University of Chicago Fun Stuff for students

[Candid]

My nephew is going to be attending the University of Chicago next fall and I am looking for places I could get him gift cards to that are near the campus and of interest to students. We would normally give him cash or a gift card for graduation but I thought it might be fun to have some things lined up for Chicago.

 

Anyone in Chicago or know what students like? I am pretty open ended about this it could be food, stores, whatever. I assume he'll be living in a dorm.

[jelbe5]

The Museum of Science and Industry is just east of U of C. Plenty of theatre and orchestra options a little north.

 

Deep dish pizza - Giordanos or Leona's

 

What types of things does he enjoy? He will need to become familiar with the area and public transportation. A CTA pass could be a good gift. Don't know if there are shuttle buses that go from campus to other areas. The University used to encourage students not to go South of campus into the Woodlawn community but I think this attitude may be changing. There is so much to do in Chicago! Theatre, restaurants, museums, ethnic neighborhood festivals! Of course, he may be too busy studying to explore!

[Candid]

Hmmmm, I like the bus pass idea. I imagine that he will probably explore a bunch of things. In high school he's been a pretty motivated student and we mostly hear about things like debate and track not fun activities. I was thinking more of restaurants and maybe some kind of interesting t-shirt or something store (although I have boys I'm having a hard time imagining any guy shopping but I know I did that while in college).

[TravelingChris]

I was also going to suggest a bus pass or even better, a Metra pass. they have a 10 ride one, would be even better. Dh and I were students many years ago but I am sure the situation is still the same, if not more serious. In the evenings, you really would prefer to take the Metra train (called something else back then) rather than the CTA. For one thing, the CTA express to Hyde Park stops running early. And then you are left with very undesirable options. Although we were poor and usually made do with taking the El Train to the Garfield Station, waiting in an extremely sketchy neighborhood for a bus back to Hyde Park, even then (in the early to mid 80's) that was a very unsafe option. We had attempted muggings there a few times. So the much better option was to take the more expensive train from downtown to the train station on 55th street or 59th street, depending on where you lived.