Guide to living on Long Island

Making the most of life on Long Island on Grad Student pay

• Find reasonably affordable housing. You should be able to find housing for under $850 a month, unless you have specific things you want in your place. Living with other people is almost always the way to go. There's a Stony Brook housing facebook group and a website, and you can also find places by asking around and talking to other people.
• Make friends with someone with a car, if you don't have one. Being able to be transported around is invaluable, and there are usually enough people with cars that you can make friends with someone and get rides from them when needed. For other travel, biking can get you around (most of the year) and Lyft/Uber can help if used sparingly.
• If you expect to go into New York City with relative frequency on the LIRR, consider getting a 10-ticket pass. They last 6 months, and you get 5 rounds trips on each purchase, and you save about $3 per ticket, which in total is a lot. If you have a car, consider going into the city by driving down to Ronkonkoma train station, because the train from there into the city is direct and runs more often.
• If there is an event with free food, go to it. Usually it's also a great opportunity to socialize. This is especially true of the frequent free GSO events and the Friday Afternoon Seminars (website).

Fun Regular Events

• Apple Picking and Wine Tours on the East End of Long Island
• Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson
• Jazz Loft in Stony Brook Village
• Mattituck Strawberry Festival
• Independent Cinema on Long Island - Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, Plaza Cinema and Media Arts Center in Patchogue
• Stony Brook Film Festival
• Simons Workshops and Receptions and Talks
• Bethpage Air show on Jones Beach
• Concerts, musicals, and plays in and around NYC - TKTS, Ticketmaster, Forest Hills Stadium
• Summer Concerts at the Surf Lodge in Montauk
• Sports events (Baseball, Basketball, US Football, Futbol, Hockey, etc.) - Ticketmaster