Campus comes to life . . . sort of

I'm back. It's just after 8 a.m., and after sleeping in my car for about an hour and a half in the Keaney parking lot (following my ride-along with the police), I'm ready to observe campus as it comes to life.

Now, let's get one thing clear immediately: I am not a morning person. I would rather stay up until 2 a.m. and get up at 10 a.m. than be up at this ridiculously early hour. But I'm ready to witness the crazies who are up. Except, there's not much here to witness.

I go into the Memorial Union first and I'm greeted by a whole lot of nothing. I decide to see how many early birds are satisfying their hunger in the Ram's Den. I find of grand total of three students. I want to talk to them, try to find out what brings them out so early. But they look grumpy and disgruntled, so I keep my distance.

Surprisingly, I'm hard pressed to find a secretary, clerk or even a custodian. I conclude it's time to go back outside to see what I can find.

Because some classes begin at 8 a.m., I expect I'll find a decent amount of student traffic on the walkways. My theory is disproved, however, when I encounter exactly zero students while I'm en route to the Quad. There, I observe three or four students who appear to be reading or studying.

It's closer to 9 a.m. now, and I'm finding campus to be a rather dull place at this time of morning. I've never had a class here that started before 9 a.m., so I can't decide whether there is anything wrong on this particular morning. As a senior (who's experiencing a bit of "senioritis"), I chalk it up to the nice weather making it difficult for anyone to consider attending class at this hour when they can instead stay in bed a while longer.

Now I'm walking toward the library, around the side in the direction of Chafee Hall, and finally down to the Biological Science Center. A whole lot more of nothing is what I find. It's a shame, though, because it really is a beautiful morning. And as much as I loathe the reality that I'm awake at this hour, I can't help but admire the clear skies and the crisp air, which is easier to do with so few distractions.