IT Milk: entry

As I mentioned, I will be doing my summer internship at Pepperjam in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I snatched a nice internship, but I didn’t figure out the housing part of it yet. I start in their Search Marketing department in about 2 weeks (as soon as I complete my final exams).

But since I’m not from the Wilkes-Barre area, I have nowhere to stay as of right now. And I definitely do not want to commute back and forth from Marshalls Creek, PA everyday. My car’s been through enough torment this past year from my daily 65-mile drive to Penn State Hazleton. So I seriously need to find a room nearby.

I’ve been obsessively hunting for summer housing for the past week. During my lunch breaks between classes, I have been doing the following:

• Hashing through the junk at Craigslist and subscribing to the RSS feed
• Bugging Kris Jones and other Pepperjammers about the availability of roommates
• Sifting through classified ads on Times Leader and Citizen’s Voice — local newspapers for the Wilkes-Barre area
• Hunting down people in my classes who are from Wilkes-Barre
• Calling all of the local colleges — Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes University, King’s College — for help regarding off-campus housing
• Desperately asking friends living within a 15-mile radius of Wilkes-Barre for a spare room

It sucks finding quality cheap housing. Is that even a word? I followed up on a few advertisements today and most of them were pretty bad. Wilkes-Barre is an old city and its houses are dying. Although the commercial area around the Pepperjam office is developing and looks nice, the residential sections that I have seen so far are slummy.

If I want a decent place, I will probably have to either a) pay at least $600 per month or b) find an apartment outside of Wilkes-Barre City. I know that a New York City or Los Angeles intern would scoff at the comparatively measly price of housing that I will be paying for the summer, even if I decided to rent out of a hotel room at $50 per day. But I’m in freaking Wilkes-Barre, where you could buy a house for $50,000 (according to my real estate agent friend).

If you are also looking for summer housing for an internship in Wilkes-Barre, here are a few places to start:

• King’s College rents out their dorm rooms to outsiders for the summer period for a hefty rate of $150 per month. Contact their Residence Life office at 570-208-5856 and speak with director Laurie Tomsho.
• The Penn State-affiliated Nittany Woodlands Apartments are a practical option for those looking for reasonably priced and clean apartments. The only downside is that it is right next to the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus, which isn’t actually in Wilkes-Barre. You’ll find it in a small town called Lehman, which is about 15 miles West of Wilkes-Barre City. A room share with utilities included is $80 per week. Call the Nittany Woodlands Apartments at 570-675-6398.
• If you are all-so desperate, call the Ramada hotel in Wikes-Barre for their rates. I visited the the hotel manager today and their long-term rentals were between $700 and $1,000. Nice location — just around the corner from Pepperjam — but no thanks.