A Day At Paul Smith's

Today is a special blog because I visited a truly special place yesterday. I visited Paul Smith’s College and I saw some truly interesting things. I don’t think that there is any other college campus quite like it anywhere else in the country. There are a few colleges in northern New York State that someone could argue shares the same weather as Paul Smith’s, but no other college “lives and breathes” the Adirondacks quite like Paul Smith’s. The school exemplifies the Adirondacks so much, that the school’s full name is “Paul Smith’s College – The College of the Adirondacks”. This makes the school a perfect setting for anybody who is interested in the environment or outdoors. This is probably why Paul Smith’s is a renowned college when it comes to just about every field that pertains to the environment. Not only is Paul Smith’s a school for environmental studies, but it is also a school specializing in culinary studies. This among several other aspects of the school makes it a truly unique experience.

My day started in a residence hall named LMS (short for Lydia Martin Smith). The hall is located very close to Lower St. Regis Lake (the lake that the campus butts up to). There is a trail that starts just past the far end of the residence hall that leads out to a peninsula that overlooks the lake. This peninsula is known as “The Point” and there was always somebody there doing something such as fishing, or even somebody doing homework. My room was made to house four people for the school year. I lucked out because I only had to share a room with one other person, so I had quite an amount of room compared to the rest of the rooms in the residence hall.

My day began with my alarm clock going off at 6:45 am and a quick breakfast in my room, which consisted of a pumpkin spice bagel and a honeycrisp apple. Eventually after taking care of some things such as checking my e-mail and brushing my teeth, I headed out to my first class. The class was an FYS (first year seminar) honors class and it ran from 8:00 am to 9:25am. The class was located in seminar room 107 in the Joan Weill Library. I must take a moment to comment on how interesting the library itself was. Never before had I seen such a collaboration between nature and modern technology. The library was a giant building that looked like a combination of a computer store and a log cabin. From the furniture to the hulking beams overhead, the library just reminded me of simpler times, all while providing the modern commodities such as wireless internet and a vast selection of computers. Anyways, back to the class. In the class we separated into groups and each group discussed different books that they were assigned to read. The groups then came together and summarized their books for each other.

Next, I walked to the closest building, which was “Pickett Hall”. I navigated my way through the hallway to room 102, only to find that my next class had been cancelled. I went back to my dorm room until 11am, when I walked back to the library for my next class. It just so happened that my next class was in room 108, right next to the room I was in earlier in the day. This room was different though because it was filled with computers that lined the walls all the way around the room. At 11:10am, the Statistics class began. We reviewed slides and completed several examples as a class. The class came to an end at 12:35pm, at which point I ventured to the dining hall for some lunch. The dining hall was quite remarkable due to the fact that it sat right on the edge of the lake, which provided one of the best views in any dining hall at any college. After lunch, I went back to my dorm and entertained myself until about five o’clock, at which point I ate some dinner in my room. At eight o’clock I did a work out in my room, showered, and then got ready for bed.

I’d have to say that my stay at Paul Smith’s College left quite an impression on me. Other colleges no longer look the same, because they just can’t compare to the beauty and coziness of Paul Smith’s College. It’s just one of those places where you don’t just feel like a number, you feel like a part of the college.