Incoming students, welcome! As you daydream about the divided doubles and coed restrooms that will be yours in just two weeks, I’d like to offer some titillating imagery of campus life that you may not find elsewhere. I adore our campus; it is green and it smells good, smells like nature, nourishes me when life in Reed world gets cray. Below is a sort of Residence Life tour informed by the experience I happen to have had here over the last three years:

Appreciating the natural beauty of Reed campus:

1. Spring is really beautiful in Portland… and is such a relief.

Tulips are some of the first signs of spring we see around campus.

Little flowers everywhere!

2. The sky is always interesting.

Looks like lava flow, amiright?

3. We had a freak snowstorm last year that turned the city into a slow-motion, cross-country-skiing, silent, white, fluffy, wonderland…

A snowy Reed Canyon, viewed from the orange bridge (orange lights at night).

Sequoia

Residence Halls:

This summer, I have been living in Naito, the second-most modern residence hall at Reed. Sitting on top of the Steele Street hill, Naito has a great view of downtown Portland to the west. It is also surrounded by lush green sports fields, which evokes feelings of safety and peace (on open fields, you can see your predators from a distance and thus have time to run).

A panorama of Naito and lower sports fields as I walk up the hill (concrete paths are actually one straight path). Person walking on track in the background. Typical weather.

Reed’s half-mile gravel track encircles the fields, a great option for quick exercise — even late at night, it feels pretty safe.

My bunny feeling safe near the track. Summer 2015. Upper sports fields, Naito is behind me.

Sequoia (the westernmost house of the Grove) was a fun time too. Situated on the Steele hill like Naito/Sullivan, it has a view of the west hills skyline:

View west from my window in Sequoia.

The Grove’s common rooms have been my favorite thus far. There is a gas fireplace! Can you believe it!?

Sequoia common room. Amazing kitchen and dining room not visible here, but they’re amazing.

When I lived in ODB as a freshman, I thought I was so cool. The central location’s benefits far outweighed the occasional late-night noises coming from the quad on ODB’s northern side. I ended up with an enormous room and a roommate who was a really good listener. This was probably the first picture I took of Reed on my first day here! Wow it was so exciting!!

ODB – Doyle Residence Hall

And this is why I thought I was so cool:

A rare ODB fireplace. D334.

I was lucky to have such a spacious room; it seemed too good to be true!

So cool.

-Natalie Allen