A few months ago a guy got shot and killed on State Street near the university, and my apartment. And now a few weeks ago a girl was murdered after spending a night in the state street area at a bunch of bars that I sometimes go to. State Street Brats is a good place for sports games, and brats, obviously. Lava Lounge is a nice chill bar that I go to a lot, and I think they mentioned Amy's in one of the news stories - those last two bars are my default bars. It's scary to think that some poor girl got murdered by someone that drinks at the same places I drink at. What the hell? The weird thing is in a lot of ways Madison reminds me of nice safe cities like Ottawa and Kingston, but for some reason it seems like there has been a lot more violence here lately. It's like Busta Rhymes says: it ain't safe no more.

One thing that has always freaked me out about Madison is how dark it is at night. I remember at McGill the heart of campus was always well lit, and there was a recommended path for getting around late at night (basically just Prince Arthur). Not here. Libraries and even restaurants close up early. Even the McDonalds that we used to have next to campus would close at 11. And the area between the university bookstore and the student union hardly has any lighting at all. It just doesn't make sense, why would a campus teeming with students shut down so early? And there's none of those yellow emergency stations like at McGill, where you could just hit a big red button and a 911 call would go out.