Simon Fraser University

To give you a better idea of where we are going to school, I thought it would be a good idea to post some pictures from around the campus.

Both of these aerial pictures (which I did not take) are a little bit older; there have since been new building additions to the campus. In the first picture you have a good view of the Burrard Inlet. In the second picture you have a good view of the Academic Quadrangle -- that's the square building that the Sociology department is in. In the center of the AQ is the courtyard, complete with a pond. The second picture also demonstrates how the campus is isolated on top of a hill (they call it Burnaby Mountain), surrounded by forest. That's Vancouver at the bottom of the hill.

Here are different views of the AQ courtyard. In these pictures you can see that the 5th and 6th level of the AQ is above ground. The 4th level is 'hollow', it's just the ground level. Then the other levels are underground (but the other levels aren't technically underground because the AQ is on a hill. So the other levels are kind of 'inside' the hill. It's kind of hard to explain...)
Anyway. The courtyard is designed to represent the topography of British Columbia. The pond (which has a solid chunk of jade in the middle) represents the ocean. The second picture is supposed to represent the forests. The elevated hill in the third picture is supposed to represent the mountains. The Marijuana Party (yes, that's a club on campus) meets every Thursday at 4:20 (clever...) on top of the elevated hill. They stick their flag in the ground (the Canadian flag -- but instead of a maple leaf, it's a marijuana leaf) and they light up and chat. Just shows you how decriminalized marijuana is in Vancouver.

One time I almost fell off the bridge into the water because I wasn't paying attention when I was walking. That bridge can be dangerous. But it's pretty. I love watching the fish from the bridge.

It doesn't happen often, but this is what it looks like when it snows.

The statue is of Terry Fox. He is a Canadian legend and he went to Simon Fraser University. When he was in his early 20s he got bone cancer and he lost his leg. He decided he was going to run across Canada to raise cancer awareness and to raise funds for cancer research. This is extremely impressive, especially since this was in the 1970s and prosthetic legs were far from what they are now. His prosthetic leg didn't bend, he more just balanced on it and his left leg did all the work. He started his run in the east end of Canada (St. Johns, Newfoundland) and he made it all the way to Thunder Bay, Ontario (which is past Toronto). He ran 143 days. Then he got really sick, his cancer spread to his lungs, and he had to stop. He returned home to British Columbia, and then died less than a year later. I guess you're fully initiated in Canada once you watch a made-for-TV biopic on Terry Fox and cry your eyes out.

This is the Convocation Mall. This is where various student activities and events take place (including graduation). The roof is made out of glass -- to provide light, and at the same time, to shield from the rain. Very smart. In the first picture you can see the entrance to the library. On the other side of the convocation mall is the student center and the pub (you heard me right, a real pub on campus).

This is the student center. At the time of the picture there was a lively game of croquet going on in the field by the student center. At SFU, I see people playing all kinds of games that I don't usually see people play (at least on university campuses). Like croquet and bocce.

This is Cornerstone. This is a square block on the east side of campus that has many shops and cafes. It's like a little city block. There's an Indian restaurant, a pizza place, a donair (kind of like gyros) cafe, an eyeglass shop, a cafe that has great gelato, a computer store, a post office, a corner market, a salads and wraps cafe, a cellphone store, a bank, a dentist's office, a beauty salon, an organic cafe, a video rental store, a copy store, a Japanese cafe, and a coffee shop. It is very convenient having that on campus.

These pictures are of the forest surrounding campus. The first picture (of Eagan camouflaged in the forest) is on the north side of campus. The TransCanada trail runs through there. The second picture is from the west side of campus by housing.