3 ms·

This guy totally missed out on the east bay. If your idea of cool is bumping into mathematicians/linguists at a coffee shop then Berkeley is hard to beat. BART

This guy totally missed out on the east bay. If your idea of cool is bumping into mathematicians/linguists at a coffee shop then Berkeley is hard to beat. BART makes it relatively easy to get in/out of SF (about an hour ride) except at night, the 800 does an okayish job after midnight. It's also absurdly bike-friendly, I've been living here without a car for a while now and I have needed to use zipcar maybe twice. Unlike the south bay, everything you might need is within biking distance. The other nice thing is that if you're an intern under 21, Berkeley is enough of a college town to entertain you despite that. If you're the kind of person who finds it hard to "bump into people" then I recommend you structure your life around commuting via public transit. People are already bored and usually willing to have a quick chat, especially if they have a laptop open and working on something neat.

AlexeyMK 15y ago
Yeah - I really wanted to make it out to Berkeley but haven't had a chance. What are the places worth checking out? I'll add them.
- wickedchicken 15y ago
  The 20+ independent coffee shops with ample seating and free wifi. E-mail me (website in profile info) and I can show you around if you'll still be here. Tell Eric A. I said hi.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Ehh, the only actual good coffee in Berkeley is Philz. Oh, and Mokka, but that's far from campus. Oh yeah, and Local 123, but that's even further from campus and overpriced. Guerilla should in theory have good coffee but their service is kinda rude. Brewed Awakenings, where you're most likely to run into mathematicians, has awful coffee. Sonoma is alright. And... that's all I can think of, off the top of my head. I worry these coffee shops might be getting oversold here, though. If you do run into a mathematician he'll be too busy thinking about mathematics to talk to you. :)
    - erikpukinskis 15y ago
      Not technically a Mathematician, but Richard Feynman chatted with random people at coffee shops or the like. Guaranteed.

AlexeyMK 15y ago

Yeah - I really wanted to make it out to Berkeley but haven't had a chance. What are the places worth checking out? I'll add them.

wickedchicken 15y ago
The 20+ independent coffee shops with ample seating and free wifi. E-mail me (website in profile info) and I can show you around if you'll still be here. Tell Eric A. I said hi.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Ehh, the only actual good coffee in Berkeley is Philz. Oh, and Mokka, but that's far from campus. Oh yeah, and Local 123, but that's even further from campus and overpriced. Guerilla should in theory have good coffee but their service is kinda rude. Brewed Awakenings, where you're most likely to run into mathematicians, has awful coffee. Sonoma is alright. And... that's all I can think of, off the top of my head. I worry these coffee shops might be getting oversold here, though. If you do run into a mathematician he'll be too busy thinking about mathematics to talk to you. :)
  - erikpukinskis 15y ago
    Not technically a Mathematician, but Richard Feynman chatted with random people at coffee shops or the like. Guaranteed.