Today Stephanie and I went out for a small tour of College Hill. We went to a few places including the Rockefeller Library (A.K.A. The Rock), admissions office and the financial aid office. We also made many small stops along the way for some "Kodak" moments.
The first time we stopped was at The Rock. It is a very large library. Upon entering the rotating doors, we could sense a feeling of a modern museum type decor. It was also a relief from the hot air outside, as the air conditioning made me think back to the cool west coast breezes back home. To the left we could see a mini snack stand and on the left, four very modern chairs surrounding a round wooden table. Go a little further and turn around and we saw a large list of sponsors' names, including Ford Motor Co. and the state of Rhode Island. Go through the safety screens and we saw many volumes of books, but to our left, we saw chandeliers in different heights and they looked amazing. Go down to the bottom and we noticed that there are five genuine leather arm chairs to relax in. Stephanie and I took this time to lament the small quirks of Brown but happy to know that the good out weighs the bad. Upon further research, it turns out that the Brown Library has over 2,500,000 volumes ranging from paper to papyrus.
The next stop was to the admissions office down the street. The funny thing is that we got lost and accidentally entered the economics building. I was not expecting what I saw. Looked up and there was a circular roof with halls running around it, from the floor level, and then from there, 5 more levels. What confused me is why our finance class was not located in this building. It was a very stunning building and I was not expecting it to be that big from the outside.
After that stop, we found the building. It was a lot cozier and close than the other buildings but still had the historic touch to it. We decided to sit in the living room and soak in the atmosphere, when one book caught my eye. It seemed very special for some reason. It was called "Up One Flight Of Stairs." I have never heard about it in my life so I did more research and found out it was made in the early 1900's and it was one of the earliest writings dedicated to children. We also took the time to ask questions of the secretary about meeting the admissions officers, but unfortunately, we were not permitted to go through and talk to them. In the end we picked up some very helpful packets and a map and continued on to the next site.
Next on our itinerary was the financial aid office. After riding up to the second floor of the modern designed building, we walked through more glass doors where we were greeted by a friendly face, which belongs to a woman named Liz. She was very helpful in answering all of our questions. Some questions included the work study and if there were varying rates paid to those who do other forms of work.
This would have to be one of the busiest after-class tours I have ever done. It was full of helpful information in helping making sure that when looking for a college, we cover all the points, being sure to leave no stone unturned and no glass agitated.
Nice pictures Andrew!!!! I like how you accentuate the architecture of the Rock.
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeleteOne of the nice things about college libraries is that not only are they FILLED with books but they look like what we might think a library should look like.
Many communities--like Hercules--have a very nice library but still they don't usually look like what we would think a library should look like. For instance, the Hercules Library looks very modern. The Richmond Library, just looks old and run down.
We want real libraries to look like they're a hundred years old without actually looking like they're old (in the sense of so many of our run down local libraries), I suppose it's that we want our libraries to look grandiose and historic.
University libraries often have that luxury. When the school is older than dirt to begin with and their main focus is to transfer that knowledge held within those books to the tens of thousands of students attending that school, then they are more willing to pour their money into building and maintaining a top flight library.