COOL PLACES (ON CAMPUS) YOU DONT HAVE ACCESS TO

By Stella Essenmacher ‘25

Your nifty Hill Card helps you do everything from letting you clean your clothes, pick up the Amazon package that you ordered at 2 a.m. one night against your better judgment, and get a baconegg-and-cheese for both breakfast and a midnight snack. Name anywhere on campus, and there’s someone whose Hill Card works there. But even though someone can get in, that certainly doesn’t mean you can, too.

Bristol Hotel

I hate to bring back these memories, but remember last spring? Remember the twice-a-week testing, the almost-weekly, “Hey, so I know we spend a ton of time together but I tested positive” text, the $70 a day GrubHub allowance, and your attempt at running on the treadmill while not being able to breathe through a sweaty mask? They’re all staples of the pandemic experience, but what about a trip to the Bristol hotel? Yes, you heard that right. Bristol (the Career Center building) has a floor of hotel rooms, and my friend, Sadie Chase-Tatko ‘25 stayed there after she tested positive too late at night to be driven to the local Homewood Suites. She says that “the Campo person who dropped me off told me that I was the only one in the building, which was really creepy… I was able to look across the street at South [Residence Hall] and see everybody living their normal lives and having freedom.” Even though Bristol is no Ritz Carlton, should it still be on your bucket list? Most definitely.

Greenhouse

Do you miss the sun? Do you want it to be 80 degrees and so humid you sweat through everything? So bright you need to dig out your summer wardrobe and find your sunglasses again? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then the greenhouse is your ideal hang-out spot. Too bad, though, you can’t get into the tropical room whenever the winter blues have got you feeling down. The main room is open to the public since it’s used by various departments for research, but the tropical and desert rooms hold plants susceptible to disease and have closely monitored environmental conditions, so you can’t roam freely through them. However, Plant Club and Aquaponics Club like to use the greenhouse for some of their projects. Who’s going to know that you’re joining the clubs for the wrong reasons?

KTSA

If you are severely lacking in artistic talent, you probably won’t find yourself in art classes or in those fancy KTSA studios. KTSA is my favorite place on campus to study, but I honestly have only set foot in 10 percent of that building. While I’m sitting in my artsy red chair admiring the artsy view out the window, people are always run- ning around, clicking their handy little Hill Cards on all these locked doors, disappearing into some room I’m not allowed to enter. KTSA is equipped with a ceramics studio, woodworking studio, green room, two theaters, painting studios, printmaking studios, and some more studios thrown in there with names like “casting studio” (which, due to my aforementioned lack of artistic ability, I couldn’t begin to describe to you what goes on in there).

Honorable mentions: CJ reading room and the McEwen basement The tour guide in me really wants to throw out some cool (accessible) places that should also be on your bucket list, starting with the CJ reading room. I started having class there this semester and it's heavenly, albeit a bit creepy if you’re there alone. Also, have you ever noticed that to the left of the stairs that you use to go up to McEwen, there’s a set of stairs leading down? Go down, I dare you.

Lightside

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Buff Pub Commons Ice cream