My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

When I was living in Hawaii several years ago, I noticed that a lot of service and retail help wanted ads requested Japanese language experience. Did it become less critical lately? I suppose there were never a significant # of jobs that required it.

It's not that it's less critical as in the days of mega Japanese tourists although it never fails to help though.

Filling service jobs has become harder for companies (hence job fairs) so requirements have slackened a bit to accomodate less experienced workers to qualify for a job.

[acousticlady]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

Join the sick of New York club! We should start one here!

Here, here..... I'll second that.... Gawd - not only have I been in NY too long, I've been in academia too long......

[mwanafalsafa]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

Hey thanks for all the great information! It's all about what I expected.

I think that since it might be really hard for me to land my own place I'm also going to be open to just renting a room. It looks like that would really help my bottom line as well. And I could always keep looking for an apartment of my own.

I'm definitely going to also look into getting a job in NY at a national chain with stores/offices in Honolulu.

My degree is going to be in history. I do intend to get a master's degree but after four years I'm quite sick of school and need to take some time off, hence Hawaii.

Oh an you're right, I guess I might not be able to do ALL my shopping at Costco.

Also I'm a guy!

Thanks!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

This is off topic OT here but how marketable is a degree in History?

[Kaukura]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

I'm going to go against the grain here. You're 21. You have parents who will take you back (presumably) in a heartbeat if things don't work out. You're not looking for "the rest of your life" here, just a few months, six at most?

You have very little to lose IMO in just coming here. Rent a room (there are many available, just look on craigslist, or walk around). Find some type of job, again, there seems to be many in the hospitality/restaurant/server industry/shopping center/retail, if that is what you are looking for. Your situation seems much different than from someone who basically is on their own, with no one really to 'go back to' and comes hear looking at "forever".

You dont have anything to lose that I see. If anything, it's an adventure that you'll remember years to come. You always look back at the risks you took. When I was 18, I moved to San Francisco. When I was 20, I went to France for a year and went to school. I lived in NYC, back to SF, and in Hawaii when I hit 40. Those times are the times I look back with pride that I did it and took the chance instead of wondering "what if". Some of those times I had nothing to lose, some of those times I literally jumped off the cliff.

Everyones situation is different. Make the best choice that fits what you need to do.

[beaker]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

Well $900 a month is doable for a 3bedroom 2bathroom home in Hilo AND it's a 45-minute plane trip to Honolulu

I don't think you can get a 3BR home for $900 a month in Hilo unless it's in the slums and you get the roaches and rats to chip in on the rent. $1200 is the base rate for a 2 bedroom home in Hilo that's worth living in, and it's still rising. $900 would be something way out in the nasty Punaburbs with the weirdos.

[mwanafalsafa]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

I'm going to go against the grain here. You're 21. You have parents who will take you back (presumably) in a heartbeat if things don't work out. You're not looking for "the rest of your life" here, just a few months, six at most?

You have very little to lose IMO in just coming here. Rent a room (there are many available, just look on craigslist, or walk around). Find some type of job, again, there seems to be many in the hospitality/restaurant/server industry/shopping center/retail, if that is what you are looking for. Your situation seems much different than from someone who basically is on their own, with no one really to 'go back to' and comes hear looking at "forever".

You dont have anything to lose that I see. If anything, it's an adventure that you'll remember years to come. You always look back at the risks you took. When I was 18, I moved to San Francisco. When I was 20, I went to France for a year and went to school. I lived in NYC, back to SF, and in Hawaii when I hit 40. Those times are the times I look back with pride that I did it and took the chance instead of wondering "what if". Some of those times I had nothing to lose, some of those times I literally jumped off the cliff.

Everyones situation is different. Make the best choice that fits what you need to do.

Yeah! that's basically my situation and mindset. I'm perfectly comfortable accepting some risk in moving here. As I've never been out on my own in the 'real world' I'm eager to just go and have a few adventures before I go back to school. And I'm really not too picky about my accomidations. On craiglist I even saw a couple of people renting out tent space in their backyards. I'd consider it!

As far as what a Bachelor's degree in history is good for... not much. You might be able to teach high school social studies with it and some other certificate I think. A history major is, for the most part, something you get if you intend to go on to graduate school, which is my plan. At this point having the degree means I can say I have experience in writing and research. Though I don't know what the job market is like for those skills.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

I don't think you can get a 3BR home for $900 a month in Hilo unless it's in the slums and you get the roaches and rats to chip in on the rent. $1200 is the base rate for a 2 bedroom home in Hilo that's worth living in, and it's still rising. $900 would be something way out in the nasty Punaburbs with the weirdos.

I beg to differ beaker, Puna is fast becoming the home of Oahu expatriates. Your remarks are a true insult to the many who call Puna their home. And you still can find $900 3bd/2bath homes in the Hilo area. Check around the UH area.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

As far as what a Bachelor's degree in history is good for... not much. You might be able to teach high school social studies with it and some other certificate I think. A history major is, for the most part, something you get if you intend to go on to graduate school, which is my plan. At this point having the degree means I can say I have experience in writing and research. Though I don't know what the job market is like for those skills.

That's good if your sights are on a masters or a doctorate. Teaching isn't as easy as it was 10-years ago and requires more than a 6-month teaching certificate. But that's a good place to incorporate those credits.

Good luck and sometimes I wish I were 21 all over again with the hindsight and maturity I have now as a 48-year old. Man I look at Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates, and then look at how Speedtek, myself and a few others at that time in the Kalani High School's AV Club who had their hands on an Altair 8800 to mess with under the care of then electronics teacher Ken Ito (now State Representative Kenneth Ito). There were a lot of similarities between MS and Apple's founders and our early nerdy beginnings.

And we were only a couple of years (still in the 70's) behind them. To us a breadboard and a 6505 processor was sooo totallly cool.

[Nords]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

At this point having the degree means I can say I have experience in writing and research. Though I don't know what the job market is like for those skills.

Hmmm... what would be a good job market for someone with critical-thinking skills who can eloquently express their conclusions in writing? Gee, that has me stumped.

Research assistant.
Journalist.
Marketing & sales.
Stock-market analyst.

An hour or two with "What Color is Your Parachute" would probably generate 40 or 50 more career fields.

[kani-lehua]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

When I was living in Hawaii several years ago, I noticed that a lot of service and retail help wanted ads requested Japanese language experience. Did it become less critical lately? I suppose there were never a significant # of jobs that required it.

i worked in high-end retail for umpteen years and though not proficient in the japanese language, basic words are a plus. several months ago, i was shopping at macy's, kailua, and the clerk/cashier couldn't understand a thing that some japanese tourists were saying. nobody else was around, so i spoke to them in my broken-japanese-language-sort-or-way.

[cynsaligia]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

sorry for the huge digression, but i really need to say this:

This is off topic OT here but how marketable is a degree in History?

As far as what a Bachelor's degree in history is good for... not much.

Hmmm... what would be a good job market for someone with critical-thinking skills who can eloquently express their conclusions in writing? Gee, that has me stumped.

Research assistant.
Journalist.
Marketing & sales.
Stock-market analyst.

An hour or two with "What Color is Your Parachute" would probably generate 40 or 50 more career fields.

a liberal arts degree is indescribably valuable, if you're not the kind of person who, at the age of 18, knows exactly what career track you want to follow for the next 40+ years of your life.

as nords pointed out, critical thinking skills and ability to write well are hugely valuable in the job market. you will not believe how many people with non-liberal arts degrees i've come across who cannot write an email worth a damn, and that's severely limiting. for example, if you are an RN who aspires to management, it is not likely you will be promoted past the unit manager level if you are unable to communicate well in writing. IT graduates who cannot get past techspeak don't get the executive positions. transactional lawyers who started in BusAd went into law school having to play catch up when it came to brief-writing.

on the other hand, i know of many with a bachelor's in some sort of liberal arts who took more unconventional routes to successful careers. one of our best financial analysts graduated with a BS in biology. eric went into the mortgage business but has both a degree in journalism and IT. my mom, the first college graduate of her family, has a liberal arts degree but runs a successful care home. my boss has a her master's in sociology and now is our director of risk management/corporate compliance--things that you can go to a business school to major in. the killer part is that she wears a third hat as our privacy officer, and i would submit to you that her ability to think well on her feet and reason situations out is why she is so great at looking at a situation and dissecting it from the viewpoint of her three different "personas" without turning all sybil.

quite a few famous people have liberal arts degrees. to devalue a history degree as being useful only if you're going to grad school is a shame. you should be proud of it, and ponder upon the arsenal of weapons it affords you. if you love what you're doing in school, continue as you are. don't fool yourself into thinking that maybe if you had a degree in accounting, you'd be better off. what good is that degree if a few years later, you look up from your spreadsheets and realize you really hate what you do but you don't know how to do much else?

from the economist's view:

The best solution I can think of is to try and make clear that in a dynamic, global economy, specializing in a narrow skill set may not be the best strategy for success, and more generally that businesses want people who are intelligent, people who are clear thinkers and communicators and that, more than anything else, is the key to success. (It) is very well understood that a broad based education is the best preparation for many if not most careers.

[Vanguard]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

Now I'm even more proud of my liberal arts degree. Thanks, Cynsaligia!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

When you're at the $600-$700 level for rents, you're usually talking a converted garage or storage space in a larger home. Landlords may be less picky than those renting full units, but just keep in mind the limits of those accommodations (including hookups for internet).

Clearwire.

[acousticlady]

Re: My cost of living estimate and getting an apartment?

I have to weigh in here. I think what Cyn said above is right on the mark. There is no more valuable degree than a liberal arts degree. In the end, what you get out of a liberal arts education is that you have "learned how to learn". The point of liberal arts has never been to get job training. If that is what someone is looking for I usually recommend ITT Tech or something like that and save themselves a whole lot of money.

We often say that you can tell what year a student is by their outlook. A freshman comes in absolutely sure they don't know anything and aren't sure they will be able to learn anything. A sophomore looks around and says "I think I can handle this - I just might make it through." A junior has the attitude that they are on top of the world and know everything. A senior looks around and says "Ahhh - I don't know anything - I'm not qualified for anything." We (educators in liberal arts) say "now you are ready for the real world..."

mwanafalsafa (btw-I really like that name...) you are at a point in your life where you should be searching. Heck, aren't we all? I know I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. And I hope I never do. Enjoy the scenery on the road to life. Then no matter where that road takes you, it will be an interesting journey. At your age, jump on in. You never know where it will lead you. If you want to come to HI for a while - then do it. Consider it a part of your education. We have many, many graduates from our school who have gone on to very successful careers in areas they never dreamed of - and have seemingly fallen into those careers. So, good luck and enjoy the ride.