Five Senses of the Quad on Friday

This past Friday afternoon, I was up on the Quad and there was a lot of activity. It’s been a long time since I’d done a Five Senses post, so I thought this would be a good day to do one. Enjoy.

I see…

• A man walking a smallish dog.
• LOTS of visiting families. Looks like there are two distinct tour groups on the Quad.
• A student in a hammock tied outside Reynolda on the Davis Hall side of the building.
• People taking a picture right on the steps of Wait Chapel. I assume it is a campus visit family?
• A student with a mullet. Trying to see if it was intentional. It looks intentional.
• Lots of smiling faces. It is a gorgeous day. Hard not to feel happy.
• Another dog! This one looks a bit like a Doodle of some sort, maybe with a bit of hound thrown in?
• A group of guys have pulled a café table onto the Quad grass. They look like they are studying together.
• A female student with beautiful hair down past her waist.
• Two students throwing a football.
• One student reading at the café table outside Kitchin.
• Administrators I know (from two different departments) catching up mid-Quad.
• Young women wearing very springy attire – sleeveless shirts, spaghetti straps – because it is probably 72 degrees out.
• Inauguration banners for Dr. Wente’s inauguration.
• A group of students outside Huffman lying on the grass. Several are on their stomachs, possibly reading.
• Most of the tables are full on the Zick’s patio.
• SO. Many. Visiting. Families!
• A student eating a granola bar while walking rather briskly to their next destination.
• A man in full-on WF attire: WF shirt, shorts, BRIGHT pink neon socks. He is looking proper!
• A pair of students walking a dog. The dog is some form of Doodle with interesting coloring. The dog can smell out that I am a Major Dog Person and lets me pet him. I chat with the owners briefly – the dog has a great, literary name.
• The guys that have a study table on the Quad grass now have friends standing at the table talking to them
• A duo of young women walking laps – slowly. Almost like a walking meeting. They pass me at least 3 times while I am there.
• A male student in a ball cap and tie dye shirt.
• People gathering mid-Quad for pictures (to get Wait Chapel in the background). I see two distinct families going for a pic at once. There is plenty of room for both.
• There is a female student carrying a rolled up something that I thought at first was an old-school Ramones logo poster. Turns out to be a Storage Scholars [student packing/moving company] banner. As she gets closer, I see she is with a handful of young women all wearing Storage Scholar shirts.

I hear…

• What I assume is a visiting mom walking by my bench, saying to her family “I *think* we can go into a classroom building..? but I don’t want to be disruptive…”
• High-pitched female laughter.
• A snippet of conversation from two students: “If I did my tour, it would have been no problem…”
• Someone with squeaky flip flops. Every time she takes a step, there is a squeak. She ran into someone she knew on the Quad and recounted a story of her being ill recently.
• “What are they going to do?” from a group of students walking by.
• Sounds of younger kids – maybe 7-10 years old – running on the Quad’s bricks, feet stomping. For two littlish kids, they have a powerful stomp.
• “Yeah, great to see you too!” as two people part company and walk in different directions.
• Rustling of leaves in the trees behind me.
• “WOW” from a group of female students.
• Someone telling a story of doing a lifeguard class…with people who clearly were not meant to be lifeguards. From the bit of conversation I overhear, it sounded like it was a disaster.
• One student walking by with a friend exclaiming “That is CRAP!” and the other one agreeing, saying “ummmmm…NO.” I find myself really wishing I knew what they were talking about.
• The sound of someone dropping a metal water bottle in the parking lot by the arch. It is a big, loud CLANK!
• “Do you want to go…this way?” says a prospective student to her family, somewhat tentatively.
• The quick, staccato, two-horn-honks that come with someone locking their car.
• “I’m surprised no one cleaned it up – see all the bags” – from what looks like a visiting dad as he passed by trash cans and saw the bags to collect animal waste.
• More laughter. 
• A female student’s name being yelled out from across the Quad by a friend.
• “BETSY!” Now my name is being called by a faculty member I know – who alas is late and sprinting to their next meeting, so we couldn’t chat.
• A visiting family saying “GOD it’s so nice out – I don’t want to go!”
• “Hello! How ARE you?” from one student to another.
• A visiting parent saying to their high schooler: “So now that you know what the acceptance rate is…?” hinting at a question to the student about whether we are still on their list or not.
• A young woman in a group of other women saying: “She wouldn’t even smooch him goodbye!” (I desperately want to know more!)
• A student giving a tour to a family that they clearly know (maybe family friends or neighbors from home?). The student points out landmarks: “This is the field where we’ll start our [charity] run.”
• Two students are walking by, deep in conversation. Student 1: “It’s a great location – has a doorman and a gym” and Student 2 replies: “Honestly – location matters.” These must be seniors talking about their first post-graduation apartment. 
• A male student saying to his group of friends: “This is where we were for her 21st birthday…” 

I feel…

• A gentle breeze.
• Wisps of hair that have come out of my barrette and are tickling my face.
• The warmth of the sun.
• The firm, smooth wood of the bench I am sitting on.
• Occasional bigger gusts of wind. Sometimes it makes the Inauguration banners on the lampposts flutter.
• The soft fur of Literary Doodle Dog when I pet him.
• Warmth on my lap – I am typing on my computer to take Five Senses notes, and I can feel the heat of my laptop through my linen pants.
• A little bit of envy that I am not 21 again, as I see all these students looking so carefree and happy for it to be the weekend 🙂

I smell…

• Clean, fresh air.
• The lingering scent of pollen. Hard to describe what it smells like – but if you know, you know.
• Dog smell. (Not a bad smell, just a dog smell). 

I taste…

• OK, I cheated. Not eating and drinking today, so it is just Four Senses.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of what the Quad looked like in late afternoon last Friday!

– by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (‘92, MA ‘94)