Recreation and Campus Life
Perhaps the most frequently cited advantage of living in Salt Lake City is the availability of a wide variety of opportunities for year-round recreation. As chosen site of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, these opportunities were showcased to the world. Winter offers unsurpassed skiing on "the greatest snow on earth" at world class resorts, each within a 40-minute drive from Salt Lake City, including Park City (home of the United State Ski Team), Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Deer Valley and The Canyons. During spring, summer and autumn you can rock climb and bike in the nearby canyons, and backpack, camp or hike in neighboring Wasatch and Uintah mountains. Utah's many lakes and reservoirs are ideal for fishing, water-skiing and windsurfing, and there's river running for the novice as well as the experienced. If the drama of the desert interests you, Utah boasts six national parks - Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef and Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument - more than any other state in the U.S. and all within a few hours drive. The University's Natural Resources Learning Program offers rental equipment and guided excursions at reasonable rates to students, faculty and staff year-round.
Salt Lake City is a diverse, cosmopolitan center offering a variety of cultural opportunities. There are many renowned theater groups and dance companies, including The Repertory Dance Theatre and Ballet West, both nationally recognized. The respected Utah Symphony, conducted by the energetic former Boston Pops concert master Keith Lockhart, offers student discount tickets. Each summer, Utah's own Shakespearean Festival takes place in Cedar City, where the plays are performed outdoors. Awarded the prestigious Tony Award for outstanding regional theater, Utah's festival has gained international recognition.
The visual arts are also well supported here. Each June the Utah Arts Festival brings together the eclectic and conventional in everything from painting to performance. Downtown gallery strolls are featured the third Friday evening of every month. The University's new Museum of Fine Arts, twice as large as its original site, will bring its extensive collection into full view, boasting pieces by Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Marc Chagall, and Rodin. It is now large enough to attract international travelling exhibits.
Utah is home to the famous Sundance Film Festival, a must for film buffs with screenings both in Park City and Salt Lake theaters.
For sports entertainment, Salt Lake supports the Utah Jazz, as well as the Utah Grizzlies Hockey Team and Salt Lake Buzz baseball.
The city also provides a broad selection of restaurants, representing many ethnic varieties, as well as numerous taverns, brew pubs, clubs and bars. Inexpensive public transportation makes all of this extremely accessible to the University, with the East/West spur of the TRAX lightrail system ending at the University football stadium.
Still not convinced there's enough to do? Concert series offering jazz to bluegrass to classical, and ethnic festivals from Asian to Scottish to Greek crowd the summer months. In the fall, take off to the Nevada desert for the Burning Man Festival, then head back to the city to sample the best brew of the west at the annual Brewers' Festival. During the winter you can take a UTA bus up one of the canyons, ski or snowboard til you drop, then take the bus back to the lab to do that one last experiment.
Safe? Absolutely. Salt Lake City is one of the cleanest, least crime-ridden cities of its size in the country and is a relatively inexpensive place to live. Roughly $300 per month will afford you rent plus utilities if you share a house with others. Living alone may cost you no more than $500 for rent - try that in New York, Boston or Los Angeles!
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