Why I Enjoy College Campuses, and Broomball

So Friday I went to this ice rink to meet with some people from 262 to participate in this thing called Broomball. Broomball is kind of like ice hockey, only its not. You basically attempt to hit a ball (or three or however many Mr. Z throws out) into a net on the other side of the room. You hit it with this broomstick-like thing, oh and did I mention that you're on an ice rink with no skates, but rather either sneakers or hiking boots.

Anyway, so that was what I did on Friday from 10 til about Midnight. I originally planned to rant about this one kid who kept hitting me for no reason, but that runs along the lines of the "This is NOT a Coat" incident. For this reason, I will not be slanderous.

So on Saturday I woke up earlier than my average (ha) Saturday and took a ride to Oakland to visit the campus of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). I went there for a merit badge class and, above all, just to visit Oakland.

There's something magical and enchanting about snow in Pittsburgh. This Saturday brought a lot of snow down onto the campus with a strangely quiet and serene reception. Of course there was a little hustle and bustle about the campus naturally with college students going wherever they were going. I also saw the increasingly snow-covered "fence." Bottom line, its this random fence in the middle of the green at Carnegie Mellon that every year gets painted in the dead of night. After like 60 years or whatever of being painted, its about a foot and a half in diameter.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

Anyway, this green containing the fence, as well as the CMU drama dept's posters proclaiming "Les Enfants Terribles" and "Sweeney Todd" amongst the upcoming attractions has a large drop off cliff thingy to the right of it as you pass between the drama building and the Humanities and Social Sciences building. This drop off serves some importance I assume, but bottom line, there is a building in the middle of that called "Hamershiag Hall" or whatever that has this round thing on top of it that is the sole piece of architecture that CMU is known for. See the picture to the right.

So anyway, this green is high enough and far enough behind that you can look straight out and see simultaneously this circle thingy and the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. This was quite beautiful with the snow falling and everything.

No, I didn't take this, but its what I was trying to illustrate.
Source: WIKIPEDIA

Here you have two universities known worldwide for their technology and medicine (CMU and Pitt, respectively) less than a mile or two away from each other.

On my way home, I tried figuring just where CMU ends and Pitt begins. In reality, they are intertwined, with buildings dotted amongst each other splattered all across Oakland. Its an interesting idea, just how two things can coexist like this.