![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a>It's easy for me to think of myself as being a little flighty. You could shack me up alone on an wooded island for a week, plunk me down in the middle of Calcutta, or place me in the dusty old attic of Granny's turn-of-the-century farmhouse, and I wouldn't complain. But put me somewhere ugly, in a suburban strip-mall or in the midst of Ryerson campus (where I used to be a student), and this happy camper would be no more.\n\nI had an epiphany a couple of years ago while walking around the St. George campus: it dawned on me that I am at my happiest when surrounded by beautiful things. By this I don't mean that I want to swathe myself in beauty queens and Chippendales, but that I like to live in places where, when I look around, the landscape or the architecture shocks me with its charm. When I think back to most of the cities in which I've lived, the countries through which I've travelled, the farmhouses I've fallen in love with, even the forests I have camped in, this makes a lot of sense. When I can look around and breathe a silent \"wow,\" I am normally quite content.\n\nBecause of this trait I've sometimes wondered if part of the reason I like being at U of T is because I've fallen in love with the university's old buildings, its snowy stone-enclosed pathways, and its grassy courtyards.\n\nVisual Details I like most about U of T:\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost3.jpg\")
<\/a>-The gargoyles. Sitting on the rooftops and corners of old campus buildings, tongues spilling out and eyes bulging.\n\n-Imagining walking in the exact same places as my grandparents once did, 80 years ago.\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost1.jpg\")
<\/a>-All the stone. Everywhere stone buildings. Old school, for Canadian standards, where everything outside of Quebec is new.\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost5.jpg\")
<\/a>-Pane-glassed windows. Particularly when the sun shines through, and I'm on the receiving end. Patches of coloured light all over the floor.\n\n-Light coming in through Vic's giant\u00a0windows, shining through the room in streaks and illuminating dust. Great for atmosphere in Latin class.\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost6.jpg\")
<\/a>-The courtyards and back-passages. University College's courtyard is probably my favourite, as all noise from the street is blocked out within its walls and birds sing in the trees.\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost7.jpg\")
<\/a>-Iron-wrought details. The iron latches on old windows, complete with curly details.\n\n-The maze of buildings. In winter, the walkways from one class to another leaving footprints behind.\n\n-The piano player in UC who practices on the third floor, and who you can hear in spring and summer in the courtyard.\n\n-The Rare Books Library<\/a>.\n\n-The Rare Books librarians.\n\n-First snowfalls in King's College Circle. When I stand in the middle of the lawn, and no one is too close to me, I can imagine the campus as if seeing it in black and white, thanks to all the snow. A bit like the old black and white photographs my mother has collected from when her parents were students here.\n\n- Mary","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![<\/a>It's easy for me to think of myself as being a little flighty. You could shack me up alone on an wooded island for a week, plunk me down in the middle of Calcutta, or place me in the dusty old attic of Granny's turn-of-the-century farmhouse, and I wouldn't complain. But put me somewhere ugly, in a suburban strip-mall or in the midst of Ryerson campus (where I used to be a student), and this happy camper would be no more.\n\nI had an epiphany a couple of years ago while walking around the St. George campus: it dawned on me that I am at my happiest when surrounded by beautiful things. By this I don't mean that I want to swathe myself in beauty queens and Chippendales, but that I like to live in places where, when I look around, the landscape or the architecture shocks me with its charm. When I think back to most of the cities in which I've lived, the countries through which I've travelled, the farmhouses I've fallen in love with, even the forests I have camped in, this makes a lot of sense. When I can look around and breathe a silent \"wow,\" I am normally quite content.\n\nBecause of this trait I've sometimes wondered if part of the reason I like being at U of T is because I've fallen in love with the university's old buildings, its snowy stone-enclosed pathways, and its grassy courtyards.\n\nVisual Details I like most about U of T:\n\n](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2009\/03\/marchmarypost4.jpg\"){kind=link}