BAHEC - Bryan

The digs

You'll be staying with up to 4 other students in a 3-bedroom house with lousy cable, all
sharing the same bathroom and its airplane-bathroom-sized shower stall. The only way
this ever works is that you're unlikely to be leaving the house at the same time. Also,
forget about having a private place to study: there just aren't enough places for everyone
to be off in his/her own separate room.

About the only upside is the ability to control the thermostat, making at least one person
comfortable somewhere in the house (the upstairs and downstairs are often different
temperatures).

If you're working at Bryan Hospital or the medical office building across the street, you'll
have a 3-4 minute walk every day. If you get stuck in Defiance, you'll have a 20-30
minute drive.

Computer access

The BAHEC house has wireless access, plus a computer and printer. When I was there,
the computer was outdated and slow. The computer in the medical staff library, which
also has a printer, was much faster.

The meal plan

You get half off posted cafeteria prices if you're wearing your white coat and ID. The
"special" of the day is an entree and two side dishes; this should generally run you only
$2-2.50. The food is better than UTMC cafeteria, but only marginally.

If you're in the medical office building, drug reps bring lunch 2-4 days a week (but
almost never on Thursdays, strangely).

Other opportunities for free meals include lunchtime committee meetings, hospital staff
meetings, and Williams County Medical Society meetings (which I heavily recommend,
but don't overdo it on the wine). Ask your preceptor if you're invited to any of these.

Other places to eat

Myro's is a pizzeria on High St., diagonally opposite the hospital. Their stuffed
breadsticks are excellent (the Greek is particularly good); 3 of them makes a meal.

Lester's Diner is on Main St.; it's about a 5-minute walk from the BAHEC house if you
take the shortcut (look for the sidewalk on the other side of Portland St. that appears to
head to nowhere). It's standard American fare; the burgers are delicious (although they
don't ask you how you want it cooked) and the milkshakes are made with real ice cream.

There is a Mexican restaurant, El Mariachi's, on Main St. It's fairly bland and I can't
recommend it. There are several additional restaurants on the town square, a Chinese
restaurant somewhere, and the usual fast food varieties. Pizza Hut is on the west end of
High St., although I can't imagine why you'd eat there when Myro's is so close.

Stores

The house is a short walk from Bryan's main square, with a movie theater, a variety of
stores and restaurants, plus a really cool old county courthouse. It's also a short walk to
a CVS (across from the hospital) and a Walgreens (across from Lester's Diner), should
you fall ill.

Walmart and Kmart are the only two large stores in town, and they are almost directly
across from each other on Main St. south of town. Just past Kmart is a Chief grocery
store, which is the only grocery store I've ever been in that sells beer by the bottle; their
selection is halfway decent but not extravagant.

Random stuff

Bryan is the county seat of Williams County. It is known as the Fountain City, although
you won't find a fountain in Bryan--the the fountain that gave it that name has been torn
down. Several groups are working to build new fountains on the town square; they have
grants from Walmart ($15k) and Hamburger Helper ($8k; I am not making this up).

Bryan is home to Spangler (manufacturer of Dum-Dum suckers) and OhioArt (the
Etch-a-Sketch people).