<p>There is a train from Durham to Boston, which is about a two and a half hour trip.</p>
<p>allmusic, Thank you. I have not visited UNH and am unfamiliar with Durham. How far is this from campus? Is it tough to access without a car?</p>
<p>NEM, I believe there is a train stop practically right at the UNH campus. I don’t think a car is necessary.</p>
<p>There is also a bus.</p>
<p>Allmusic, Thank you.</p>
<p>The train is the Amtrack Downeaster. It goes from Boston( North station) to Portland. It is 1 1/2 hours to the UNH campus. Stops right on campus. No car needed. UNH also has free bus transportation to Newington/Portsmouth (Wildcat Transit) during school year. There are two hotels within walking distance of the train. There is also bus service from Portsmouth to Logan Airport.</p>
<p>It’s very easy to access Boston from UNH and the depot is right on campus next to the very yummy Dairy Bar. </p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.unh.edu/visit/nhlinks.html[/url]”>http://admissions.unh.edu/visit/nhlinks.html</a></p>
<p>ZOOSERMOM - your ZOOSERGAL will be safe and sound at Castleton!! As an Alum of CSC I can assure you! It is a nice small and friendly campus in a charming little town - close enough to Rutland or to Lake Bomeseen area and the NY line - AND easy access actually to NYC by train/bus directly from Rutland - close to the awesome mountains and lots of stuff to do - just have to seek and ye shall find.</p>
<p>Rutland is no different than many small cities - and as for the drug scene - sure it exists - but gangs?? uumm don’t quite agree with that picture as a grusome and dangerous city - sure there are good and not so good areas - but not much difference from other places.</p>
<p>Make sure she is prepared with the right clothes/shoes/boots/hats/gloves and she will be well dressed - and yup there is still room for her nice nails and her Coach bag too LOL. For the right kiddo - Castleton is a nice little rough cut diamond.</p>
<p>Another school in VT. is Champlain. It is seems like a nice school, and is in Burlington. Might also look at St. Michael’s.</p>
<p>Thanks for the UNH info everyone.</p>
<p>Zoosermom, my son is a native New Yorker who only ever lived in mega cities his whole life, loves his rural campus in the middle of nowhere. We’ve lived on the equator for several years and sometimes the temperature difference between here and there is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! I would say the elements for success in a cold and isolated environment would be
- A love for the outdoors
- An activity that you like to do in the snow
- A lack of vanity about how meeting significant others wearing a serious cold weather gear plus Rudolf the Red-nose syndrome</p>
<p>I suggest you read online newspapers for areas you’re considering to get a feel for local issues, crime, trends, etc. The Rutland Herald, Burlington Free Press, and I’m sure Durham, NH (UNH) must have a local paper.</p>
<p>Regarding my comments about gangs, most urban areas have gang activity, but it’s relatively new to Vermont. Gangs have made inroads mostly in Burlington and Rutland, and it’s just beginning in the Barre area (close to Montpelier). Other areas have it trickling in.</p>
<p>I don’t have any first hand knowledge of crime in VT, but I googled and found this Rutland Herald article, which I must admit made me think of Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/NEWS/512050339/1004[/url]”>http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/NEWS/512050339/1004</a></p>
<p>I did a bunch of reading about crime statistics and, coming from NYC, it doesn’t seem that big of a deal, with the exception of using the train to transport drugs. That does concern me, as does my overall, general concern about her being alone off campus at night. I’m not sure how I’m going to work through that one.</p>
<p>zoosermom, my DD transferred from a college in NYC to Smith in Northampton, MA and has found the quiteness of Noho vs. NYC to be a bit disconcerting. She went it to it with her eyes open and has still been surprised to find this to be the case. Rutland is far more quiet than Noho. Besides which the worse season in Vermont is not winter, but the dreary muddy, rainy spring. By the time real spring comes to Vermont, your daughter will be back in NYC.</p>
<p>“Is the cold also really miserable and unbearable? Feel free to roll your eyes at me, LOL.”</p>
<p>Yes. (though I lived two miles across the border, and may have come from a different part of NYC.) It really was miserable and unbearable. (then three years later, I moved to Chicago. Go figure.)</p>
<p>Cold builds character.</p>
<p>“Is the cold also really miserable and unbearable? Feel free to roll your eyes at me, LOL.”</p>
<p>It can’t be if you dress properly. From my perspective, it’s subtropical climate.</p>
<p>/just like Montreal</p>
<p>I grew up in NYC, and I’ve survived more than 18 years in Vermont. So yes, it can be done. One big difference is that it’s acceptable to dress warmly here – boots, long underwear, etc., clothing that people just don’t wear in NY. Also, it is a drier cold here – it can feel colder in NY when it’s 30 than when it’s 15 here. The worst part of winter is not the cold in January but the cold in April. </p>
<p>OTOH, Rutland is not the garden spot of Vermont. Burlington, Middlebury and Montpelier are great little towns, but Rutland is working class and pretty blah.</p>
<p>Sly_vt hits on a very good point re the styles being different in harsher climates. So the big problem is modifying a city girl’s aesthetics. I’m an American who has lived in Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and Detroit. I know that people who are overly concerned with looking sleek and fashionable in the winter are doomed to being cold. My wife is from a part of Spain that has relatively mild weather, and I can’t get her to see the “beauty” of the bulkier parkas and clunkier shoes/boots that will keep her warm and dry. Some people just don’t get the L.L. Bean aesthetic.</p>
<p>I had plenty of warm clothes. I was still miserable. My skin dried out when I was inside. I drank too much coffee (now I live in Washington State - go figure). I felt clumsy all the time. Regulating indoor to outdoor to indoor clothing was an absolute pain in the butt. The winds cut through everything like a knife. Cars (mostly tourists and skiers) regularly spun out, getting stuck in snowbanks on the side of the road. </p>
<p>But then later I moved to Chicago. I survived both, and have the scars to prove it. ;)</p>
<p>Zoosermom-you mentioned that Burlington might be farther away than D would like to travel, but don’t forget that you can fly from NYC to Burlington in 1 hour 15 minutes. Jetblue flies from JFK and the other majors fly into LaGuardia.</p>
<p>You may also want to look at St. Michael’s (Colchester).</p>