Baltimore/places

The major buildings/areas at the Johns Hopkins Campus.

AMR I

Home of the Girls Dorm, as well as home of the nurses, office, and Individually Paced Math Sequence. AMR I houses the administrative headquarters in one room, as KW does at Carlisle. The dorms are in fairly good condition, with the exception of the occasional bug (there were some scary ones in the bathroom) and the weird doors that wouldn't lock. During 2007, several mattressess had to be switched out on the first floor due to bug infestation.

The lower floor contains a room (the Reading Room) for general purposes: Registration Day, Casino Nights at some sessions, Movie Nights, and other afternoon activites like Talent Show Practice, Silent Reading, and Board Games. The Reading Room has a piano open for usage outside of activity time. The first floor also has Site Office, where the site director is for most of the day. There is also a TV room where the RAs hung out when they had time to, where we had the activity Friends Watching, and where Acting Improv, Board Games, Card Games, and Mafia were occasionally held.

The basement has a common kitchen where most kids make Ramen and other food that can be cooked with a microwave. The common kitchen is also home to Board Games and Starburst Flowers a few times. There is a small computer lab that was available Social Time everyday in 08.1, 09.1, and 09.2, but not 08.2 (that is, 9:00-9:45), and a small laundry room right across from it.

In a corner of AMR I is the health office.

Many activities are held right outside AMR I. There is a volleyball net, a gazebo, a picnic area with benches, and a shaded area. Acting improv, debate, volleyball, arts and crafts, and various other activities are held here.

AMR II

Home of the guys dorm, housing office, and social lounge. AMR II is in sufficiently better condition than AMR I (much to the girls' dismay). They also have a cool lounge in the basement (often occupied by Discover Hopkins, Precollege, Hopkins Engineering Innovation, and the CTY Center Scholars program). This lounge has a pool table, a TV with couches, a Foosball table, and a semi-functional air hockey table. AMR II also has TWO laundry rooms (instead of one, but the girls get to use them), the housing office (where you went if you lost your key), and a small common kitchen. It is possible to enter one's hall without a building keykeycard--one can go down the stairs at the front entrance, walk around in the basement, then climb one of two sets of stairs to go up into the upper floors. There are four floors (although only the first three are filled). AMR II is shared with Precollege and Discover Hopkins, which is coed in the dorm and took part of a wing.

Gentle Slope

All classes meet here in the morning, after lunch, and after dinner, by lampposts that circle the entire area. This is also the area where groups met before Activities. Mandatory Fun is usually held here. During free time, many people can be found playing Ultimate Frisbee, throwing around a football, or just hanging out. It is basically the central meeting place for everything.

It is used during Activities for various activities, including Capture the Flag, Ultimate Frisbee, Football, Soccer, and Dodgeball.

At the start of Session One, the Gentle Slope is always mostly filled with grass. However, because of extremely frequent use and trampling, it loses at least 10% of its grass by the end of the session. When there is rain, it then has the ability to become muddy. One can always find many small pebbles and pieces of smoothed broken glass bottles in these bare patches.

There are a number of small grassy areas (separated from the Gentle Slope and from each other by walkways), many of which have trees, around AMR I, AMR II, the Grassy Hollow, and the Gentle Slope. Many of these are locations for classes to meet in the morning, after lunch, and after dinner. During Mandatory Fun, it is often used for various smaller activities and games.

The Question Mark Field

Some people think it looks like a question mark but dementedly shaped blob would probably be more like it. Activities like Ultimate Frisbee, Recess Games, Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, and Kickball would be here. It is separated from the Gentle Slope by a walking path. Off-limits during Meet Market.

Sleepy Hollow

Way cooler than it sounds. It is the area next to the rock on the field that contains the small cabin-esque building. There was a large tree (from which would hang a chain on a trunk) that was cut down in 09.1. It is often the site of such activities as Spud and Debate. The Sleepy Hollow is adjacent to the Gentle Slope.

The Beach

The Beach, as seen from the East Gate of the JHU Homewood campus

No, it's not really a beach. It's actually a pretty big circular area (grassy field) where a lot of activities are held (Kindergarten Games, Downhill Rolling, Cloud Watching, Blowing Bubbles) called the beach because, obviously, Johns Hopkins doesn't have one. A lot of people are often still found tanning there though. There's a stone wall near the front of the field where you can sit; the JHU lettering is on it.

There is a path around the Beach for buses to stop at, and the Beach is almost adjacent to Mattin Center.

Mattin Center

The Mattin Center has roughly 10 practice rooms where Music Practice and Talent Show Practice is held during Activities. All of the rooms are soundproof and most have a piano in them. There are very few right angles in Mattin Center. In 08.1, 09.1, and 09.2, Mattin Center and the surrounding area and buildings were used for Casino Night.

Gilman Hall

Some of the classes are in here. It actually looks really creepy because the lights are always dimmed... and it's like six floors high. And the bell tower you always see representing JHU is actually the tower at Gilman. During 09.1 and 09.2 it was undergoing serious renovations and construction.

Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy

The entrance to Bloomberg

This building holds most science classes, some of which are in the basement. Out in the front is a small grassy lawn with a sculpture of a diffraction spectrometer in it. It is a long walk from the dorms (on the Northeast corner of the campus) to Bloomberg, which is on the Northwest corner of the campus. The rooms and desks may be extremely small. Classes typically take breaks outside the entrance.

Sculpture Garden

A really nice garden/forest place. Some activities held there were silent reading, sketching, and best of all, You Wanna Buy A Duck?, which involved water guns. The sculptures are of various animals, such as penguins, bears, camels, and snails. Classes that meet in Bloomberg pass by the garden every day.

It is somewhat of an "off-limits" place, but it varies across sessions and years.

Glass Pavilion

a.k.a. the Fishbowl, where the dances are usually held. This building is really just (like the name says) a pavilion with walls of glass. It is really an awesome place to hold dances (except it is a little too big, and the walls are made out of glass, which lets too much light in so people do not really start dancing until about halfway through the dance). Downstairs is a screening room where they show a movie for people who don't want to dance. In addition, there is a hallway that leads to Levering (see below). There are three easily accessible drinking fountains--one in the Fishbowl itself (behind a set of curtains), one downstairs, and one in Levering. One can walk around on the balcony outside (between the Glass Pavilion and Levering), where there are benches and wiggly cement floor blocks. Many people gather here to just talk or take a break from dancing.

Levering Hall

Connected to the Glass Pavillion where kids can just hang out if they don't want to dance. There is a drinking fountain, an area with sofas, and a hallway that leads to a room where games are played during dances.

There is also a cafe there called Pura Vida. Its cups are unattended. You can easily sneak behind there and take cups/other cafe things. Cups are mostly used to collect water from the water fountains

Shriver Hall

The auditorium where the closing ceremony, talent show, and orientation were. Also really big and scary if you go in there when the lights are dimmed. The fabric covering the seats are really old and stained and some have gum under them. In front of Shriver Hall is the Wyman Quad, where some activities may take place.

White Athletic Center

The swimming pool is located here. Dodgeball may be held here, as it was in 08.2.