butterfly,butterfly,butterfly fly away: the neighborhood I live in

Before I came to America, I found an apartment outside Yale University. On the one hand, I wanted to save my expense, on the other hand, I want to know more about American people and their lives. After about a month's search in the internet and then contact with the owner of the apartment, I finally chose an apartment in Tilton Street near Science Hill of Yale University. But I completely had no idea about the living environment of the neighborhood of the apartment where I was going to spend 40 days. Is the neighborhood safe? Are the neighbors nice or cold or even hostile? Certainly I had no choice nor time to consider these, but I was really a little uneasy about it?

After I arrived in New Haven, I couldn't wait to have a look at the neighborhood the day before I moved into the apartment on June 30th. As I set foot on Mansfield which leads to Tilton Street, I found the neighborhood very quiet and cool because the street was shaded by a lot of old trees on both of its sides. Tilton street is a bit narrower than Mansfield but it was also quiet and cool. Along the street there are 3-story houses painted in yellow, white, green or light blue or brown or dark grey side by side. The third floor of these houses are usually attics. In front of all the houses are lawns, with plants or flowers.The white window frames, the green lawns and the either pink or yellow or blue or green walls make a very pleasant picture. At least the natural environment is good, I thought and felt a little assured about living in this neighborhood.

After I settled down in Tilton Street I couldn't help feeling that I made a wise choice because this neighborhood is not only picturesque, cool , but also a very friendly and warm neighborhood. The second Saturday after I arrived in Yale, we went to outlet to shop. When I returned from Clinton outlet and got off the taxi, the bag which contained my wallet with cash and two credit cards and passport slipped from my lap and dropped on Mansfield street, but I didn't realize I lost my bag at all, so did my partners until late at night. When I realized I lost it, it was already two to three hours later. I was really very worried, I checked everywhere for my wallet but found no trace of it. As the last resort I called 911 taking the suggestion of my partners. When 911 contacted Yale police during the call, Yale police told 911 somebody had already found my wallet and handed in my wallet to Yale police! When I heard "They found the wallet", I couldn't believe my ears. I kept asking the policeman did someone really find my wallet and hand it in to Yale police and the answer was confirmative. So someone who lives in our neighborhood must find my wallet and hand it in to Yale police without hesitation at all because it happened just a couple of hours ago. The day when I claimed my belongings in Yale police, I asked the policeman who picked up my wallet and handed it in because I wanted to thank her/him, the policeman told the person who found my wallet didn't leave name or address. How nice a person he/she is! Our neighbors are also very ready to help us. This afternoon the door of our bathroom couldn't be opened. After we tried in vain many ways to open it, I and Joana asked our neighbor a young guy who was painting his house to help us, he dropped his work and agreed to help us very readily and solved our problem quickly.

How nice neighbors we have! I feel very lucky to have so nice neighbors in a foreign country like America.