My home and place of study, for the next four years or so.
The campus is
great, in a shit way. It's undeniably ugly, no matter what the weather, but looks wonderful
at night, when the moon and the building lights reflect off the vast lake. Another joy is being
surrounded by ducks. It may just be me, but I can't help being
cheered up by watching nature's most absurd creations going about their day, especially when they try to land on the lake. The geese, however, are
evil bastard predators who hunt in packs. Although watching them attack short-wearing
joggers does make me smile, I'll admit.
The lake is the campus'
saving grace, there's no denying it. Not only does it make the place bearable and provide a home for the ducks, but it prevented the entire place sinking in this year's
flooding. All rain on campus flows to the lake, which then dumps it's load in the
Derwent river. Which then floods the nearby town of
Selby, but hey, at least we students are dry.
We're the future, you know.
The campus is pleasingly
politically apathetic, although religious groups seem to be quite active. The various
student cinema options are superb, although the
Student Union Ents nights feel like they're trying too hard to kick off York's reputation as a relatively
sedate campus (it is, and that's why I like it). My only
real complaint with the place is the fact that it's got no
venue; gigs in the Central Hall were banned after the place was trashed by
Bob Geldof's
Boomtown Rats. Thanks a bunch, Bob.
Oh, and with regards to the computer labs, there's now three of them, and they run a
NT4/
W2K/
Slack7 triple boot. Most
CompSci assignments done using Linux proggies, and the whole place doesn't feel
too corporate, although
Nortel Networks have plastered all the machines in these labs with stickers and branded mousemats,
lest we forget their donation.