W is for...

William & Mary - specifically, the Wren Building! Two W's in one!

This is my alma mater - Class of 2004. The Wren Building is the building that, at one point, housed the entire college. When the college was founded in 1693, the Wren building housed everything in it - dorms, classes, chapel, etc. It's still used for classes today. It's the oldest academic building in the States still used for classes. I, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to take a class in Wren, since it's mostly philosophy and religion classes, but I did get to go in for Yule Log Ceremonies and for the Senior bell ringing before graduation (the picture below) - all the good College tradition stuff (a 300+ yr old school is full of those). My own classes were mostly in Millington (Bio), Rogers (Chem) and T-Hall (Geo). Yup, I am a science dork :)

Another campus landmark I've got up here is the Crim Dell, a little bridge/waterway that can be downright beautiful when it wants to be. On it's off days, not so much :) During the procession by seniors across campus for graduation, everyone files across the bridge on the way from Wren to the Hall for commencement. The bridge is steeper than it looks, and it's funny watching all the girls in heels trying not to fall. You can see my sister and her friends paying very close attention to their feet in that picture below. I wore flat sandals for my graduation a few years earlier - it was SO hot, my feet would have died in regular shoes! Crim Dell Bridge also has a legend attached to it, that couples who cross over it together (other than at graduation) are destined to be married. If you cross over it by yourself, you're going to be single. As a result, even though it's a nice shortcut, no one ever crosses it during the school year. :)

Also, since my W is William & Mary, here's another William & Mary that mean a lot to me. Crazy coincidence, but that's also my parents' names :) They met in Atlanta at school, and didn't even realize the connection til they moved here years later! Yes, I did feel very silly filling out all my scholarship applications "School attending: William & Mary.... Parents' Names: William and Mary....." I started putting their middle names on the applications, just so I wouldn't feel like I was making up fictional parents! :) My sister and I both attended W&M (that's her graduation picture below on the right), and used to joke we should have a scholarship for being progeny of William and Mary ourselves!