Thoughts on Campus

The campus is exactly and not at all the way I imagined it. The beautiful pictures from the website made it look like the buildings were more spread apart. In the residential part of campus at least, the buildings are rather nestled together, distinct buildings, but they give me the sense of being closed in like a city block or large neighborhood.  (Disclaimer: my verb tense is/was/will be/has been all over the place…womp)

My Washington College campus suddenly feels tiny and flat and boringly organized in comparison. Because the building all look uniformly the same but uniquely distinct at the same time I get turned around and just let the one-day-on-campus veterans lead the way. The campus is probably smaller than I think and I will become more familiar with it eventually. The entirety of campus is fairly uniform and identifiable. There are some newer buildings and some departments that used to be Grahamstown residences. The buildings are also intimidatingly tall to me. Most buildings at WAC (Washington College) are 2 stories (3 max) tall. At the bottom of a hill, staring up at the solid flat façade of a monochrome 4-5 story building I feel miniscule.

Okay…how to describe the buildings…They look familiar to me but somehow unlike any architecture I’ve seen before. They feel more familiar to me now, but that is perhaps because I’ve been here a week. The novelty and strangeness has worn off somewhat. Perhaps also, the buildings are comprised of an eclectic combination of architectural elements I’ve known throughout my life. But actually.

The base of most buildings resembles Wisahicken shist (sp?) (the type of stone common in the Philadelphia area). The rock looks like it belongs on the side of a cathedral or at Bryn Mawr College. And that only goes on until about a foot off the ground. The majority of any given building looks like off-white plaster of some sort. I thought it was a bit bland and boring at first, but it’s starting to grow on me. The windows have white frames and black shutters that remind me of my grandparents’ Friends Meeting house. The roofs are terra cotta rounded tile that look like the roofs in Spain at the beginning of Dreamworks’ The Road to El Dorado (but that could just be because I watched that movie with my love last night. Yes we watched another movie together. It was glorious. Also Tulio and Miguel are my favorite <3) Anything else is brick, which I associate with my beloved Washington College campus. (I belovedly hardcore stubbed my toe on a protruding brick in the sidewalk this morning. It was awesome. Be jealous)

For your viewing pleasure, here are a variety of shots from campus:

Final word on campus: No matter where you are going YOU WILL WALK UPHILL….