The North Campus Experience
Out of the many fine alumni who have posted or visited this website over the years, I consider myself privileged to have been lucky enough to study a major, clarinet performance, that called for me to spend most of my time on North Campus. Many words have been said about the fine night life, restaurants, and other amenities available on Central Campus. This diary is not about those parts of the city. I'm talking about driving up Division for a little ways, crossing the bridge, and heading further north past Maiden Lane and experiencing the fun times to be had there.
For one thing, North Campus has trees, and snow, and snow and trees. Walking to class is like walking through beautiful parkland. There are many hills and valleys which helps make the walk more physically demanding. There are paths through the woods where frequently groundhogs, deer, squirrels, cats, and other creatures can be seen prowling around. I had a garden senior year and took pride in clearing out brush and improving the property bit by bit, even if only temporarily. One winter the trees on North Campus were completely encapsulated in ice and glittered in the sunlight like living icicles.
In the summer these same trails are great for biking and running, or during the winter if you bundle up well. I and my friends would run through the engineering campus, Northwood III and beyond, and bike up Nixon into farm country. The hills at the Huron Parkway golf course are great for sledding in the winter, and Qdoba is just a little ways further down the road. There is also the North Campus Recreational Building (NCRB) behind Bursley for anyone with an Mcard and a desire to pump iron or play raquetball.
In May the pools open at Huron Towers and Highlands, the two main apartment complexes closest to North Campus. As long as you play it cool and know some of the residents at the respective apartment complexes it is OK to swim in the pools, and the pools are well-maintained and deep. There is also a large athletics complex on Fuller Road where intramural soccer and softball are played.
When not traipsing through the woods, North Campusers love to get together for parties both tame and wild. One great way to meet people was coming together for a game of Mafia and wine before carpooling out to play laser tag and video games. I met some of my friends that way. We also took advantage of whatever DVDs or downloads were available—The Office, Dexter, 30 Rock, Family Guy—and bonded over those shows while serving up soup and sandwiches. My Nintendo 64 skills never got better than they got in college.
Not everyone is an engineer, a musician, or a visual artist. But for those Michigan students lucky enough to spend an extended period of time in North Campus, I consider the experience second to none, and I hope to see some of you “up north” soon.
December 24th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
I'd bother to read your rationale. I can't, at the moment, imagine what it would be. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in the meantime. My experience has taught me that that's usually a mistake. I'd wager to say that's true in this case as well. But I'll try to hold off judgment. I can't make any guarantees.
BD: I'm glad to see your contribution. You are certainly in the tiny cluster of mgousers at the top of my respekt list. Yep.
December 25th, 2011 at 12:29 AM ^
I finally managed to write a diary, with the ongoing help and intellectual stimulation I get through conversing with my friends on this board such as yourself. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones WD.
December 24th, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^
I work at Ugo's in Pierpont, so I spend my fair share of time up on North. I kind of like it for getting away from central and such, but I wouldn't want to live there.
December 24th, 2011 at 11:45 PM ^
December 25th, 2011 at 2:39 AM ^
and with family from the UP, I tend to prefer North Campus. But I would imagine that most will remember the people over the places from wherever they go to school.
December 25th, 2011 at 9:03 AM ^
Met my wife at Baits Conger house. 24 years later, still happily married.
December 25th, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^
I never looked at it that way. Thanks for the new perspective.
December 25th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
i havent been back once after freshman year ...
no nightlife, girls, bars, or college town feel
on the other hand, to each their own
December 25th, 2011 at 9:13 PM ^
How do we have a North Campus life thread without mentioning Bagel Fragel? HOW?
December 25th, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
I'd imagine more Michigan alumni have memories of getting fragels at the Bagel Factory on Central Campus.
December 26th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
Good point - the Bagel Factory was closed when I was a freshman (2005)
December 25th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
Color me as shocked that you are a clarinetist.
<br>
<br>NTTAWWT.
December 27th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
Vandoren V12 vs. Vandoren Bluebox vs. Vandoren Rue Lepic vs. Vandoren Select reeds, Buffet R13 clarinets, unexpected cracks in the instrument, crazy instrument doubling/tripling in concerts, concerto competitions, chamber concerts, student recitals (degree and non-degree), inter-studio competition, it's all there. And I loved it.
December 25th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
Sounds like someone may need to take his camera someday...
December 27th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
I have a few decent pictures of North Campus but nothing good enough to share. Maybe I'll take some pictures the next time I'm there in February and publish a follow-up diary (With Pics!).
December 26th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
The North Campus experience - a bunch of academic buildings isolated from the rest of the town - is how many, many college campuses around the country are (including several Big Ten schools). It's really Central Campus, surrounded by the city of Ann Arbor, that's unusual. At Michigan we have the chance to experience both worlds.
December 26th, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^
True.
My brothers went to Penn State. PSU is very segmented - you have the university academic buildings on one side of town, then the main street, then the commercial stuff, then the frats. Nothing is mixed with anything else.
My wife went to Duke. At Duke you have the main campus - very pretty gothic architecture - but it is completely isolated from the town. It's a couple mile drive into town, and it's a lame town at that.
When I got to A2 I was surprised how inter-mixed everything was. There is no clear seperation of college and town in Central Campus. It's a bit bewildering at first, but it makes for a more interesting college experience.
December 27th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
I, too, was a music major (flute performance), and spent two years of grad school on North Campus from 1986-1988. And let me say, for those who think it's an isolated place with nothing to do... you should've seen it back then.
North Campus Commons (now Pierpont) was about half its current size... (it ended where the long hallway with all the flags begins). There was a grill (mostly diner-type food) on the lower level, a cafeteria on the upper level, a few offices, and not much else. The extension to the Duderstadt Center, and the center itself did not exist. The Walgreen Drama Center, Lurie Bell Tower, newer engineering buildings (I believe some were built/opened while I was in school, can't recall)... not there.
A lot of the development on Plymouth Rd didn't exist, either... like the strip anchored by Kroger. (There was a Kroger in 'lower town' at the foot of Broadway at the time.) Any shopping was done at Showerman's IGA, which was at the far end of the strip with Flim Flam (I forget what's there now, as I don't get to that part of town too often)... a strip which also included Perry Drugs (legendary!).
I lived in Willowtree Towers, and every day I had two choices... walk to the School of Music, or walk a short way up a hill, cross Plymouth Rd, and catch the Northwood bus at the fire station. It did not really matter what I thought of North Campus; as a master's student also working part-time in the music library, I generally arrived at the music building around 9am, and didn't leave there until 10 or 11pm or later. There was no need to go to Central Campus for me.
However... not wanting to miss out on any of the Michigan experience, my second year, I scheduled one class on Central, at the MLB. This turned out to be a pretty stupid move, really. It was a early morning class, and soon as it was done, I was back on a bus to North Campus.
I will agree... the landscape of North Campus is lovely, and I did enjoy it. But man... wish I'd had the opportunity to spend 4 undergrad years in school here. Those 2 grad school years are gone in a flash.
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