Got a Taste of the Nation’s Largest Single-Campus University
Since most of other people would probably write about the orientation in their first blogs, I would like to talk about my experience AFTER the orientation first. I got a taste of the huge campus of Ohio State. Yesterday afternoon, I walked on and around the Oval and visited the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library (the main library of the university). I did not use the word “explored” because there was no way one can touch all the details of the two places in an afternoon. I doubt a whole day is enough, either.
It was the geocaching game in orientation the day before that initiated my trip. The MAcc class was divided into teams of six and the teams competed with each other to collect stickers from various locations, using a handy GPS. I had driven through the campus several times before, but didn’t realize until the game how large the campus is and how many places I had missed. So there I walked. I was first stunned by the library, the most transparent I’ve ever seen—glass ceilings, crystal-clear windows in the reading room, the two-story see-through reception hall, and the most distinctive, the glass-shielded stack shelf area that looks like a giant glass cube “floating” in the middle of the library building.
Walked out from the library, the breeze at the Oval was soft and refreshing. Watching squirrels chasing one another, digging holes and chewing nuts; spotting dogs with tennis or frisbee in their mouth; enjoying being embraced by the greens…I found myself got lost in the Oval (too bad). Is it because I love the geocaching game so much that I was given a chance to do it again?!
After trying different directions and walking a long distance, I managed to locate a bus-stop and arrived home safe and sound. The blissful feeling from my “exploration” was hurt a bit by the Google map, indicating the campus area I reached was barely one tenth of the whole campus. I won’t post the pictures of the Oval, because that was how I underestimated the Oval’s size. Come check it out and feel it yourself. Don’t imagine the size of a football field, that’s not even close. Think about multiple ones!
But I do want to share the joy of winning the geocaching game, oh yeah, we won! Here’s the prize—a scarlet Fisher mug! Go Team One, we are the best!