I stayed with my six fellow research students from Norway at the house for almost 5 weeks this January-Febuary of 2012. We found the house by coincidence on the website of "home away.com" The house has a good feel to to it and it felt very much like a home. The house looked much better in reality than it does in the pictures on the website. Maura, the landlord, was extremely helpful with anything we needed during our stay and she would check in with us several times to see if there was anything we needed. Anything. The house had a lot of space and had all the appliances we needed. The beds were very comfortable! The bathroom had a high standard, which I think is important to mention.

Even though it was a little bit cold outside when we arrived on the 11th of January, the heating system in the house worked perfectly without any problems. The kitchen was very equipped and we did not lack anything. This in particular was very neat since we all cooked many dinners at home during our stay. There is a Whole Foods and a Safeway grocery store not far away from the house, just a short walk away (5-6 minutes). We were also very thrilled when we discovered a Trader Joe´s right next to Rockridge Bart Station. Of course we did not eat dinners at the house every night. There are plenty of quaint little restaurants close to the house. In Elmwood we found a very nice greek restaurant that I enjoyed a lot and also an Indian restaurant right on College street and Alcatraz ave.

Due to our research project, we had to go to San Francisco very frequently for meetings. There was no problem for us to get there. We either walked to Rockridge Bart station (about a 23 minute walk) or took the bus either on Telegraph street or via College street to the Downtown Berkeley bart station.

I especially liked the neighbourhood. It´s great to go for a jog or run in the morning and the people I met were very friendly. I felt very secure and relaxed just walking or jogging around on my own.

I would definitely recommend this house to families but also to young adventurous adults who wants to visit the Bay Area and San Francisco. You don´t need a rental-car to get around, because the public transportation system in this area is very good and easy to access. Will I come back here? Yes, for sure! And I would love to bring my family from Norway along next time!