IUP is a very nice school! I was on the bike team at CMU and we often raced in the area.
There is also so so much wonderful outdoorsy stuff to do in the area. (I go back to Western PA to go rafting and hiking all the time.) Maybe we’ll have opposite school experiences–I was IN Pittsburgh, but I frequently drove an hour or more to do things in the surrounding area. You’re in the surrounding area, and maybe you’ll drive an hour or more to do things in Pittsburgh.
What part of the world do you originally hail from?
I know IUP as well. It, Penn State, and UPitt were collectively known as “high school, part II” where I grew up. IUP was the place all the band people I knew went, because they had one of the better music faculties around.
How’s next weekend for swing dancing? Anyone else who would like to go is free to come along or I can give you directions. It’s from 8pm - 12am, next saturday, near Shadyside.
The one thing I remember most about Pittsburgh is that people everywhere were friendly and if you asked for directions, you could get them, and they wouldn’t be “Go down to where the drugstore used to be and turn left.” In fact, I remember a couple of occasions when we were new to town that we asked for directions and someone said “Oh, I’m going that way, just follow me.”
I’m left to understand that most of the construction is done for the season, no? At least the route into the city from IUP, and around most of the central-city type stuff that the OP is interested in like the museums and whatnot. Am I wrong?