Life as a graduate student in Baton Rouge offers an interesting mix of the collegiate and the cultural. In addition to the many campus-related opportunities (athletics, plays, the Student Union, etc.), the city features a wide array of artistic, musical, and social opportunities.

Things to Do:

225 Magazine offers a helpful index of music, movie listings, art shows et al. They even have a list of 225 things to do in Baton Rouge, available here.

The more student-centric publications The Daily Reveille and Tiger Weekly also offer listings, reviews, and information.

Popular venues for live music, a bite to eat, and even a drink or two include:
The Chimes and The Varsity Theatre (3353 Highland Rd., just off campus)
Chelsea’s (2857 Perkins Rd.)
The Spanish Moon (1109 Highland Rd.)
Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s (214 3rd St., the heart of downtown)
Teddy’s Juke Joint (Just outside the city limits, 17001 Old Scenic Highway, Zachary)

Places to Live:

The Northgate area immediately north of LSU and the complexes to the south (Tigerland and nearby areas) offer a variety of living options, chiefly apartments and townhouses within a short distance of campus. Further out, the Garden District, Southdowns, and Spanishtown areas offer more traditional residential experiences, primarily non-student based, that many graduate students prefer. The classified sections at The Daily Reveille, 2theadvocate.com, and Craigslist are good places to view listings. It’s also a good idea, if possible, to plan a trip to Baton Rouge during the summer preceding your arrival in town. IN the case of many properties, a “For Rent” sign may be the only indication of availability. As with any city, it is important to do research into the areas and places you are living before you sign any papers.

Weather

The weather in Baton Rouge can get hot—very hot—especially in the summer. You will want to make sure that you take precautions when moving here. Warm weather clothing, sunglasses, effective window blinds or curtains, etc. are good things to bring or acquire. The winter can be surprisingly cold—in fact, it snow this past December—so a selection of cold weather gear is a good idea as well.

Louisiana rainstorms are serious business. You will want to have a good umbrella to take with you to campus (or elsewhere) on those days when rain is in the forecast. Acquiring a good, sturdy pair of waterproof shoes is not a bad idea, either.

Of course, hurricanes are a concern, especially in the late summer. After Katrina in 2005 and Gustav in 2008, veteran students can tell you the importance of having a good evacuation plan. If you have any relatives or friends in nearby inland cities, you would do well to get in touch with them and see how they are doing. You may one day need to sleep on their couch (though we hope not). Should you stay in town during a hurricane, there will be planty of surrogate family members within the LSU English Department community-at-large to guide you through the joy of blackouts, hurricane parties, and the like.

Getting Around

Baton Rouge is one of the least bicycle-friendly places you are likely to encounter. With a little bit of savvy, you can get around campus and nearby areas on a bike; but the further out you go, the more necessary a car or other motorized transport becomes (scooters are especially popular about the grad-school jet-set). Though there is a bus line that connects the campus to the rest of the city, it is not perfect; there have been many problems with overfilled and late-running campus buses. As of this writing, LSU is in the process of hiring a new company to oversee the campus busing system with the hope of improving services. The degree to which that will work out is not yet known.

Opportunities in Nearby Areas

Baton Rouge is located about 75 miles from New Orleans. Depending on traffic, travel between the two can take anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes. So much has been written about New Orleans that anything here would just seem superfluous. Nevertheless, it is a popular place for graduate students to visit and, in some cases, live.

Southern Louisiana as a whole offers a variety of unique opportunities and experiences, from zydeco dancing to swamp tours to the Angola Prison Rodeo, which cannot be found anywhere else. During the spring and summer, the wide array of festivals (Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, Tales of the Cocktail, the Morgan City Shrimp and Petroleum Festival [seriously], and more) offers great opportunities to break from the stress of theses and dissertations.

English Graduate Student Association
210 C Allen Hall
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803