After two weeks on the campus, I couldn’t help but notice my new place was isolated. University Courtyards is an attractive, spacious apartment complex with off-campus perks, but its neighbors are a church and a golf course. It often feels like a retirement center, and the outdoor stairs leading to the apartments certainly don’t help shake the Floridian vibe.
While the lucky ones in the South Campus Commons wake up steps away from class, we’re only paying about $100 less per month in rent. In fact, through year-long leases, we actually pay more than the students placed in St. Mary’s Hall, just yards away from Stamp Student Union in one direction and McKeldin Library in the other.
The only way to escape is in a car (if you’re fortunate enough to have one) or on the Purple Line Shuttle-UM bus, if your plans coincide with its schedule. On school days, the buses in the morning run often, but on the weekends, we’re more or less trapped.
If nothing else, couldn’t the university at least provide some food nearby? South Campus has the Commons Shop and North Campus has the “Incon,” but nothing seems more inconvenient than the absence of a convenience store near Courtyards. Reminiscing about the days when a bag of chips was never far away, the unusual hours of the “Incon” don’t seem as much of a nuisance anymore.
It’s a pain to leave the complex on foot (for fear of getting hit on Route 193) and think of how much worse it would be if it were all for an Arizona Iced Tea. It’s bad enough we don’t hear the tune of the alma mater ringing from the bells of the university’s chapel, or the commentator’s deep voice echoing from Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium during every home football game, but to deny simple access to snacks is undoubtedly unfair. Cheaper rent doesn’t compensate exile.
We’re so close to the campus we can taste it, but just like the students enrolled in Freshmen Connection, we plea for inclusion. Many Courtyards residents say they have it great because they’re able to tune out the hustle and bustle of the campus and focus on their work. But for those of us who accepted Courtyards as second to Commons, a hint of on-campus life on this side of Route 193 would be nice. The addition of a convenience store and more frequent stop-times for the Purple Line could only serve as a progressive beginning.
Fenan Solomon is a junior pre-pharmacy and journalism major. She can be reached at solomondbk@gmail.com.
