The Stanford campus is large. Not larger than any other University campus in the US, I suppose, but certainly larger than Cambridge and of course, no comparison at all to my little law school back home. As you know, this is why I bought my (beautiful, blue, cruiser) bike. As I suppose it happens with others (but so much less me, for I am a genius in these matters), I have been finding it difficult to get around this grand place - this new, beautiful place that I love, is more than magnificent, new. And for this reason, I am often on the wrong street, on the wrong side of the road, without headlights and breathless.
Today, on my way back from the altogether disastrous Math Quant class and after two hours of substantive reading (Durkheim!) and yet another hour of Zumba! (yes, it is spelt with a ! on the syllabus) - I rode home for the first time on a dark street and went completely off track. I was not just on the wrong road, I was completely on the opposite side of the acre large campus, looking at nothing but pitch darkness and without my trusted 3G signal.
It was scary and surreal and all those things you think are romantic but are, in reality, a tad more real than you expect them to be.
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Half an hour and three wrong turns later, I was still on the same road - only, this time, I looked instead of feeling scared. Behind the darkness, there was the brightest sky - and not a sound in the clean, crisp, Palo Alto air. I might never be at home here, but there are some instants, when it all comes together to give you some peace.
In the middle of all the Quant type things that Life throws you, these small bits of heaven are comforting.
