campus envy

ok, so concordia doesn`t have a campus. wait, it has the loyola one, but will i go there ever? probably not. my classes this semester are not only in the same one building, but practically on the same floor, so that takes care of that. but setting is important. concordia downtown has 4 huge buildings, one uglier than the other. of course when i say "ugly" i say it with love, as exemplified by previous gushing posts etc - but still they`re ugly-ish. i do like how they`re right in the middle of things, and capture and amplify the life around them, the small cafes, eateries and depanneurs and student-oriented shops for blocks in the area. but win some, lose some: it`s not a proper campus. i knew a campus once, and...well, UBC was special. no comparisons with UBC will be made in this post. what other school campus has a nudist beach where one can gather blackberries by the bucket? anyway...

there is a mcgill campus, which i love/hate on, especially these days. once this week (strictly looking for THE bookshop i knew was around there) i passed through it and was again amazed at how one (me) can leave for YEARS in a city and not have examined some things, which after all were right before one`s (my) eyes all this time.
(can you see i`m very tired? just blabbering.)
let me show you:

haaah, deceit! this is not actually from mcgill campus, but i thought it was a great opening for it. it`s a detail from the ritz-carlton facade on sherbrooke street. walking from concordia to mcgill

yeah, some other hotel. it`s full of them in this part of sherbrooke. just by the art museum.

alright, campus! my only weak consolation is that one of the main alleys here is blocked by...some sort of construction, with all the dust, noise, annoyance that that involves. otherwise, envy all the way. is there a faculty club building at concordia? i mean, don`t answer that!

trying to take relevant pictures on first walk-through, so i don`t have to retrace my way back. embarass du choix.

like, look at this gargoyle. i had enough difficulty shadowing it from the light at that hour. did i want to go inside the building to try and get a better view from one of the windows? of course i did!

but there`s more to see. everybody`s trying to do the sitting on the lawn while there`s still time, i know.

i`ve never visited this museum. it`s one of those things/places that make you just take them for granted. whenever i want, i can go in. i`ll just take my time here.

well, ok

also: what did engineers do to deserve this?:)

this was some concert, i don`t know. i can`t keep telling myself it was all to honor my visit to their campus, so i`m imagining they have stuff like that going on every wednesday, or something.

which, good for them! again with the sitting on the lawn!

this very nice and montreal-y building, corner of milton and university.
(i took the pic for the lions!)
(no, i kid. i took a close-up of the lions which i`m not posting. this pic is just because the building deserves it)

and this one...is this student housing? what kind of a thing is this?

i obviously want to live in this attic! bonus points, it`s right across the street from...

...one of my very favourite bookstores in the city!!

...which even has its own branded t-shirt. (also, how i like indirect selfies!)

if it wasn`t for that one spelling mistake, this would have been one of the best sights around campus 

strathcona music building! (can anyone explain to me why it`s called like the neighbourhood in vancouver? who or what is this strathcona to canada?). bonus, statue of queen victoria. i`ve always liked this buiding, because from its spot on sherbrooke street it`s very visible. it`s like part of the 1/8 above-water of the iceberg that is mcgill

they made a fake plastic forest on the block by mccord museum! what, like there aren`t enough trees in the city? i can`t say i really get this, but okay. there`s benches and food trucks still. i think it was only a summer thing

and here it goes: the official entrance to campus. pretty impressive, no? 

even has real ivy and stuff

people keep asking these questions...no! i`m never ready for that, ok?