10.23.2012 - Entry #13: Parks in the Neighborhood

University Ridge Park

Life Before: Emails Galore!

     I'm a little late with this blog post, but oh well. I'd rather write it now when I'm more collected and focused on what I want to say than to have written this Sunday evening emotionally confused and physically stressed. The picture to the left shows the view I saw while I was at University Ridge Park this past Saturday. While I was there, I contemplated my new home and life in Reno as I overlooked the entire city. My life now is quite a bit different than how it was this time last year; I don't have a dozen emails to reply to every 6 hours or so, meetings to attend on the other side of town, and I don't have a job to head off to once classes are done. In many ways, I have a lot more freedom than I did as a senior, freedom that I enjoy having.
     And yet, I find myself stuck in a bout of nostalgia lately. The more I explore the Reno-Sparks area, the more I experience an exhilaration for the prospects of new adventures, but also a longing for the familiar. This longing came to a culmination after I left the park and found a Filipino marketplace, Manila Hong Kong, and spent over $40 on various Filipino foods. It's been over 2 months since I had Pan de Ube and I will say that I was more than a bit ecstatic after finally having some.
     I know why I'm here at the University of Nevada, Reno. I came here because I knew that staying home for my undergraduate career was not the best way for me to grow and develop as a person and as a scholar. I know that I made the right decision leaving home because I'm gaining an education here that extends outside of the classroom. However, I did not anticipate this new appreciation I now have of Vegas; of my house, my neighborhood, my friends and family. I don't tend to have weekends like this past weekend; I've been adjusting better to this new lifestyle of college than other first years it seems like. I did get bouts of homesickness before this weekend, but having developed a wide circle of friends, both new and old, as well as involving myself with my classes and organizations such as RHA and Circle K, helped stave off those feelings. But overlooking the entire city of Reno from the park, and seeing something entirely different than the Las Vegas Valley that I'm used to seeing...it was pretty rough.

10.15.2012 - Entry #12: Architecture in the Neighborhood

Sidewalks? Nope- let's have bike paths instead.
(source: www.runningscientist.blogspot.com)

Continuing on from my previous Davis post, another thing that the history of Davis as an agricultural city has shaped is its architecture. The picture in my last post of the Chase Bank on E Street is an example of how many buildings are like in Davis- small, no larger than two stories, and very earthy and natural looking. However, I believe a bigger reflection on the uniqueness of Davis as a city comes from what's around the buildings; namely, the bike paths. Like many California cities, walking and public transportation is the preferred way of getting around- however, Davis is unique in that there are bike paths literally everywhere, taking the place of sidewalks in some places such as in the photo above. During my latest trip to Davis, over half the people I saw out of the window of the car I was in were riding bikes. Not only were they riding bikes however, but they were conversing with each other and multitasking in a plethora of ways that just boggled my mind. Compared to other cities, Davis seems like the ideal place to live for the active, healthy and environmentally-aware human being. It's small enough to still be a community, but large enough that it still provides its residents with a plentiful of source of entertainment.

10.15.2012 - Entry #11: History in the Neighborhood

Just a short 6 minute walk from Crepeville...

If you're reading this post, the first thing that should have caught your eye is the picture of a Chase Bank to the left of this sentence. It's a picture of the bank that I go to whenever I need to deposit a check, which I usually have to do once a month, sometimes more. Those of you with hyper keen deductive skills should have some red flags going off in your heads right now after reading those first two sentences, because of this one simple fact:

There are no Chase Banks in Reno.

So what? Obviously I do my banking in Sparks then or another nearby city, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case- there are no Chase Banks at all in Northern Nevada. Alas, what does this mean for the loyal Chase customer?

In a nutshell, it means weekend trips to California. Specifically to 330 E St. in Davis, California, almost 150 miles away. I won't go into the logistics of how I get to Davis every month- the simple answer is Circle K- but seeing as this weekend was my monthly trip to Davis, this post will be about the history of the city of Davis. And to those of you who object to me including Davis in my neighborhood, I say why not? I've been to Davis 4 or 5 times already since my first trip back in September and I see myself going there a lot more so long as I remain a Circle K member (which I plan to do for the entirety of my undergraduate and graduate studies).

Anyways, onto the history of Davis- basically, the city of Davis was originally known as, "Davisville," and was built around a railroad depot in the 1860s. Originally, it started out as a farming community and is still well known for its agricultural contributions; the city today still maintains a very green and environmentally-friendly image, which I will talk more about in my next entry, to be posted no more than an hour after this post is published. But essentially, I still find incredibly amazing that much of the Davis from its farm days is still present today; for example, as I was walking the six minutes from Crepeville (an excellent place for crepes) down to E Street, I passed by this gigantic open area used solely for their farmers' markets. Details like this and others, such as the large amount of greenery present everywhere within the city, are a testament to the connection the city of Davis still has to its roots as an agricultural community.

10.01.2012 - Entry #10: Homes & Houses in the Neighborhood

Not all homeless are houseless and vice versa. Going back to the Riverwalk, I noticed quite a few, stereotypical houseless people. Scruffy and somewhat intimidating, they wondered the streets at every intersection, going up to drivers and usually asking for money but sometimes just outright asking for food or beer. Oftentimes, these people are ignored by society at large and so they remain, problem people isolated away from the rest of us. And yet, not all people living in the streets find this disconnect with society- many of are still involved with their community, perhaps even more so than those with a practical dwelling, for they're forced to physically live in their community- to expose themselves to all the elements of Reno. Elements ranging from the rapidly cooling weather to the seedy, corrupt underbelly that exposes itself every night on 4th Street. These houseless are not homeless- they still strive to make a home despite whatever circumstances may have landed them in their current situation today. The homeless may vary; many houseless are indeed homeless, but many more homeless have a place to live, eat, and sleep comfortably. However, they use their dwelling to seclude themselves from the community at large. Leaving only for school or work and never talking to anyone else unless absolutely necessary, they return back to their quarters and immerse themselves within a world that exists only in the walls of their two bedroom, one bathroom apartment. They make no effort to connect with few other human beings and are not bounded to their physically surroundings at all- if appropriate, they will leave to another place, so long as they have their necessities (food, water, electricity) and as such, have no attachments to their houses. Many freshmen at the University end up like this; never engaging in campus life or exploring their new city if they've ventured away from home- they spend their time in their rooms, playing video games or doing homework, just biding their time until they graduate while they fail expose themselves to the full experience of a college education.