Old School For Real


This time of year, the population of the Boston area explodes with new and returning students. They are everywhere! Everyone is moving into apartments and dorms and getting ready for classes.

I was just emailing one of my friends from college and started wandering down memory lane. I wondered if I had any pictures from my college days that I could share here. I don't have that many and quite a few seem to be from one particular party. I'm sure that most of those people don't want me sharing drunk pictures of them, so those will stay in my photo album.

I do have a picture of my dorm room wall from 1984, my sophmore year. I went to Brandeis University for undergrad and was in East Quad the whole four years. I was in Hassenfeld-Krivof or Shapiro that year and Swig my freshman year, which everyone called "the fish bowl." There were gigantic windows and people walking past could just look in your room. I think it's a student center now. The campus has changed so much. I went back a few years ago for an alumni event. It was strange driving on campus, because I didn't have a car while I was in college. I walked everywhere or took the shuttle.

I always wanted to live in the Castle, but the housing lottery was very unkind to me. I remember thinking that I cannot walk up that hill everyday again! No wonder I could eat whatever I wanted then and not worry. Well I guess being 19 helped too!

I was really into collages, which I'm thinking I may start again. And I was obsessed with the pictures from the Oneida advertising campaign. I don't quite understand why, but I loved the pictures of the flatware... Wait I do get it! They were food pictures! I never understood until now.

Anyway, Brandeis has a really beautiful campus and Massell Quad is one of the prettiest areas. It's wonderful in the Fall, but especially in the Spring when all the trees are blooming. I'm so glad I took these pictures. You just never know when you'll want to look back one day. Welcome back kids! Take lots of pictures!

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Comments

Anonymous said…
very funny. Last weekend I was looking at some of my college pics and wondering if I'de get in trouble if I shared the drunk photos : ) Ah, the dorm room decorations... I really do love college stories. thanks for sharing. I haven't visited Brandeis yet, but those East Quad dorms look classic!
amisha said…
your dorm wall from way back then looks like my dorm wall now :) great trip down memory lane! i feel like i have been walking through my memories of going back to school as i am doing it... it's a funny feeling.
Sharon said…
I never got to go off to college and experience the whole dorm thing. I attended community college in NJ. Born & raised in NJ and I never ventured to the New England states... I've always regretted that! But I can still go... I just have to travel further.
starry said…
It is always fun going down memory lane.Whenever we visit India I try to go visit my old school.The last time I took my children there and they got to see the dorms etc and it was fun.
Dewey said…
I really enjoyed this post. I continued to live in the same small college town where I went to college, for 11 years after graduating (I only recently moved away), so I never really missed it. Until now! :)
jac said…
Is it in Boston ?
Lisa Johnson said…
jennifer - It does make you wonder what people with different "judgement skills" might share online. Yikes! The outside picture is actually Massell Quad.

amisha - I guess dorm walls look pretty much the same! For me law school was different, because I already had an apartment, so I didn't have the dorm experience there.

sharon - Well, I hope you visit New England. Fall is a really pretty time!

starry nights - That's so cool that your kids got go see your school! When I'm with my parents in Boston, they point out how things used to look when they were kids.

dewey - Thank you! That must have been hard moving after all that time.

jac - Brandeis is actually in Waltham, which is North of Boston. When my friends and I came into Boston, we would take the train. I have many memories of getting stranded when the train schedules would change without us knowing and we'd have to take a taxi back!
Unknown said…
Hey hey! Thanks heaps for enjoying my blog. It means a lot to me. Sometimes I think that I'm writing just for myself - in my better moments I think that I'm writing for my close friends. But it's certainly very heartening to hear that people who I don't know find my peach odyssey interesting. So thanks! I will check out your blog quite soon.
But to answer your questions - for a while I thought that I would never make it to the magic 100. But I only have fourteen peaches to go, so the magic number is fast approaching - and I will probably have a party or something. I'm going to keep the site alive as a sort of clearing-house for my edible journalism. Next summer I'm thinking of starting up the 1000 peaches project, which is just like the 100 peaches project, but anybody can post. So. Watch for that next summer. Again, thanks for reading!

B
Sai said…
Hey I love college stories. THanks for sharing yours.
Lisa Johnson said…
brendan - Welcome! I think your blog is so interesting! I completely agree with you that it's a shame to eat a horrible peach. But one thing that I do like trying is to find ways to save peaches or any fruits that aren't quite up to par. I haven't had any peaches this season, but last year I had some very bad ones. And I had several of them, so I chopped them up with some onions and other spices, cooked them and made a chutney! It was great!

sai - You're welcome! I love them too and have enjoyed reading yours! ; )
Tera said…
Collages are so much fun...they are definitely one of my children's favorite past-times!
Nance said…
my son now attends the same college i went to, and he's even living in the same dorm! one big difference: now, the floor he's living on is a "mixed floor." both boys and girls on the same floor. very different than when i attended 20+ years ago...!
CapCity said…
Boston does have some of the loveliest looking schools in & around it. I enjoyed the 'funkyness' of cambridge, but don't think i could bear it's winters...though maybe nyc has broken me in.NOT! each winter i wonder what made me move north of that daYum mason-dixon line. LOL!

*sigh* i DID enjoy college & love the school calendar, which is why this new employment search is so emotionally tough for me = transitioning OUT of education/the classroom...
Lisa Johnson said…
tera - I may be sharing some here at some point. ; )

nance - That's cool that you went to the same college. That reminds me of the Cosby show when Denise went to Hillman just like her father.

capcity - If you can deal with NY winters, you could deal with Boston's! I've been here my whole life and still cannot stand winter most of the time. It does have it's beautiful moments though, especially when I'm inside and warm looking out!

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