When I was a high school student, any decent university campus could blow me away. I used to explore my campus and tried to find things that were interesting when I was a freshman. I was even going to other universities and walking around on their campus.
Now, that kind of motivation is just gone. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I experienced too many universities or I have become too old to get interested in things. My current university didn’t impress me at all at first even though it’s a famous tourist spot in Tokyo. The landmarks people want to see are a little bit boring to me.
However, some tiny things, the details, start to attract my attention. One day, on my way back to the classroom from the cafeteria, I noticed something written on a manhole cover. “Imperial University” which was clearly written in old kanji. I was shocked because if it’s true it has been lying on that road for over one hundred years. Think of all the things that have come and gone since that time. Buildings changed, roads changed, people changed. There is even no empire anymore, at least nominally. That manhole cover is still lying there, watching everything have come and gone.
Center Cafeteria is a failure for many people on the campus. Its western modern style makes many students disappointed. Personally, I think the quality of the limited menu is even worse than some local public universities. Recently, I found another cafeteria underground at the building of the department of literature. The menu in there is a lot different and cheaper compared to the Center Cafeteria. The most impressive thing is a part of the cafeteria is covered by tatami. It truly impressed me a lot because this was the first time I saw a school cafeteria with tatami. After lunch, doing some reading or assignments while sitting on the tatami is really relaxing.