Part of the challenge in blogging is finding a way to relate all of these small stories you have. Just passing by random places trigger so many memories. It's nearly impossible to remember all of this off the top of your head. So in an effort to get everything out there, this is what I see on my morning walk to class.
As soon as I step out of Webster, I cross Dithridge. This puts me in front of a huge church, called St. Paul's. It's easily the most majestic building in Pittsburgh, built in an old style that reminds me of my trip to Paris and the Notre Dame. It is also owner to a giant bell, which apparently wakes up half of Webster. I'm not entirely sure I believe this since I have never heard the bell. Then again, I am a rather heavy sleeper - I once slept through a burglar alarm.
To get to campus, I have to cross exactly 3 streets. Waiting for lights is never an option. I prefer to shamelessly J-walk all over the place. Choosing an appropriate timing, however, is a skill I have been developing for a while now. It involves knowing how the surrounding traffic lights are timed, which changes based on the time of day. For example, I know I can get away with crossing Forbes on a green light before 9pm, but after 9pm I have to check that there is a car in the right turn lane of Morewood, otherwise it will skip a cycle.
After I cross Fifth street, I make a turn onto Craig street. This is the location of basically every restaurant I eat at regularly. It contains standard chains like Starbucks, Subway and Quizznos. It has typical Asian restaurants, called Little Asia, Lulu's noodles, and Oriental Express. It also has a collection of strange shops. There's a place that sells crepes, which I have somehow not been to yet. This in part has to do with their bizarre opening hours - they apparently are closed all of Monday. There's a pizza place which tastes pretty good, but feels extremely sketchy. It's called Maximum Flavor Pizza, which does not do much to inspire confidence in it. I'm convinced that every slice of their pizza I eat costs me a year of my life. Next to that there's a place that is devoted only to selling cupcakes. They have pictures of all their flavors on the door, which is truly a cruel taunt. I've actually stopped and bought one on the way to class, which felt kind of bad because it was 9:30 in the morning.
After another skillful street crossing. I find myself at the entrance to campus that I usually take. This route took me the better part of my freshman year and the first few weeks of this year to work out. See, the problem with navigation in the CMU Campus is that although it's not big, there's another dimension you have to deal with, since everything is built on hills and such. The most efficient way to get from Porter Hall to the Gates Center, for example, is to walk across to the fifth floor of Wean, go down a flight of stairs, take the bridge to Newell-Simon, and take another bridge to the fourth floor of Gates. My route to class has me walk through this arbitrary building whose name I do not know, up three flights of stairs, across a bridge, down two more flights of stairs and through a very secret-looking down which I sincerely hope isn't restricted access. I'm quite proud of it. It shows my impressive knowledge of campus, except for the part where I walk through a building I've never seen on a map.
Walking onto the correct floor and passed the vending machine that is facing backwards, I get to class at around 9:25. I'll sit down, take a breather (I did have to walk up and down a lot of stairs, after all), and get ready for my day to begin.
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