1. Youthful City
Halifax is the home of Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, Mount Saint Vincent, Kings College, NASCAD, and probably more schools than I even realize. Students run this town! According to Stats Canada, the city has one of the lowest amounts of seniors. The biggest age groups are university students and people their parent's age.
Take a look at the charts if you need more proof (heck I found it interesting!)
Basically, you have a lot of potential suitors in this town; nice ones too (see 6). Start looking ;)
2. Everything is Close-By
Halifax is very pedestrian friendly. Walking and biking are welcomed and there is no need for a car (other than for trips to Costco). As a student, bus passes come with your student ID, but I strongly recommend walking on the nice days. To get an idea of how close-by things are: from Dalhousie's Studley Campus, downtown is about a 10-15 minute walk and the lovely Harbour is about 20 minutes. That covers the radius of the places you will likely frequent most. Biking around here is great too. I personally invested in an adorable cruiser bike (
this one).
3. Shopping
Downtown (around Spring Garden and Barrington) there are really cute boutiques. My favourite boutiques include
Sweet Pea and
Biscuit General Store. Some of these boutiques sell my favourite brand Free People, which excites me beyond belief. If they ever get a Free People store here I will fangirl and wait in-line for the opening. No joke.
There are two major malls, Halifax Shopping Centre and MicMac Mall, only a bus ride away. Stores at these malls include Victoria Secret, H&M, Forever 21, BCBG, Dynamite, AE, Aldo, Bath & Body Works (candles!), Hollister, and all other stores you can find in a major mall.
Envy is another good one; quite fancy and sells FP; I think it's only in the Maritimes. To Bus: HSC take the 1 and MicMac take the 10.
4. Nightlife
This can be dependent on your nightlife style. So here is my opinion on some of the main bars, in just a couple of words:
Pacifico: LA vibes, dancing, chic, lounge
Toothy Moose: great for country lovers (Friday nights)
Dome: dirty, club, dance, popular, attached to Cheers, 2.50 shots on Thursdays ("Dome is Home")
Cheers: popular, booths, bar, live band, dance, grimy, attached to the Dome
Split Crow: Used to be the Commerce bar, sit down, live band, pub, day drinking on the weekend
Lower Deck: live band, best known for Sunday nights, upper floor for club scene, lower for pub vibe
Grawood: Dalhousie campus bar, tons of events, students galore
These are the ones that I'm more familiar with, of course there are a lot more to check out. Find "your bar" and have a blast. A great way to discover all the bars/clubs is to take part in one of the many pub-crawls. See 5 for more details.
Click read more to find out about events, food, and more!