I live in Manzanita which is the furthest up the hill of all the Forrest dorms. (If you've never been to campus and have no idea what I'm talking about, that's ok you can check out the campus map to get an idea of what I'm talking about). Academics are all on one half of the campus, and Residential Halls are all on the other half and It's all pretty neatly split down the middle by the gorge. Campus can feel big sometimes but from the farthest point of one side (my dorm building) to the other (Fir Acres Theater) it's really only ever a 15-20 min walk, and typically it takes me 10 minutes to get to my classes. It's the perfect sized campus for me, big enough to house everything I need but cozy and comfortably walkable.
Depending on the day my walk could be a 7-minute sprint down the hill when I'm late, or a reassuring half-hour stroll with music and my camera. I'm not much of a morning person and sometimes I sleep in a little later than I should and I have to make up some time with a brisk job and intermittent sprinting to class. There are a few sets of stairs between where I live and muy classes and sometimes when I want to pretend to be cool I'll slide down the railings to go fast. Important note: it's much cooler if you're listening to good music, and make sure the railings are dry. You can always gauge how late you are to class based on how many other people are also on the paths to class and how much they're sprinting too.
A fast-paced race to class is one way to start the day, but if you're better at getting up than I am, a nice leisurely stroll is by far better. Some mornings when I do get up early enough I'll walk pat the Bon (fields dining hall) and stop in for toast or yogurt and maybe some juice or tea. I like to take a piece of toast or a muffin to munch on the last bit of the walk to class, it's usually the perfect amount of time to finish what I'm eating. This time of year it's getting colder and on my early morning walks I usually have my jacket wrapped tight around me, but by the afternoon it's usually warm and often still sunny. I like looking at the newly fallen leaves on the paths before they're picked up throughout the day.
At the end of the day when I'm done with my last class or my last meeting I usually try to head back to my room or sometimes I head to dinner then back to my room for a bit. Depending on where I am I like to walk back to my room through the estate gardens and across the bridge up through all the trees by the apartments and the basketball courts up to my room. Whenever possible I try to find an excuse to walk through the estate gardens because there's always a beautiful view and sometimes we even get to see mount hood. If I have time sometimes I like to take it nice and slow up the hill and take photos with my phone as I walk along. It's a lot of uphill stairs and no matter what shape you're in it's a good little daily workout going up the stairs so sometimes it's nice to take it slow and ambling. Hopefully you enjoy these photos I've taken at different times just with my phone. They're little pieces of campus life.I'm a tour guide with admissions, and often when people ask why I chose LC I list a number of factors and the beauty of the campus is always one of them. It seems like a superficial thing, and it is, but it can be really important. I like to tell people that even on a rainy day when I haven't seen the sun in a few days and I'm a little stressed, I always still find something beautiful on campus to make me feel good.
