Where it All Began....
On Monday, my DH and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. How crazy is that - time seems to be speeding up! To celebrate, we left our children with their grandparents at the family cabin on Palomar Mt. while we stayed in downtown La Jolla for 2 nights. For old times' sake we decided to visit our Alma Matter: The University of California, San Diego (UCSD). We both graduated from UCSD's Revelle College (designed for science nerds) in 1993 - DH in the traditional 4 years, me - 4+. After graduation, he and I loaded up his 1978 green VW pop-top and drove (with lots of push-starting/popping the clutch - think "Little Miss Sunshine") to Alaska. The rest, as it is said, is history (and hopefully a very long future).
Here's my dorm - one of Revelle college's "mud-huts" called Galathea. My room my freshman year is the corner room on the 3rd floor. My friends and I thought it was a great idea to live in the same dorm again during our sophomore year (the year DH and I met) - an idea that quickly got old. We moved to the 4th floor on the opposite side. DH lived in an adjacent mud-hut called "Discovery" - often shorted to "Disco" by some practical jokesters. I wonder how many times UCSD had to replace the -very letters.
This is the Revelle anchor - outside the cafeteria which at the time was named "Anchorview". DH and I both worked there during school. Say what you will about working for the dining services - not very glamorous, I know. However, when it comes to cutting your grocery bill as a poor college student, working at the 'caf' was just the ticket. The anchor is constantly getting make-overs. In the dead of night, groups of students will come and re-paint and decorate the anchor. One contribution while we were at school was the anchor covered in cotton balls.
This is Urey Hall - home of the physics department. However, most Revelle college students know this building for the annual Watermelon drop. According to Revelle history, a physics professor asked his students one year how large a splat a watermelon would make if it were dropped from the top (7th floor) of Urey Hall. Good science is based on experimental results, so of course students took a watermelon and chucked it from the top of Urey. It is now an annual tradition - complete with a watermelon talent show to determine the watermelon king/queen. After the drop, students enjoy watermelon chilled in the Revelle fountain.
This is what we knew as Central Library, now known as Geisel library. It was renamed in honor of Theodore Geisel - better known as Dr. Seuss. His widow has made countless, generous contributions to UCSD, so in 1995 the library was renamed in their honor. It's a fantastic library, one of 9 on the campus and one I wish I could say I took great advantage of. However..... I think I only used it maybe twice. Primarily as it was far from my dorm & 2nd, being in the library was more of a distraction for me. I'd always find something else to do - doodling, counting calories to maintain racing weight as the varsity coxswain, (the link takes you to a great LA Times article about being a female coxswain for Men's crew. I was on the women's crew - but one of my teammates, Meghan and a former suite-mate in my dorm, Annette, and my former coach, Jack, are all quoted) or just people watching.
This is the Sun God - a piece of art in the Stuart collection and icon of the UCSD campus. I remember when I first arrived on campus, my dad thought this was the San Diego chicken. :0) This is where the Sun God festival used to take place while we were at school. I think I only got to attend the music festival once, as the timing always seemed to coincide when I was up in Sacramento for the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships. 
The trip down memory lane was fun - it's amazing how much the campus has changed since we were there. I'm glad that not only did UCSD provide me with a fantastic education but also the opportunity to meet my fabulous DH. UCSD was just the beginning of many, wonderful adventures.
Happy Anniversary DH!!
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5 comments:
That's surely a romantic way to spend the anniversary - walking down to the Univ where you met. Pretty sure you were talking about things like "this used to be where we…" and "that's not here before" and all the exciting findings. Students who live in the univ and in the dorms near it sure have an experience to cherish.
I certainly enjoyed your blog post. I spent three and a half years in the Mud Huts, mostly in suite 450 of Beagle. I don't remember my room number, but it was the corner unit on the side that had three rooms--456, I think? I might have looked into other living arrangements, but we were a German language house and I wanted that. Because we were on the top floor, my room had the high ceiling, of which I always took full advantage by borrowing one of the larger art reproductions from Cluster. (I'm not sure that's even a library anymore).
I like the way Beatrice puts it..."that's where we met" and "that's didn't used to be there"...to which I had, "That's not York Hall, it's USB".
I'm ambivalent about the renaming of Central Library to Geisel Library. In spite of the monetary contributions, I'm not sure Geisel or Dr. Seuss really fits the spirit of the place. Certainly, we who grew up in the 1960 all learned to read with The Cat In The Hat, but does that remain true for younger generations? And if Ms. Geisel really wanted to be generous with her money, then she could have been generous. She shouldn't have insisted that they renamed the library for her.
I was there 1987-1992. My wife was there in 1987-1991 (she's the smart one). My most recent visit was with my 17 year old son and 15 year old daughter in 3/2019. The campus had a more east coast wooded feel (through the eucalyptus trees) back then and the cafeterias that are no longer there (anchorview cafeteria at Revelle, ratskeller at muir college, che cafe), now it's more like a mall food court with commercial restaurants. In 1987, I loved it how I'd walk through a street or trail and then all of a sudden it opened up to the central library (aka geisel now).
I was there 1987-1992. My wife was there in 1987-1991 (she's the smart one). My most recent visit was with my 17 year old son and 15 year old daughter in 3/2019. The campus had a more east coast wooded feel (through the eucalyptus trees) back then and the cafeterias that are no longer there (anchorview cafeteria at Revelle, ratskeller at muir college, che cafe), now it's more like a mall food court with commercial restaurants. In 1987, I loved it how I'd walk through a street or trail and then all of a sudden it opened up to the central library (aka geisel now). I worked at Oceanview cafeteria at 5th college and I agree that while not glamorus, we got free food and I learned so much about making sandwiches.
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