Since I've written about the dorms I'm staying in and living in Virginia, I guess I better tell y'all a little about the town I reside above (campus is on a hill above the town): Buena Vista.
First off, I know every one of you just pronounced that in your Hispanic accent, B-wenna Vista. Correction; it is pronounced B-yoona Vista. The story goes that the name of the town was changed during the Civil War; if you pronounced it correctly, you could be trusted. Now it's just a good way to identify who's a Freshman from out West, like me!
Buena Vista has approximately 6,650 people, of which 17% is over the age of 65. As of 2009, 71% of the population only had a high school diploma. I tell you this because on Saturday I had the opportunity to mingle with the locals, and the statistics reaffirm my observations, which sounds strange, but it will make sense, I promise.
Saturday was "Mountain Day", which is funny because I (and every other westerner I've spoken with) would classify these has large hills. But oh well, from far away they look kind of like mountains...
First off, I know every one of you just pronounced that in your Hispanic accent, B-wenna Vista. Correction; it is pronounced B-yoona Vista. The story goes that the name of the town was changed during the Civil War; if you pronounced it correctly, you could be trusted. Now it's just a good way to identify who's a Freshman from out West, like me!
Buena Vista has approximately 6,650 people, of which 17% is over the age of 65. As of 2009, 71% of the population only had a high school diploma. I tell you this because on Saturday I had the opportunity to mingle with the locals, and the statistics reaffirm my observations, which sounds strange, but it will make sense, I promise.
Saturday was "Mountain Day", which is funny because I (and every other westerner I've spoken with) would classify these has large hills. But oh well, from far away they look kind of like mountains...
Anyway, the festivities were fun! The marching band played, there was a clogging group, the University's dance group performed, and we got to do some dancing as well. The girl in the blue is my roommate Isabelle. I danced too, just not this song.
The rest of it was just booths, like at a Farmer's Market. Almost all of them were from the community, so it was basically a giant community get-together. Talking to the locals was really interesting, as was observing. I could tell that the standard of living was a lot lower than I am used to, hence the statistics I shared earlier. There's also nothing in town. And, I mean NOTHING. The community really relies on the university to keep it going. I would love to get more involved with the community later on and help the people here. Especially after talking to locals; I didn't expect such enthusiasm when they learned I was here for SVU.
Oh, and my title? Yeah, I thought I knew what a redneck was...nope. Every person I thought was a redneck is just from the country. Rednecks are found here, in the Bible Belt.
Several other random observations:
1. There are soooooo many churches in this little, itty-bitty town!
2. Wal*Mart is totally ghetto
3. Humidity sucks, rain is even worse
4. Somehow, a lot of people I've never met know who I am, including the Stake President...
5. Living in the dorms is like living in a hotel without room service, free breakfast, or a pool
6. There are a million stairs here
7. All of the houses have porches
And that is my kind of boring, very random post for the week. Enjoy the pictures I took on my Sunday morning walk last week!
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