I've been including photos in my posts, and I should give them some context. I went around Madison two afternoons at the end of September and took a bunch of pictures. Like... a bunch. So far I've included some that show the neighborhood around my apartment and some that show scenes from the campus periphery. Included below are some from campus itself. The leaves remain yellow in the photos because they are still the ones from three weeks ago. The reality here is different. Most of the leaves are down... already.
So far I'm actually adjusting to Madison weather pretty well. But then I did spend two months in South America and had three hours of rain the entire time; I was prepared to be disappointed by everything when I came back. So Madison hasn't been too bad. Plus, I've been too busy to much care about the weather. Tuesdays I don't even look out of a window between 9am and 6pm. And when it's shitty outside, I only concentrate better on my work. So I feel an emotional disconnection with the weather. But I can acknowledge that it has been disappointing. As soon as the semester started, it turned cold and rainy. And apart from exceptions I can count on my fingers, it never looked back. I hear tell this isn't typical for Madison autumns. Neither are the leaves changing color in September. Everyone reassures me that Madison is usually temperate through most of October and the leaves change sometime around then and it never rains this much. I can only assume they are lying, as these are all people with a stake in my not fleeing the state.
...Which I swore I would do if it snowed before my birthday. So I've got about half of my stuff packed, and I just need to figure out how to get out of my lease. I never thought to look for an out clause based on premature snow. One of my students says it doesn't count, because it didn't stick, but I say semantics. Air temperature, the movement of fronts, weather goblins with tiny snow machines... whatever. White stuff fell from the sky. I know what that is. It's snow. Peace out, Midwest.
Really, I love it here. I love that I live one block from the lake. I love the public transportation. I love the hippies with strollers and the farmers market and the negligible population of Republicans. I love that there's too much going on for me to do even half of the things I'd like to. I love the draw of a liberal Midwest capital city that brings Andrew Bird, Mark Danielewski, and Neil Gaiman in the same month. I love Erinn, and I love Kevin, and I love my apartment.
Just don't talk to me in mid-January. I'll be sitting in front of my fireplace with a two month supply of food and a bad attitude.
This is Bascom Hill, which is UW's version of a central campus mall. It goes steeply uphill and its buildings contain nothing I will ever use. I never walk up Bascom Hill. But it's pretty.
This is the Union. A couple of posts ago I uploaded a picture of the lake terrace. That's what's on the other side of this building. Inside there's coffee, food, beer, and some other random stuff. I spend most of my time on the terrace outside.
This is the Red Gym, probably the strangest and most-photographed building on campus. It houses the visitor's center and probably a whole bunch of other stuff, considering its size. But I couldn't tell you what those things are.
This is yet another building I like but never set foot in. Pretty picture.
As you might guess, most of the buildings I actually use are very, very, very ugly.
2 comments:
mwahahaha midwest.
see, only now do they realize that building most of Madison in the 70s was a bad idea, architecturally. now, there is a city-wide plan to raze and re-build in a less-heinous style. really, now... is that good planning?
PS, Winter is cool for the 20 minutes you spend walking across the lake...
PPS, didn't tell you before, but now that you're here-- the earth's gravity is greater in the midwest. You are going to have a hard time achieving escape velocity. BWA HA HA
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