Bursley Sunrise

It's hard to imagine that I'll be heading back to college at U of M in about a week.  I'll be living in an apartment this year with three good friends which is very different from my living arrangements last year.  During the past school year, I lived on North Campus at Bursley, a concrete/cinder block dorm that was completed in 1967.  It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest dorm on campus, with a capacity of over 1300 students.  I liked living there.

My room had a window that faced the east.  During the first semester, I had 9 AM classes which were a comfortable change from high school, which I had to get up at 6:00 for.  For the second semester, though, my pre-architecture studio class was moved to start at 8 AM, meaning I had to get up at *gasp* 7:00.  I would ask myself how I ever was able to force myself up at 6 during high school, but then realized I never had to stay up until 3 AM after returning from the studio.

One pleasant surprise about getting up earlier was that the campus bus wasn't packed with people, which was very nice on the days that were too cold to bike (below ~15 degrees Fahrenheit).  Another surprise was this absolutely lovely sunrise that greeted me every time I sat up in bed and put my glasses on.

I think I only have two or three separate days' worth of sunrise photos, although I was pretty sure I had taken many more.  You'll notice that these all take place during the winter because as the spring went on, the days got brighter earlier.  This winter, as many people might know, was unusually harsh for parts of the U.S. including Michigan.  Despite all the trouble it caused (my family's furnace broke in the dead of winter and remained so when I came home), it was fun.  I rode my bike through most of it too, rain/snow or shine.

I won't have an east-facing view this coming year, but that's a small price to pay for the increase in quality of living as well as lower housing cost.  I'll still be parking my now-restored bike in the covered area at Bursley since it's just across the street and it's supposedly safer on campus.  I should probably be more conservative about riding it through the salty winter, though.