Living at Stanford

I've spent the past few months with a fascination surrounding "living at Stanford." That is, what is it actually like to live on the campus that I've dreamed* about for the past 15 years? Part of this obsession includes talking to Stanford students, and asking the same questions over and over again: "is Stanford really a bubble," "Do you find yourself off campus," etc. While I like gathering data, I also think that these questions are, in a way, self-fulfilling. What follows is a list of all the things I hope to do / think I'll do at Stanford during my freshman year. I'll check off items as I complete them!

• Go on a 50+ mile bike ride in the peninsula hills after class¹.
• Join a cycling team / club.
• Visit another peninsula town after class at least 5 times. (0/5)
• Join debate.
• Fly, paid for by the school.
  • Fly internationally, paid for by the school.
• Store a bike in my room.
  • Store two bikes in my room.
• Work on a CS project with multiple people. (0/2+)
• Date someone?
• Make at least two friends who I would consider just as close as my closest high school friends. (0/2)
• Make something used by over 100 students. (8/100)
• Go Skiing.
  • Join the Ski Club.
• Take golden-hour campus photos.
• Take a CS class.
  • Skip the intro CS class.
• Carry a camera with me more often than not.
• Take the new Caltrain.
  • On opening day?
• Begin the redacted process.
  • Complete it?
• Study at the cantor.
• Go planespotting.
• Keep up with my high school friends².
• Decorate Dorm Room
• Visit Every Building
• Catalogue Stanford Design

Decorate Dorm Room

I have a bunch of fun ideas here, but the main goal is to play around with Stanford's cardinal red. What pieces can work off of that? What colors can compliment it?

• Posters from SFMOMA
• Posters from the Cantor?
• Addressable LED lights
• Transit card collection (thanks Jerome)

Visit Every Building

The goal here is fairly simple: see every building on campus. Buildings are located on this map. Artful photography isn't the point, luckily. I need to be within 100m of the building for it to count.

Catalogue Stanford Design

I want to create a sort of catalogue of all the different ways that the Stanford brand is used in on-campus promotion. This can include the seal on campus buildings, brochures following Stanford's identity guide, etc. Checks off once I feel that I have amassed a significant collection.