots of lakes, woods, rolling hills and lots to do, in any season.
And come down to Chicago sometime!
I’ve only been to Detroit twice. Both times were really to suburbs there, but we did pass through the city center. It does indeed have a startling number of abandoned buildings, but you are not entering a war zone. I suppose (sadly enough) a lot depends on if you’re male or female. Female–I would definitely not go out alone at first–until you get a feel for the surrounding neighborhood and campus.
Our money (paper) is all the same size, but we have finally gotten somewhat daring as to the looks of it. Coins come in all different sizes:
The penny; the nickel=5 pennies; the dime=10 pennies; the quarter=25 pennies. 4 quarters=one dollar.
Larger banks have euros/dollar exchanges (not a well known fact, but true), and you might be able to wire money from Sweden to your Detroit account (ask-the fees for small amounts may be high).
Shopping might be a bit different-Americans tend to buy in bulk and freeze stuff (we have large freezers). I’m sure there are open air markets in Detroit, but I have no idea where. Also know that Detroit is known as the Motor City and has a history of rock and roll (the Detroit sound-Motown). And I third the bit about distances–100 miles here will have you still in Michigan (if you head west). USA is much more spread out than Europe. Train service to other cities etc is horrible or nonexistent. Air travel or driving is the way to go.
Welcome to America!
Granted they are a 12 hour drive from Detroit, but there ARE actually mountains. (You should check out Lake of the Clouds.)
The biggest culture shock I always get when I go from my state of Illinois to the state of Michigan (where Detroit is) to visit my in-laws is that Michigan has a Bottle Bill and Illinois doesn’t.
A “Bottle Bill” is where the price of your Coca Cola (or other beverage), whether in a can or a bottle, includes a deposit, and you get that deposit back when you return the empty can or bottle to a retailer.
This drives me NUTS, as I can never remember not to throw away my pop can or bottle, and all my in-laws chide me for wasting money as they quickly retrieve my pop can from the trash. “Hey, that’s worth money, you know!”
So don’t throw away your pop bottles, and when you’re visiting someone and they offer you something to drink, look around their kitchen for the correct place to put your empty. You can check the label–it will say “Michigan Refund” on it if you’re not supposed to throw it away.
If you’re eating in a school cafeteria of some kind, they may have a designated spot for you to put your empty bottles and cans, instead of putting them in the trash.
And apparently it’s actually illegal to throw your pop cans and bottles in the trash anyway.
Oh, please! This guy is from Sweden. Here aresome mountains!
There is “skiing” in Michigan, too… ouch! 
The best “tourist” things to see in Michigan if you get the chance (Note: you will need a friend with a car to get to these, as public transportation is basically non-existent).
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Be sure to climb the dune; it’ll give you something to tell your grandchildren. (Take water along. )
Mackinac Island. Pronounced “Mack-in-naw”, not “Mack-in-nack”. Hard to describe (“horses and history” pretty much sums it up), but it’s truly a unique experience, and it’s not as expensive as it looks. Take a carriage ride around the island, is the best way to see it. Stay in a cheap motel off the island, in St. Ignace or Mackinaw City. And definitely do the tour of the Fort. And of course you get to drive across the Straits of Mackinac Bridge, which is an Experience in itself.
The best lake swimming in Lake Huron is up at Caseville, on the aptly named Thumb of Michigan. (If you look at a map of Michigan, it looks like a mitten, with a thumb.) Go straight north from Detroit about 100 miles. It’s a nice big sandy beach, with as much putt-putt golf, ice cream stands, and t-shirt shops as your heart could desire. And there’s a movie theater! 
Port Austin tends to be full of stressed-out tourists up for the day from Detroit, and Harbor Beach just isn’t as nice.
American distances being what they are, Mackinac Island and Sleeping Bear Dunes are “long weekend” trips–drive up there on Friday, see the sights on Saturday, drive back Sunday; swimming at Caseville is a day trip.
And a warning–people are going to push you like mad to go see the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, because it’s the sort of place that people do take their out-of-town guests to, in order to impress them. Do not go unless you are an absolute history buff, or unless they are going to pay all your expenses (because it’s fairly expensive as these things go). It is a data-overload kind of place, just…too much.
But where ELSE can you find a test tube with Thomas Edison’s last breath in it? :eek:
Greenfield Village is quite a place. Get Bill Bryson’s book about his travels in America, titled The Lost Continent. It tells all about Greenfield Village–I think Cecil might have done a column on it, too (?). A surreal place.
Huh, that’s weird. I grew up 7 miles from Caseville, and you never hear the greater metropolitan Thumb area mentioned. Ever. Woo!
Yeah, I know. We’ve done it twice, both times with kids at various ages, and the second time with the addition of a huge family group of adult in-laws, and there always comes a point at which you urgently wish to be allowed simply to go home, but you realize it’s miles and miles back to the car, and you’ve spent all this money just to get IN to the damn place, so you can’t leave NOW without getting your money’s worth…you just want to sit down and weep.
The first time, it was the building full of washing machines that did me in. Just washing machines. From one end to the other.
I would have enjoyed the whole thing more in smaller doses, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that.