Park Village

Liken this to an episode of Cribs...

Where the hostess is less glamorous and less famous, the house less swanky and impressive,
but it's been asked about it nonetheless.

I suppose the retro equivalent would be Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Amazing how my generation associates that phrase with a song by a cookie cutter pop punk band instead of with a show that ran for a little over a year. Perhaps more amazing is that we replaced such a classy title with something so ghetto as Cribs. But I digress.

Here we gooo...!

As you approach Park Village from the main road, you see basically what you see every where else: trees, grass, and brick for days. I think brick and grass are on the top 5 list of surfaces loved by the English. Stone is in there too I'm sure... and I'll get back to you on the other two.

My apologies for the brightness of the photos, the amazing part is that these are actually under exposed in an attempt to accommodate the blazing sunshine. It also means that I chose to take these pictures at the wrong time of day. Whoops...

Once reaching the complex I suppose you could call it, there's this little courtyard before the buildings branch off in this odd almost V like shape. And I have no idea where all these bikes came from, it's not like we all brought them on the plane. Left-overs perhaps? I know a girl who left her bike on campus after we moved out last year. Hahaha...

Turn the corner and head down the walkway... Like the rest of campus, the buildings are sharp and angular, and the symmetry is almost unending.

My front door is nothing special, except for the etched in SHUT IT! just above the handle. I don't know who took the time to do it, but they were either very angry or very bored.

There are four rooms on each floor, a kitchen on the first and third floors, and the bathroom is on the second floor. It comes with a bath tub which we all found a little odd, a shower that is about as wide has me, and two toilets with an itty bitty corner sink so you can at least act like you washed your hands. We seem to get by all right, but I'd be lying if I said anyone liked the shower. I didn't take pictures of the bathroom... everyone has boundaries.

Up three flights of stairs that I thought at first were quite quaint, but have now become the stairs of death. These suckers are pretty slippery when wet, and I guess they also can be a little painful when barefoot. All I know is that the lady who cleaned our apartment common areas decided to mop the stairwells last week and I heard people falling all day.

Each landing is also separated by these fire doors...

Which we never keep shut. Why do you ask? Because shutting them prevents any sort of breeze from entering the building, and given the humidity for the last five days or so, we basically started opening anything and everything we could. This also means that my room has been subject to house flies, mosquito eaters, schizo moths, and about every other flying bug I can think of, but I can sleep at night. Always a plus. And I haven't been eaten alive yet, so I'm doing pretty well.

Our kitchen comes complete with an oven, microwave, cooking utensils, and funny signs telling us to not place metal in the microwave, or use stick forks in the toaster...

Along with a tiny, near useless window which is supposed to ventilate the kitchen. Perhaps this is another reason those pesky fire doors are always open. The dishes supplied are pretty small as well, but they seem to be scaled appropriately to the kitchen. That's right, it's about as wide as the shower! We were also given four stools, which are generally always full because the kitchen is the hottest spot in the whole building. No really, we all end up talking in the kitchen on a daily basis. We have a common room somewhere... but we use the kitchen. They also make for great door stops, empty or full.

We have a decent size fridge, and a smaller freezer, but they do the trick. The garbage can however is not large enough, mostly because no one takes out the trash. Funny how that works. Our toaster works about as well as the trash schedule, so we "borrowed" the one from downstairs. They know we have it, but they don't seem to mind.

And now on to the main attraction.

The view of part of my room from the door. Or, if you prefer, a wider angle...

And yes, they were taken on different days. Now if you'll notice, my laptop is not actually on my desk in the first one. Any guesses why?

That's right... the ethernet port is behind my bed. I don't mind all that much, that's why it's a laptop right? Also, notice the large, empty tack board. The postcards that were there for this shot have since been mailed, so it really is empty. EMPTY.

Ok, hinting over. The drink on the table is this juice called Ribena that I'd never even heard of, but it's good stuff. I blame Ronnie for getting me hooked.

And here we have the view from my window essentially. There's an armoire in the left hand corner that you can't see in any of these shots, but it does the trick. I also peeled off whatever paper junk there was over the light switch, because I am just that picky.

I think the lounge chair is my favorite part, it's pretty comfy. The bed, well... it's comparable quality to what you'd find in a one star hotel, but if I wait long enough to go to bed, I don't really notice. I've also done lots of walking, so I'm often tired enough that I don't care. However, my bed will be greatly appreciated when I return.

Here's the best part...

I don't have to tell you to take your cameras and leave. I can just cut it off right here.