Day 52 - One more week in Sherfield

I have one more week here in Sherfield Hall. Next Friday I'll be moving into Windsor Hall, which is located on campus (Sherfield is a couple blocks south of campus). It'll be more convient for school, but I'm not looking forward to moving.

I like where I live now for a lot of reasons. One of them is that I'm right on the edge of an area called Whitley. Whitley has a reputation. A 5 minute walk southwest of Sherfield takes you from a nice upper-middle-class area to a rather notorious little neighborhood of flats where I've been advised not to go at night. I walk through there on the way to church, right by a fence that's covered with flowers and candles -- someone was murdered there recently.

When I move to Windsor, I probably be spending more time on the north side of campus rather than down by Whitley. So what's wrong with that? Well, I've always liked Whitley, particularly the more dangerous parts. It has a lot of character. The "chavs", as they're called, who hang out in front of the flats along my walk, are very interesting to me. They tend to be younger and less intimidating than the gangsta' type thugs that you'd see in a bad American neighborhood. They have unique accents -- nothing like the stereotypical posh BBC English. They look and act very different from most people in Norman, San Jose, or even Reading. It's one of my favorite places to be. I like the atmosphere there. The contrast across such a short distance is amazing. And some of the "chavettes" are kinda cute.

posted by Matt @ 11:47 PM