<p>I went to my local large midwestern university, where all freshmen had to live in freshman dorms. My roomie was from NJ. Her first comment was, "Everyone talks so SLOW here--sounds like they're retarded or something!" Now that I think about it, all her closest friends were out-of-staters. It probably had to do with affluence, lifestyle, speaking the same language, birds of a feather, etc. My impression was that they had lived a very "fast" lifestyle compared to the locals--they had already done it all (booze, drugs, sex) before they got to college--most likely because they had lots of $ and uninvolved parents who traveled a lot and left them home alone. . .But anyway, they did choose to come to the midwest, and yet they mocked the locals and seemed to think they were superior.</p>
<p>It is natural for people to self-segregate in any situation</p>
<p>UW has always had many housing choices and does not require students to live in the dorms but they guarantee on campus housing for all freshman if they want it. They have built two major new dorms in the last couple of years and have more planned. </p>
<p>Here's an article on the housing choices around campus. </p>
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While taking my morning constitutional with a friend
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<p>LOL. Apparently this term has two meanings, according to urban dictionary. I had only ever known the other meaning, a morning trip to the bathroom.</p>
<p>Bravo to the students and their parents who choose the regular dorms despite the NYC lore- my Long Island roommate included. I can still remember my first exposures to so many different ways of living- foreign, farm, city, small town... The learning is subtle, often observations of differences and similarities you notice with months of living in the same quarters. This thread got me to thinking about roommates- I could write reams on this thread about people and all I absorbed from my exposure to them. This shows how a large campus can mean so many different things to different people- the old blind men and the elephant story.</p>
<p>Breaking my revery- I'm confused about UM-UMich- which do people use? And what accent- everyone knows that Wisconsin/Michigan accents are the standard of tv... (grin- someday I'll bother to learn how to do the symbols, maybe).</p>