The first camp I worked for last summer was situated on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus (M.I.T.). Since its founding in 1861, M.I.T. has become one of the world's foremost technical institutions. The five major departments of the University include Science, Engineering, Humanities, Social Science and Architecture which are taught on a beautiful campus, in Cambridge, MA, across the Charles River from Boston.
All the camp activities took place on the third floor of the Stratton Student Center, in the computer lab which was set up especially for this purpose. There were only commuter campers, who came in in the morning, and went home in the evening. The staff were accomodated in one of M.I.T.'s dorms, The Next House, which is within a ten-minute walk from the student center.
As a matter of fact, Boston is one of the safest American cities, and a walk from the lab to the dorm, on Amherst Alley, proves to be quite relaxing even after 4 a.m., after a late "evening" spent chatting with friends back home, who have already started "tomorrow". (The time difference between Boston and Romania is 7 hours.)
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Stratton Student Center was built in memory of one of M.I.T.'s presidents, who served his office with honour for more than twenty years, Adam Stratton. The student center is one of the central buildings on campus. It accomodates many conference rooms, shops, a post office, resting lounges - where one can relax, watch TV, or take a nap on one of the many couches - , the cafeteria - with its daily pizzas, pastas, burgers, fries, sodas, seafood, specials, |
| and delicious Sundae Pies -, and worth mentioning, on the fifth floor, the restricted computer lab of the M.I.T.'s Computer Science nerds. | |
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This is a view from the lab window. There is a beautiful lawn in front of the student center, which is full of people studying or relaxing on a warm sunny day, during the school year.
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The student center is alive day and night, all year long. It is quite common to find people spending the night there. If you want to watch a movie about it, click this link. You need Quicktime to run it.
The Next House is the last dorm built on campus, in the seventies. It is situated at 500 Memorial Drive, at the end of a long line of fraternity houses and dormitories, after the dorm called The New House, all lying between Memorial Drive and Amherst Alley. Even if officially it was named W71 - as all buildings on campus have such a code name - the nickname finally prevailed and became official.
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The main entrance, though, is on Amherst Alley. Access is usually restricted to residents, who have to use their magnetic cards to enter, unless the front desk people unlock the door first. |
The Next House has a well-equipped weight room just by the front desk, a large waiting hall, with couches and TV's, a ping-pong and a pool table, a laundry room, a cafeteria of its own, reading lounges on each floor. There are few students in Summer School, so the building was almost empty, and not very clean, with a stale smell everywhere. As most American dorms, it is for both boys and girls, with shared showers and toilets.
If you wish to take a virtual walk along Amherst Alley, follow this link. You need Quicktime to be installed.
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