Charlottesville On-Grounds!

Three weekends ago, Heather, Tim, and I took a day trip to Charlottesville.  I had never been there before so I was stoked about going!  I was excited that Heather was coming with to show us around!

I couldn't resist getting this self portrait with Tim sleeping in the background :)

Heather and I on the way to Charlottesville!  I couldn't get all of us in the picture with Tim sleeping.

Our first stop was the University of Virginia law school where Heather graduated from a few years ago.

I love this self portrait of all of us!

Inside of the law school was this hall.  Tim and I found the name quite interesting.   Of course it's named after someone with the last name Slaughter, but we still thought it was funny :)

The law school is really nice!   It is two stories.  There are four long hallways with class rooms, study rooms, offices, lockers, and bathrooms in it.  (You know all the normal stuff at a university;)  There is a large outdoor courtyard in the middle of all of the buildings, which is where we are standing in the picture above.

Another view of the courtyard!

At UVA when they say on-campus housing, they mean on-campus housing.  This on-campus housing is right in the middle of the campus.  Although only very special people get to live in this on-grounds housing, it still is fascinating how smack dab in the middle of the campus they live. 

Anyway, the dorm room pictured below (which is one of the special dorm rooms) was occupied by Edgar Allan Poe for a semester.

Apparently all of the rooms still have this wood flooring.  We didn't get to see any furnished ones while we were there (I wanted to though).  

Look at this cool s-shaped wall on-campus!  Heather took this awesome picture of it!

The Rotunda!  It's a beautiful building! I wanted to go inside, but we did not because we wanted time for other things we were planning to do.  (Don't you just love the black coverings on the top of the pillars? ;)

This picture was taken from the balcony of the Rotunda.  This building is a house that a professor would live in.  (We don't think anyone lives there now.)  But there was a whole row of these houses. This area is called the Academical Village, which was named by Thomas Jefferson. (As I learned from Heather:)   Although no one lives in this one, H believes that some of the other houses in the Academical Village are still occupied.

On the other side of the Rotunda.

Look at this wedding at the church on UVA campus!  There was a white limo waiting for the bride and groom to come out.  The church was beautiful and I like the color contrast of the light brown church and white wedding gown and blue bridesmaids dresses.

Tim got this cool shot with the angel statue (or whatever it is) and the cool house on the hill above it!

On campus were these chalkboard walls with all sorts of thoughts and quotes on them. Here's one that we found interesting.  

I really liked UVA campus! It was nothing like I expected it to be.  I'm not quite sure what I expected, but it was different than I imagined.  It is a beautiful campus!  

Stay tuned for another post to finish off the day at Charlottesville...

P.S. Most of these pictures were taken by Tim.  Thanks Tim for sharing your pictures since I forgot my camera that day.  

Public Transportation!

Public Transportation.

Public transportation is special. Think about it.  You work in the city.  You need to take the metro to work during rush hour.  You get on the train and all the seats are taken and everyone is crowded at the doors.  It's not as crowded in the middle (because people don't scoot in as much as they should), but you can't get past the people at the doors so you just stand at the doors with everyone else.

You're very close to and often times touching complete strangers. You don't know which way to turn because any way you look, you're staring into someone's face.  They have the bars so high that you have your sweaty armpit in someone's face or you're too far away from a bar that you can't hold onto anything.  That's especially fun when the train slows down or stops suddenly and then you're trying really hard not to touch anyone in an inappropriate place. 

I don't tell you all of this to complain (I am very grateful for public transportation), but I tell you this as an observation.  I've been going to downtown D.C. for work, twice a week on the metro.  Let's just say if you have a personal bubble, then on the metro or bus or whatever the case may be, it is gone. Out the window.  So long.   Sayonara.  Do svidaniya.  Au revoir.  Zai jian.  Adios.