Baltimore

Baltimore
The main "bell tower" of Gilman Hall.
Site Information
College	Johns Hopkins University
Location	Baltimore, Maryland
Dates	Session 1: June 25 - July 14 | Session 2: July 16 - Aug 4
Years of Operation	Early 1990s?-1995 | 2001-present
Avg. Number of Students	260
Courses Offered
Humanities	Beyond the Binary: A Cultural History of Gender | Global Politics: Human Rights and Justice | Human Nature and Technology | Laws and Orders: Legal Systems Around the World | Persuasion and Propaganda | Playing God: The Ethics of Human Subjects Research |
Writing	You Will Be Offended: Satire, Comedy, and Public Discourse |
Math and Computer Science	Fundamentals of Microeconomics | The Mathematics of Competitive Behavior | Topology |
Science	Astrophysics | Advanced Topics in Physics: Special Relativity | Cryptology | Epidemiology | Investigations in Engineering | The Global Environment |
Canon
High Holy Canon	American Pie | Stairway to Heaven | Mr. Brightside | Iris
High Canon	Don't Stop Believing | Sandstorm | Cha Cha Slide | Come On Eileen | Forever Young | Tunak Tunak Tun
Middle Canon	Wobble | Bohemian Rhapsody | For baltimore | Cotton Eye Joe | Istanbul (Not Constantinople) | I'll Make a Man out of You | Time Warp | Stacey's Mom | Bad Romance | Can't Hold Us | Sweet Caroline | Blister In the Sun |
Lower Canon	Nightswimming | How far we've come | Every Time We Touch | Fireflies | Anna Sun | Closing time | Somewhere only we know | Numa Numa | Satisfaction | Heartless or the hills | Long live | Pokémon Theme Song
Site Specifics
Position-holders	Empress and Emperor | Prince and Princess of the Blood | Games God and/or Goddess | Rave Monarch
See The Essential CTY for cross-site articles.

The Baltimore site uses the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University. Although it houses the main administration for CTY, it was not made into an actual site until relatively recently. It is also considered in popular belief to be the strictest site, and has the fewest formal, persistent, site-wide traditions. Baltimore has a wide reputation for lacking many traditions present at other sites. Baltimore is infamous among CTYers at other sites for passing down controversial new rules and is famous for being the birthplace of the underhammer (JHU.09.1), a variation of the hammer in Ultimate Frisbee that usually catches people off-guard.

Site and Campus Overview

The Homewood campus, where CTY is hosted, is 20 minutes from Baltimore/Washington International Airport and 10 minutes south of Penn Station.

While the campus is relatively small, CTY only uses the northern half of it. This consists of the two dorm buildings, a number of grassy areas, somewhat nearby classroom buildings (usually within a 10-minute walk), and other buildings and quads in the southern third that are used only rarely (i.e. talent show, dances, opening and closing ceremonies, and casino night).

There is a large number of trees, benches, and winding walkways.

Classes are held in a number of different buildings, as opposed to all sharing one or two buildings. However, almost all science classes are held in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, and most Humanities classes are held in Dunning Hall, directly across the Gentle Slope from AMR I.

A map of the campus can be found at http://webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/information_about_hopkins/visitor_information/how_to_get_here/homewood_campus/pdf/campus_map_0907.pdf

Dorms

The girls' and boys' dorm buildings are known as AMR I and AMR II, respectively. These two dorm buildings are perpendicular and adjacent to each other, on the Northeastern corner of the campus (and of the Gentle Slope). They are "C"-shaped, and contain a courtyard. Three sides are part of the building, while the fourth side is a gate and turnstile. Both quads have relatively tight security, and are guarded at all times. To enter either dorm building, one must first pass through a guarded turnstile which is activated by an RFID card. However, it is possible to enter either building (after going through the turnstile) without using a keycard by going through a roundabout pathway, although the keycard is required to enter halls from the courtyard. There is a labryinth of tunnels and hallways underneath the two buildings (and the rest of the campus) and a secret passageway between the two. More information about the buildings can be found at Baltimore/places

All dorm rooms have one air conditioner (although, on rare occasions, it is dysfunctional). All dorms have two desks (with built-in lamps), two windows, two chairs, two wastebaskets, two recycling bins, and no phone (in 09, there will be a room with phones in AMR I). There are two beds with adjustable heights. It is advisable to bring a power strip, as power outlets are inconveniently placed.

Dorms are usually doubles, although sometimes people are lucky/unlucky enough to get a single or a triple. RAs in corner dorms may have huge rooms.

The doors of halls are always decorated by RAs. These may range from printed images or drawings to xkcd comics. Halls are physically separated by either stairwell passages or doorway frames.

Bathrooms vary in quality and size depending on location. They range in the number of stalls, sinks, and showers. A hall may share a bathroom with another hall, but this depends on the location of the two.

Food

The food is excellent or bad, depending on one's point of view. There is always a sandwich bar and a salad bar. During lunch, there is always some cooked potato product (usually fries), pasta, a few types of pizza, hamburgers, cake or other sugary desserts, fruits, and a vegan dish. The macaroni and cheese is sometimes good. The scrambled eggs are not real scrambled eggs, but rather egg powder mixed with milk. Breakfast usually has good omelets cooked on the spot (which results in lines of at least 10 people long), fresh fruit, meat products, potato products, sausages/pancakes, cereals, breads, bagels, and sugary pastries. There's also a person who serves ice cream during lunch and dinner. There is a large assortment of drinks available--various sodas, milk, soymilk, coffee, tea, hot water, and juices. There is also stuff for lactose intolerant people in a special little fridge. After you're done eating, you put your plate on a conveyer belt beside the pop machine.

All CTYers share the same cafeteria (Fresh Foods Cafe)--at lunch time, all CTYers walk back with their class to the cafeteria. One issue with the cafeteria is that lines tend to be long. The lunch schedule is staggered into 3 groups (11:40, 12:00, and 12:20) and everyone has an hour for lunch. The long-line problem is compounded by the fact that the cafeteria is shared with other programs on the campus--usually Precollege, although LeadAmerica shared the cafeteria in 07 and lacrosse girls shared in 08. CTYers often avoid long lines by first taking food that is in short lines, then coming back for more, or having dessert first.

Off-Campus Locations

Each weekend, and on some activity days, CTYers can go off-campus on a short walk with their hall or Activity group into the local town. In addition, on Saturdays, RA groups may go into the Inner Harbor. Note: All of these locations can be found through Google Maps.

• Barnes and Nobles: This is the bookstore. There are regular activities to visit the bookstore. This is connected to a Starbuck's. All textbooks are purchased here on the first day at ridiculously high prices.
• Chipotle: A burrito and taco restaurant. Somewhat expensive.
• Tamber's: An Indian food and diner food restaurant. This is somewhat far away, but was an auction prize.
• Coldstone: ice cream.
• Dominion Ice Cream: This has both regular ice cream and specialty ice cream (e.g. vegetable ice cream). Very delicious.
• Subway: This is located across the street from the Barnes and Nobles.
• Niwana: This is right across the street from the campus, near the Beach. It has expensive Japanese and Korean food.
• Paper Moon
• There are several grocery stores. RAs know where they are. (Advice: First day, go to Eddie's Market or University Store to buy junk food. Directions: Keep on walking down past B&N, turn right at the first traffic light and look for the stores)
• Cloud 9: A clothing shop

Student Life

While JHU follows the same basic feel of campus life at any CTY site, its environment varies among different years.

Activities

Each weekday has two activity periods. Depending on the session, activities are organized differently. Often, many activities are available for one day, while other activities are available for one-week-blocks. Students are sometimes allowed to switch into or out of activities.

There are also weekend activities. In the past, these have included Casino Night (which always occurs), Music Night, Movie/Red-Carpet Affair, the "Olympics", and the Talent Show.

Strictness

While it's false that the RAs are generally very strict, SRAs may be strict. In 07.2, flashlights and sleepovers were banned, although with a bit of sneaking around and hiding you could manage to get into each others' rooms. The ban against sleepovers has been removed as of 08.1. Neighboring dorm rooms could also tap messages with Morse Code through the wall. Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin, and Ibuprofen were all confiscated by RA's, but it's handy to stash a few in your pillow or wardrobe just in case. However, there is a vending machine with such medications.

Note: electronics outside of cameras (i.e. cell phones) are not allowed outside of dorms and class. Various classes have various policies about the usage of mp3 players in class.

Dances

Dances have specific themes (e.g. The 80's, Beach Party, Black-and-White, Rubik's cube, Summer Semi-Formal, etc.). However, this usually does not have a significant effect on the music played (one exception was The 80's Dance, in which a larger amount of older songs was played). Music played by the dances tends to be popular music. Students should bring a polo shirt (or anything more formal), as more than half the camp somewhat dresses up.

In 09.1, "Stairway to Heaven" was not played. This is because almost all RAs were new and had not been former CTYers.

Rules about dances are enforced, but sometimes not strictly. At 08.1 and 08.2, there was grinding at impromptu dances, but people would crowd around them to make them hard to detect. However, in 09.1, couples were watched/monitored by RAs.

In 09.2, an afterdance was started.

Sleepovers

In 07.2, sleepovers were banned. This was due to a conflict in rules--CTY administration did not allow sleepovers without transportation of mattresses, while JHU housing did not allow transportation of mattresses due to its classification as a fire hazard. However, in 08.1 and 08.2, this was resolved--CTYers could sleep over on weekends if they moved their sheets/blankets, but not their mattresses. Depending on your RA, it is possible to have discreet sleepovers on non-legal nights. Unfortunately, sleepovers on the last night of 08.2 were banned, causing anger to many nevermores. In 09.1, RAs were told that site admin would be patrolling the hallways between 12:00 and 3:00 AM, but this never happened. As a result of this deception, sleepovers happened without disturbances.

The following article is currently obsolete. However, it may become useful if sleepovers become banned again (and also on the last Thursday). How to Survive an Illegal Sleepover

Traditions

Baltimore is well known for having a lack of traditions. It is one of the newest sites; we still need more people from tradition heavy sites to come to Baltimore and be a rebel to bring (and keep alive) the traditions. There are a lot of traditions from other sites that crop up at JHU in some years. However, such traditions are usually from a small number of students who keep a certain tradition alive during the time they are there, but die out when the students nevermore out. Traditions are rarely guaranteed to be kept alive by RAs.

Drag Day

In 07.2, students were forbidden from participating in drag day. In 08.1, students organized a drag day. However, RAs were forbidden from participating, and the administration did not officially organize it. In 08.2, it was less concerted and organized. In 09.1, drag day happened with a somewhat small (less than half the camp) turnout.

The Rape Buttons

The "rape buttons" are emergency buttons that are attached to poles with a blue ball light above and when hit, lights up, sirens sound, and campus security arrives. The name comes from the idea that a sexual assault victim might use the button to summon help.

Post-Meal Activites

After breakfast, lunch, and dinner, students will often be outside playing Ultimate Frisbee, playing football, or doing other less physical activities.

Meet Market

Meet market is after 9:00 and lasts for an hour and is basically social hour on the Gentle Slope. It is supervised by RAs who are there to prevent and discourage "risque activities." In 08.1 and 08.2, there were several dances in front of either AMR I or AMR II.

The lawn used for Meet Market and outdoor activities is known as the Gentle Slope. It borders AMR I, AMR II, some classroom buildings, and the cafeteria, and is surrounded by a brick walkway and park benches.

Chinese Take-out

It is a tradition for halls to order Chinese take-out food. RAs tend to do most of the work in carrying the food from the delivery person to the dorms, while CTYers organize the money collection.

Passionfruit

This doesn't happen consistently--it always occurs, but the various sub-traditions associated with it change when the RAs that run it change. However, it always involves passionfruit juice. Nevermores/RAs from other sites may bring in traditions for a certain session (e.g. election of an Emperor/Empress or writing out "CTY <insert year here>" with empty cups after Passionfruit). Students who have not attended Passionfruits before may or may not end their speeches with "I love CTY and I love the Passionfruit", even though they should.

Neighbors

CTY has shared the campus with various other programs.

• Summer JHU Campus Tours can frequently be seen. Groups of people will walk around following a guide who explains the campus. Usually, there is no interaction beyond CTYers looking at the groups and vice versa. Some tour guides will explain that JHU hosts summer camps.
• LeadAmerica also shares the campus. In 07, they also shared the cafeteria and had an intrusive presence. In 08, they were on different parts of the campus, so there were only a few chance encounters, and interaction level was very low.
• The Field Hockey Girls shared the cafeteria in 08.1. They would leave out their bags and sticks everywhere.
• The Lacrosse Guys passed through the campus in a huge march in 07.2. In 08, they sometimes walked near CTYers (and also had a huge march), but had no further contact. They inhabited a modern building across the street from the campus, adjacent to the Barnes and Noble, the upper floor of which was used in 08.2 for Casino Night). In 09, they had several large migrations near the Gentle Slope. There was very little contact between the CTYers and the Lacrosse Guys.
• Precollege and Discover Hopkins: JHU hosts a precollege program. In 08.1, they occupied part of AMR II. They did activities on their own, but often were near the Gentle Slope. They also shared the cafeteria.
• Hopkins Engineering Innovation: they share the cafeteria. Little is known about them.
• Center Scholars share the cafeteria. They are part of the CTY program, mostly post-nevermores. All of them were former Baltimore CTYers. There was little interaction between most CTYers and them (with the exception of all Genomics classes), even though they don't bite. They are somewhat harder to distinguish from Precollege and Discover Hopkins. They may show up for some CTY dances.

CTYers

This is an alphabetical list of all RealCTYers who have attended Baltimore:

• AJ
• Bboy respekt
• Beanz
• Christinecatastrophe
• Deanna Daly
• Ducttape
• El Hackador
• Eliseeyoh
• Bob Zhou
• Fafnirical
• Falalalice
• Fini52
• Jake Wartenberg
• JLou31894
• Joshiek1990
• Kungpowbarton
• Lee
• LGCLUV
• Lightman
• Lietk12
• Ibleedpurple
• Miacrow
• Musicluver9154
• Reflectia
• Rhnathans12
• Rosalie
• Shamelessp
• Sharpshooter1321
• Swangster93
• Thenose
• Tonarg14
• Urkle
• Wendyl
• Wendeth
• Whitneybitme
• Wu
• Zakk